It almost sounds like the title out of fairytale, but believe me: it's true; at least whatever the modern version of the tale might be. Yes, it's in Switzerland. As a last ditch effort to do something useful today, I will try to write a bit about my adventures in Switzerland.
This small, but very unique country in the whole of Europe, is to a large extent occupied by the Alps. That is, most of the southern part. Covered by some of the highest mountains in the Alps, fairytalish valleys and breath-taking views, it offers unique hiking opportunities. The northern part of the country is among the most densely populated regions in Europe with a very high development and production index. I could write a lot about this unique place, but probably it's best understood by reading the book "Swiss Watching" by Diccon Bewes, an Englishman who lives in Bern. The book is written with a strong flavour of typical British humour, which I must admit honestly, I enjoyed very much. Anyway, to have a nice introduction to the country, I'll leave you to read that. Let me however just stress an aspect that I really like about Switzerland. It's the only country in Europe where you'll find the cohabitation of two of Europe's biggest cultural traditions: the Germans and the French. While the traditions can be typically French or German, this doesn't mean at all they identify with each of the big neighbours. They're all Swiss, and that's what sets them apart.
Let's just start out by saying I live in Bern, which is in the plain lands, or should I say flatland? That makes me a flatlander, huh? A couple of weeks back, some friends of mine from Dresden visited me (ah yes, the Dresden visit, I should write about that wonderful city in another post, but let's just go on here). It was with them that I saw Basel, the cultural capital of Switzerland. Many people just think of Zurich to be the cultural capital, and that's it. But no, its true and yet its not true. Zurich is probably the cultural capital if you all want to be hip and happening, go to rock concerts, nightclubs, meet all the people of the people of the world and so on; but if you want to go to museums, and act cultural that way, then Basel is definitely the place for you. In fact, this week Basel had the world art exhibition.
Basel is also the pharmaceutical capital, with a home for the pharmaceutical companies. It's also the head office of Coop, the second biggest supermarket chain of Switzerland.
Now, now: I am supposed to just talk about my experiences, not go about making general statements, but I do feel a little bit of background is in order. So that was about Basel. About Bern now. Bern is the fourth biggest city of Switzerland (after Zurich, Geneva and Basel). It is the political capital, and a very wonderful and lively city. Especially on Saturdays if you go and visit the old town! The old town in Bern is a lot bigger than that in Basel, and looks really oldish. Compared to that, I found Basel old town to be modern! The trams in Basel are also the oldish ones, like the ones that you get to see in Wein. We walked about quite a bit in and around Basel to start with. The museum we went to see was the Kunstmuseum -- they were having a Renoir exhibition as well at that time. The museum was nice with lots of paintings from different areas, that took us about two hours to navigate. It was a Friday on the end of May, and the weather was the hottest we've had till then, with the sun absolutely burning down. Then after a light lunch in the old town, we went to Munster and the Rathaus. Our visit ended by taking a stroll down the banks of the Rhine, after we crossed across the MittleBrucke. It was a warm day, as I remarked before, and not a single sitting bench beneath the shadows were free.
By the time we had battled the rush hour on the train and reached Bern it was already cool: and the Eiger, the Monach and the Jungfrau were staring us on the face! Interestingly enough, the building of the Albert Einstein Centre, where I work, is on top of the Grosse Schanze, and it offers an unrestricted view of the mountains, and the city. This warm day, however, attracted some pretty dark clouds overnight, and from early next day it was raining: quite a disappointment for me, since I was expecting to show the lively city to my friends! It was not that bad, though: the rains and the sun in the month of May had spawn green all over the city, and, the view from the backyard of the Munster across the Aare on to the rising slopes of Gurten, our local mountain here in Bern, is indeed remarkable. Now, here comes a twist in the tale: you'd have thought that with the rains pouring down, the usual tourist would be confined to the hotel, or a cafe. Nuh, thats the what Bern is really good at. The whole old town is covered in arcades, and you can move under them while window-shopping all the time. C'mon now, how many of you really don't want to look at something nice? Lots of watches out there, in case that interests you. In fact, we got to see some designer clocks, which are so simple conceptually, but I really haven't seen the likes of those anywhere. So, even though it was all rainy and cold, we managed to have a decent time.
At the very end of the old town we went and looked at the bears. Thankfully, it was only drizzling now, and the bears were still out! What I was completely taken aback by was that on that very Saturday, Bern was holding its Grand Prix, the 16km marathon. Too bad it was raining all day, it must have been a bad day for the runners. I was taken aback because I hadn't realized that this event was coming up, -- and normally I am not totally shut-up from whats happening around me. With all this done, and having had a late lunch of rosti (and believe me the day was cold enough to warrant it!), we decided that we might as well go up to the Gurten. This however turned out to be quite a different experience from what I have had before: see the last two times I went up, it had been pretty clear: this day was completely different. First of all, since we didn't have time, we took the funicular all the way up (th Gurten Bahn). Once up there, it was completely covered by fog, you couldn't even see things 5 metres away, and it was completely deserted. So there we spend time in the foggy hill, all by ourselves, went up on the viewing tower, again all by ourselves, shivered in the cold, and came down. It was a different experience, to be sure, but I was keeping my fingers crossed for the day after -- since it was to be the great trip to the mountains.
Once back from Gurten, and on the way home, I was really happy to see a bright western sky: the clouds were lifting. The morrow would be safe! Thats all folks, for today: I have talked about the plains. Watch out for the mountains and the lakes in the next post!
This small, but very unique country in the whole of Europe, is to a large extent occupied by the Alps. That is, most of the southern part. Covered by some of the highest mountains in the Alps, fairytalish valleys and breath-taking views, it offers unique hiking opportunities. The northern part of the country is among the most densely populated regions in Europe with a very high development and production index. I could write a lot about this unique place, but probably it's best understood by reading the book "Swiss Watching" by Diccon Bewes, an Englishman who lives in Bern. The book is written with a strong flavour of typical British humour, which I must admit honestly, I enjoyed very much. Anyway, to have a nice introduction to the country, I'll leave you to read that. Let me however just stress an aspect that I really like about Switzerland. It's the only country in Europe where you'll find the cohabitation of two of Europe's biggest cultural traditions: the Germans and the French. While the traditions can be typically French or German, this doesn't mean at all they identify with each of the big neighbours. They're all Swiss, and that's what sets them apart.
Let's just start out by saying I live in Bern, which is in the plain lands, or should I say flatland? That makes me a flatlander, huh? A couple of weeks back, some friends of mine from Dresden visited me (ah yes, the Dresden visit, I should write about that wonderful city in another post, but let's just go on here). It was with them that I saw Basel, the cultural capital of Switzerland. Many people just think of Zurich to be the cultural capital, and that's it. But no, its true and yet its not true. Zurich is probably the cultural capital if you all want to be hip and happening, go to rock concerts, nightclubs, meet all the people of the people of the world and so on; but if you want to go to museums, and act cultural that way, then Basel is definitely the place for you. In fact, this week Basel had the world art exhibition.
Basel is also the pharmaceutical capital, with a home for the pharmaceutical companies. It's also the head office of Coop, the second biggest supermarket chain of Switzerland.
Now, now: I am supposed to just talk about my experiences, not go about making general statements, but I do feel a little bit of background is in order. So that was about Basel. About Bern now. Bern is the fourth biggest city of Switzerland (after Zurich, Geneva and Basel). It is the political capital, and a very wonderful and lively city. Especially on Saturdays if you go and visit the old town! The old town in Bern is a lot bigger than that in Basel, and looks really oldish. Compared to that, I found Basel old town to be modern! The trams in Basel are also the oldish ones, like the ones that you get to see in Wein. We walked about quite a bit in and around Basel to start with. The museum we went to see was the Kunstmuseum -- they were having a Renoir exhibition as well at that time. The museum was nice with lots of paintings from different areas, that took us about two hours to navigate. It was a Friday on the end of May, and the weather was the hottest we've had till then, with the sun absolutely burning down. Then after a light lunch in the old town, we went to Munster and the Rathaus. Our visit ended by taking a stroll down the banks of the Rhine, after we crossed across the MittleBrucke. It was a warm day, as I remarked before, and not a single sitting bench beneath the shadows were free.
By the time we had battled the rush hour on the train and reached Bern it was already cool: and the Eiger, the Monach and the Jungfrau were staring us on the face! Interestingly enough, the building of the Albert Einstein Centre, where I work, is on top of the Grosse Schanze, and it offers an unrestricted view of the mountains, and the city. This warm day, however, attracted some pretty dark clouds overnight, and from early next day it was raining: quite a disappointment for me, since I was expecting to show the lively city to my friends! It was not that bad, though: the rains and the sun in the month of May had spawn green all over the city, and, the view from the backyard of the Munster across the Aare on to the rising slopes of Gurten, our local mountain here in Bern, is indeed remarkable. Now, here comes a twist in the tale: you'd have thought that with the rains pouring down, the usual tourist would be confined to the hotel, or a cafe. Nuh, thats the what Bern is really good at. The whole old town is covered in arcades, and you can move under them while window-shopping all the time. C'mon now, how many of you really don't want to look at something nice? Lots of watches out there, in case that interests you. In fact, we got to see some designer clocks, which are so simple conceptually, but I really haven't seen the likes of those anywhere. So, even though it was all rainy and cold, we managed to have a decent time.
At the very end of the old town we went and looked at the bears. Thankfully, it was only drizzling now, and the bears were still out! What I was completely taken aback by was that on that very Saturday, Bern was holding its Grand Prix, the 16km marathon. Too bad it was raining all day, it must have been a bad day for the runners. I was taken aback because I hadn't realized that this event was coming up, -- and normally I am not totally shut-up from whats happening around me. With all this done, and having had a late lunch of rosti (and believe me the day was cold enough to warrant it!), we decided that we might as well go up to the Gurten. This however turned out to be quite a different experience from what I have had before: see the last two times I went up, it had been pretty clear: this day was completely different. First of all, since we didn't have time, we took the funicular all the way up (th Gurten Bahn). Once up there, it was completely covered by fog, you couldn't even see things 5 metres away, and it was completely deserted. So there we spend time in the foggy hill, all by ourselves, went up on the viewing tower, again all by ourselves, shivered in the cold, and came down. It was a different experience, to be sure, but I was keeping my fingers crossed for the day after -- since it was to be the great trip to the mountains.
Once back from Gurten, and on the way home, I was really happy to see a bright western sky: the clouds were lifting. The morrow would be safe! Thats all folks, for today: I have talked about the plains. Watch out for the mountains and the lakes in the next post!
