Switzerland, Fussball Fans

Hello dearest readers,

I've just returned, again, from travels. This time I was at a weekend wedding on a mountaintop in Switzerland. My friend Arthur, who I met when living in Buenos Aires in 1997, married a Swiss woman, Mirina, from the Zurich area.

There exists in Germany a very efficient system of ride-sharing. The word for ride-sharing in German is Mitfahrgelegenheit, or directly translated, "with-drive-possibility". It's one of those fantastically ridiculous German compound words that make the language extremely precise. The MFG (mitfahrgelegenheit) system is online and has been up and running effectively through agencies since the oil crisis in the 70's. Because of the relative strength of the social contract, the lack of violence, and the relative homogeneity of the population here, the system works very well on simply on trust and the good behaviour of the people of this region of the world. There is a ride-share culture in America, but it is very elementary in comparison. I have done it through craigslist and it's not the same. The MFG websites here include all of the basic features of social networking sites, such as profiles, pictures, and review sections for qualifying drivers and "with-drivers". It's by far the cheapest way to get around in the area and one often meets interesting people.

I got a bit of a raw deal on my way to Switzerland over the weekend. My ride was a very nervous driver who, it seemed, had never driven on a highway before. This is not typical of German drivers, who love their Autobahn and their fast cars. This woman was slow, had bad taste in music, and was extremely nervous behind the wheel. I hate this. It makes me very nervous driving with someone who'd afraid of the the other cars. At least she had a mostly pleasant disposition.

When she finally got up the nerve to change lanes in Zurich, due mostly to me saying, "Please just let me out of the car!", it was a bit later than I had expected. I missed the train I wanted to catch in Zurich to get to Zug, where the civil wedding was happening. I got my ticket and had a few minutes to check out the Zurich train station scene.

This might not seem like a productive occupation of time, but the place was awash in soccer jerseys of the national teams competing in the European Football Championships. This is, along with the World Cup, the most important tournament in the sport and features many of the world's best teams, including seven of the top ten teams in the FIFA world rankings. This year the tournament is being co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria. This means, everyone in Europe has flocked to these two small countries for the games and atmosphere. It's one of the few times when the flags fly and people go a bit crazy with the car horns. It's also the time for hooliganism and nationalistic violence. Before the Germany-Poland game two days ago, about 150 people were arrested for violent behaviour.

After checking out the scene, I boarded a train, made it to Zug, ran to the City Hall, I was late, for the Civil Wedding, only to discover that I wasn't allowed in the City Hall and wasn't really late at all. The rest of the weekend was a mix of British humor, booze, and no visibility on top of Mt. Rigi. It was good fun and excellent to see some old acquaintances who I met at Arthur's 30th four years ago in England. I discovered some common acquaintances between London and New York people, showing how small the world really is.

My ride back to Bonn was much better than the ride down. The driver was confident and fast. He dropped me off in Siegburg and I found a public screening of the German-Poland match, drank a beer, and cheered the German victory.

Until the next time.