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Published: November 27th 2012
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I said an early morning goodbye to Simone and Micha in Davos and set off on my three-train journey across Switzerland so I could spend the day with Marc Pouliot in Biel, and then meet up with Christine in Bern.
Marc met me at the train station and proceeded to show me around the big town of Biel, which included a few random statues and fountains in the middle of the old town. He took me to the rink which included a smelly tour of the lockerroom. He showed me how in Biel they put the standing room (crazy Biel fans) next to the standing room visiting fans, which appears to be seperated with a fence. It looked a bit like Mad Max and beyond the thunderdome.
Since I couldn’t meet up with Christine until later, and I didn’t feel like eating out, I offered to make dinner (my strict diet of meat and cheese was getting to me and I seriously needed some veggies).
Marc invited a few other Canadian boys – so in order to make sure I had enough for 4 hockey boys – I planned a dinner for 10. Conversation was very entertaining, great
company, and Tyler Seguin said my risotto ‘was ok’. I showed off my homemade Biel/Pouliot t-shirt to rave reviews, and was happy to deliver a one-of-a-kind Meese shirt for Marc designed by Ms Tressa Heckbert.
Bern means Bear When I arrived in Bern I was so excited to see Christine who I became buds with on a slow bus from hell in Colombia headed to San Agustin three years ago. She was quick to introduce me to Emmental (Swiss cheese with the holes in it) from the region. Luckily Christine had time off work to show me around, and Bern is a beautiful old city with cobblestone streets and river winding around the old town.
Bern means bear, and they actually have 4 bears along the river in a pen you can go see and we were lucky to catch three of them bumming around before hibernation kicks in Up until 2009 they lived in a horrible cement pit, but public outcry led to a larger space for them to hang out in, have grass, and be able to swim in the river.
We found the most divine place to have macarons and she took me
to a few casual places for a drink before we headed to the government square to see a Christmas lights show and to meet up with Timothy – a guy I had met in Mozambique when Aussie Michelle and I ripped to Maputo for my 30
th birthday. When we met he was on a 3 year journey around the world, now he’s back in the real world acting as a mechanical engineer in his hometown of Bern.
We went for drinks (the Swiss like to drink) and then they took me to this place I can only describe as sketchy on the outside – hip on the inside. There is a random building near the river that the police ignore, but the city funds? We were approached by several people wanting to sell drugs, but when you get inside the random building – it is a super hip place.
The next day Christine drove me out of Bern to meet her sister’s boyfriend who has a pig farm with 500 pigs, along with dairy cows, ponies, and miniature cows called Dexter Cows? Got to learn about the pig farming operation in Switzerland... but the best part is that
their farm on the edge of a town is also a stop and shop along the road. His mother sells homemade bread every day, and you can buy meat, cheese, veggies, and milk basically from a vending machine. Christine said we would do raclette for dinner, so I bought raclette from the cheese machine for 10 Swiss francs. (I was very excited... I think Christine and Kristoff thought I was a moron).
Hockey Night in Bern So for my last night in Bern I had a wonderful raclette dinner at Christine’s (why not pack away some more cheese), and then we set off towards the hockey arena. SC Bern apparently has one of the biggest hockey fan bases in Europe and their arena seats 17,000.
Thankfully Marc had let me tickets because the Friday night game vs. Biel looked like a sellout. We were sitting right below the Biel standing room and the fans were mental. The arena was freezing but I stuck it out in my kick-ass Biel shirt which was hilarious for Christine (she said everyone we walked by was staring).
Game was amazing. The evening started with a short-handed goal by Seguin, followed
by two more for a hat trick early in the game. Fans were crazy and I felt super lucky to watch Biel silence the crowd with 4-2 win over Bern.
The next morning I said my goodbyes to Christine and set off for London – for lots more pics of the game scroll down.
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