Thun, the Tanzschiff, and Ten years

So, as I noted before, September 1st, 2011 was our tenth wedding anniversary. Sarah and I decided to get a babysitter this weekend (no small feat in Switzerland), and go out for the evening. Sarah had been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time, as she had already decided where we were going for our anniversary.

We took the train down to Thun, a lovely city just 10 minutes south of us by train, that also lies next to the Thunersee (Lake Thun) right where the Aare river exits. In fact, a portion of the old city is essentially an island in the middle of the Aare river, connected to the rest of the city by pedestrian and motor vehicle bridges. On one side of the old city is the bahnhof, and on the other lies Schloss Thun.

Sarah and I walked around the old city, visited Schloss Thun, and had drinks at several outdoor cafes while strolling through the town. We also saw preparations for a festival in the middle of the old town called the Langer Tisch, a festival that involves one long eating table that meanders through the old town.

While this was all lovely, it was by no means the highlight of the day. Sarah had a special plan in mind. There are a number of boats that sail on the Thunersee, “cruises” if you will, that have any number of themes associated with them. There are simple tourist boats, lunch boats, fondue boats, fish boats, wine boats, almost any kind of boat you could imagine. And Sarah had her eye on one particular boat for some time: the Dinner-und-Tanzschiff (Dinner and Dance Boat). She had made reservations for us on this boat, which only rides about once every two weeks or so, when she noticed that one set sail on our anniversary weekend.

The boat itself was beautiful. The M.S. Berner Oberland is one of the largest tourist ships to sail on the Thunersee. The dinner was delicious; we had apparently been upgraded to a First-Class dining area reservation. The view of the lake shore as daylight faded, and lights lining the lake as darkness crept in was fabulous, and made for a romantic evening.

And what could be more romantic, than two 300-lb guys in plaid shirts, unbuttoned at least half way down, singing German folk music with a pre-programmed Yamaha keyboard? Well, that pretty much describes Duo Barbados, our entertainment for the evening. The beginning of every song sounded like Boney M singing “Rivers of Babylon,” which Sarah got tired of me singing until at one point they actually WERE playing “Rivers of Babylon.” Sarah kept referring to what they were playing as “Muzak,” but to me that seemed like an insult to Muzak.

And if they weren’t entertaining enough (and the video below should clear up any confusion there), most of the other boat patrons (many of whom likely got their tickets as a half-price deal through their local ballroom dance studio) sent the entertainment value soaring into the hilariousphere. Among my personal favorites were: creepy guy who sat alone all night without dancing, The Elizabeth Taylor lookalike (at least from about 1 week after she died) and her “partner” who took turns “dancing” with a man in a boat captain’s uniform, and Mr. Bolo Tie and his lovely companion, who were actually very good dancers and enjoyable to watch.

There are times when sitcoms seem unbelievably contrived, but there are definitely times when you can’t believe that your life has turned into a sitcom. The only thing missing from last night was a laugh track, or a live studio audience. But when you are celebrating 10 years of marriage, you don’t let something like a ridiculously surreal Dinner-und-Tanzschiff ruin your evening. Sarah and I toasted the night away, laughed at ourselves, and, most importantly, hit the dance floor a few times just to say we did it all!

See our photos from our anniversary adventure.