- 27 Jun 08, 09:45 AM
Vienna - 2,411 miles travelled
As I walked out of the St Jacob-Park media centre in Basel for the final time on Wednesday evening, a wave of melancholy swept over me. Euro 2008 is over in Switzerland, the party has finished and it is time to move on.
A rather fearsome woman who works on security, screening journalists as they enter the stadium, summed it all up. I asked her how she felt about it all and she simply replied: "Game over."
The large number of volunteers at the stadium were clearly planning to celebrate. Their table in the media centre was full of champagne bottles and other alcoholic drinks. It felt a little like the last day of school, and I half expected them to start signing each other's shirts.
I wouldn't say the Swiss people suffered a serious dose of football fever during Euro 2008, but then I didn't expect them to. Anyway, their team gave them precious little to cheer.
But they were near faultless as hosts and, if they weren't quite the main story themselves, were more than happy to marvel at the crazy scenes that unfolded all around them.
As thousands upon thousands of Dutch fans descended on Berne to see their team in action, the streets were lined with hundreds of Swiss waving them on, curious to see the spectacle before them. It looked like they had just been liberated.
Everything works in Switzerland; all the clichés about efficiency are true. Trains run on time, information you are given about transport or directions or opening hours is correct, and people wait for the green man before crossing the road. Some may view it as slightly boring, but then you don't hear bad music blasting out of mobile phones on a bus and wonder what dire consequences might follow if you ask the yoof to turn it down.
Besides, it would be untrue to say that there wasn't plenty that caught my attention or made me laugh in Switzerland.
In no particular order, here are a few things that caught my eye:
A slightly scruffy man paying for 54 Swiss francs (£27) worth of supermarket shopping with a 1,000 Swiss franc (£500) note. The checkout girl did not bat an eyelid. Back home, if I hand over a fiver it gets properly checked.
Swiss information staff at tram stops changing from fluorescent orange to yellow bibs to avoid confusion with Dutch fans, some of whom were apparently taking to the role with relish and handing out duff information.
A Swiss man on a train telling me that although his country is steadfastly neutral the people there are starting to make exceptions when it comes to visiting Russians. He also used the phrase "holy moly".
An old German woman - a long-time resident of Switzerland - sitting opposite me in a pizza restaurant and moaning at length about the presence of foreigners in the country without the slightest hint of irony.
Atrocious daytime TV, featuring a man stroking lots of cats in a barn while a Carole King song plays over the top. Watching Sex and the City dubbed into German. It made more sense.
Aromat. Some kind of condiment. No idea what it is but it tastes good.
Listening to a Chinese journalist starting a question to Uefa president Michel Platini with the words "Mr Blatter..." Monsieur Platini was not amused.
Hearing every substitution announced over a stadium's tannoy system in up to four languages - English, host country and the two competing nations.
The bear pits of Berne, a reminder of my student days in Leeds, where there are the crumbling remains of a Victorian bear pit.
Watching a Turkey fan desperately trying to make progress with the receptionist at my hotel while the woman in question swatted away all advances with consummate professionalism. Wednesday just wasn't his day.
Poor old Alexander Frei, crying his eyes out just yards from where I was sat after injuring himself in the opening match of the tournament. Such a terrible thing to see.
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So, there you go, my highlights of Switzerland. To mark my last full day there, I cycled into France, then Germany and back to Switzerland in the space of a couple of hours.
After three weeks of irregular eating, too much drinking and very little exercise, it was high time to listen to a few signals from my body, though I could have done without the wrong turn that took me to the airport and into some bizarre customs zone.
And on Thursday I took three trains and one bus on an 11-hour journey to Vienna, my final destination. The transport to the Austrian border ran like clockwork. The minute I left Switzerland and arrived at Feldkirch train station, I was confronted by delayed trains, confused passengers and a beleaguered platform attendant. It felt almost like home.
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That comment about everything works in Switzerland is so true.
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Paul,
1.) thanks for your stuff. I first read this BBC blog in 2006 and you have managed to keep the spirit alife - in spite of the absence of Engeland or any other British team.
2.) Knorr Aromat is a "traditional" German condiment. Franz Beckenbauer did commercials for Knorr in the 1960s ( I have a WC 1966 booklet sponsored and ornated with slogans by Knorr - "Kraft in die Suppe, Knorr auf den Tisch")
3.) Holy moly, where is WC 2010 going to take place?
-SA?
-Germany?
-Spain (would be my guess)?
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The trains especially. They run on time, are generally clean, modern and comfortable, have a unified and logical ticketing policy (return price = 2 x single, etc), and coordinate to the extent that the last local trains of an evening will wait for delayed inter-city connections, or for big shows to finish. There are even extra local trains/trams/buses laid on, often free of charge, following festivals or big events. A public transport service that is run as a service to the public. There's a novelty....
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I'm a student in the UK and I spent my teenage years in Switzerland, I am there now as it happens, and even as a Brit, I feel homesick for der Schweiz.
They apologise for a 3 minute delay on the trains, whereas in the UK that is classified as "on time". And it's ridiculously cheap compared to Britain.
A lot of non-Swiss complain about the "foreigners", which is highly amusing.
Aromat is delicious.
Swiss German is the worst language ever invented.
Switzerland: Best country in the world!
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There's bear pit in the Botanical Gardens of Sheffield. In perfect nick too!
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Paul,
I was introduced to Aromat at Oktoberfest many years agoand had been looking for it here for ages, even resorting to buying it in Germany. However, it is finally available in the UK - I got some from what used to be Associated Dairies (I'll let you work it out) - but I think you'll find it in most supermarkets.
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Their table in the media centre was full of champagne bottles and other alcoholic drinks. It felt a little like the last day of school,
what school did you go to?
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The aromat issue. Can anybody tell me what it is. It looks like it ought to take Cheesy, but doesn't.
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http://store.yahoo.com/gdcom/048001704022.html
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Actually a tram I was waiting for in Basel was late a few weeks ago... an erratic Italian coach driver had knocked it off it's tracks.
As a resident I can also say that the preparation for this tournament was simply awesome. The facilities for fans in the city centre were first rate. My favourite moment was driving on a back road from France into Basel over the main A35 where there was backlog of traffic for a few miles all decked in exuberant orange ahead of the Holland game. I could see below the border guards politely inspecting everyone's passports. At the border crossing I went over, the guards had gone home for the weekend.
My second favourite moment was watching the Germany v Turkey game on TV only to see the BBC lose coverage. I switched to the Swiss, German and French coverage where htere was no problem, so I was surprised ot catch Gary Linekere sympathizing with all the fans around the world who lost coverage. Of course the BBC lost coverage because they used Vienna as their communications centre, not Basel. They will know better next time than to eschew Swiss efficiency.
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Aromat is certainly now stocked by Waitrose. I buy it regularly. Used to have to get my Swiss sister in law to send it to me.
According to the label, it is a finely balanced blend of herbs and spices.
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I've also been quite amused the way every substitution has been said in English FIRST! You would have thought the host language (French or German) would come first, then the language of the countries involved in the game. Especially when you think that, with the exception of Howard Webb and his two assistants, there are no official participants at the Championships for whom it's their primary language.
Has there been any comment about this 'on the ground'?
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Aromat is a mixture of salt, flavouring and quite a lot of monosodium glutamate, the stuff the chinese put in their food by the bucketload.
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Well all good things must come to an end, and you have been lucky to have been involved in Euro 2008 from begining to end.
We now eagerly await the Final on Sunday and hopefully see Spain come out worthy winners.
A great blog well done keep up the good work enjoy the next couple of days and see you at the world cup.
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rebyname - I have heard mention of it. People think it is a bit strange - and it is. But the key to working out the strange logic of it is that English is the official language of Uefa. Hope that clears that up.
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Paul, exactly how unhappy was Mr. Plattini? I Don't see why he would react in such a way given the greatter accomplishments of his predicessor!! And I didn't get the one about a man stroking cats, watching sex and the city while listening to some kind of music!
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My Wife's company is relocating to Switzerland, and we're giving serious consideration to moving there, as most the things said about quality of life are generally true.
The trains do run on time, but to give the British Train service a bit of credit, my commuter line into London has about 6 trains an hour at peak times, all converging with half a dozen other lines in the London Bridge area. The town that we were looking at living in, on the main line to Lausanne and about 20 miles or so from Geneva (about the same distance I am now from Central London), has one stopping train an hour. I think that with that regularity of service I could run a train service on time!
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Good to see you sweating in the sun on that bike, Fletch. About time us taxpayers saw you putting some effort in for our coin. Enjoy the rest of your jolly, and I'll look forward to a pint or warm, overpriced chemical beer when you return. Woz.
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