Ic skating is pretty popular in Switzerland, and in most towns there’s probably an ice-rink near the city centre, or maybe out by a lake or river.

There’s one where I live, one in Zurich, one in Baden, well, pretty much everywhere…

This one is in the Quartier du Flon in Lausanne, the French speaking part of Switzerland, and as you can see, there’s some attractive lighting going on.

You can rent skates at the rink, or even just go and watch while people practice their dancing or hockey moves.

And if you get thirsty, there’s almost always a little wooden hut doing a roaring trade in hot drinks, or something stronger.

Photos: Flickr – g2_gi

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

 The six day bike race is a bit of a tradition.

The history of six day racing seems a bit unclear, and seems to have started either in the UK or the US, but is no mainly popular in mainland Europe.

A number of events are held throughout the year, and one of the oldest is in Zurich.

This year the 52nd Six day race will be held, and it’s as much a social occasion as a sporting event.

Social in the sense of groups of (mainly) men eatring, drinking and smoking cigars – although the latter might be getting a bit less popular.

The original concept was to have one of the riders from a team continually on track – although they could take tiome off to sleep if they had to. Sounds fair enough, until it’s pointed out that a team consists of only two riders.

 So, on average, a rider would be cycling at racing speeds for twelve hours a day, for six days solid.

But clearly cyclists are getting soft and only race in the evenings now.  well, I say evenings, but usually it goes on past midnight, in fact on Saturday they’ll be racing until 03:30 in the morning.

The racing takes place from Thursday 11 December until Tuesday the 16th at the Hallenstadion. 

Tickets are available in various categories, including a late night option for CHF 12, so even in todays economic markets, it’s an affordable pleasure. Unless you opt for a table for all six days at CHF 5200.

Photos: Flickr tetedelacourse

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

 Was that the most boring game you’ve ever seen?

Two great footballing nations: Think Real Madrid and Barcelona; AC Milan and Juventus. And all the rest…

I really feel sorry for the people that paid for tickets. So many games in the EM have been entertaining but that was dire.

I watched the BBC coverage of the game, and the most entertaining part was the irony of the commentary. At half time they showed a feature on the old Orsoin Welles film noir The Third Man. To which Gary Lineker responded: You know the football must be rubbish when we get more worked up about a fifty year-old film…

Exactly.

If you want to get an idea of the match, just look at the photo above, a bunch of men standing around. Now imagine watching it for 90 minutes!

Extra time was more entertaining admittedly, and penalties are always tense. But let’s hope German and Russia manage to play as the did in the quarter finals.

And provide us with some proper entertainment.

Photo: Flickr – Alexollon

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Well, you’re not going to be hearing about much other than football for the next few weeks I’m afraid.

I’ll try to make it as informative as possible, but that’s the theme you are going to get.

So two things:

Firstly, England did not qualify, and this is the last time I shall mention that they didn’t, and also that they deserved not to because they played like a bunch of amateurs – with all due respect to amateurs who might feel slighted by the comparison.

Secondly, when I say football, I mean the game where you spend most of the time kicking a ball with your foot.

Not American Football. Not Rugby Football. Not Australian Rules Football. Just Football. And please, not “soccer”.

“Soccer” stems from the term Association Football, used to distinguish Football from Rugby. It’s called Association Football because The Football Association (clever, huh?) set down the rules for the game in 1863, which were then later used as a basis by FIFA, the international governing body of the sport.

The word soccer is used in the UK (often negatively) by people who don’t play it, typically upper class people who went to schools where rugby is played, and football is discouraged. Except of course the children play football in the breaks, because that’s what they want to play – “The beautiful game” as it is so often termed.

You’d never hear anyone say “Fancy a game of soccer?”. It’d be “football” or “footie”.

So from now on, at least here, it’s Football. OK?

Extremely witty photo credit: Flickr – Tomas Caspers

And if you need a translation of the photo, it says Quarter finals, Semi finals, Final (Vienna) straight on. England, exit stage right…

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I’m feeling a bit moody, so a B&W shot today.

Bad Tiefenbrunnen is in fact, a jolly place. Located down at the end of the number 2 and 4 tram lines, it’s a very pleasant place to be in summer.

Open from 10 May to 15 September, usually to around 20:00, but that depends on the weather. If it’s warm enough to be there, it’ll be open, if not, it’ll close.

You’ll find places to grill your sausages, and please excuse me at this point for mentioning that there are naturist terraces too.

If you need it, there’s a shop to buy the sunscreen you forgot, plus the obligatory ice-cream for the children.

And to top it all, if it does get stormy, you can take some stylish photos.

Photo: Flickr so gesehen

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I went into town last week to watch the final of the Champion’s League in a bar, and I have to admit, it’s now time to start mentioning the football.

The European Championships (which is essentially all the world class teams apart from the South American nations) is being held in Switzerland and Austria from 7-29 June.

So, to put it simply, if you’re planning to be in Switzerland over that time and haven’t already booked flights/hotels, do it now. On match days, the authorities haver even extended the allowed night-flying times, to allow more efficient handling of passengers.

 It’ll be a great event with a lot of temporary viewing facilities being erected throughout the country, so it’ll be great to be here. Party zones are the talk of the town and I have to admit I’m curious what will be built!

The matches in Switzerland are being held in Geneva, Basel, Bern and Zürich. The photo above shows the Zürich stadium (hosting an athletics event) and the one below shows part of England’s dismal attempt to qualify.    

I’ll be running a series of posts on this over the coming weeks, but will intersperse it with some of the normal (and wacky) stuff too.
Photos: Flickr BeatKüng JohnTheScone

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

There aren’t many opportunities to drive quickly in Switzerland so when my ex-boss offered me the chance to drive his race kart, I jumped at the chance.

Jumped too much as it turns out, as my last skiing injury hadn’t completely healed and I ended up snapping a bone in my arm. Why is it called humerus?

Quite impressive without even having an accident…

Anyway, don’t let me put you off, it’s great fun, check out www.kartbahnwohlen.ch for opening times and prices.

Photo: Geoff Collins

PS I’m feeling a bit indisposed, so may not update quite so much over the next few weeks.

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

If you’ve never seen Telemark skiing done properly, how about a trip to Saas Fee this weekend?

And don’t forget, the new tunnel saves around 45 mins when travelling from Zürich.

It’s apparently a very friendly event, emphasis being more on style than speed but I daresay some will take it very seriously!

Here’s how it’s set to unfold:

Friday:
From 8p.m. “Meet & Greet” at Living Room

Saturday:
From 9a.m. Nostalgic ski race at Staffelwald
From 4p.m. Apéro at Black Bull Bar
From 9p.m. Nostalgic party at Living Room

Sunday:
“early birds” Off-piste with Mountain Guide
11a.m. Brunch in the ski area

+41 (0)27 958 18 82

www.saas-fee.ch

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Dog time again.

The Swiss Championship for dog-pulled sleds takes place at Les Mosses, a Col situated between Aigle and Bulle in a couple of weeks time.

It’s a sprint race, run over a distance of 8 to 16 km, and around 500 dogs will run in two heats according to the categories and number of dogs that make up the team.

Office du tourisme Les Mosses-La Lécherette,
Les Fougères,
Case postale 38,
1862 Les Mosses

+41 (0)24 491 14 66
www.lesmosses.ch

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

If money’s no object, then the new spa at the Gstaad Palace Hotel might interest you.

You may have already heard of the Palace, but the Spa is new.

It was opened a couple of months ago, and covers 1800sq meters, which must be about 20,000 sq ft.

With spectacular views over the mountains, it’s sure to be a place you won’t want to leave in a hurry, so make sure you are there for as long as you can be. 

Rooms at the Palace start around 700CHF/night for a double.

Or, if you are lucky, you can book as an external guest for a mere 50 CHF/person.

Tel +41 / (0)33 748 58 90

http://www.palace.ch/en/spa-healthclub/

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler