Doug and Lynne Walter arrived in Bern today, but not without a little drama. They had come down to Geneva from Paris on the TVG, and then had to transfer to a train to Bern. However, the TGV was running late and just missed the connection. We were at Bern Station waiting for them, but they didn’t get off their train. So we headed back to the central area of the station, and checked when the next train from Geneva was arriving. Since it was about 30 minutes away, we went to the Swisscom shop to buy a pre-paid SIM for my phone so that I could stay in touch with Rita if necessary. We then headed back down to the platforms to find Doug and Lynne walking towards us. They had jumped on the next train as we had expected, and were relieved to have arrived in Bern. So we headed to the nearest coffee shop to settle them down and catch up on their news about their stay in Paris.

We then walked though old Bern on our way to Gere’s flat, which he had made available for them to stay in while he was away on a holiday in Italy. As we got there, we found Sharen and Terry Donovan sitting in a coffee shop opposite Gere’s flat. So we showed them upstairs to the third floor flat where they would all be staying, and left them to settle in. Doug and Terry were very interested in the shop next to Gere’s, which had hundreds of model cars on display - none of us had ever seen such an extensive display in a shop window.

Later in the day, we went for a walk around town with the Walters and Donovans, and showed them the view from the gardens outside the Munster Cathedral, looking down to the Aare River and the area containing Kuno’s 900 year old house. We then went for dinner at the Casino Restaurant, where Doug and Terry (and me) were keen to try the bratwurst and rosti, washed down with a nice German beer.

After dinner, we jumped on Bus 10 and went out to EigerPlatz, where Rita had arranged for us to attend a Ferrum Helveticum (Swiss Steel) rehearsal, where Claudio Pini is the band leader. Since Rita used to play with Claudio many years ago in Les Amis de la Casserole (Friends of the Pan), Pans on Fire has been playing many of his arrangements over the past 5 years. So we were excited to see and hear how one of their rehearsals went. And we were not disappointed. While their standard of play far exceeded ours, they faced the same problems in nailing particular parts of the song, and played it over and over again, first slowly and then at increased tempo (just like us). Now we all realised where Rita got her teaching style from.

After rehearsal, many of their band joined us for drinks at the Music Bar, just around the corner from EigerPlatz. It was good to share a drink and a laugh with them, to meet Claudio, and to meet Lally who donated the very first set of pans to get Pans on Fire up and running in 2009. Many of our band commented how surprised they were that Claudio was so young (mid-40s), since they had assumed that, given his reputation and achievements, he must be an elderly guru. While he was dead serious during rehearsal, I must admit it was nice to see him laughing and joking about afterwards, since I don’t think I had ever seen him so relaxed in the 15 years that I had been bumping into him at various functions.