Rita was up early on Saturday morning to head up to the Bern Market to buy some nice stinky cheeses for her brother Lothar for his 60th birthday - apparently Lothar has a bit of a reputation for surprising guests with stinky cheeses, so it’s time for some payback. But we must remember not to go to Lothar’s for dinner in the near future, or these same stinky cheeses may come back to haunt us.

In the late morning it was time to head up to the Casino Restaurant for Rita Snr’s 90th birthday party (along with son Lothar’s 60th and great-grandson Miro's 2nd). It was quite windy in the outdoor area we had reserved, but the view over the Aare River was superb.

About 35 people attended including a family of six relatives (from three generations) who had driven down from Germany for the day. Random conversations were striking up all over the place between members of various parts of the extended family, while Rita Jnr played the steelpan to keep everyone entertained. Rita Snr had a fabulous day, at the end of which she was just as cheeky as ever (for a 90 year old).

After the party, we moved the hired van from in front of Kuno’s (we had already got a parking fine, less than 24 hours after arriving, and before posting the payment for last year’s fine!), and placed it in a secure off-street parking area that Kuno normally uses for his boat trailer. We will leave it there for the next few days until we pick up the furniture from the depot, since all parking is banned in Kuno’s street for the next few days while the Tour de France is in town.

In the evening we had a relaxed dinner with Kuno, and caught up with happenings in Switzerland and Australia over the past year.