Bern:
Is amazing. I loved it. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its conserved medieval structure. The downtown is made primarily of sandstone, which gives it a really unique character. Bern has around six kilometers of arcades protecting the sidewalks in the old part of town. Also, you can enter hidden cellar stores and pubs. In the summer, they even have bears you can view that live near the river (in an enclosed area of course).
There are also fountains each decorated with a statue on the top. One features a creature-man thing eating children. Apparently, it’s a folk tale urging kids to behave or they’ll get eaten.
The nightlife is very cool. Plenty of clubs and cellar bars to go to with friends. The city is also so small that you can get from one place to the next fairly quickly if you use the tram or take the bus. Which, I’ll add, are amazing. All the public transportation is amazing. On-time and clean.
Also on the topic of cleanliness: the sidewalks, the river, and the houses; are all clean and cared for. There is a sense of pride in the air when you walk through Bern. I highly suggest people visit this town (It feels like a town more than a city).
Skiing:
There’s no competition between Switzerland skiing and Wisconsin skiing. Obviously. Endless slopes you can take, endless lifts that can bring you back up to the top, and endless mountains. The day also just so happened to be glorious. Maybe a little warm, but we hit the slopes early for the cool morning.
In recent years, the slopes haven’t been as good because of how warm the winters are. Normally, you could ski down on perfect, powdery snow to the base of the mountain where all the cars are parked, but now you must follow a track of artificial snow/slush to the base. The end of the season is in sight and every year it ends sooner and sooner.
I haven’t really snowboarded in a while, so of course I was a little rusty. I felt every fall my body endured the next day, and I fell a lot. Every time I would come upon a part of the slope that dropped, I would think I would fly off the edge of the mountain. I was being a little cautious with my boarding because I didn’t really know the slopes
I definitely wish I had taken up skiing instead of snowboarding. It’s just so much more practical and much easier to get out of tough situations.
We went on the same lift maybe twice, there are just so many routes to take. There were a lot of British people there, especially posh British people. Apparently, a lot of people had time off then. Almost like a European spring break. I didn’t realize I’d get so annoyed by the accent as much as I did. It was the poshness of the accent that got on my nerves.
We got to eat up on the mountain and I think I chose the wrong dish. I ordered a big skillet of eggs, potatoes, cheese, and bacon. I was ready for a nap instead of more skiing. Nonetheless, everything was so beautiful. Almost every moment was a Kodak moment.
youtube.com/watch?v=FqIDrVnkAl4 – The link to the World Cup Downhill Lauberhorn race. A course that I went on. Let me tell you, they make it look so so so easy. The jump he makes at 00:25 is about seventy meters long and skips this entire curve section. Crazy.
The Young Boys:
The energy was great at the Young Boys game. It was a sold-out game against Sporting Lisbon for the UEFA Europa League. Earlier, the Lisbon fans were lighting firecrackers in the street in preparation for the game. I was not aware of this and I thought a bomb went off as I casually strolled about sixty feet away from the explosion.
All the fans in the photo are holding up something like this. They’re held before games, but I don’t know what exactly they are called. All clubs have many different ones, so I’m sure we weren’t holding this exact one, but you get the idea.
The Young Boys lost 3-1 and had two other goals called offside. They did, however, tie with Sporting Lisbon when they played them in Lisbon a couple days later.
I was gifted this amazing Young Boys jersey by Vadim, an awesome friend of Matt’s. He and another guy, Luka, took me. Two great guys that I can’t wait to head to another Young Boys game with in the future.
In the next blog, I’ll talk about the food, which is some of the best I’ve eaten so far on my trip.
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