Swiss farmers' fair

My job does have its perks...you may remember last year when I spent an afternoon in the beautiful Emmental region visiting a cheese factory and cattle farms and eating my way through a gigantic cheese and meat platter? Well, I spent last wednesday morning visiting the BEA, the annual Swiss farmers' fair which took place in Bern this year. It is a very popular event that takes place for 10 days and I was lucky to get a free pass through work and decided to get there at 9am to beat the crowd.

The exhibition center in Wankdorf (just outside Bern) is huge and there were many different exhibition halls with different themes. Needless to say I spent a lot of time with the farm animals and near the food stalls! Here's an overview of what you could have spotted at the BEA:

A hair brush for cows

a rather scary 1100kg bull

seriously cute cows

and the proof that cows do actually sleep!

a novel way of "roasting" piglets

and some seriously chic birds

The Swiss horse show was taking place alongside the BEA so you could sit down to watch demonstrations of how clever trained equids can be!

My favourite part though was the dog section where you could spot many of the Swiss dog breeds, most of which are working dogs

Farming is not just about animals and there was a very nice hall decorated with a vegetable landscape that included an artificial river with remote-controlled boats!

There was a small but interesting section with some traditional clothes and crafts

and last but not least, a detour through the food court was compulsory before leaving!

Now, if only every day at work was like this...(sigh)

Basler Fasnacht

On Monday 27^th of February, my friend Petit Filoux and I embarked on a crazy day trip to Basel to attend the Basler fasnacht, the largest and best carnival in la Suisse. It all kicked off (without us at this stage) at 4am with lantern processions in the streets of the old town, but we joined in for the main street parade early afternoon.

To say that is a seriously big event is an understatement. Shops closed, Basel citizens are off work and 12000 people split up between over a hundred “cliques” (groups) spend a whole year preparing for the event, thinking up themes and making costumes and masks by hand. Thousands of spectators come from France, Germany, the rest of Switzerland and further afield to watch.

My friend and I found a good spot on the bridge linking the old town to the new town from which to watch the madness unfold. We stood there for nearly 3 hours and by the time we decided to leave, we still hadn’t seen the last of the street parade! However by that time our legs were aching, we were covered in confetti and started to feel annoyed that the kids next to us were obviously much better at getting sweets from the passing carnival cars which were throwing them into the crowd. This is what we came home with…

Probably the one and only time in my life I will accept a carrot and turnip-looking vegetable from a dressed up man…

Apart from our disappointment of not succeeding too well in being sweets or flowers, we had a real blast throughout, shouting, giggling and being shocked, on occasions, by the Swiss political incorrectness that day. Many of the groups taking place in the parade had very political messages, from sharing their views on the Greek situation, Berlusconi and the EU…

…to protesting against nuclear plants and advocating renewable energies

…Russia was also given a hard time!

…and so were new technologies with a group in particular protesting against children’s addiction to them

There were also many groups of children taking place in the parade with some very sweet and original costumes…

I took over 160 photos during the day but I shall leave you with a few collages of my favourites

If you ever find yourself in la Suisse during fasnacht season (end of February), I can only recommend you take a day trip to Basel for the occasion as I have never seen anything like it before. If you’re not in la Suisse but are thinking of visiting, a long weekend around fasnacht time would also be worth your while. I hear that the fasnacht in Luzern is also really good so I may try and go there next year for my yearly dose of Swiss madness!

Fasnacht...a Swiss oddity

We’re coming towards the end of Fasnacht (carnival) season here in la Suisse. Pancakes were made and were eaten

Speculoos spread: the Dutch's answer to Nutella!

And the whole of Switzerland has behaved very strangely for a few days with people drinking/partying/littering  the streets, and generally walking around with a smile on their face… the last few days have felt very un-Swiss-like.

 We kicked off fasnacht with a trip back to Meilen on Sunday to attend the little street parade there and meet up with some old neighbours. The street parade started promptly at 14.14 with some canon shots and a rain of confetti on the crowd.

A confetti hangover the morning after the night before...

The Meilen fasnacht was a very small local affair but the parade along the station road lasted for about an hour during which we saw:

the Flintstone family, complete with their prehistoric car and mobile grill!...

…people making fun of the Swiss national bank (very un-Swiss I told you!)…

…some very scary-looking old ladies (some kids were in tears)…

… Death and some local grave diggers…

…but the highlight of the Meilen fasnacht had to be the Meilen guys from the Schneider recycling center, picking people from the crowd to throw in a confetti bath and shaking their bums to their very own song, recorded for the purpose of the fasnacht. Without further delay, I present you with the “Schneider” internet sensation.

This tune is so catchy, you’re bound to sing along even if you don’t speak Swiss german!

Come back soon for pictures of the biggest Carnival in Switzerland which I went to in Basel on Monday. It was madness!

Zibile-Märit

On the fourth Monday of November, Bern host its Zibele-Märit or Onion Market. During the one-day festival,  over 100 tonnes of plaited strings of onions, onion sculptures and winter produce are for sale on over 700 stalls.

Stalls outside the House of Parliament (Bundeshausplatz)

The Zibelemärit has taken place in Bern for nearly 200 years, originally as a part of a two week long autumn festival called Martinimesse which dates back to the 1400′s. Although the Martinimesse, disappeared the Onion Market remained.

Officially the market opens at 6 a.m., but selling starts at 4 o’clock. Hard-core onion fans are up and shopping between 4 and 6am, before the coaches drop thousands of tourists off. The onion market has its own fashion accessory, brightly wrapped strings of peppermint candy are worn around every neck.

For the rest I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Stalls also sell confetti for the Konfettischlacht,the great confetti battle, which starts at 4 p.m.. The Konfettischlacht, during which children chase each other through the streets armed with plastic hammers, marks the end of the selling market and the start of the evening’s festivities.

 But as the good wino French person that I am, my favourite part of the day remained the Glühwein!!

I will be back for this great Swiss tradition next year!