Last weekend Daniela invited me to go with her and her friends to the Lauberhorn ski race. Apparently this is a big deal in Switzerland, but I had never heard of it. It was SO MUCH FUN!
After a long train ride from Zurich, we made it to our destination near Wengen. When we stepped off the train I was so surprised by the massive crowd of people on the one side of the mountain opposite where the race was going to take place, as you can see in the picture below:
There was a show by the Swiss Air Force. It was impressive, they did several flyovers in lots of cool formations, flying only 3 meters apart!
Due to the wind that day, they moved the start of the race down a bit.
Me and Carmen:
Me and Daniela:
Most of the other spectators were better prepared than we were (don't worry, we made friends with some of the more prepared people). They had raclette, wine, beer, food, liquor. Apparently, all the essentials for watching a ski race. All carried conveniently on a sled!
One of the Swiss skiers actually won the race (the crowd went wild), but there were some American fans too.
The whole experience reminded me of tailgating at a football game in the US. I think it was the drinking/eating outdoors with a sporting event involved. The day even included waiting in line for porta-potties while the boys peed in the woods (typical tailgating activity in the US).
As I mentioned before, this is a big event for the Swiss. Some of the spectators were so high class they arrived by helicopter.
Drinking free wine in free mugs on the train ride home:
And here's the picture of my ankle the next day. Yes, I normally have "Blasdel" ankles (thanks Aunt Jo!), but this is even larger than normal :)
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