Jugendfest!

Yesterday we went to Jugendfest in Brugg.  Jugendfest is a festival celebrating the end of the school year.  It is a local holiday so most shops are closed.

For pictures go here (there were too many to put in the blog):  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073879&id=40804674&l=fbcc67bc5a

The day started off with a parade.  All of the schoolkids and teachers are in it, plus some bands.

After the parade we walked around and saw a church from the 1300s.  It was very beautiful, and huge inside!  It was before they had arch technology, so the church is very long and narrow.  We also saw a lot of Roman ruins, as Brugg was once an encampment of the Roman Legion.

After we finished touring the ruins, we bought some sandwiches and had lunch by the Aare River.  The food in Switzerland is just fantastic.  Everything is high quality.  On a sandwich you can expect really good bread, meat, and cheese, and they're usually topped with a slice of egg, tomato, and pickle, with butter.

After lunch we hiked up a trail to a spot where we could see most of Brugg.  It was really neat to look down and see all of the places we had just visited.  I also took an unintentional nap for 15 minutes or so.  I was so tired I fell asleep sitting on the bench!  It was very hot yesterday (around 87) so walking for the whole day took a lot out of me.

Coming down from the trail, we went and watched some other Jugendfest activities.  There was a soapbox derby, and the fire department was doing a strange game.  They had milk crates that you had to stack up, and keep climbing up as they handed you crates.  You just kept climbing until the crates fell.  But they had you in a harness coming off of the fire truck ladder so you wouldn't hurt yourself.

For dinner we had bratwurst.  What they call bratwurst here isn't like brats at home in WI.  They are a white sausage and not as spicy as brats.  Very good though!  And you don't get a bun, just a piece of bread to eat with it.

After dinner we listened to some music.  The first band we saw was a rock band that sang children's songs.  They were very cool.  Lots of energy.  Later on we found a concert band and a drumline so we listened to them for a while.

At the end of the night there is a lantern parade and fireworks, but it gets dark really late here (not until 10 pm or so) and we were all really tired.  So we ended up not staying for that.

Tomorrow we are off to the Rigi Mountain!