Advertisement
Switzerland: 28th May - 6th June 2009
We weren't supposed to go to Switzerland, but a few days before we left Florence, it seemed the right thing to do. We found an apartment in a chalet near Interlaken in a small town called Aeshi set among a dramatic landscape and beautiful lakes. We knew immediately that it was a nice place because there were plenty of senior couples seated on park benches blissfully and serenely viewing the lakes...a good sign. With that, we knew that one week here would be too short, so we decided to stay two.
Before we arrived, Switzerland conjured images of numbered bank accounts, fondue, and mountains. But, reading a little about the history, I was surprised to learn that this country was another “against-all-odds” story. It started with three regions (“cantons”) that were fed up with the Habsburgs and pledged allegiance to a new confederation, agreeing to support each other come what may. That was 1291. After numerous battles and wars, and having been joined by other adjacent cantons, the modern Switzerland slowly came into being. By the way, the Austrian Empire (from whom Switzerland originally seceeded) didn't recognize Switzerland as a separate country
until 1648. That's like the USA not being recognized by the British until 2133! I wonder if the Taiwanese will wait so long.
Switzerland falls in the category of “One-of-those-funny-obscure-places-that-do-their-own-thing.” Other examples are Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Jordan. I'm sure we'll run across a few more as we go along, but these places are interesting because they ran against the grain and have found their own way through sheer guts. Switzerland's choices in the way they govern and manage their country run counter to both conservative and liberal values (from an American perspective). Among numerous examples, Liberals would applaud the high fuel costs and (seemingly excessive as near as I can tell) value added taxes, while Conservatives would point to the proliferation of firearms (they love their guns!) with low gun crime rate. And yet Liberals can retort with the fact that there is no single unifying language, and that a multilingual society can be stable and prosperous (there are four official Swiss languages, and English most definitely is not one of them!).
But, we've had a great time since we've arrived. Our first job was to buy bicycles. We had been renting bikes for 20 to
30 euros per day in Italy. You don't have to rent many bikes to have paid for your own, so we cut our losses and found 2, somewhat humble, city bikes at a bike parking garage in Bern (you won't find one of those in Kansas!) where it seems that the guys running the garage make a few extra bucks refurbishing and selling bikes that have been abandoned. Our bikes only have 7 gears, and aren't really suited for the mountains, but in reality, walking a bike up a steep hill goes about as fast as riding it up in the lowest gear (though walking the bike up deflates one's ego, I must admit). They were great in Geneva, though, and we'll put a few more miles on them this summer.
A word to the wise: Switzerland ain't cheap. It does make Japan seem cheap, though. After buying our bikes, Rayma and I thought we'd eat lunch at Burger King to save money. After we paid $22 for two Whoppers, 1 small fries, and two drinks, we knew we wouldn't be saving much at this meal. We also went to Starbucks a few days later and paid $10 for
2 coffees...! Two tickets to Star Trek (the movie): $17 each. And we thought Italy was expensive. Needless to say, we've been cooking for ourselves a lot more. Beer is cheap, though...if you are ok with cheap beer (hey, I'm a UT alum, so that's a fait accompli).
We also took a side trip to Wengen, a small town seemingly named after Wengers (or maybe the other way around). I doubt anyone knows whether Wengers originated there or if they fled to that slightly less steep part of a very high mountain. In my limited research regarding my surname, “Wenger” relates to a “meadow”. This root meaning does not reconcile at all with the location of Wengen. Whoever lived there did not want to be found or otherwise bothered. But we did find Wengen, and we enjoyed our visit. In fact, that town has all things that this Wenger likes: there's a small ranch (about ¼ acre), they have a local beer, of course there's paragliding nearby, *and* the town is a ski resort, not to mention a specific TV channel devoted to Star Trek! (I have been unable to verify the last feature, but it's a logical deduction
at this point).
Apart from side trips, we've spent most of our time in the highlands above Bern (“Berner Oberland”). The mountains have endless trails, of which Rayma and I have enjoyed only a few. But they have been spectacular. Photos really can't do justice to the majesty of the mountains and valleys that surround us every day (but we tried anyway). Knees and lungs have been tested to the extreme in our tours. A typical walk brought us inevitably uphill to a stunning vantage point where, winded and exhausted, Rayma and I rested on one of those ubiquitous park benches, blissfully and serenely viewing the lakes.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.117s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0674s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
tre
non-member comment
waterfalls
The waterfall pics are awesome! I especially like the one on the way to Brunni.