Wining and Dining - Swiss Style!

Spoilt silly doesn't even start to cover it...especially when it comes down to the food and goodies!!
We were treated like complete royalty at the Symposium right from our first day hosted by UBS(which has to have been the longest day i have ever lived through...due to ofcourse the time gap flying east to west), with a great opening dinner.....our next day at the Versailles style Swiss Re training centre was an even better spread with one person remarking "If they give food like this to their employees i want to apply for a job now!!"
We also got our goodie bags with a complimentary swiss knife - the only thing i actually wanted to buy from Switzerland which made me really happy as i got to save on that account, that being quite important as i am, after all, just a poor student =)

During the 3 days of the symposium it seemed like the underlying ideology was no one can think on an empty stomach, so we must keep everyone well fed! Right from breakfast - with croissants, museli and fresh, fresh fruits to lunch - with salads, vegetables, fish and of course wine which would start doing the rounds at 12 noon sharp to coffee breaks with all hot and cold, coffee or tea options available....of course if you wanted fresh juice or hot chocolate that was there too.....and did i mention free flow of Lindtt chocolates and marzipan?? (must mention however that all through the food was very light and we were never stuffed so as to fall asleep mid discussion =).... another point to the organizers credit)

The two dinners organized were, well, wow, one being hosted by the Town Council and the other the international buffet with food from Japan to Mexico, and everyplace in between. I also realized during our first dinner, a sit down affair, that a guests wine glass even a quarter empty is a poor reflection on the host (or so i was told) which meant my glass kept getting refilled almost magically, and also meant by the end of dinner i had no idea (nor i think, did anyone else) of just how much wine i had consumed....i counted one glass of champagne and 3 full glasses of wine but thereafter lost track.....not a bad thing, as it gave us enough strength to party on till 4 am, before a 30 minute hike across town and uphill in the cold and even worse in heels(!!) to our quite deserted hostel...

My two firsts at the symposium: smoking a cigar (which is not that bad once you learn how not inhale the smoke and quite fun once you can actually puff smoke out), and eating Sacher-Torte, which i can only describe in perhaps contradictory terms as, either, a slice of heaven or pure sin....its so good i think its almost worth flying to Austria just to eat the original version ......