Hooters-Interlaken

One Friday Mike had the day off work so we took a short day trip to Interlaken. We broke our diet to try out Hooters Switzerland. A lot of people know that Hooters is a favorite restaurant for my sister, Diana, and I, so I had to taste test and compare the two countries. Overall, I have to say it was damn good and just like home; well almost Di was not there to share them with us and a little different selection of beer.

Mike being silly with a view of Interlaken behind him.

Interlaken is a huge tourist area and is crawling with bus tour groups. On our way back to the train we were behind a large Japanese tour group which we did not think anything of. That group was guided into this Oberland shop and we were like "ok, I wonder.. what do they sell in there that gets groups to stop in there?" So we went in and looked around, well it took a few minutes to figure out the appeal for this group but when I did I was actually kind of shocked: After a certain time all the shops in the area change the staff to people that can speak Japanese, which is great, but I really did not expect that! We went into several shops earlier in the day and all the staff were speaking Swiss German so I don't know when the change over happened... but it did.

This is a view from Spiez were Mike was for the Sängerfest.

Schwingerfest - Lobsigen June 13, 2010

A group of friends invited us to go with them to a very Swiss sporting event called Schwingerfest. Ok all of you get your mind out of the gutter because it is not what you think!! The Swiss sport of Schwingen is pretty much wrestling. Here is a link to wikipedia to explain in more detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwingen

We rode are bikes to the town of Lobsigen (about 30 minutes away) where the festival was being held. I got some nice pictures of the views on the way there.

I saw this huge nest and birds on top of this house on the way and was told they were storks. They must be taking a break from delivering babies. Side note: we have seen several more storks and stork nests since this day in different towns here in Switzerland, I guess all babies come from Switzerland.

So if you did not read the wiki article here is a brief explanation to the Schwingen sport. The guys wear a pair of Schwinghosen or wrestling breeches and try to wrestle their opponent to the ground and pin their shoulders to win the round.

So the winner of the Schwingerfest was the big guy in the lighter color shirt. We were told that this is not the first one he has won.

Here are a few of the prizes:

Aren't the little ones cute.

Here are the rest if you want to check them out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/iusuallycheckmyemail/SchwingerfestLobsigenJune132010?feat=directlink

Spiez-Sängerfest

As some may have heard, I, Eugene, am a member of a famous Swiss Men's choir. I can't imagine that there have been too many Americans to have that experience... but having an american on board is not the strangest element of this particular choir, the Steili Kressä. The list of zaniness never ends, but as a fun example here are some pics of our trip to the state singerfest... by tractor!

the Kressämobil is outfitted with a grill, and an absurd amount of beer.

note the traditional Edelweiss shirts:

Chriga is our flag-girl.

broccoli-cheese wursts on the road!

we spent the night at the foot of this mountain. it rained and some where very wet in the morning.

New Bike for Spring!

Some cool spring pics of Switzerland. Shelly got a new bike, this time a good one, so we plan on doing some riding this year to go along with our newfound diet plan.

Oensingen US car show

In a small town called Oensingen close to Solothurn there was a US

car show. Despite of the rain we saw a lot of awesome cars and had a good time.

Here are a few of the highlights. If you would like to see the

whole album check out the link at the bottom.

We know someone who has a nicer vision of this car back home.

Nothing like having a lot of awesome US cars and being able

to see a old Swiss castle in the background.

For the rest of the cars check go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/iusuallycheckmyemail/OensingenUSCarShow2010?feat=directlink

Happy birthday Shelly!

For Shell’s birthday we did enough to cover the next 10... Started off with a bowl of Oatmeal (cuz that’s what old people eat) then to Biel get a birthday present resized... then off to Morges for the Tulip festival. At the tulip festival we were the youngest people there by a couple of decades, so immediately Shelly was beginning to feel better about gaining another year.

I have just the shoes for a tulip festival! :)

View of Lake Geneva in Morges:

Next we went to Montreux by train and enjoyed the lakeside for a bit. then a quick boat ride to Chateau Chillon! :

Inside!

Walked back to Montreux, about an hour, while enjoying the great weather instead of waiting for the boat. From there we took the train the long way through the mountains back to Bern. We had bean dip and veggies (we are on a serious diet right now) and of course a bottle of wine. We caught a movie in Bern, then and ruined our diets with Kebaps and beer.... hey, thats what she wanted!

April 2010

Roo and Eugene enjoying a fondue while I was away in the States.