Football/Fondue Sunday

Sunday started as a day for laundry, house cleaning and solitude but quickly changed into a day of football theory.

At about 1:00 p.m., our Senior LG/U-19 Team Defensive Coordinator, Toni Capozzolo, came over to Helvetica to go over his U-19 Defensive Playbook.

We covered a lot of ground in about four hours going over details, alignments and drills to help implement his core beliefs.

It was a good session!

At about 5:30 p.m., Toni provided the transportation as we were to join five other teammates for a fondue/poker party.

I was all in on the fondue party but only played poker for a few minutes (got my butt kicked) as Toni had to leave and he was my ride.

Lukas, Köbi and Nicolas at work

We were meeting at the home of Nicolas Kueng who is a WR/QB with the Senior team. The Nicolas in this picture is our U=19 team QB.

Besides the three in the picture above and Toni, our host and myself, we were also joined by a seventh Tiger. Senior OL/U-19 team Head Coach Stephan Pulver was the final member of our dinner party.

Lukas, a Master with a knife

Köbi and Nicolas stirring the fondue pots

Thanks for being a great host Nicolas!

Football, good food and great friends . . .

GOOD TIMES INDEED!!!

Practice, Street Market and Dinner

After last night's solid practice, it was time to get up early for our Saturday morning full pads skirmish/practice again at our indoor facility.

First though, Ueli and I stopped at the traditional Saturday Street Market to stock up on some delicious Swiss cheeses.

The Cheese Man

I bought the strong one at the far end of this table

Das ist GUT!

Fondue in a Bag

The Cheese Man was also selling various pre-mixed fondue cheeses and spices for those with little time to properly prepare for the traditional Swiss home-style fondue.

After picking up our cheese needs, it was on to practice where we were greeted by 31 Tigers who longed to get better today. We enjoyed a spirited and intense workout that brought a smile to everyone's faces.

Job well done today Tigers!!!

DARE TO BE GREAT TIGERS!!!

Last Sunday I found out that there is just about nothing open on the Sabbath. I decided, after practice, to return to town to pick up a few odds and ends to get me through tomorrow.

As I walked into town by a slightly different route I found this . . .

Horse Meat Butcher Shop

I grew to love horse meat in Sicily, so this place was of interest.

The varied menu that is horse meat

Just think of all of the possibilities.

The Soap Man

I bought another bar of his french made soaps this weekend. Citron this time to go with last week's bar of cherry scented soap.

Helvetica smells nice.

First it was Bollywood,

now it is a Bagpiper

This guy was pretty good, note the bells around his ankles. He would jump in such a way that the bells were a perfect accompaniment to his bagpipes.

Interesting people are all over the streets of Thun.

John, Ueli and Cindy

I was invited for dinner again tonight at their house right behind Helvetica. This time I was prepared with gifts.

Another great meal, lively discussions and some YouTube clips of Swiss wrestling and an interesting Swiss team game called Hornussen.

This link will show you the traditional Swiss wrestling, known as Schwingen, complete with the special shorts that the wrestlers must wear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRJQpXMAm3E

You can learn about Hornussen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdIHOV6VGNU

I have got to see both of these for sure before I leave!

Good night.

Schloss Oberhofen

NEWS FLASH!!! Just this in from Bern, the Swiss capital: If I keep calling my apartment "Icelandia South," the Swiss authorities will arrest me and put me in jail for one month with no raclette, fondue or rösti to eat. The Swiss Parliament, in a rare unanimous vote, decreed that from now on it shall be known as "Helvetica." Who am I to argue with the law of the land?

Cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me. No rösti indeed!

Friday started easily enough with a trip to the government house, the Thunerhof, to check on the status of my Swiss Work Visa. I had gone here exactly one week ago to finish the process that Philipp Baumann of the Tigers had started for me.

I was asked to leave my passport and told that the Work Visa would be ready on Monday. Since I was in Bern all day Monday sightseeing and coaching our scrimmage against the Bern Grizzlies, I didn't get a chance to return to the Thunerhof until Tuesday.

On Tuesday I was told that the computers were down, mine had been too all morning, and to return on Thursday. I gave them an extra day but today, Friday, still no Work Visa but now because of a glitch in the computer program linking Thun with Bern.

They gave me back my passport and said they would call me next week when the Work Visa was ready.

With my passport back in my control, I headed to the Thun Bahnhof (Train Station) and, for 165 Swiss Francs, purchased a one year Half Price Travel Card. This card does just that, all bus trips outside of my two zone city pass and any and all future train trips anywhere in Switzerland will now only cost me 1/2 the usual fee. As much as I tend to explore I think that I will recoup my money rather quickly.

That taken care of I decided to reboard the #21 bus headed towards Interlaken that I took yesterday but this time I would get off at the Oberhofen Dorf exit about 13 minutes from the Thun Bahnhof.

This allowed for one of those great, random meetings with a character named . . .

Roland

Here Roland proudly points to one of his Carnival pins from Rio de Janiero, Brazil which he said starts next Monday. I did not have the heart to tell him that Lent started two days ago and the Carnival was over already. Some areas one should not enter lightly.

Roland is from Berlin and claimed to be in the crowd when President Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in June of 1963 in west Berlin in reaction to the building of the Berlin Wall 22 months previously. He also informed me the JFK was killed in Dallas only a few months later, in November of 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald and unknown others.

All of this dialog started because I was wearing my purple Thun Tigers logo jacket. He asked me what I did with the team so. of course, I said coaching.

He thought I said kitchen.

Type casting.

Roland asked me where I was from so, as always, I said California instead of the U.S.

He gasped, put his hand on his heart and faked passing out from the rapture that is California. He went on to rave about the wonders of the Golden State.

I knew I had a live one when he loudly and joyfully announced to all on the bus that it was "Whiskey Time!" He pulled out a small bottle of Johnnie Walker Red, started coughing to stress the need for a "medicinal" dosage of whiskey to get through the stressful bus ride.

Roland was headed to the dentist and allowed me to inspect his toothless upper gumline and his, count them, six front teeth on his lower gum.

What a guy!

Well, I hated to leave my new friend but we were at my stop and we bid each other auf wiedersehen.

800+ years of Oberhofen greatness

Oberhofen is known for two things . . .

The beautiful Schloss Oberhofen and . . .

Incredible . . .

Incredible . . .

Incredible . . .

Scenic Vistas of Lake Thun

Or as it is known locally, the Thunersee.

Oberhofen School Coat-of-Arms

Not Real

Winston Churchill

Defender of Liberty Memorial

Not sure why it was here but, let's face it, Winston was a hoot!

Another Bernese Patriot

GAMEDAY Next Week!!!

The FC Thun soccer team plays in the ten team Swiss Axpo Super League and entered this weekend's Bye in fourth place with a perfectly neutral record of 7 wins - 7 ties - 7 losses good for 28 team points.

The team they host next weekend, Servette, is currently in fifth place at 8-3-9 earning them 27 points in the standings.

I'll be there for sure rooting for FC Thun.

Sunworshipers

Did I mention that it was a "Beautiful Day to Practice American Football?"

Not a bad day either to sit out having a beverage . . .

. . . or to sit with a girl by the Aare River . . .

. . . or to maybe just meet a girl

I thought that the guy in white was going to use his best pick-up line on the young lass walking towards him.

Here goes nothing!

What the heck???

It turns out that this was Bollywood at its finest shooting a video in Thun.

The Bollywood Camera Crew

Take Two!!!

Hungry Again

After all of the glitz and glamour of the film industry, it was time to hop on the bus and head to Morris for a delicious schnitzel sandwich.

YUM!

Dusk in Thun

My day was not over though, it was time for a solid 90 minute workout with the Tigers at our spacious indoor training facility.

We had a good turnout and we definitely took a good step forward tonight.

GO TIGERS!!!

Interlaken

As a boy growing up in San Marino, California in the 1950's and early 1960's, I watched a lot of TV.

During those Golden Years of Television in the greater Los Angeles megalopolis, there was an advertisement that always remained in my memory.

The product? Ovaltine chocolate drink mix.

The ads claimed that Ovaltine was rich in vitamins and minerals and that back home in Switzerland it was used by men training to hurl the famed . . .

Unspunnen Stone

83.5 Kg. / 184.1 Lbs. of Fun!

Every 12 years people gather in Interlaken for a Swiss culture festival that includes Unspunnen Stone hurling, wrestling and yodeling. The last gathering was in 2006.

I drank a lot of Ovaltine as a youth because of those commercials!

But I digress . . .

Thursday Morning in Thun

Scuba Diving

No, merci. They continue to do work near the combination sluice gate/wooden covered bridge on the short walk into downtown Thun.

Today I bought a round trip bus ticket for the 55 minute ride to the resort city of Interlaken. My city bus pass was good enough to get me halfway there so I had to pay a fee for the other half.

Mini Stonhenge?

After a very comfortable and wonderously scenic bus ride I arrived in Interlaken.

Höhematte ("high meadow") Park, seen here, is in about the middle of town.

Take a chance?

Not me.

Not Las Vegas glitzy, I kind of expected to see James Bond walk out of here.

Gnomes and Poisonous Mushrooms

The Casino's interesting entry way

Even the Casino's lights were stylish

The view of the Alps from Höhematte Park

Souvenir shops are everywhere

More Cow Bell!

This is the area for milk cows that produce a wide variety of dairy products to the world.

Not Real

What were the odds?

The skiers make perfect sense, but carved American football players?

Catholic on the left, Protestant on the right

I was hungry, it was time for lunch, but where?

NEIN!

Tempting but no

I asked for help at the Tourist Information Center and the very nice lady directed me to . . .

Des Alpes

Restaurant Pizzeria

Terrasse Bar Konditorei

This place covers all of the culinary bases. Now the question was what to order?

How about a Swiss favorite? Why not.

Schweizer Rösti

Hash browns with Swiss cheese, cubes of baked ham and fried onions.

The waiter insisted that I sprinkle a seasoning made for fondue and raclette by a company called Butty on the Rösti. It was delicious!

I followed it with a cappuccino and I was stuffed! When I finally got back to Thun I passed on dinner at Morris Restaurant, I was still too full.

A Funicular Railway Station

Adolf Guyer-Zeller

The Father of the Jungfrau Railway

These railways opened up the natural splendors of the Bernese Oberland area.

Not Real

Chocolate Break

Should I?

Well, if you put it that way

The Swiss are very health conscious.

Låry's Broom?

Japanese Garden

It was donated to the people of Interlaken by the citizens of their sister city, Otsu, Japan.

Adam and Eve vacationing in Interlaken

Interesting home

Not Real

The city of Interlaken is small and easy to navigate. The city's permanent population only numbers 5,500 souls. The city is basically a base camp for skiers in the Winter and for hikers and lovers of water sports in the Spring and Summer.

People started to vacation here en masse in the 19th Century and thus the town experienced a building boom of grand hotels to house upper class travelers.

Many of these Grand Hotels are still in service like these majestic ones . . .

Grand Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau

Hotel Savoy

Royal Hotel St. Georges

My personal favorite.

Hotel Interlaken

Lindner Grand Hotel

Beau-Rivage

Continental Hotel Central

A\This one is located cross the Aare River in the village of Unterseen.

Lake Boat

This one was moored on the Aare River right next to the Hotel Du Lac where my favorite sister-in-law Gayle Hicks and her husband David will be staying during their Interlaken visit in early May.

This boat and other similar ones that I saw will be quite busy when it warms up. They will cruise both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Interlaken and Unterseen both mean land between the lakes.

Gayle is my only sister-in-law.

REAL!

And very proud to be Swiss.

There is snow in the Alps

This week was a school holiday for Winter Sports. The Swiss want familys to have a chance to enjoy all that nature has provided for the country at this time of the year.

I like the concept.

Mexico???

The Aare River

Switzerland's longest river

Here it flows from Lake Brienz to Lake Thun, then meanders on to Bern before ultimately joining the Rhine River as it journeys into the Netherlands and finally the North Sea.

Damn, I came here today!

Sunny Days?

I could use some sunshine today for sure!

It was a B&B.

Goat

It was hanging out in a pen near my bus stop.

Fika Time!!!

A little hot chocolate for the road home after a splendid afternoon in Interlaken.