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My favourite European away games: #2

My favourite European away game #2: BSC Young Boys on Thursday 19 February 2015, a 2-night stay.

Steve booked all the arrangements for himself and me for this one. We flew early afternoon from Manchester to Bergamo, about 30 miles or so from Milan, and also the home of Atalanta. Upon landing, we jumped on a bus to the city centre and found our hotel. We were to spend a night in Bergamo before catching a train the following morning to Milan, then on to Bern.

Bergamo is a fantastic city, especially the old medieval town which is up a hill and is accessible by a cable car. After checking into our hotel, we had a little wander round, had a pint or two before heading to the cable car station. The cable car only took a few minutes to get to the top, however the last one back down was around midnight, so we had to make sure we didn't miss that, otherwise it would have been a hell of a walk back down!

Upon reaching the top, Steve wanted to do one of his walking tours and, to be fair, it was one that I quite enjoyed. There are some very old churches & chapels up there with some amazing architecture, as well as other buildings worth seeing, particularly some of the living accommodations up there. I won't bore you any further with all the details, except to say, if I found it interesting, then anyone would.

After an hour or two, we found a very old fashioned bar for something to eat and drink. There was also a Champions League game on but I can't remember who it was? At the end of the game, we made our way back to the cable car station. Bergamo old town is definitely well worth a visit; when we were drawn against Atalanta a few years back, I was delighted, as it meant another trip to Bergamo, until that game was moved 120 miles away!!

Anyway, we got back to near our hotel and found a bar for "a nightcap". Why on earth do we do that when we know we have to be up about 6 hours later? The one we found had two lads behind the bar who supported AC Milan. We got talking and they thought we were mad travelling abroad for a football match, particularly when the game we were going to was in a different country!!

One of them got his laptop out and googled Everton songs. Next minute There was a sing-along of all Everton songs. A great couple of hours was had before heading for our hotel. I say 'hotel' ... it was more of a boarding house with around half-a-dozen bedrooms. Around 6am, the old landlord gave us a wake-up call and kindly gave us each a packed breakfast before we left for the train station. As I said earlier, we had to get a train from Bergamo to Milan, then from Milan to Bern.

The train to Bern took around 4 hours, with amazing scenery, passing alongside the Italian lakes and through snow-covered mountains. We arranged to meet Jon at Bern train station, where we were due to arrive at just after midday. Upon arriving at Bern, we made our way to our accommodation, and this is where Steve let himself down, for he had booked us into a youth hostel!!

We were in a room to accommodate four people, as it had two bunk beds in it, but more about that later. We threw our bags in, trying to hide them as best we could, as someone else was already checked into the same room. We headed out and made our way to Bern's most famous attraction, the Bear Pit. Every year, there is a festival in Bern to welcome the awakening of the bears from their winter hibernation. While we were there, we didn't see one single bear. They probably didn't fancy getting pelted with things thrown by a few nutty Scousers!!

There was also a decent-sized bar which was full of Blues, so a good couple of hours was had. Later, we walked on to find somewhere to have some food and a few more pints before catching the tram to the stadium. Every tram we tried to get on was full of Blues, but we finally managed to get on one. Needless to say, it was pointless the tram stopping en-route as they were just all full of Blues!! The locals must have gone loopy, not being able to catch a tram home from work that evening!

Following the game, a good 4-1 win, we made our way back to the city centre. Every bar was chocker, with bands playing in virtually every one, and people dressed up in fancy dress costumes. As I said, it was the festival for the bears awakening, and it went on well into the early hours of the morning.

The three of us got talking to some Bern fans in a bar, who insisted on buying us all our ale for the night, and didn't want anything in return. How could we refuse such an offer! Around 3am they invited us to a party somewhere, but we politely declined, seeing as me and Steve were due to leave our Youth Hostel at 7am.

We finally got back to our accommodation, and the other bunk beds were occupied! The noise from me and Steve must have scared the shit of them, but they never flinched, even when the alarm on my phone went off at 6 am, there was still no movement from them. To make matters worse, I was on the top bunk, and trying to climb down in the dark was horrendous, as I managed to somehow fall down, landing with an almighty thud! Never again, Steve!!

We eventually made our way to the train station for the journey back to Milan. I felt as rough as fuck (why do we do it?), but managed to get at least a couple of hours kip on the train. Upon arriving at Milan, we made our way to the bus station for the journey back to Bergamo airport. We had an hour to two before our bus, so guess what? Yep, found a bar!!

We arrived back at Manchester airport around 8 pm Friday evening, where the missus picked us up (Steve's missus dropped us there on Wednesday morning). After dropping Steve off in Old Roan, it was home and then bed for me, absolutely knackered but great memories of another brilliant European away!!

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