Oktoberfest

In hindsight this is a pretty big deal in Germany (although seemingly more for everyone except locals) although, it wasn't really on my radar as an event I had to do while I was over here. However, a group of former ultimate teammates from Ottawa had been planning a trip for over a year and I figured I was too close not to attend. I met the group at around 11 on a Friday morning on the grounds and the place was packed. Sometimes things aren't what you think they will be, but Oktoberfest was exactly what you think it will be. A packed beer hall (and I mean like sardines), beer wenches (although all of them were old), an oompapa band and loads of lederhosen. The only thing I didn't expect were raddishes being sold by the bushel. Seemed kind of out of place. The beer is obviously the big draw, but there is also a huge amusment park set up at one end of the grounds. This also seems like a terrible idea with all of the inebriated clientale (scenes from the Sandlot keep running through my head).

The atmosphere was interesting to experience, but not something I would seek out again. I think the city of Munich must also take in a lot of cash from these three weeks (I heard a cool billion), because there is a lot of drunk people everywhere. I would really like to go back to Munich though and take in the city not during Oktoberfest.

The top three tips for you if you are may want to attend in the future:

1. Get there early - the more popular tents are full at 9 AM on the weekends but you definitely need to arrive by 1 PM every day (yes, even Wednesday).

2. Pace yourself - a litre of 6% beer is not something to drink 3 of in 2.5 hours. Results = not pretty.

3. If you're with a group, stick together - at least I knew the name of the place I was staying (although I didn't really know how to find it).

Other than that, I don't really have much advice because I don't remember much (although I'm confident there were no random international beerfests that I stumbled across, speaking of which).

Swiss Coed Ultimate Champions

The ZUF team that brought home the gold.

I was just reviewing old blog posts and I realized I never made a post about the huge success that my new ultimate team (ZUF - Züri Ultimate Flyers) in Zürich had this season. I'll be the first to say that I was more than a bit disappointed that there was going to be no open team (men's team) in the city for this summer, but according to the old saying, if life gives you lemons, you make pie (or something). But whatever it was I made from those lemons, tasted like sweet victory, as we won the Swiss Coed National Championship, two weeks ago in Nyon.

The Swiss Coed Championship Trophy

I knew we had a great team and certainly we were the most experienced Swiss coed team, but when the champions from last year lost in the semis (most likely because players from their team weren't planning on coming until Sunday), I really knew we had it in the bag. We ended up playing Basel Freespeed Coed in the finals and we were in complete control the whole game. ZUF is a great team with lots of talent and it was amazing to be part of a natioanl championship (although I would prefer winning one in Canada).

And I can know confirm that alcohol does indeed taste so much better when consumed from a championship trophy!

Baschi enjoying the spolis of victory

Amusing Things About Switzerland: Part III

Part III in my recurring series has taken a while to accumulate. That might mean I'm becoming a bit more adjusted and not automatically reacting to things in a WTF manner. Probably a good thing. Still, some funny obervations:

1. Food is not orange

I'm not sure what the hell I have been comsuming for the last 25 years, but around these parts, there is no orange cheese, the French dressing is white and KD is unknown. I've adjusted nicely to the first two, I mean how does the cheese become orange anyway? But I do love KD and my parents and Emily have been kind enough to supply me with some boxes and I try and have a box monthly.

A nice piece of Gruyere (left) and Emmental (right). No orange dye in sight...

2. Paprika Chips

Salt and vinagar? Nope. Ketchup? Are you crazy. Dill Pickle? On a chip. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I might find a couple of these flavours that of course everyone in Canada think are ubiquitous. But here in Switzerland there seem to be two falvours. Nature and Paprika. Not quite the same as BBQ, but not too bad.

3. Birthday Tradition

I've been to a couple of birthday celebrations and I might hold my own in Canada because here, you have to buy the drinks. Or bake your own cake and then share it. It took me aback at first, but when I think about it, it actually makes some sense.

4. Money

50, 100 and 200 CHF bills that are used with regularity at any and all stores.

All over the place in Canada you can't do anything with $50 and $100 dollar bills. I guess there is way too much counterfitting that takes place. Good luck if you want to try and spend one of those in the grocery store. In Switzerland, they wouldn't even look twice (such as at the cafeteria at work, paying for a 9 CHF lunch with a 100 CHF bill). In fact I would say that the 100 CHF note is the most common one. Maybe it's the money culture (especially in Zürich), but it's very different and interesting.

Last Night's Gig: The Hives at Alte Börse in Zürich

Finally had a chance to take in a band I've been wanting to see live for about 6 years.

I first heard the Hives on their breakout Vini Vidi Vicious album (which I bought at one of those great HMV 2 for $20 sales) and since then I have been a fan. They are from Sweden but on the back of some great garage rock sounds and a great live show they are pretty popular across Europe and North America. Although they have toured in Canada before it has always been one night stops in Vancouver and Toronto, both a bit out of the way for me. So when I saw they were playing Zürich, I bought a ticket right away. It was a bit pricey (59 CHF) but when I considered what it would have cost to go to Toronto to see them play, it wasn't that bad.

The concert was interestingly scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM and I made the mistake of thinking they would be late starting. Never assume the Swiss will be anything but punctual. So when I rolled in at 8:30 PM, the bar was packed and about 5 minutes after I arrived the Hives took the stage. So I missed the opener, but thankfully didn't miss any of the Hives set.

If you know the Hives, then you know most of their songs aren't much longer than three and a half minutes, so the just under two hour set was pretty good. The band all dresses up in the same suit type black and white clothing which looked very cool. They played all their big hits (satrting with Here We Go Again) and the lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has stage presence to spare. He really interacted well with the crowd and had everyone yelling and screaming and clapping their hands. They finished with Tick Tick Boom in their encore and the place was going nuts...wish I could have been closer to the stage, but my late arrival prevented that.

The only complaints I had about the concert were due to the venue. The concert was at about 10 PM (way too early) because the place becomes a club afterwards. As well, the smoking inside is terrible. Once again, I came out smelling like an ashtray and at leats a year off my life expectancy because of second-hand smoke inhalation.

Great show though and if you get a chance to see them live, go for it. You won't be disappointed.

6 Months in the New Land of Red and White

It's been 6 months since I left Canada for Switzerland. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. Simply amazing.

Last weekend I decided to take advantage of my new (as of August 13th) GA (General Abondement). The GA is an annual pass available to Swiss residents that allows you to take any bus, train or boat at any time, in the entire country. Pretty sweet and definitely worth it for someone who plans to get to know his new surroundings well. My first free weekend I decided to take advantage of it and head to Thun to take in some of the World Kayaking Freestyle Championships. I managed to make it down for a couple of runs in the junior men's and women's semi-finals (toting along my big ol' Canadian flag for waving) as well as catching the Big Air qualification event. Overall a pretty sweet event and it was a nice to see Canadian Nick Troutman (from the Ottawa Valley) come out on top in the K1 competition. Here are a few of my best photos:

An overview of the site. They had shut the dam on the Aare and created a nice standing wave that the athletes had 45 seconds to perform their best tricks. The stands actual extend over the water which was cool.

My best photo of the day by far. Junior girl coming up after her flip move.


Slacklining exhibition by Stefan Siegrist. It was pretty cool, because that water was a) moving pretty quick, thus preventing focusing and b) was damn cold (see next pic)


Lost balance = cold shower


Yes, that is a C1 whitewater upside down. The coolest event of the day was the Big Air qualification. 8 m jump over the river with lots of acrobatics...


Some not ending so well. Ouch..