Posted by
Jul on 27 November 2006 |
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Today fellow blogger Jill and I headed to Bern for the Bern Onion Market (or Zibelemärit in the ridiculous local language). This is a festival that happens once a year in the Swiss capital to celebrate onions and the silly things you can do with them.
From what we saw, little old ladies and men must start making things out of onions months in advance to prepare for this one day. The creativity that went into this was evident in the wide variety of things made out of onions that were on display. Things that normal people like you or I would never consider making out of onions. Like fake clocks. And Mickey Mouse.
Both of us went into the experience hoping to actually get to consume some onions, but apparently it’s just not that kind of onion festival. The vast majority of the onions there were purely for decoration. After wandering around for quite a while (and drowning our frustrations with a couple of glasses of Glühwein), we finally found a couple stands selling freshly-made cheese and onion pies, which we enjoyed greatly.
Besides onions, the main appeal of the festival appeared to be the freedom to walk around assaulting complete strangers by either bopping them with plastic squeaky mallets or pelting them with a handful of colorful confetti. There were areas of the city where we were practically wading through confetti. It was on (and in) everything.
The combination of the noise, mess, and environmental-unfriendliness of the tons of confetti made the entire thing seem distinctly non-Swiss. I’m thinking this must be their way of letting loose.
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Tags: Bern, day-trips from Zurich, holidays, Switzerland
Posted by
Jul on 3 May 2006 |
4 comments
For a little change of pace, my friend Ali and I took off to Bern this morning. From the moment we stepped off the train I was in love. Bern has an adorable Altstadt (old town), full of porticoed sidewalks and statue-topped fountains, and an ambiance that lured me in from the start.
After wandering past the Bundeshaus (parliament building) and the Münster (large gothic church), we crossed the Aare river to check out the 
thoroughly depressing Bärengraben, two large pits that serve as the home of several bears. The pits are decked out with lots of large cement slabs and a giant discarded Christmas tree. I’m pretty sure at least one of the bears was trying to figure out how to hang himself.
The bear pits put us in the mood for a drink or two. Conveniently, there was a brewery right next door. Altes Tramdepot offered great beer, decent food (with a good vegetarian selection), and a nice view of the river from its large outdoor terrace.
Next we jumped on a bus up the hill to the newly-opened Zentrum Paul Klee, a beautiful building which houses an immense collection of the Swiss artist’s work (OK, technically he wasn’t Swiss at the time of his death, but the Swiss want to make sure that you know that they were just about to restore his citizenship when he had the nerve to up and die unannounced). I have a deep-seated love/hate relationship with Klee, about whom I wrote my college thesis. While I find his writing absolutely delicious, I have a very hard time appreciating his art work as much as I should (especially given my immense respect for his intellect and visual theories). Nonetheless I really enjoyed the experience of the exhibit, as well as the chance to share my seldom-useful knowledge of the artist and his life. 
We grabbed a coffee in the museum’s café (note to self: next time save beer drinking for after 
art viewing) and then headed back to the Altstadt, where we meandered through a couple shops and galleries until it was time to catch the train back to Zurich. We also watched a couple kids playing in a fountain, which looked like a lot of fun on such a warm day. I think we went straight from winter to summer here, because I hardly remember spring. Maybe I slept through it?
Not that I don’t love Zurich’s cleanliness, but Bern seemed to offer some sort of personality and charm that I’ve been missing here. I left Bern enthusiastic to return again soon. Luckily it’s only an hour away by train, so that shouldn’t be too difficult. 
4 comments
Tags: Bern, day-trips from Zurich, Switzerland, travel
From what we saw, little old ladies and men must start making things out of onions months in advance to prepare for this one day. The creativity that went into this was evident in the wide variety of things made out of onions that were on display. Things that normal people like you or I would never consider making out of onions. Like fake clocks. And Mickey Mouse. 
Besides onions, the main appeal of the festival appeared to be the freedom to walk around assaulting complete strangers by either bopping them with plastic squeaky mallets or pelting them with a handful of colorful confetti. There were areas of the city where we were practically wading through confetti. It was on (and in) everything.
The combination of the noise, mess, and environmental-unfriendliness of the tons of confetti made the entire thing seem distinctly non-Swiss. I’m thinking this must be their way of letting loose. 
