MPB on a Schulreisli: Tour de Suisse, just without the bikes
Once a year at MPB, we do something that looks suspiciously like “out of office” in our calendars: our traditional annual team trip.
For two days, we leave the daily business, meetings and to-do lists behind and dedicate ourselves to an equally challenging task: exploring Switzerland together.
This year, our trip turned into a little Tour de Suisse, without the bikes, but with quite a lot of public transport.
We started by taking the train to Lucerne. From there, we cruised across lake Lucerne by boat to Flüelen before continuing our journey towards the Furka region. By the time we boarded the historic steam train, one thing had become clear: getting to our destination quickly was not exactly the point of this trip. But the views more than made up for it.
Across the Furka Pass, we continued through an impressive Alpine landscape, crossing several cantons before heading towards Grimsel. And of course, a ride on the Sidelhornbahn was a must, because if you’re going to explore the mountains, you might as well do it properly.
After all those metres of altitude, the next day offered quite a contrast: we took the bus down to Lake Brienz and jumped into the water. For some, it was a welcome way to cool off. For others, it was a brief reminder that Swiss mountain lakes remain Swiss mountain lakes, even in summer.
And because it was a Schulreisli …
… naturally, there had to be some learning involved.
Somewhere between the steam train, mountain panoramas and swimwear, we took a journey through the history of MPB. But instead of PowerPoint slides and lectures, we did it with a quiz.
The questions ranged from “Where was MPB’s very first office?” to stories about our founder Helmut Zimmerli-Menzi, projects and memorable encounters from the past, including the question of which future members of the Swiss Federal Council once sat around the table at MPB.
There was plenty of guessing, debating, a surprising amount of knowledge and probably one or two answers delivered with great confidence despite being completely made up.
And that is exactly why we enjoy our annual team trip so much.
For two days, it’s not about the next project or the next deadline. Instead, we have time to travel together, share stories, learn something new about MPB and discover another little corner of Switzerland as a team.
Many kilometres, several cantons, a train, boat, steam train, mountain railway, bus and one jump into Lake Brienz later, we were back home.
A little more tired than before. Perhaps a little wiser, too.
And already very much looking forward to our next Schulreisli.
