“4th of July” for the Swiss. Swiss National Day in NYC

It feels hot. Feels like sitting next to a 1st August wooden fire somewhere up in the Swiss Alps. But we are heading to Astoria where we are going to celebrate our National Day in NYC and it is hot. The AC inside the car set to a comfortable 24C while the outside temperature shows 92F or 33C.

The closer we come the more we find cars with a CH sticker on it. Swiss flags all over.

Square Studio is a beer garden in the center of the Kaufman movie buildings. it is a great place to celebrate the 724th Swiss National Day. On 4th of July we celebrated the 239th day of independence … the US is trying to catch up. BTW right around the corner of the beer garden is a very interesting museum called the Museum of the Moving Images .

More than 1300 Swiss with guests attended. We all beat the sun and heat and enjoyed a program packed with great performances.

Erwin, a comedian and magician (video is funny … but in German 🙂 ) made us laugh and intrigued us .

To feel really back in Switzerland the Swiss Alphorn Trio performed to the delight of all of us. Listen to this 1 minute clip and discover what sound you can get out of that typical instrument.

André Schaller, Ambassador and Consul General talked to us in a short speech and reminded us that Switzerland with about 8 million inhabitants has many Swiss Companies in the States. All together those companies employ more than 450’000 people.

As you all know here in the US we sing the National Hymne all the time even before an Ice-hockey or Baseball game in the middle of a week. Many different “voices” are trying to sing the anthem. Some more successful than others. So it was a real delight to hear Amanda Bollag, a Swiss Opera Singer, performing the “Star-Spangled Banner” hymn and then the “Trittst im Morgenrot daher”. Turning my head quietly I didn’t see too many Swiss people proudly singing along. I guess we all didn’t want to interrupt her beautiful voice…. Right hand was mostly inside the pants pocket. Hmm this is just a slight difference to the way the host country does it. 🙂

After all those performances people got hungry and enjoyed typical Swiss Beer Festival food. Bratwurst, Raclette with Potatoes, Beer and cakes baked by the Swiss Ski Club NY. They also sold typical Swiss products you can’t buy in groceries shops.

The event ended with a Raffle. The reason why I write this blog is because I didn’t win the 1st price. As a matter of fact I won nothing otherwise I would be sitting now on a free Swiss flight to Switzerland and would enjoy a free 8 day Swiss Rail Pass. I have to forget this thought and finish this blog. Drinking a Nespresso coffee (Swiss product) and enjoy some Swiss Chocolate helps me to forget and I have a happy face again.

Next year join us. We welcome Swiss and Swiss fans from all over the world.

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