Ah, the market!!

The farmer's market--a feast for the eyes and the palate. And yet, a danger to the wallet...

This is one of the best things about living in the 'Kon--I mean, practically at my doorstep, twice a week, there's a big market selling fresh produce, meat, cheese, flowers and plants, simply gorgeous! The produce, especially in summer, is only a bit more expensive than in Migros or Coop (and you know that more of that money is going to the farmers, rather than the Swiss mini-corporate giants).

The problem is all the stands selling Greek and Italian specialties. I spent CHF 7.50 on 1/3 kg of tiny delicious Sicilian tomatoes. I spent CHF 20 on two different types of cheese, and another CHF 20 on some olives and hummus. It's all amazing, but what am I going to eat for the rest of the week?

Lesson of the Day: Never go to the market hungry, or with a CHF100 bill in your pocket.

The Great Eidgenössiches Turnfest!!!

I was fortunate to be invited by D to The Great Eidgenössisches Turnfest, which is a Switzerland-wide gymnastics festival that only takes place every six years (what luck!!). D brought along A and me to watch her boyfriend M compete. He's part of a "Turnverein", which is simply a gymnastics club--the members of the club prepare a couple of different routines (M's team had a mixed floor/parallel bar and a ring routine), which are set to music. It was really impressive to see that people in their 20s and 30s could still move just like the teenage gymnasts we see in the Olympics! M's team was definitely one of the best teams we saw that day. M's team also competed in a 80m running relay.

But that wasn't the only things going on. There were such feats of physical prowess such as throwing balls through hoops and doing aerobics in silly clothes.

D was surprised to learn that we don't have such things in the States. I told her, "American men are just not willing to wear tight, short, shiny shorts." I saw more man-leg than I ever thought possible.

Anyway, we ended up having a few beers afterwards. I got to talk to some locals and we even did some quite accidental networking--we met a highly-ranking person at a big company, even.

You never know who you'll run into.

Backpost--Pilgrimage to Trub!

This is the event that's inspired the blog...

Several months ago, a few friends of mine (all from Bern) and I went to see a Swiss movie called Die Herbstzeitlosen. It's about a couple of old ladies who live in a small town in the Emmental, a rather conservative area, and they start a lingerie shop. The townspeople are somehow in an uproar over this. Anyway, it's a very cute move, all in Bern dialect.

So they all decided that we should make a pilgrimage to Trub to check the place out. We took the train one sunny morning to Trubschachen, and had a nice hike to Trub. On the way, we met a real live Swiss Mountain Man, saw lots and lots of cows, and we even found a silo with K's namesake on it. Finally, we made it to Trub, where the actual store front is a furniture/kitchen shop instead of a lingerie shop. But there was still a small package in the window from "Petit Paris" (the fictional lingerie shop).

We had a couple of beers in Trub, as well as an amazing strawberry tart, and moved on to E's apartment in Bern for a really nice dinner.