Then to the main wedding. Brig is a tiny town in the south of Switzerland and one of the smaller cantons. The wedding itself was in a very small church and the ceremony was very intimate with only a handful of foreigners. Unlike Irish weddings Domi gave a speech in Swiss German and English at the start of wedding thanking everyone for coming. Also, he and his wife arrived together and sat at the top of the alter facing outwards. The priest was a young energetic man with amazing communication skills. His eyes were ablaze and he engaged with his crowd constantly asking them to answer some of his questions and regularly cracking jokes. Eventhough he spoke 99% of the time in German his sincerity was amazing and eventhough the spoken word was lost on the visitors I felt it was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been at, bar none, because of how family orientated the atmosphere was and the sincerity and passionate delivery of the priest to a very engaged and interactive audience. I hope I can capture some of the magic of Domi and Gabi's wedding at my own this February.
The rain fell soon afer the ceremony but we quickly made our way to shelter and some beautiful white wine that Gabi's father had cultivated and prepared himself from his own vineyard. We then went back to a cosy hotel where a single electronic keyboard man played a marathon 4 hour session, we did the follow your partner around the room snake dance at least 7 times, Gabi's mother played the accordian and deliverd a one man comedy act on a stage in front of the crowd for 20 minutes and Domi's father also performed a rap song with Dami's mates. All mixed in with more of Gabi's father delicious wine and a non stop flow of excellent food. A wonderful experience.
The next day we got the opportunity to see the world famous Matterhorm Mountain from the beautiful touristic village of Zermatt and later that night we visited Gabi's parent for my firt ever tasting off Raclette cheese all prepared homemade and with tender loving expert care. It was truely delicious and with a helping of lovely boiled potatoes Camila had five seatings and I only bet her by one to six.
The this weekend I decided to travel by myself while Camila was in Brazil to visit my good friend "Maddog" McKeever who is an interest trader for USB in Zurich. It was back to Switerland again! We went down to the amzing town of Interlaken to spend a couple of nights in the famous Balmer youth hostel while we explored all that the best adventure sports city of Europe had to offer. This was my first time to Interlaken it won't be my last. The nearest thing I have seen to it is Queenstown in New Zealand. Interlaken means "between lakes" and that is exactly what it is - two beautiful massive glacial lakes. It is surrounded by majestic peaks with a beautifl little city on level ground. It's obvious when you get to the city from all the activity taking place in the park in the centre of the city that it's all about the outdoor sports in this part of the world. Handgliders dotted the skies regularly and paragliders were everywhere. Countless scores of people wizzed around on their bikes and tourists hung out in huge numbers from all the local hip cafes and bars that are tucked away nicely on the wdge of the main square and pretty back streets.
Jim and I decided for a 40km cycle on day one with a visit to my first ever Cowboy and Monster trucks festival, you heard me right, line dancing, Harley Davison, cowboy festival, that just happened to be in Interlaken when we were there and had the best handle bar moustache wearing air guitar players I have ever seen going crazy to Garret Brook songs. "Nice job" Maddog!
Second day was all about canyoying and repelling (check out some photos here to see what it's all about). Basically, going down a glacial vally with a wet suit and helmet and over the course of a two to three hours in a group of ten jumping and diving in to various type of pools and currents. Great fun that reminded me of sledging when in Queenstown.
Interlaken was an excellent find and one never really on my rader before until this week. I look forward to getting back and next time getting to visit Schillthorn which I'd love to see on a beautiful sky blue pristine day.
