In the evening I meet Mr Marek in Bern. He is exactly the same as he was two years ago in Regensburg. We go to the old town. I invite him to dinner for his birthday. The cuisine in Bern is much more French. My duck breast in orange and port wine sauce explodes in my mouth. The declared goal for the next two weeks: to gain less than 1kg a day.

The second stop of the evening is an old school building. The gymnasium now houses a bar. Previously all for, now all against health. We then move on to the riding hall, a former squat. Marek tells stories of junkies who shot up in front of him in the pub. Today, Biedermeier people smoke weed here. (more…)

Swiss farmhouse bread with local butter. Scallops with wild boar carpaccio and Asian cream. Salad vinaigrette with peca nuts. Parmesan cream soup with croutons and radishes. Beef fillet cubes with roasted apples and glazed vegetables.

Never in my life have I eaten so much good, classy food in such a short space of time. Within 60 hours I had tasted 27 Gault-Millau toques. Food in Switzerland is expensive. The good thing is that really good food hardly costs any more. So I play Bacchus and forget about my bank account. 1.5 years ago, I set off on a trip around the world with almost no money. If I come home exactly the same, then everything will be fine, right? (more…)

Andrea has two days off. We drive an hour to Andermatt. We take the Glacier Express up to over 2000 metres to go snowboarding. My first day in the snow for more than two years. Snowboarding is not like cycling. You forget how to do it. The snow is two weeks old and hard, my legs are shaky. I feel my way down the slope on imaginary crutches.

It only gets better after a while. Snowboarding is actually very similar to kitesurfing. Nevertheless, the falls when kitesurfing are more fun due to the lack of pain. The ski area near the Gotthard is quite small, only a few lifts, but nice pistes and quite cheap by Swiss standards. Then the sun comes out and there’s nothing left to be happy about anyway. (more…)