Towers Of Beer

Over the course of my two years in Geneva, I had several occasions to visit Les Brasseurs, a microbrewery with four locations in the region. Not only is their beer great (especially the amber), but they serve it in a way not uncommon in many European nations: by the yard. Yes, Les Brasseurs specializes in towers of beer. I know I mentioned this practice at least once before, when Joe came through last summer, but the sheer glory of it cannot be understated. Thankfully, I had a final opportunity to enjoy one with some friends a few weeks before departing.

Behold, the tower of beer:

Eurocup 2008

If there’s one thing Europeans (and just about all the world outside America) love, it’s football (soccer). Unfortunately, I arrived a few months too late in 2006 to experience the excitement of that year’s World Cup. However, this summer has almost made up with the 2008 Eurocup being hosted in Switzerland and Austria. For my fellow Americans, the Eurocup is basically the same as the World Cup but on a smaller (read: European-only) scale. And the Europeans take it just as seriously. Play kicked off on June 7th and concludes on the 29th.

Geneva is one of Switzerland’s host cities (along with Basel, Bern and Zurich) and hosted three games in the first round. Thus, there has been no end of football fervor over the past few months. Several of Geneva’s key monuments have been refitted for the occasion and our town is home to the country’s largest “Fanzone” (basically an off-site viewing center for the games that includes giant screens and sound plus plenty of food and beer).

Thus far, I’ve experienced the tournament in a variety of ways. Traveling through Basel on the day of the first Swiss match, witnessing hordes of orange-clad Dutchmen descending upon Bern while changing trains there, seeing Spain triumph over Sweden at a bar in Barcelona, watching Germany conquer Portugal at the Fanzone, and of course plenty of other matches from the comfort of my own apartment. It’s been an exciting time thus far, even if England didn’t make the tournament and Switzerland didn’t make it through Round 1.

Some photos of the madness:

Swiss fans gather in Basel’s train station on the day of Switzerland’s first match





Giant viewing screen in Basel’s town center


Geneva’s Jet d’Eau (or “big old geyser,” according to Emily Verba) gets outfitted with a giant 200,000+CHF football for the occasion. As if that weren’t enough, the thing popped a few weeks back and they actually returned it to the UK for an 80,000 pound repair…


Geneva’s Flower Clock gets an equally exciting treatment


The host city icon for Geneva


Geneva’s Fanzone at Planpalais


Germany and Portugal duke it out on the big screen


Portion of the massive crowd. There are an inordinate amount of Portuguese people in Geneva (and Switzerland in general) so their fanbase is pretty big here.

Who’ll win the whole thing? It’s been pretty unpredictable so far, but I think undefeated Spain could be a nice surprise champion. Time will tell.

Mike Wong

I recently booked my plane ticket home so I will officially be returning to America on July 20th. I know I’m ready for a change, but it will be a bittersweet departure from this city that’s been, for better or worse, home for the last two years. This means I’m now entering the phase where everything marks a potential “last” time to do something. Last night for example, I attended my penultimate French class and between that and YAGs I decided to grab some Pad Thai from a local Asian Fast Food mini-chain (by which I mean it has 2 locations).

And I honestly can’t believe I haven’t written about the magic of Mike Wong any earlier than this. Sure, I’ve only been there a few times (even “fast food” and “cheap” options in Geneva are expensive by American standards), but it’s got a unique charm. You see, Mike Wong’s “identity” blatantly rips off not 1, but 2 major American corporations. Sure, the McDonalds reference is obvious, but check out the squashed Nike swoosh that typography is riding on. Pretty amazing.

Last night’s trip was the first time I noticed the slogan on the carry-out bag:



In case you can’t make it out, that does indeed say “I’m lovin’ it too much.” Above another swoosh, of course.

Oh, Mike Wong; how I’ll miss you.