Swiss National Day

August 1 is to the Swiss what July 4 is to Americans. The first of August has been celebrated as Swiss National Day since 1891. The date refers to an alliance made in 1291 between three cantons. Cantons are kind of like our states in the US. I don’t really understand the rest of the agreement from back then, but I know that it’s a big deal.

This will be my first time in Switzerland to celebrate Fête Nationale Suisse. It means lots of Swiss flags, parades and fireworks. The stores sell all kinds of Swiss decorations as well as other goodies. Here’s what I found at the Migros today – hard-boiled eggs with the Swiss flag. They typically sell hard – boiled eggs at the store year round. You can tell they’re hard – boiled because they’re dyed like Easter eggs. It was very confusing to me for quite a while. Why the heck do the Swiss have Easter eggs in November ?! But now that mystery has been solved thanks to my neighbor, Christina, explaining it to me. There’s even a special bread that bakeries make for Swiss National Day in certain regions of the country. I’m on the look-out for it.

Tour de France

I’m learning all about sports this month. It’s all about the Tour de France now. It is insane what these guys do day after day! The tour was one of the main reasons for Lori and John’s visit to Europe. We spent Saturday watching it (well, actually, waiting for it) near a small town called Lamoura, France, which was about a 1 ½ hour drive from Morges.

It was a hot day and we waited in the sun for several hours but it was well worth it. John was pretty pumped to be seeing the tour in person. Highlights for me (I’m sure John’s highlights were different!) included the spectators – some a little more tipsy than others and some who were getting way too much sun exposure in their speedos – and the caravan, which came through an hour before the race. It was a big parade that came out of nowhere with lots of free stuff thrown at us. Then the racers came. If John hadn’t been there to tell us who we were seeing, we wouldn’t have had a clue. He pointed out Lance Armstrong as well as some other well known bikers (all new names to me as I only knew Lance).

It was a really fun day in all. Lori and John’s next stop after Morges was to a small town in France to bike up one of the mountains that has been on the tour in previous years. That’s some serious bike riding. Glad they didn’t ask me to join them for that part of their trip.

Visitors

My good friend from college, Lori, and her hubby, John, stopped by for a visit as they made their way through Europe. They spent a few days with us as they traveled from Italy to France. It was wonderful to see them. The day they arrived was John’s birthday, so we celebrated with a nice dinner of homemade California rolls and wine. We introduced them to Mövenpick ice cream for dessert. I think they enjoyed it even after all the gelato they consumed in Italy. The evening ended with fireworks in Lausanne that we could see from the comfort of our own balcony. The next day we sent them on a steamboat from Lausanne to the Château de Chillon. I met them after their tour of the château and then we headed into Montreux for the Jazz Festival. As we’ve experienced in previous years, not much jazz to be heard at the festival but we did find one free concert and enjoyed a few cold beers and some traditional Swiss cuisine (rösti).

World Cup Fever

I’ve spent the last month learning about the World Cup. It’s embarrassing to say but I knew nothing about the World Cup until now. This is a really big deal over here compared to the US, so that’s my excuse. They hang flags out their windows to support their country and after a match the fans of the winning team hop in their cars and ride around town honking and waving their flags. I guess this is the one time that the Swiss tolerate noise. The honking continued for well over an hour after Switzerland beat Spain a few weeks back. I still don’t have a good understanding of the rules of the sport, but at least I call it by the right name now – football. My favorite part is when the players take their shirts off at the end of the match. That’s my incentive to watch. (To make it clear, this was written by Sandra.)

A Bientôt, Elko Family

The Elko family left Morges early Monday morning. My friend, Christina, and I went to the train station to see them off. It was a sad day, and Switzerland feels lonely without them. They were like our family-away-from-home. Jen was my go-to-gal because she always understood what it was like living in another country and away from all the familiar things of home.

Matt and I are fortunate that the Elko’s leaving Morges is not a good-bye. It really is à bientôt – see you soon – because we’ll be close enough for visits when we return to the US. We will miss them dearly but wish them the best of luck as they return to life in Milwaukee.

Celebrating the 4th of July – Switzerland Style

When I think of this holiday, I think of family. Typically, it’s a long weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin or the island with Barb and Terry. Since I am not able to do either of these this year, I did the next best thing – I celebrated the day with my American friends. A few families got together for dinner. I tried to find corn on the cob for the occasion but decided to call it quits after looking at two different grocery stores in town without any luck. We had take-out pizza for dinner. Not a very traditional 4th of July meal but it worked. For dessert we had a taste test of several different kinds of Mövenpick ice cream. Okay, I guess it was more than several flavors – it was six. Mövenpick is a brand of ice cream of Swiss origin. It’s heavenly, especially some of the limited edition flavors. The most popular of the evening were Crème Brulée, Swiss Chocolate and Coconut with Toasted Sesame.