Swiss National Day - August 1st 2013
I've celebrated the 4th of July quite a few times in the states, once even in DC! But this was the first year that I've been able to celebrate Swiss National Day in Switzerland. I was so excited to spend the day doing "swiss" stuff with Tinu and his family and to see how the Swiss celebrate their national day.
We started out the day in Zurich and took a fairly early train to Bern and then on to Thurnen, where Tinu's family lives. After some breakfast, we packed up a borrowed pump-up raft, sunscreen and our adventurous spirit and headed out to a small town just west of Thun, where we could get into the Aare and float West towards Bern. Mind you, I had only ever heard about the Aare or seen it from a distance, never had I ever actually been in the Aare. I didn't realize quite how fast it went or how popular it was. So we set afloat at around 1:30 pm with one of Tinu's friends and headed on down the river. I was surprised by the hundreds of other boaters floating down the river and also by the many people grilling on the shore or just hanging out. While you couldn't see any houses or towns in any direction, there were still hundreds of people around in ever direction. Two hours later we arrived at our final destination of Bern, and after chilling for a bit, Tinu and I jumped back in the river, without the boat, to float down a ways. The Aare has a mind of its own, however, and getting out a couple hundred meters down was quite difficult. The water was so fast that the only way to get out was to grab onto one of the many stair railings which were sticking down into the water, or to grab a tree or whatever else was in reach on shore. After three attempts and an almost panic attack, I managed to grab onto a railing and pull myself in. I was shaking and so scared afterwards, even though nothing could've really happened to me, as I had Tinu there with me. I vowed then, as we were walking back towards our boat, that I would never again swim in the Aare. Although, now that I have seen other sections of the river, I'm starting to rethink that...
We then got picked up by Tinu's parents and drove back to MĂŒhlethurnen, where we cleaned up, ate a snack, and prepared to go to the town's small celebration. The little fest was held at the school and every resident was given a free bratwurst (I just pretended that I belonged) and could then sit and listen to the music club (made up of local people) play for a while. As it started to darken, the parents and children lit little lamps, and with the band in the lead, we marched through the town, past the train station and back to the school, waving to all of the locals who came out of their houses to watch us march by. Then as we rounded the bend and could see the school house again, we could see the huge bonfire being lit and the band then played the national anthem. On each of the mountain peaks you could also see a little dot of yellow light, which were bonfires just like what we were experiencing, just on the top of each of the tallest neighboring mountains. It was really a very special thing to get to experience.
As we took the train back to Zurich, we watched fireworks being set off over all of the cities we passed by as well as throughout the countryside.Â
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