Dinner in the Loft

I was invited by Arif and Ruth to dinner and what a dinner party it was. 10 people in total and we went on all night long, starting around 18:30 and going on till 03:00 in the morning. The guests consisted of mainly German doctors and partners from Ruth's work at the hospital, a token Berner and his girlfriend and not to mention party crasher, which was me of course! Not a doctor, although have played many games of 'Doctors and Nurses' before so maybe that constitutes to being a doctor as I have examined many a girls body! Arif is a fellow Brit and lived in London, supports Chelsea, lived in the States and now here in Bern. It's always nice to have a fellow Brit living in the same block. Well the evening was fantastic, the homemade soup to start with, followed by a fantastic main course and homemade desert. Loads of beer and wine to help the food go down. A great night had by all, especially me! :-) I shared my English humor, my bad Deutsch and shared some stories of my time here in Switzerland. I hope I'm not banded from the next party, I think not as we all had fun... Arif should have some pictures I can post on this blog..

Ascension Day

Ascension Day in Switzerland is a Public holiday and as I'm living here I also took the day off and went exploring Bern alone the river Aara. Here are some of my friends I met on the way! Say hello...... It's very strange cos they all came up to me to have a talk, as you see the sheep is very close, well he actually came running over, as did the geese, who were quackers! .......... "Who ewe looking at?"

Swiss Dinner Party

Dinner at Tanja’s! Well what’s all that about you may ask? Well that’s just it, dinner at Tanja’s, not just me but also several other of her friends. Am I a friend, well to be honest, no, I don’t know her at all apart from meeting her outside a shop in Bern Station shopping centre. Don’t ask silly questions, cos I know what you are going to ask. She approached me, yes some things like this do happened to me, and started speaking English. My first thoughts were why is a complete stranger speaking English to me in Bern. Well it’s not so strange as she overheard me in a clothes shop and then asked if I bought anything. (Of course she was in the shop at the same time unless she has very good hearing). So you can image the expression on my face, yes a pretty vacant one at that! But to cut a long story short she works for Swisscom and asked me if I would like to come to a dinner party at her house, so being an English gentleman I gladly accepted and that’s how I’m now writing about this, so I hope all is clear now…. As she lives relatively close to me I walked to her house/apartment, oh yeah not on the same day, as I met her on Sunday and it is now Wednesday, so I hope you are still following me on this? So it was Wednesday evening around 19:30 and I walked to her apartment, easy to find with the Swiss Internet site map. So I’m now there with 3 girls and me, so I’m kinda thinking I’m going be the only guy and foreigner at that. But alas, a couple of other guys turn up and another girl, so in total there were 4 girls and 3 guys, so not so bad. As she has been traveling she wanted to try out her new cuisine, a traditional Indonesian meal. So as we were all-sitting on the floor, we discussed the usual dinner party chat; food, jobs, travel, religion, relationships (not mine), living in Switzerland, etc. All in all a great night and around midnight I walked home with 2 others, as they were going my way. I think they were planning on becoming a couple as they disappeared together once they left me, dirty buggers! Well the funniest thing that still makes me laugh was the journey home. Whilst walking we came across a cat, not unusual as they are nocturnal creatures and will be out at night on the prowl. As we passed this cat sitting on the wall, he (I use he as I was not sure on it’s sex) decided to follow us. So bounding along behind us was this big fat cat. Maybe I should not have made the ‘kissing noises’ to the cat and stroked him, as he did not want to give up his pursuit and kept following for a good 10 minutes. But the very odd thing was when he was stationary his tail was down, but as soon as he lept into forward motion his tail promptly rose and pointed directly up at the stars. Was this a sign, or was this cat a remote controlled cat, (like a spy cat, with a build in camera for night surveillance), or just a very kinky cat that was looking for some action? Well as we reached the point that we all parted in opposite directions the cat walked in to the middle of the main cross roads at Viktoria Platz and sat in the middle of the road. I was now thinking this cat is definitely remote controlled as he was just sitting there watching the traffic and did not seem to be bothered about getting run over. This was so bizarre watching this cat watching us. As if to say, ‘I have you on camera now, so no funny business!’ Well the funny thing was that I pretended I had a remote control device in my hand, you know, the type you use to control a remote controlled car. And as soon as I made the kissing sound to the cat, he stood up and came over to me, at that point I pretended he was remote control as his tail stood right up again, like the antenna, and he moved on my command. This was so strange, as the people in their cars and in the street must have thought this is a robot cat as he moved on command…. Lucky for me he then ran off to bother (spy on some others) and we departed. Maybe this cat was trying out 1 off his 9 lives??? I’m going to go back and get a picture of the cat to prove this was not a dream……

A New Bike!

No not that sort! (English humor), but a new bicycle from Markus Guggisberg, on loan, well a ‘Try & Buy’ concept. I think he’s moving into sales, as this is my ploy with Swisscom Mobile and not back to myself. Well the bike isn’t really new as in brand new, but it prety good, so I will have to ‘get out on my bike and put some miles on the rubber!' as they say.

The Da Vinci Code

I have just returned from the movies, my first time in a Swiss cinema (Kino). There are quite a few cinema's in Bern so plenty to choose from, the only thing you have to watch out for is the language, as it can be only in Deutsch, or French, or a combination of both these and English. If the movie is in English then it is normally (not always) shown in English with both Deutsch and French subtitles across the bottom of the screen. 'So what did I see?' you may well ask, well after much publicity I wanted to see the Da Vinci Code, and since I have read the book, and was hooked from page 1, I wanted to see if the movie could grasp my attention in the same way. I went to the Gotthard cinema, which was a very nice one, holding around 400 people and very modern with good seating, sound and picture. Like cinema’s in Holland the usual ‘Pauze” in the middle just as the movie starts to get warmed up. So after around 25 minutes break the movie starts as abruptly as it stopped, and if you haven’t already unwrapped the most noisy bags of sweets, this is your time to do it, followed by coughing and young boy’s giggling and making comments all the way through about the attractive and sexy Miss Sophie Neveu, played by Audrey Tautou. I know she was cute, but come on, not all the way through the movie do you have to wet your pants over her! Tom Hanks played the lead roll as Robert Langdon, which was surprisingly good. Anyway to cut a long story short, actually that’s what they did for the movie, I was slightly disappointed. :-( Having read the book, reluctantly as every man and his dog had already, I thought what’s all the fuss about so I read the bloody book. Well to my astonishment I was hooked from page 1 and had to keep reading this. Fact, Fiction or otherwise the book was full of excitement, drama, edge of the seat stuff, suspense, a little romance and some detail that just was not in the movie. Scores out of 10 for the book, 10 but a reluctant 7 for the movie. If you check out the web, there is so much stuff on the Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown, love it or loathe it, it has really stirred up some questions on religion and the Catholic church in particular.

Danny's 13th Birthday

Happy Birthday Danny, a teenager at last, I wish I was again! Danny is my sister Elizabeth's eldest son. Danny Boy, a typical schoolboy, probably following in his family’s footsteps, although in today’s world. It’s funny how we chastise children for misbehaving although we were similar when we were kids, as I often recall (although distant memories now) how I was always in trouble throughout my school and teenage years. Not big bad stuff but typical misbehaving, being cheeky, rude and wanted to be part of the ‘in crowd’, but then I’m sure we all wanted that? I was a rebel partly because of my older sister (Fifi) now in New York, as I was expected to be rebellious and take after her, especially as she had already established a reputation at ‘Big school’ before I joined. So as you see it sort of follows down the chain in the family, we all share common trait and genes, not just the 501 type! Anyway before I disappear down memory lane I would like to reminds myself this is not my day, but in fact Daniel’s. My gift to Danny is a holiday, a trip over here to see me, have some fun and to visit a country he has never had the pleasure to visit. Combined with a trip to Holland to stay with Nephtalie, (lucky boy!) as he loved going there last year. So ‘roll on’ the school summer holiday’s.

Liz & David's Wedding Anniversary

This is my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth) and her husband David, this is their 1st Wedding Aniversary, so congratulations for this one and many more to come.. Before you ask too many questions, my sister and David have been living together for many years and never seemed to get around to getting married. So this is their first year officially 'husband and wife'. If I recall, although Liz correct me if I’m wrong, but you both met at LeRoc dancing and he whisked you off your feet!

Saturday and the Neighbours

I have a lovely elderly neighbour next door; she is 80 years young and as ‘bright as a button’ and speaks perfect English. Her name in Mrs. I. Ochsenbein, and I first met her shortly after I moved in on the stairwell, no I don’t live on the stairwell!. I said ‘Hi’ to her and she replied back, ‘Hello, so you are English’? I thought, how does she know that, I haven’t said 2 words yet, but she said that Swiss people don’t greet each other with ‘Hi’ so she assumed I was English speaking. I was surprised that she spoke very good English, but many years working in a bank (27) I think she said and many and years of traveling she is a modern woman. So back to the evening there was a combination of different neighbours and it was good to finally meet some I had seen but not really spoken with. In this apartment block there is a mixed selection of different people; some with children, some single, some elderly, several forgien like me, furnishing the 11 apartments. The top floor is the loft apartment, which is fantastic, and I’ve had the pleasure to go up and see this as the couple that live there are now my friends. The girl is a doctor, from German and the guy is formally from London, (they met in Italy, yes a long story), so we can watch the football together! Yes more football, but he supports Chelsea… Nothing too exciting to tell you about this evening, but maybe we will all get together again!

Greg's Birthday

Today is Greg's birthday, my brother-in-law in New York, so enjoy your 45th birthday. This picture was taken last year in Holland when my sister and Greg came over to visit us. Greg is a cool guy; he likes his music and has a very mixed variety, and has the biggest collection of baseball hats I have ever seen. Greg grew up in the Bronx and Spanish Harlem in New York, very tough places to live and if you survived to be an adult and escaped the crime, beating, mugging, shooting and day to day torment, you deserve a medal. During his teenage year this was a very hard place to live. I admire Greg for his determination, his struggle in his younger years and escaping from an area of New York that was so tough on a kid. I still have a found memoir of helping Greg repair the drainpipe on the house in the winter this year, freezing our balls off up a ladder. Next time I’m coming in the summer! Happy Birthday Greg

Windsor - UK

Windsor, the second home of Queen Elizabeth II of England. A beautiful part of the country, west of London and within a ‘stones throw’ from Heathrow airport. Actually too close to the airport as the main flight path for the planes landing is directly over the Castle. They should never have built the castle there!! I was over in Windsor for 2 days, as our UK head office is in ‘Theale’ which is on the M4 corridor, near Reading and near our biggest European customer; Vodafone. I flew in from Zurich this time directly to Heathrow and jumped in a pre-booked ‘Private Car’ as regular ‘Black Cabs’ are extremely expensive, so make sure you book your ride in advance. I stayed in a quaint hotel (the Caste hotel) in the main high street. Typical English style hotel, with carpets in all the rooms and bathroom. That evening we had dinner in a local restaurant/bar down by the river, which was great. The food is always plentiful and pints of beer are the local tradition, although I switched to red wine, as I’m not a hardened drinker anymore. Too many years outside of the UK and I don’t enjoy the Pub lifestyle. Anyway besides the Queen staying in Windsor, which of course you can tell when she’s home or not because the Union Jack flag is flying high when she’s in residence, but then again she has many castle to chose from in the UK, there are famous people. Like Nick Faldo (yes the famous golfer) and many many others. Actually Nick was walking with his son down by the river when we were in the restaurant.

Happy Birthday Steed

Today is a special day for my brothers son 'Steed', as he is 3 years old today and I'm the Godfather so watch out! Steed is the youngest child of my brother as he has an older sister Aurora who is 4. This picture was taken at my sisters wedding (Liz & David). Steed lives in Harrogate, near Leeds, in England and is a typical little boy as he likes his cars and playing with his ‘winkie’.

Football Agian!

More VIP tickets to see the YB's in action as the football league is drawing to a close and in England Newcastle are playing against Chealse in their last game of the season so need to beat them to retain the 7th position in the Premiership, so lets see if I get the double, YB's and Newcastle winning! Well a good result all round, Newcastle beat Chelsea 1-0 and YB beat Thun 2-1. Newcastle have now qualified for the Intertoto Cup and will have caretaker boss Glenn Roeder as their new permanent manager (coach) on Monday 15th May. I was disappointed watching the YB’s, although as a VIP again this did not distract me from commenting on how bad they are. I managed to meet Marc (my Deutsch teacher) at the game and we watched a terrible first half, it was so bad it was laughable. Around 44 minutes into the first half the YB’s goalkeeper made a big, big blunder. He must have been asleep as a pretty soft sidekick of the ball from about 30 meters out and the ball (in slow motion) crept into the side of the goal. Everyone was amazed, the players, the supporters on both sides and I nearly feel of my seat in disgust. YB’s never looked able throughout the first half, although they had a lot of position they could not shoot at the target. Shots flying everywhere but the right place, so the whistle went and we all went inside for more food and drinks. When the second half started it was pretty much the same as the first. YB’s never really got going until the last 10 minutes, and then by surprise they scored. A nice goal which kick-started them into a different gear. Although some more ‘head in hands’ blunders by YB’s as they missed 2 easy shots earlier on. Well with around 8 minutes to play YB’s went crazy, running around like headless chickens, but they scored again, a nice header sealed the victory, but was nearly all to quick to late as they did not slow the pace down and take control. Instead they started to make mistakes and Thun where right back at them, but as the time ran out YB’s can claim the victory. It’s a great pity that YB’s don’t have more composure and a better coach, as they have a lot of potential and could easily be the best team in the league if the coach managed the players better! I just remember the game against Zurich and Basel, where YB’s dominated the play, but could not finish and lost both games. But at the end of the day it’s the team that wins that counts and today it was YB’s so we had something to celebrate and more drinks. So you can imagine my frustration watching them, which multiplied as Jun Shi did not play at all and again I did not see my buddy on the pitch. I then went back in to the VIP area, sat with the player’s wives and families and had a few more drinks. Whilst in there I was speaking with Everson the Brazilian midfielder who is out with a broken leg, about why Jun Shi does not play. Basically he said that during training they could all see he has a lot of potential but with the lack of speaking Deutsch or English he has great trouble communicating. I thought this is strange as in English football all you hear is grunts, but lets not go there. As he never seems to play more than 10 minutes I’m not surprised he is not so confident as the coach never plays him. BTW the coach IMHO is f***king useless, he stands on the sideline, expressionless and does not control the game. No one seems to take notice of him, he has no sidekick like in English football to consult and does not rant and rave at the players, so they do their own thing. Remember what I said earlier, this team has a lot of potential if managed correctly, so I rest my case! The Chinese international team is coming to Switzerland to play a friendly game with the Swiss team as a warm up for the Swiss going into the world cup, so I hope Jun Shi will play and score against the Swiss, just to prove he is a good player. Anyway ‘enough already’ as my sister would say and lets move on to something less boring…

It was a strange day

Well nothing at all planned today, got up late, well when I actually arrived home from London I did not get home till around 1am so was shattered to say the least. So checked a few emails (32 new in total in 1 day) so it was lucky I was not away any longer and mainly internal SPAM. So I got my 8 hours sleep, woke up around 10:30am and decided to do the usual things, such as clothes washing, etc, nothing too exciting but necessary non the less. Also a trip to Migros (yes I kind of like Migros now as they do everything, oh yeah you know that now, sorry!), and to the dry cleaners and a spot of clothes shopping in the centre, which was very busy.

Church today - Saturday afternoon

Today I went to church; yes you've got to believe it I actually went. Well I was invited, so I went to see what all the fuss was about and I actually had a great time, not that I could understand a word that was being said, but I did catch a few words that were familiar. The church, a catholic one at that, was not something I would frequent because I'm not religious, although I did asked for forgiveness for my immoral thoughts and years of misguidance. Marissa actually invited me to meet a Philippine band from Manila who travel around the world performing Vocal concerts. The first part is a religious song, the 2nd part Filipino folk dance and the last Filipino native songs. Well I didn't actually expect to meet them in person, have lunch with them then meet up with them later but it was great. Anyway before I digress let me tell you a little bit about the church and the Holy Communion, as I don’t think I have ever experienced this. So the Priest spoke to everyone, yes in Deutsch, then it was time to sing our first of 4 songs, which was good if you could even read the words let alone understand the tune. Then the Philippine band came on, and this was music to my ears. As soon as the first girls voice let out the first note I was hooked. It was fantastic, I was listening with both ears for a change and could not get enough of this, it was really ‘sole cleansing’ and I felt that all my impure thoughts were ridden from my body, well for an hour or so! The band consisted of 5 men and 5 women and they sang like angles, also accompanied by a sole guitar, which was great. Then more songs back to the sermon and more words of wisdom followed until we got to one I sort of knew. Well it started of with Hallelujah and ended with this and had a few in the middle so I could sing alone. As I was standing in the pews with Marissa, we watched all (well most of) the audience, on command, leave the seated area, and merge in the isle to walk down to the front where the Priest was (dressed in a nice yellow frock) give them all his blessing as the Holy Communion is the body and blood of Jesus Christ given with bread and wine, so all the people were given a round circle of what I think is rice paper on their tongue and some wine to drink. The Priest must have enjoyed his part, as he seemed to consume an awful lot of wine. They were also a baptism during the service, which was quite nice and the baby did not cry. The church is a grand place, with big high walls and nicely decorative with stain glass windows and all. With the modern day microphone and immense hollow in the middle seated area this made for great acoustics. Anyway before I digress further, as I was saying, all these people mainly elderly, well at least 90% were, filtered into single file and made their way down toward the front were the Priest was. But all I could see was the crowd of people disappearing and the picture in my mind was all these old and frail people disappearing out of site through a door one after the other and reemerging from the opposite door as young children walking back to their seats. Quite surreal but very true in a way! So the service finished and I went down the front with Marissa and she introduced me to the band, and as you see I’m sitting with them. We then went off for dinner, in the church, which was great value for only 7 Swiss francs, so I may go again. Each and every member of the band wanted to speak with me, mainly because they don’t speak Deutsch, but did English. As they are traveling they will return after the tour to their full time jobs. Jobs such as a music teacher and Physiotherapist, to name a few. They were very interesting and I complimented them on their singing as it was fantastic and I loved every song. It was so refreshing to hear ‘PURE’ music for a change. After dinner we met up again at the bear pit but it had already gone 17:30 so the bears were in their den. If I get a link to their music and Marissa reminds me of their name then its worth listening to this!

Luton Airport - UK

Yes, back to back trips, up early and home late! So home late from Slovakia and a quick turn around and back on a plane to Luton airport, North London. This time I was traveling from Basel airport so a quick train timetable check and I was up early and off again. I was flying easyJet this time as it was cheap, not necessarily convenient but for a last minute trip. The only problem is to ensure you get the front seats, which I always aim for, cos it’s sort of like traveling business class without the frills as you get extra leg room and can be first off the plane if you are in a hurry. The only downside is the plane boarding sequence is done in block orders, so if you are early at the airport (like 2 hours early) you can get and A on your boarding card, then B, C and if you are like me there 1 hour beforehand you get a D, which of course means you are last to board, so the odds of getting the front seat are kind of impossible. So without the plane even anywhere in sight we were rounded up like cattle to wait in our boarding group order. So all the A's went first then B's and so on, until everyone was in a tight confined waiting area. Still no sign of the plane so as I was in D we waited 20 minutes before we were rounded up, but I feel sorry for the others as they must have been standing 40 minutes before the plane actually arrived and they could start boarding. I asked the obvious question ‘Why do we have to get into group allocations so early?’ Well not such a silly question because we still had 4 people that were so busy concentrating on shopping, drinking and everything but boarding we still had a delay because on them, so I can understand why they like us to get rounded up early. Apparently easyJet have a quick turn around so can not afford the delay at the airport, as any time on the ground for the plane is time wasted and extra airport tax. Well you wont believe it, I was one of the very last people to get on the plane and I managed to get a front seat, wonderful! So we had our easy queuing, easy seating, easy flight, easy kiosk, but no easy girls! My trip to the UK was a brief in and out, so I was back home very late. Actually on the return the easyjet flight was delayed by the French air traffic control yet again, so I missed the 23:04 train from Basel to Bern so had to hang around in Basel, tired and eager to get to bed for another hour. Well I noticed that the youth in Basel are the same in Zurich and Bern, they like to buy their 6 pack of beer, as it’s cheaper that the bar, and drink in the street. So the train stations in the cities are not a desirable place to be at night, unless you are 18, like smoking, drinking and dropping rubbish everywhere but the bin. Maybe I’m getting old cos I probably did the same at that age… Hey, do you remember the song 'Luton Airport' or something like that, well I found myself singing this but I can not remember who sings it! Anyway some more trivia, did you know that the Beatles song 'All you need is Love' was unveiled at Luton airport in 1960. Oh yeah, I finally got home 00:45, so was knackered and all I needed was some love!

'May the 4th be with You!'

Sorry but I had to use this one! I heard someone talking about how they hated 'Star Wars' and this seemed so appropriate. So are you tempted over to the 'Dark Side' I was? May the 4th is also remembered for the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, but I will leave that for you to read. Well to tell you the truth I only put this date in so I could mention star wars, not that I’m a fan, but the date just made it relevant. Actually today was my return from Slovakia so I will leave this and catch up on writing the rest of the blog as I tend to get carried away and write too much and I don’t want to bore you!

Bratislava - Slovakia

Another business trip! This was an early start, not something I’m used to doing, but all in the call of duty. So at 5am I got out of bed and made my way down to the Bahnhoff to catch the early train to Zurich airport. I was lucky to get there on time as the train announced a 10 minutes delay, a delay I thought, this never happens and to be on the very day I needed this train to be on time as this was the first train in the morning. Well not including the 4am train, which I did not plan to get! So I managed to get there just in time as they were already boarding when I arrived, but I actually had some time to spare afterall. The flight was to Vienna, not Bratislava, although the meeting was in Slovakia we (my colleague flying in from Finland – Markus) and I could both get to Vienna around the same time as there were far more flights to Vienna than Bratislava. We both arrived within 15 minutes of each other so he had the car hired as I arrived. The drive to Bratislava is less than 1 hour and only 46klm from the airport. Vienna and Bratislava, so I hear, are the 2 closest cities of different countries in the world, although I'm not sure if this is true. The drive was great, the flat countryside of Austria and the hundreds of wind turbines everywhere. There must be at least a thousand as I lost count after a few hundred, but the good thing is they look ok, well to me anyway. We arrived at the boarder and did not know the routine, so we handed over our passports and was not sure we had to pay anything, but the 2 security guards looked at us and muttered something in Slovakian and we thanked them and off we went, yes with our passports. Then the excitement began, we both thought the other one had booked the hotel, but in fact neither of us had. So with 30 minutes to go we had no idea where we were heading, but the good thing was we had the telephone numbers of 2 hotels sent to us by the Operator we were going to see. So without further a do, I called them, but both were fully booked, ‘No rooms at the Inn!’ but they gave me the name of another hotel and so it went on until I called the sixth hotel and finally we got 2 rooms at a reasonable price. The funny thing was, this was the very hotel we had both stayed in 2 years earlier but neither of us could remember the name (City Hotel Bratislava). It’s strange how some things seem to work out. We booked into the hotel around 7:30pm and then went out for dinner in the city with our potential customer. The city is fantastic; the inner part has been restored and looks great, pity I did not take my camera to dinner as we did not get time to go back during the day. We had dinner in a restaurant called ‘Pavaratsi’, and the food, the wine and the service, was great! This city is cheap and worth a visit…and not to mention the girl’s, well everywhere you look there are stunning girls, beautiful and all very charming. So if you are a single lonely guy (like the movie Lonely Guy with Steve Martin), then get yourself over to Bratislava, as you will not be disappointed. The following morning we got up and decided it was time to prepare the presentations for the meeting, talk about leaving things to the last minute, this was the last minute as we finished the slide deck just in time to get to their office. But in this job this is nothing new, we never seem to have enough time in the day so you end up doing things in the last minutes, but all went very well. I was just thinking lucky my customers don’t read my blog, but they do!! Haha. :-) They say the best presentations are the ones done just before the meetings, but then who needs slides, as I prefer talking and telling a few stories which is far more fun and a lot less boring. The trip back was good, this time we did not take the country route but the main road, which ended up in the country. There is a massive road construction going on in Austria to improve the main road from Vienna to Bratislava, really eating into the countryside and right through Wind Turbine city. Well we got back to Vienna airport in good time, pretty easy driving and worth the view. We both departed 10 minutes apart so this was a good trip. All we needed was a signed contract, but then we will have to go back again for this. I finally arrived home at 12:30am, so was very tired again, but then tomorrow's another day!

May Day! May Day!

Well as it was a Bank holiday Monday, not sure about in Bern but I took the day off anyway and I promised if Bas was good he could go and see the Bears. So a walk up and around the rose garden and down to the Bear pit, next to the big tourist information centre and the restaurant that brew their own beer. The bears are out from 09:30 until 17:30 so get there early and you see them come out and look for their breakfast, which are apples left by the warden. Well I actually thought he was a bear but it wasn’t. So in one pit are 2 bears, a male and female and in the other pity a 28-year-old male. Apparently bears only live to around 30, so he is knocking on a bit, but did like his apples. I was thinking for the tourists they should get 2 people in a bear costume (before the bears come out or it could get a little messy) start of slowly and then get the apples and start juggling and see how many silly tourists think it’s real. Anyway, a walk through the old city, a coffee in the Cuba Bar and then it was time Bas made his way back to Holland. So a great weekend and fun for all! Question: Why is the distress call on boats, planes, etc. Mayday Mayday??? is it because the first distress call was on the 1st of May? Well for the answer click on this link....