Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fourth of July - Swiss Style


The Fourth of July.

America's 236th birthday.

The day, in 1965, that Laurie and I started dating.

FORTY-SEVEN years ago.

WOW!

We were invited by Martin Zurbrügg to his home for a traditional Fourth of July BBQ in the village of Rüfenacht. Martin is the Tigers' Special Teams Coach and a diehard fan of the great State of Texas and anything remotely close to being Texan in nature.

We had to pick between two methods of getting to Rüfenacht, a suburb of Bern.

The first entailed a train, a tram and a walk.

The second option was to catch a ride with Stephan Pulver.

We went with Stephan.

Martin had his backyard decorated
PERFECTLY!!!

His two BBQs were warming up

We were overjoyed to see all that Martin had done to honor this very special American holiday. We were even serenaded by country music by Alan Jackson and George Strait!

Soon he escorted us into the basement of his garage.

Did I mention that Martin loves Texas?

He actually had just come back to Switzerland from a two week vacation to the Lone Star State.

Why take us to the basement of his garage?

Martin's Man Cave
That's Why!

Washigton State Flag

Maryland State Flag

Remember those Terrapin football uniforms that matched the state flag that the University of Maryland used to kickoff the 2011 season?

I grew to like them.

Martin is building a
mini-Conestoga wagon 

Nice Saddle

It has a tradition. 

When a new friend comes to visit the Man Cave . . .

Martin takes their picture
on the saddle

Lucky Luke?

Annie Oakley?

In the frames behind us are photos of other guests on the saddle.

RIDE 'EM COWBOY!!!

Lots of Wood 

Sauna Room behind
BBQ Grill #2 

Martin even has "TEXAS"
in tiles on his garage roof!!!

LET THE BBQ BEGIN!!! 

We did have to advise Martin that serving horse meat at a Texas style BBQ would be a BIG No-No anywhere near the Pecos River.

I had double portions of pony flesh myself.

Skewer your own meats and veggies
and grill to perfection

Ice Cream Cake
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

Stephan Pulver, me and
Martin Zurbrügg

We had a GREAT time and want to again thank Martin for both inviting us to his home and making us feel like we were back home on the Fourth! 

2 comments:

Michael said...

Don't mess with Texas.
Did you guys have any Lone Star beer?

George said...

No, but there was some Miller in the house!