121/356: Train Bistro

Hotels without working internet make a bloggers life hard. I was in Berlin this last weekend and the hotel didn't get the WIFI up and running all weekend. This made me sad and you with a post to read.

Anyhow, on my way to Berlin I made the journey from Bern to Zurich in the train's bistro wagon. It is hard to believe but I am quite sure this is the first time that I ever sat and consumed (a beer of course) something in the bistro wagon. Nothing big to say about doing that, just kinda surprised that it took me 30 years to get to this point.

I might repeat this. Having a chat with a beer in hand seems to be a good way to spend an hour. Also I noticed that contrary to the other wagons, people talk with each other here. 

120/356: Surprise

Surprise! It's not what you thought.
Surprise is a "street magazine" that is sold by homeless people. It's actually quite a good thing because they get 50% of the earnings. I have walked past someone selling these many many times. Yesterday when I got to the train station in Bern I saw someone selling it again and decided to buy one. Can't tell you anything about what they write about, because I didn't read anything yet. I plan to do just that when I am on the plane to Berlin later this evening.

119/356: Shnit International Short Film Festival: SLAM Movie Night

What is a "Slam Movie Night"? Believe it or not, before it started I didn't know myself.

Last week I saw a sign right at my local bus stop about the "Shnit" short film festival that would happen in Bern this week. I have never been to a short film festival so it instantly got my attention. A day later I looked it up and got a ticket for a random event. They have around three different events each day for a week or so, so it wasn't that easy to choose one.

As you already know, I chose the "Slam Movie Night". It sounded like fun even though I wasn't too sure how this was going to play out. Let me say this right now, I picked an awesome event.

Essentially it worked like this; they would start showing a film and depending if you liked it or not you could boo it or clap or make any other negative/positive noise. If the positive was louder the film would continue of the negative took over, they would stop the film and move on to the next. 
The fact that they were serving beer and had a part where guessing the right movie would get you a free shot made the whole thing even merrier. I was pretty merry myself...

Oh it was so much fun! Most films weren't that good but one or two were really interesting/fun. I really enjoyed the whole event. I wish stuff like this would happen more often!

118/356: Hospital

On Tuesday I had an unplanned visit to the hospital for the first time in my life.

I have been to a hospital a few times in my life but it was always planned in some way. Two days ago, I went there because I have had strong stomach pains for a few days and was worried that it might be an inflamed appendicitis. You don't mess around with that. 

I don't remember when I went to see a doctor the last time so going to the hospital just like that was actually quite a big thing for me. Gladly it was not an inflamed appendicitis. What it was, nobody knows. Since this morning I am back to normal, which I am quite glad about. My life is too busy to waste a few days lying around in the hospital. 

So yeah, that was an involuntary first but a first nonetheless. I hope these kind of firsts won't come around often. 
 

117/356: Gelterkinden

I am a bit late for my posts right now. Let me try to catch up the last few days..

So on Monday I was in Gelterkinden. A little place near Basel.
I went there because I was going to meet with a guy from school to work on our group project. Besides being there for the first time, I also got to try a microwave dish that won't be in the shops until early next year. His company makes them and they had a few samples left. It was quite cool to try something that nobody else gets to taste until in a few months.

I didn't take any pictures or can't tell you what it was cause I am not sure if I am actually allowed to.
Anyway, not the most exciting day in my project but still managed to get two firsts in there.

116/356: Vikings vs Steelers at Wembley, London

Make no mistake, I have seen and done many great things in my life and since I started this project but being one of 86'000 at the Wembley stadium was a moment that gave me goosebumps and something that I will remember forever.

The whole reason I was in London this weekend, was to watch the NFL regular season game Minnesota Vikings vs Pittsburgh Steelers. As a Steelers fan, I have been looking forward to this moment a long time. Considering I was expecting a lot, it says a lot that my expectations were exceeded.

The whole experience was fantastic. Starting with the walk up to the stadium with all the fans, waiting for the game to beginn, watching the pre-game show or the actual game itself. Those Americans really know how to puit on a show and get you hyped.

The game was a close affair that was only decided when the Steelers QB fumbled the ball 6 yards from the the vikings end zone with just a few seconds in the game. So if I have to have a downside, I guess it would be that the "wrong" team won the game. Still I wouldn't have wanted to miss it. It was the seventh game that has been played in London and from what we heard, it was the best so far.

But to be honest, the thing that was nearly the most fascinating, was how they managed to get 85'000+ fans away from the venue within a very short period. As you can imagine, many many people were waiting to get on the tube and we were prepared to wait for a long long time. But I was mistaking. Within 20 min we were on the tube and on our way back to Paddington. I am really impressed how they managed to do that. When you see the pictures below, you will understand where I am coming from.

Right now I am SO glad that I witnessed this great event and can't wait to be back at Wembley to see the Jaguars play the 49ers at the end of October.

Leading up to the venue.

Standing just outside the stadium, still not quite able to believe how big this thing is.

The Wembley is the second biggest stadium in Europe and oh.my.god what an atmosphere in there!

Kickoff

Panorama shot of the stadium. Just take in those dimensions. I think the biggest stadium I have ever been to had just about half of the seats of this place.

For many fans it didn't really matter which teams played the game. It was all about watching an awesome NFL game "close" to home.

See those masses wanting to get to the tube...

...maybe now you can see why I was suprised how fast we got home.

To finish this post I would like to give you a little glimpse of the action. Thanks for the person who made this video! (it wasn't me)

115/356: Just Another Day In London

So last Saturday was just another normal day in the beautiful city of London. And with normal I mean that I stayed in a new hotel, had dinner in a new restaurant, had drinks in a new bar and oh, I flew in at Gatwick, which I have never done before.

Always love to explore new things about this city. I really like being in London. After being here for three times this year, I start to feel like it is my home away from home.

The hotel was near Paddington tube station, so right in the middle of everything. For dinner and drinks afterwards we went to the area around Shoreditch high street. We went to a nice little place called bedroom bar.

All in all a great and fun day but it was just the warming up for Sunday. A little teaser in the picture below.