acrossthepond

I like 19th century hotels - what can I say?

The original Bellevue Palace was built by the financier Friedrich Osswald in 1865 immediately adjacent to the seat of the federal government, the Bundeshaus. His heirs had the hotel torn down and rebuilt it in 1910[2] in the neoclassicist style. The new Bellevue Palace was reopened in 1913 and General Ulrich Wille made it Switzerland's military headquarters during World War I.[1] During World War II, the hotel remained open for business. It became a focal point of the warring powers' diplomatic and intelligence activities in Switzerland and its bar a haunt of OSS station chief Allen Dulles.[3][2] One half of the restaurant came to be frequented by Allied guests and the other by patrons from Axis states. After the war, the hotel's fortunes declined sharply.[2] To prevent the state hotel from being acquired by foreign buyers, the Swiss National Bank acquired it in 1976, and in 1994 made a gift of it to the Confederation, which retains 99.7% of the hotel's shares.[1] After it became apparent that the Bellevue Palace was in need of an overhaul, as it lacked amenities such as air conditioning,[1] it was closed in 2002 for a one-year renovation that cost CHF 40 million and cut the number of rooms from 230 to 130.[1] Following a spate of bad publicity over low staff wages,[1] the Confederation turned over the management to a chain of Swiss luxury hotels in 2007.[4] The Bellevue Palace has been host to a great number of heads of state and government, including Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jawaharlal Nehru,[1] Queen Elizabeth II and Emperor Akihito.[5] When it was used as a negotiating venue in the Helsinki process during the Cold War, some participants called it "the best-protected building in Europe" due to its array of security features and extensive police protection.[6] Parts of John le Carré's spy novel Smiley's People and its TV adaption are set in the Bellevue Palace.[5] In Swiss politics, the hotel's bar and lounge are known to be the site of much late-night political horse trading during parliamentary sessions, such as arranging elections of Federal Councillors.[1] Apart from ballrooms, restaurants, salons, bars and conference facilities, the Bellevue Palace features an array of suites, including an extensive "Presidential Suite" with a view of the Bernese Alps over the River Aar.[1] The hotel's cuisine is rated at 16 Gault Millau points.[5] Frommer's Switzerland describes the Bellevue Palace as "the grand old dame of Bern" and "the most lavish and opulent choice in town", opining that "dining on the renowned Bellevue Terrace is one of the reasons to come to Bern."[7] The hotel is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World association.

What can I say, I have a lot of knowledge to impart. Either that or this place is dead without me. Rather that than be some 24/7 lurker. In....bang....and Im out Its the way I roll. Heading towards 3000 posts lad, you can make it tonight easy. Now, I'm no maths whiz, but in just over 11 months you'll have amassed around 272 posts a month, boiling down to 9 posts a day, on average, on another team's board whose members are openly hostile to you. Tells its own story like.

Think you're being a little harsh on Beye for example, never been anything but a class defender and model pro for us. I just keep looking up and seeing Owen collecting the ball at the halfway line. Our midfield is so shite that he always has to track back to collect passes/loose balls and at this stage in his career he's not much more than a poacher, so that's not a good position for him. If Viduka can stay fit then I think we'll be seeing more of Owen.

I'd have him every game over Ryan Taylor to be brutally honest. The man isn't a footballer, I don't know what he is but I don't want him anywhere near the pitch.

Putting Martins and Viduka on changed the game. 90 minutes of them on the pitch and I think we could've had a draw. It's still not hopeless. Portsmouth aren't a good side as evidenced by how we thumped them last time with essentially the same team and we can beat them again. However Shearer needs to do to R. Taylor what he did to Coloccini - leave him out the squad. Liability. Butt is the same way. Harper Beye/S. Taylor/Bassong/Enrique Jonas Guthrie Duff Owen Martins Viduka ...there's still hope.

Would've had Guthrie ahead of Nolan and of course Enrique ahead of R. Taylor (Beye/S. Taylor/Bassong/Enrique) but apart from that, that's one of our stronger starting XIs all season. Let's hope he puts on Martins when their defence is starting to flag. Dawson should have a right old time with him EDIT: 2-1 to them by the way.

These worthless Yorkshire pudding bastards haven't even been in the game. I didn't think it was too much to ask for them to get a goal but on the evidence of this first hour they can't even manage a shot.

Exactly, knowing what the scousers are like makes it all the more daft. It's a bit of a nothing article as they were trying to sell him anyway. Kind of the reverse of our episode with N'Zogbia.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Craig Fagan and his alternatively whimpering and smirking face?

...it's a game of give and take, how long must I wait (for Danny to get banned), how much more can I take (of his fucking rank patter)...

Good on you Rafa. Let's hope Stoke can rough up that fat slob, if so they may well be in trouble. What I wouldn't give to see Fat Sam's Blackburn circling the drain.

The Arse one is passable, Liverpool's looks good although it doesn't need the red, Man U's and Chelsea's are shocking as I stated before, and the City one looks absolute gash - the shade isn't bad, that's one of my favourite colours, but the white on the top of the sleeves and the blue stripes/panels/wtf are they are awful. Be nice if we heard something on ours.

Gangsta stylee yo.

We live in hope as always but I can't see us getting anything out of this game. If we're still missing Enrique, who absolutely locked Lennon down in the opposite fixture, we could be in for a rough time.

Truly godawful.

Futurama quote? Spot on though. He's one of the only ones that looks like they care but its obvious he's pretty much past it now. Bible quote you mean?

I really doubt Barton will contribute anything at all this season. He's better than Nolan at least.

I'll give that to Butt. His spirit is so willing but unfortunately the flesh is weak. Unlike these others, I think he actually realises we are in a fight for our lives. When the others are hiding, he steps up to try to create, which unfortunately he isn't very good at. He has a go off the second ball from corners, for example - he almost always sends it way over, as he did on Sat, but at least he is still trying. This is a guy who we were booing not long ago and now seems one of the main sources of drive and leadership in the team. He's come a long way in my eyes and I'll be sad to see his spirit leave the club, if not his ability.

Reading that article above from 2005, it says something like 'we could've offered Ameobi as part of the Luque deal.' ...Missed out on an opportunity I think there

The battle will be won or lost based on our 3 home games imo. Any away points are bonuses. We beat Pompey, Boro and Fulham or we go down. If we beat Pompey and Boro and do get the point at Spurs, which I can see happening if we play a little more like NUFC 2nd half against Stoke rather than 1st half, Fulham won't loom so large any longer, depending on other results. But for sure, anything but a win against Portsmouth will be the signal for true panic. Considering they're the same side we trounced 3-0 away, I have to look at that game as a target we can achieve.

It's just sick how much this sad tiresome wannabe flails around on here looking for validation. Unfortunately he also succeeds in derailing plenty of our threads like this one. Getting back to what's great about Newcastle United: Seeing SBR in the stand. Going into sport shops in the USA and seeing five Premier League kits: Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal...and NUFC. The belief, every time we seem to be on the up, that somehow this time we're going to get it right.

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7997363.stm If Shearer decides to go back to MOTD (or, you know, turns out to be crap, although I don't think that's going to be the case)...

FYP You're right, 8th favourite cockney team. (big 4,, Charlton, AFC Wimbledon, Dagenham & Redbridge). You forgot Leyton Orient like. At least Spurs have the distinction of being less distasteful than Millwall.

If they go out the UEFA which I'm sure they will on thursday, he probably won't last that long. I think a new poisoned chalice has been born.