Charm of Old Town FOLLOW UP!
It's been discovered! Upon some random Google searching, I discovered the following explanation for our early morning celebration a couple weeks back:
"A Swiss boating club has re-enacted a public relations triumph from over 400 years ago – transporting a pot of steaming porridge from Zurich to Strasbourg in France.
The Hirsebreifahrt, or millet porridge trip, is celebrated every ten years. It recalls Zurich's attempt in 1576 to cement its alliance with Strasbourg, which doubted that the distant Swiss city could ever bring speedy enough aid.
The city worthies undertook to prove that they could cover the roughly 240km in under 24 hours.They loaded a pot of porridge onto a boat just after midnight, and the boatmen rowed for all they were worth. They arrived in Strasbourg at 8pm that evening, with the precious cargo still hot enough to burn the lips – or so the chroniclers relate.At 5.30am last Thursday, residents of Zurich's Limmat quay were woken by the rousing music of the city band; those in the know hurried along for a bowlful of sweet porridge, while men in blue and white doublets made final checks of their longboats.The razzmatazz added to the excitement, but the trip is carefully planned. Coordinating with numerous authorities along the route, not to mention getting sponsorship, took some three years to arrange, Michael Bloch, head of the organising committee, told swissinfo.The four rowing boats and their crew come from the city boating club, the Limmat-Club Zurich."
For more, check out the complete story. It's too bad...if we would have known there was free porridge! Darn, maybe we'll come back for it next time, in ten years.
Check out the view of the departure from our apartment on our previous blog entry.
"A Swiss boating club has re-enacted a public relations triumph from over 400 years ago – transporting a pot of steaming porridge from Zurich to Strasbourg in France.
The Hirsebreifahrt, or millet porridge trip, is celebrated every ten years. It recalls Zurich's attempt in 1576 to cement its alliance with Strasbourg, which doubted that the distant Swiss city could ever bring speedy enough aid.
The city worthies undertook to prove that they could cover the roughly 240km in under 24 hours.They loaded a pot of porridge onto a boat just after midnight, and the boatmen rowed for all they were worth. They arrived in Strasbourg at 8pm that evening, with the precious cargo still hot enough to burn the lips – or so the chroniclers relate.At 5.30am last Thursday, residents of Zurich's Limmat quay were woken by the rousing music of the city band; those in the know hurried along for a bowlful of sweet porridge, while men in blue and white doublets made final checks of their longboats.The razzmatazz added to the excitement, but the trip is carefully planned. Coordinating with numerous authorities along the route, not to mention getting sponsorship, took some three years to arrange, Michael Bloch, head of the organising committee, told swissinfo.The four rowing boats and their crew come from the city boating club, the Limmat-Club Zurich."
For more, check out the complete story. It's too bad...if we would have known there was free porridge! Darn, maybe we'll come back for it next time, in ten years.
Check out the view of the departure from our apartment on our previous blog entry.
posted by Jill Nachtman at 3:14 PM
1 Comments:
I don't think you missed out on much. The porridge looks to be the consistency of wet cement and it probably tastes like it too. After all, how good can 400 year-old porridge be?
Dennis
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