1st of August in Spiez

Chilling in Spiez, our Suisse 2nd home, is sometimes like chilling at the French Riviera. From our lookout at the balcony we watch the boats come and go and the ferries bringing and taking passengers all around the Berner Oberland, preferrably to Interlaken and other main hubs of the region.

And of course here again the famous "Blümlisalp", the river steam boat, operating at the Thuner See. There are lots of boat running, sometimes we watch three of them at the same time, coming from all sides, but definately the "Blümlisalp" is the Queen amongst them.

It is an easy life you live in the Suisse Summer in Spiez, especially this year when the temps reached up to 35°C and the Thuner See was 21°C - an all time high for the region and even I waded in hesitantly for a swim. But wait until the 1st of August, which is national holiday in Switzerland (the Suisse Independence Day if you want to put it like that). Flags come out everywhere, homes are beautifully decorated and everybody in the area waits for the great fireworks that are supposed to take place in the night.

Even I was caught waving flags in the supermarket. Actually, I was just playing around not knowing that the paparazzi were sneaking up from behind, but when caught I gave in and waved for the crowd (and I am not even Suisse, mind! But the atmosphere definately catches you, lol). In case you want to know: the flag with the bear is the flag of the Berner Oberland, the one with the white cross of course is the National Flag of Switzerland.

For the evening we had our own preparations of course. It was fondue on the balcony where we have a 1st row seating for the fireworks but of course one has to pass the time until 10.15 hrs when it is finally dark enough for the fireworks to start. Days are long in the Suisse Summer, it does not get dark way before 10.00 o´clock p.m.

Here we have janitor Indy on the look-out for what the heck is going on down there. Curiosity kills the cat, ha? In this case: a White Shepherd.

Here we have our dessert of the night. Yum, yum - with Vanilla cream inside and really, really sweet.

The fireworks that started on the lake with lots of small lit boats surrounding it like dozens of fireflies was of course right on the dot at 10.15 hrs. It lasted for half an our (and it had lasted for 45 minutes the last time - economic crisis on display here in Switzerland, the European centre of money and economy) and it was grand to put it mildly. We were oh-ing and ah-ing all the time!

Afterwards all the small boats buzzed off again, the fireflies escaped into the dark, and we only could hear the happy singing voices from the partyzone at the bay of Spiez.

And the rest was silence......