With all the lead up to the Euro2008 matches being hosted in Switzerland, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that the towns might put on some sort of special events. But I arrived in Zurich on Wednesday night to find the entire Limmatquai blocked off to traffic for an enormous street party. There were bands, hundreds of street vendors selling all sorts of food, beer tents and lots of big-screen TVs.

And fans. Lots and lots of patriotic fans, all decked out in red and white. So I decided to grab my camera and walk down the street, grabbing a few pictures as I went along.

And then it hit me. This was the quietest, most well behaved crowd I have ever seen at a sporting event. Despite the large numbers of people (certainly numbering into the tens of thousands), the police presence was incredibly limited. People were well-behaved. No one was staggering along drunk. There was no litter on the ground. Not in Switzerland!

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008. Without a doubt the most well-behaved football crowd I have ever witnessed.

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Everyone is watching the game — TVs are in every shop window!

Patriotism was on high display

Football…what else?

Getting into the spirit of things

One-man fan club.

Amazing. Thousands and thousands of spectators lined the Limmatquai for the match. Absolutely no litter dropped on the ground, not even a cigarette butt. Only in Switzerland.

In England, this would be followed by an arrest for drunken assault. In Switzerland, it’s a couple saying hello to their neighbour

Turkey vs. Switzerland compete in Euro 2008

The only thing more embarrassing than having a weiner is having to admit that you can only handle a weinerli. Particularly when you then lose the match to Turkey as well…

PS – I have also modified my blog a little bit to accomodate slightly larger photos. Hopefully these are easier to see than the old 400×300 pictures that I have been including until now…