I felt Bern today

[DFW]

For the first time in MANY years, I was called down to the capital of Switzerland today for my job. I love the town of Bern (pronounced like the animal "bear" with an "n" stuck on the end), so laid back for a capital city, in the middle of the mountains with a deep river chasm running through it. So beautiful! The local dialect of Swiss German is so lilting and full of rhythm that even people in other parts of German-speaking Switzerland make fun of the Berner, and they couldn't care less. My colleague from Geneva drove up to meet me and help me out, and we got done so quickly (they may be laid back, but they are still Swiss), we had time for lunch at a nice little Italian place near the Bärenplatz near the Swiss Parliament.

Sometimes this job IS worth the stress!

[mnhtnbb]

1. Lucky you!

I included Bern on my very first trip to Europe in 1983, although I've never returned on subsequent trips. Lovely city.

[elleng]

2. Good to hear!

I recall the zoo there.

[mnhtnbb]

4. I went to the zoo, too!

[DFW]

15. You have probably seen more of Bern than I have!

I have never been there for anything other than work. I love the place and it's climate, scenery and general laid back feeling. But when I'm done, the next appointment is usually already ringing me up and asking me what the big delay is about. One of these days, I gotta stop to smell the Edelweiss.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear DFW!

What a lovely day for you!

[DFW]

8. I started out as a mess! One big senior moment. It did get better.

On the way to the airport, I noticed I had left my cell phone at the house, so I turned around and drove home to get it. This was about 5:45 AM, so there wasn't much traffic yet. I grabbed the phone and headed back for the airport. There was a HUGE line at the airport for security (at 6:10 AM!!) and I didn't get to customs until just after 6:30, where I needed some documents stamped. The customs office was empty!! I rang downstairs, and they said they'd send someone up. He took 15 minutes to get there, and brought an apprentice with him, and took twice as long to explain the procedure to her. When they were finally done, it was 9 minutes to 7, and of course my 7:00 AM flight was gone. The airline said only their ticket office outside security could re-book me (ah, bureaucracy). So I ran out, was told I could get the next flight at 8:10 for €220 extra. I said to hell with it, just charge what you're gonna charge and get me on that plane! Well, they did, and then couldn't even give me a boarding pass. THAT I had to get from elsewhere in the terminal (*&$$§§(% bureaucracy!!) . But I went there, got my pass, went through security at another terminal where there were less flights to tourist destinations, got through in time to buy a sandwich and some water (no food or drink on the plane for us peons). However, the plane DID get to Zürich right on time, and I raced through the terminal in time to make what was intended to be my back-up train down to Bern with 40 seconds to spare. They leave twice an hour from the Zürich airport directly to Bern without having to change.

I got there, and the area around the train station had been built up somewhat. I remembered the street names, and they hadn't changed. The location of the Swiss parliament and their central bank hadn't changed at all, of course, so I found my way and actually made my appointment on time. I even got there before my colleague from Geneva, who had some trouble finding a parking space! The REST of the day went smooth as silk, and I'm now back home near Düsseldorf, drawing up the paperwork I need for Holland tomorrow morning (there is no rest for the weary).

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Omigod, my dear DFW!

It brings to mind the saying: for the want of a nail, the battle was lost.........I left out all the intervening verses!

I'm glad your day ended well!

When you have time (HA!) check your email.

[DFW]

11. Done!

That was an easy one to answer for once.

(How often does THAT happen?)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. Thank you! I just responded.

As far as I know, it NEVER happens! We were lucky.

[Duppers]

13. Wow!

My head was spinning following your story. Sounds like a nail-bitting screen play. How does it end...

I had a near missed flight trying to manage my 18month old son by myself while getting to Heathrow on December 21, 1988. Yes, I flew that fateful day.

Glad your trip went well. I'm now perusing pictures of beautiful Bern. The closest I've ever been to that area is Strasbourg.

Per usual, your stories are enthralling.

[DFW]

14. They are only enthralling in hindsight! Getting up at 4:30 for work and then....

And then having your whole schedule messed up is not conducive to a restful workday. At least I got everything done. Maybe too well. Bern just texted me this morning and said they might want me back next week. I said, OK, if they can find 2 days between Wednesday and Thursday. Do they think we are farther along with human cloning in Texas than they are in central Switzerland or something?

You'll love this Heathrow story: I remember back in the late 1980s when my daughters were very young and I HAD to be in the States early in the summer for something or other. The dollar was still strong against the European currencies (no euro yet), and my wife had to make the flight from Düsseldorf to Washington with the girls on her own. I noticed British Airways had a distress sale for tickets on the Concorde that week, so I treated my wife and the girls (who couldn't have cared less, of course) to a trip on the Concorde that year. It didn't cost much more than the normal fare if booked a month in advance from Germany and they flew British British Airways from Düsseldorf to Heathrow to connect.

On the Concorde from London to Washington, my wife was sitting across from an elegant woman who spoke American English. She had some small children, too, so they struck up a conversation. My wife noticed (but said nothing) that the woman, though simply dressed, had some huge diamonds on her, and had a retinue of Arabs taking care of her children and fawning over her, seeing to her every wish. She mentioned to my wife "we usually take our own plane," but that plane was undergoing some repairs. Ummm, OK. When they got to Washington, the woman, her kids and her Arab companions were picked up in some black limos, and didn't even go through immigration. Ummm, OK. Later on, at my parents' place in northern Virginia, my wife saw on the evening news who she had been chatting with. It was the former Lisa Halaby, now known as Queen Noor of Jordan! Not having the slightest idea, my wife just chatted with her as one mother to another. I admit, to my great shame, that I sent my wife off on the trip WITHOUT a team of Arab servants and bodyguards. She has since forgiven me.

[Duppers]

18. OH MY GOSH!!

!!!

You have the most interesting encounters and friendships, more than anyone I've ever known, personally or semi-personally (net-wise).

Thru my hubby, a physicist, I've met a few Nobel prize winners here and in Cambridge, where we joined them at "high table" (Churchill College). The only truly famous people I've met and talked with are Peter Yarrow whom we went to dinner with (he's the most gracious person, has soft lips too ) and John Kerry, whom we had only a brief encounter with in our local supermarket!!

But you?!!! I've lost count...it's more like who don't you know!

[DFW]

19. Hey, you are one up on me!

I've never met John Kerry, and it was my wife who met Queen Noor, not me.

I met Peter Yarrow ten or so years ago at Theo Bikel's 85th birthday thing at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was an accident, really, I was in New York to see my daughter, and my BIL, who works on Broadway, told me Theo was holding this big bash-and-concert the day I was supposed to leave. So, I called Theo up and he had just landed in New York to rehearse with everyone for the performance the next day. He said yes, it was happening, and would I please stay over and come. I called the airline, checked with the hotel, and called up Ruth Westheimer, whom I also knew to be a friend of Theo's. She said yes, she would be there, gave me her seat number, and ordered (she is very much the Jewish grandmother, and doesn't take no for an answer) me to get seats near her. So I put it all together, told Theo I would stay, went up to Carnegie Hall and asked for seats near the locations where Ruth said she'd be sitting. They said I could sit right next to her if I wanted, and I got two seats. My Manhattan-based daughter was my date.

There was a pre-show reception where Theo and Tamara, some newer friends (like me) and all his old friends from the fifties and sixties were there. Deb Tannen, an old mutual friend and somewhat well-known author, Peter Yarrow, Noel Stukey (the "Paul" of PPM), Tom Paxton, one of my sixties and seventies heroes, and a bunch of others. Arlo Guthrie and Alan Alda showed up late, so I never met them.

One funny thing--there was one woman there who just kept eye contact with me for about an hour, and finally I went up to her and said "you look REALLY familiar, but I just can't place you." She said the same thing to me. Her name was Susan Werner, and I had never heard of her, nor she of me. We both had a big laugh over that. I later told that story to a guy I know on radio, and he said YOU MET SUSAN WERNER? WOW!! I had never heard of her, how was I to know? She is apparently a well-known singer.

After that, we went to take our seats. We got there before Ruth did, but in a minute or two, we heard her distinctive voice, and she gaped when she saw me and my daughter next to her seat. She said "vat are you doing HERE?" I said, "you said to get seats near you. If I got anything closer, you would be sitting in my lap, so I figured next to you would be good enough." We had a big laugh over that, too!

*on edit--I bet you have met more Nobel Prize winners than I have. I only know two (one Peace, one Physics).

[Duppers]

20. Okay, my mouth is agape again

As I said, who don't you know?!

I've also met Paul, Mary, and her attractive husband backstage, after concerts. A good friend of mine is a long, long-term good friend of Peter's.
But only once did Peter include myself, hubby, and son in his dinner invitation.

Physicists are a strange bunch; most of them are introverted but every once in awhile I've met a few like Richard Feynman - charming womanizers. Forgot to mention I've had a conversation with "the charming" Lawrence Krauss.

Dear, DFW, I've now run out of names to drop. Thank you for entertaining me. 🙏

[DFW]

21. I only know the one physicist

His name is Bill Phillips. He's the nicest, most unassuming guy you could ever meet. If you don't know who he is or what he has accomplished, you might assume he was a fifth grade school teacher or a salesman at a Radio Shack. The other Nobel Prize winner I can count is David Trimble, who helped broker the Northern Ireland peace accords. He was a wonderful guy, but had a serious alcohol problem, and he soon dropped off the radar of the gatherings where we met. We used to hang together briefly while he was active in the Ulster Peace accords, but I haven't seen or heard from him in more than ten years. Apparently he was made a Baron and was involved in the Brexit movement, which I would have tried to talk him out of. But he's no idiot, alcohol or not, and had some insight into some data that would have been difficult to argue against.

By the time I met Peter Yarrow, Mary was very ill, and she died soon after.

Theo Bikel has also left us. He was 91 and very ill, but he was one of those commanding presences that one always thought immortal. I mean, here was a guy who had been in a film with Humphrey Bogart before I was born! One New Year's, Theo, who knew it was a long-term ambition of mine to play with him, at about 1 AM said, "go get your guitar and we will play Russian folk songs." So, I grabbed my guitar, he grabbed his, and we looked for an empty room. The audience consisted of my wife and two janitors who hadn't the slightest idea what were singing but knew music well enough to recognize that at least one of the duo they were hearing had star quality, and it wasn't me! They said, "we don't what y'all are singing, but it sure sounds good!" A mutual friend had told Theo about my ambition, but I was too shy to ask him outright. You don't just go up to a musical legend and ask him to do an hour's duet. But for an hour, the great Theodore Bikel and a nobody like me did a duet of Russian folk songs that could have sold out small concert venues, and all of three people heard it, two of which had no idea what was going on. This is a guy who had done dozens of films and TV shows, played the Newport Folk Festival along with Bob Dylan, was an idol of the theater (lead role in Fiddler on the Roof), and he tells little old me to grab my guitar so we can play Russian songs. Theo knew way more languages that I did. He used to say that he "knew thirty-five languages, seventeen of which were Yiddish."

[kwassa]

5. My wife and daughter will be there in early June.

My wife's best friend and her husband have a small house near the river. I, unfortunately can't go. We visited about 15 years ago. Beautiful architecture. And bears! I took a swim in the river with many Swiss.

[DFW]

6. That's the place!

It's hard to believe it's the capital city of the country, although its central location makes it a natural.

I WISH I had more frequent occasion to be there, but I have to go where work tells me to, not where I want to go. I'm lucky enough to get to go to Barcelona and Zürich six times a year, so I shouldn't complain, but some of the smaller places really do have a charm the big towns can't match.

[kwassa]

7. I'd love to spend more time in Barcelona.

I loved it when I was there decades ago.

[DFW]

9. I used to live there way back when.

That's how come I speak Catalan. I love that city, too! Still have some really good friends there, so I'm never alone there.

[mnhtnbb]

16. I'm going to be in Barcelona for two days

the end of July before I get on a cruise.

Do you have one thing to recommend I should do that is not on the "tourist" list?

[DFW]

17. I don't know what is on the tourist list. Being Barcelona, probably everything!

The trouble with Barcelona is not deciding what to see, but what to cross off your list because you don't have the time.

The Boqueria market, off the Rambla. Any one of the Sensi tapes (tapas, pronounced the same way in Spanish as in Catalan) restaurants. They are run by some very sophisticated French guys, and all the employees know English. The boss is from Quebec (!!). I didn't know that, but an American guy turned me on to them, and he spoke to them in English. Incredible food, and all four locations have different menus (!!!). You'll wish you had four days to try all of them. Also the restaurant Senyor de Parellada, also in the Gothic Quarter.

I assume Gaudi's buildings, his park (Parc Güell), the Picasso museum and the Mirò museum ARE on the tourist list. I would skip Tibidabo. Montserrat is touristy, but worth it anyway if you have the time. Take the train out there from the Plaça d'Espanya station (get instructions), and then the cable car up. Buy a butter knife and buy some of the locally made goat's cheese sold at the farmers' market outside the cathedral at Monserrat if you are there on a Saturday. Or, if on Sunday, the farmer's market in town down by the port, at the end of Via Laietana, slightly to the left, and then crossing to the other side of the port. Just ask for the market (el mercat--"al murKAT&quot . Do NOT do this during the week, as the market space is occupied by Africans selling cheap tourist trinkets. For a quick snack, try the Taverne del Bispe right across from the Hotel Colón at the Cathedral. Their Papes Braves (Patatas bravas in Spanish) are potato pieces sautéed in olive oil, a light dusting of red chili and some strong garlic aioli. If I ate too much of that stuff, I'd die, but I'd die happy. Lots of places have it, but theirs is the best. Their calamari rings à la sevillana are also fabulous. Many of the waiters are from the Philippines or Latin America, so they know English, too. I'm pretty sure English is far better known now than it was in my day, but I never use it there, so I never know who knows it and who doesn't. If you know Spanish, most people there know it fluently, and some immigrants from other parts of Spain or from Latin America won't be fluent in Catalan.

WATCH OUT FOR PICKPOCKETS. They are everywhere, and they are VERY expert at their craft. They come in all sizes and shapes, and work alone, in pairs, or in groups of three or more.