Switzerland tunnel: The oddest moments of the opening ceremony
- Published
We're not sure what this was all about either
From the World Cup to the Olympics, it is not a significant event if you don't have an unusual opening ceremony to go with it.
This was also the case when the Gotthard base tunnel, the longest and deepest in the world, was inaugurated on Wednesday.
Here are some of the most striking moments from the ceremony - we have tried to explain what is going on as far as possible. It was not always possible.
Warning: This article contains partial nudity
The ceremony represented different aspects of Swiss culture - at this point, milk floats drove in a procession
In the middle of all of this, an actor sat down, looked rather underwhelmed by everything, and ate his lunch
A topless woman decked as a bird hovered above actors representing the nine construction workers who died during the building of the tunnel
It is unclear what the German, French and Italian leaders, who were all present, made of the ceremony
Parts of the show proved very popular with some of those in the audience, however
Some viewers were left baffled, as, perhaps, were some participants
At one point, there were lots of people rolling around in white underwear
They, too, looked a bit blank about the whole thing - it was put together by German director Volker Hesse, whose most famous work has been done in Switzerland
The ibex, that is native to the Alps, played a prominent part in the ceremony
One Twitter user wrote: "We're opening a tunnel, and here are two people dressed as ibex pretending to have sex"
More than 600 actors reportedly took part in the ceremony - an experience they are unlikely to forget any time soon
- Published1 June 2016
- Published1 June 2016
- Published1 June 2016
