Alternative to Interlaken: Thun

A few posts back, it was discussed that the city of Interlaken is Switzerland's ultimate tourist trap. Hooter's. Japanese Gardens. Loud motorcycles. The town's got everything but the traditional Swiss feeling people go there to find. So what's a traveler in the area to do?

Go to Thun.

Recommended by Romy, in the comment section from the "What happened to Interlaken" post, Thun really is worth a day trip. A Swiss friend from Appenzell also recommended it to me, so with the parents in town, we went last week, and it was wonderful.

Now you won't see Thun in most guidebooks. Usually this is a good sign as the amount of space something takes up in a guidebook usually corresponds to the amount of unfortunate neon signage that you'll encounter when you get there. So I always make it a point to take the less trampled, less written about places.

It's easy to get to Thun from Interlaken and the best way is by boat. (from anywhere else in Switzerland, check the train schedule here)

Get on the boat to Thun (takes 2 hours total from Interlaken). Stop by Spiez on the way and visit the castle there. After peeking around the castle grounds, jump back on the next boat and take it to Thun. On the way, you'll pass by several other gorgeous castles. When you get to Thun, enjoy a restaurant on the river. Afterwards, climb a castle that's so uncrowded that you'll feel like you own it. At the top, enjoy the views of the Alps, the lake, and the river and then stop by a spotless garbage recepticle and throw away that Interlaken-touting guidebook. Now that's what I'd call happily ever after.

Swiss Budget Hotels

I was recently enjoying a long weekend in Lausanne and staying at the lovely Hotel Regina, which, despite the price, is apparently considered a "Swiss Budget Hotel."

In Switzerland, CHF 188 ($174) a night for a hotel is "budget."

As most Americans who have visited or attempted to live in Switzerland know, the Swiss have a very different definition of the word "budget." The Swiss Budget Hotel guide is a great example of this. Here, the hotels listed include places that cost CHF 250 ($230) a night. And I don't know about you, but I find that far from the "budget" I used to know.

Another crazy thing about Switzerland is what people consider a sale. Getting excited about a 50% discount is one thing. But in Switzerland, people get excited about 10% off.

For example, RailAway often has some deals on trips and places within Switzerland, but these involve buying the tickets at the departure station from the counter, which, more often than not, is filled with lines of confused people and usually not worth the 2 CHF I might save on the entrance to the Ballenberg Museum, for example. If I'm going to wait in a line the length of a Swiss bus, then I want to save more than 2 CHF.

When friends and family visit with their American perceptions of "budget", I always find myself apologizing for the high prices. I mean, you can't eat dinner for less than about CHF 50 for two people. But, nevertheless, if I pay CHF 50 for a meal for two now, I remark, "what a great deal." I guess I'm becoming slightly less price sensitive in my old expat status.

Smile in the Sun

Has anyone else living in Switzerland noticed that people are much more friendly when the sun's out?

I did the same hike on Monday that I did today, the only difference was the weather. Today was sunny and warm and almost everyone I passed said "hello". Some even smiled. This was in stark contrast to the hike on Monday when no one I passed even acknowledged my existence.

Is it all in my head? What do you think? To read more on this topic, visit "The Smiling Swiss" on glimpse.org.

The Saturday Market in Baden

I hate to admit it, but sometimes I don't make it to the Baden Saturday Market because it only goes until 11:30 and even though I live right above it all, I'm often too tired to make it there after being woken up at 6:00 by the noise of the preparation.

This Saturday, not only did I get there, I did what I had never done before at the Saturday Baden Market. I got something for free. Yes, you heard me right. There was an apero advertised to celebrate the moving of the market from one side of the clock tower to another and apparently this occasion warranted a few men to dress in velvet, fire a canon, and give away free wine, apple juice, breads, cheeses, and vegetables. It was quite the party and I enjoyed it.

But the best part was that now the market is resuming its original, pre-construction (and historically correct) position so hopefully my Saturday mornings (street sweepers aside) will be a little more peaceful. And for that reason alone, I'm glad I made it to the celebration. The whole free part just made it that more special.

Support Writers Worth Day

I'll take a break from Switzerland for a moment to let any writers and bloggers out there know about what's coming up on Friday. May 15 is Writers Worth Day. Spread the word. If you post about it on your blog, you can even win an amazon gift certificate by linking back to Words on the Page, which is a blog about the writing life by Lori Widmer, a veteran writer and editor.

Widmer, founder of Writers Worth Day, says, “Writers Worth Day was established in response to the increasing amount of job postings that offer little, if any, compensation for the amount of work expected.”

While I don't answer postings like this, I'm always amazed at the number of requests I get that ask if I can share my blog posts on another site or write a piece for free in exchange for "exposure." Please. It's one thing if I had something to sell. But it's another when what I'm selling is my writing. These publications and editors claim to have no budget and expect me to feel sorry for them. I don't.

As a writer, I don't work for free. And neither should you. Because it only ends up hurting all of us in the end. Writers make little enough as it is. We need to stand up for ourselves and "just say no." It worked for drugs. It can work for us too.

If you've got a great blog post or a great idea or a great essay, it will sell. You just have to be patient and keep trying. Giving things away for free is not the answer. If someone wants to use your blog material on another site, do what the professionals do and ask for a reasonable syndication fee. Or don't do it. It's not worth it to let dreams of Google Ad money (which will amount to probably 2 cents) get in the way of the future of the writing profession.

I can see it now, the procession of writers becoming IT professionals just so no one will ever ask them to work for free again. All the content we'll see on the Internet will be written by those with a terrible command of grammar but a great appetite for exposure. But the writing will be so bad, everyone will stop reading. And then where will that leave us?

To read more about Writers Worth Day and more about why writing for free is detrimental, visit the official press release.

A New Love for Lawn Art

I used to think lawn art was tacky and stupid, but that was when I was in the U.S., when more often than not, it consisted of a bunch of pink plastic flamingos or a few lighted Biblical figures. This kind of plastic city was considered festive by some, but let's face it, it wasn't exactly subtle and often took the spotlight away from any shrubbery that dared get in the way.

But then there are Gnomes. These little creatures are in a class by themselves. They hide under trees or among flowers and seem much more civilized than a bunch of hot pink flamingos.

Before I came to Switzerland, where gnomes were born in the tiny town of Grafenroda, I never gave gnomes much thought. But now, after seeing them everywhere, I have finally fallen in love with something that could be classified as a decorative garden accessory. With a new found appreciate for lawn art, I bought my own little gnome, who now proudly sits where he belongs, between a pine and some pink geraniums.

Expat Voices Interview

Last week I was interviewed for the Expat Voices column on expatica.com, which is a website for all things expat related. So if you haven't gotten enough of my musings about life in Switzerland on this blog, you can get your fill by reading the Expatica article.

The article is full of all things super thoughtful--like the fact that festival or not, brass bands and raclette cheese really should not be in a tunnel. But then again, life in Switzerland wouldn't be so interesting without a party for every construction triumph. So on second thought, keep the crazy tunnel festivals. Words over 15 letters though, those I could do without.

Zurich's Fall From Grace

Some people like rankings, so for those of you into this kind of thing, the 2009 Mercer report on the cities with the highest quality of life in the world just came out. So let's forget, for a moment, what the heck happened to Interlaken (it isn't even in the top 50, imagine that) and let's talk about what the heck happened to Zurich? It has fallen from its #1 ranking last year to #2 (following Vienna) this year.

Was it the weather? The street sweeper who forgot a cigarette butt one morning? The one delayed train? To try to make sense of the senseless, read more on Zurich's Fall from Grace, by visiting the Raclette Rant, over on glimpse.org. Or, for another expat's take on the disaster, visit Swisstory Blog.

What happened to Interlaken?

When I came to Switzerland in 2005 as a tourist, I thought Interlaken was God's gift to mountain beauty. So needless to say, I always get a little emotional about going back there only to realize the place is a tourist trap full of fake fondue and plastic signage.

Ok, maybe the fondue isn't exactly fake, but it's not exactly the real deal when you have to stare at a room full of Americans and Japanese photographing their every bite while eating it. In fact, the tourist office in Interlaken has definitely zeroed in on their target audience and installed both a Hooter's Restaurant and a Japanese Garden since I was there last. And you have to give them credit, they know how to give back to those who love them.

"This place really terrible," said my Swiss friend Peter, as we gave up our search for a quaint lunch spot and ate at the Coop Restaurant near the train station instead. And trust me, it takes a lot for Peter to eat at a Coop, which he claims is no different than eating in a nursing home.

In any case, the Coop Restaurant was the best Interlaken had to offer in terms of the tourist/local ratio, so we enjoyed our Coop salad and spaghetti accordingly.

For those of you looking for an Interlaken alternative, may I suggest Mürren or Grindelwald, both which are much less offensive when it comes to restaurant signage and general tackiness.

Mister Switzerland/Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera is Crowned

If you've lived in Switzerland long enough, you've no doubt heard of the beauty pageants Mister Switzerland and Miss Switzerland. They are really popular events here. Mr. Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera just concluded this weekend, and involved running commentary in the papers weeks before the actual jury on everything from how much chest hair is reasonable to if a sense of humor is important in the winner.

It's pretty amazing, actually, how hyped it all is, but then again, you can only read so much about Paris Hilton before going overboard, and these pageants appear to be developed to channel some of the attention away from Brangelina and Lindsay Lohan and onto a few good farm boys from Aargau.

This year, I even got wrapped up in the Mister Switzerland thing. It was stupid, I know, but when you're stuck on a train with people coughing in your face, sometimes the freebie paper, "20 Minuten", is your only defense so you read it out of protecting yourself from infection more than anything.

But then, in the middle of blocking yet another Swiss sneeze, it happens. You start following Switzerland's attempt at celebrity making.

I watched the whole Mister Switzerland pageant myself on Saturday night. I was amazed by a few things:
1. The event was actually run in Italian since usually the Swiss seem to ignore that part of the country.
2. Christa Rigozzi, hostess and former Miss Switzerland, spoke Italian and German together like they were one language.
3. The entire audience sang "Happy Birthday" to Christa in English (it was her 26th, in case you cared).

But mostly, I was disappointed by the whole event because the entire broadcast was more like one big informercial for Turkey than a beauty pageant. All we saw in between the guys posing in various suits were clips of them on vacation in Turkey. There was no live talent show. There was no bathing suit competition. Just clips and clips of the guys in Turkey. It got old. There was no drama, unless you count pre-filmed footage of a Swiss farm boy falling off water skis off the Turkish coast drama.

Anyhow, the winner of the whole letdown event was Andre Reithebuch, maybe because he didn't fall off his water skis while in Turkey. Either way, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of him in the year ahead. Like it or not.

Customer Service in Switzerland

So my last post for the Write On blog went up last week and it already seems to have caused some, how shall I put it, emotional reactions. Apparently, the level of customer service in Switzerland is a touchy subject and one that always seems to spark debate. Of course, it all depends on your background and what you got used to growing up.

I have to admit, when I return now to the U.S., some aspects of customer service really seem overboard--like the waitresses that never leave you alone and are way too perky for someone carrying around constant 32 oz refills of soda. Still, I do appreciate other things--like being able to easily return items with no questions asked and sometimes even being given an additional incentive for my "trouble".

What's your take on the whole customer service thing? Would love to hear from you. Visit my last Write On post and leave a comment.

Spat and Spew the Swine Flu

Swine flu is confirmed in Switzerland now--in my little town, no less. But this isn't stopping anyone from going about their usual germ spewing habits on public transportation...click here to read my rant about the Swiss germ spewers on the National Geographic Glimpse website.

And for anyone interested in writing or doing photography for National Geographic Glimpse, they are accepting applications for their Correspondents Program now for the fall. You must be a U.S. citizen, between 18-30 (at time of application), and living abroad for at least 10 weeks in the same location. Give me a shout if you'd like more info, or visit here to find out how to apply.

A little hot (or cold) air

Has anyone else noticed the strange Swiss obsession with drafts? After three years in Switzerland, I am still trying to comprehend it all.

It starts in the morning. Should a window be open on a train, bus, tram or any other form of transport (no matter how hot it is), there will no doubt be a Swiss person visibly upset and searching high and low for the culprit window, which they will then slam shut.

But fifteen minutes later, this same Swiss person will walk into their office (no matter how cold it is) and proceed to open the window to “air out the room”, never mind if their American co-worker puts her winter coat back on.

During lunch or after a meeting, the office windows will again be flung wide open to “air things out.”

But don’t even think about a little breeze on the train ride home. Unless of course, you want this same Swiss person to come search you out, make some unidentifiable comment in Swiss German, and slam your window shut while ten minutes later, they’ll proceed to make their way home and open their window as wide as can be.

The Grandhotel Giessbach

One of my friends from the United States is planning a trip to Switzerland this summer and she emails me all the time not quite prepared for Swiss hotel prices. And who can blame her. I'm still in shock most of the time and I've lived here almost three years.

"Everything's expensive in Switzerland, darling," said my Swiss friend, Tom, like he couldn't have been prouder to have such a money-making machine for a country.

But still. SFr 280 for a hotel room in Bellinzona? Surely there must be something else. But there isn't. And sometimes for this price, you don't even get a bar of soap.

Needless to say, I don't take a lack of bathroom minis personally anymore and instead travel accordingly, my bathroom bag stuffed with shampoos, soaps and kleenex--things I used to take for granted at hotels in the United States.

But there is one place in Switzerland that is actually worth the price (and bonus! You do get one tiny bar of soap for it). It's called the Grandhotel Giessbach and it is located alone on a cliff above Lake Brienz. Not only does the hotel overlook a turquoise lake, the Alps, and the oldest funicular in Europe that will take you to it, but it is also next to an equally grand waterfall.



It's a great place to stay. And I have my Swiss friends to thank for the discovery. But learn from our mistake and drink your champagne after you hike up to the top of the waterfall and not before. Here is a view of the hotel from the waterfall hike.


And here's what view your money will get you from your hotel room:

240 CHF-Forest (American's cheapskate room)


420 CHF-lake, waterfall, and mountains (Swiss friend's spendthrift room)


Is the extra CHF 180 worth it for the view? You decide. Or travel with some Swiss friends who will let you enjoy theirs. But keep in mind that a dinner for two will probably cost the same price as your room. But take it from one of the world's most accomplished tight wads: Unlike a lot of food and hotel experiences in Switzerland, this one is worth every penny. Excuse me, every 5 Rappen piece.

Confederate Gear in Your Swiss Easter Basket

I'm a little behind, but I still wanted to share my experience at the Easter Market in Bremgarten. Bremgarten is an adorable town in the heart of Northern Switzerland and I was expecting equally cute things to buy at the yearly Easter Market held on Easter Monday.

Instead, I saw booths like this:



Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. Was I wrong to expect Easter items at an Easter market? I mean, I didn’t come to a tiny Swiss town in the middle of nowhere on Easter Monday to buy things like Confederate belt buckles. If I wanted those, I would have stayed in my previous hometown of Richmond, VA.

At the Bremgarten Easter Market, there were maybe five stands that had anything to do with Easter—you know, the traditional decorative bunny and chick stuff. Even some plastic Jesus lawn art would have been something. Instead, most sellers were hawking items like license plates from all the U.S. 50 states, Mexican food, or various cleaning supplies (it is time for spring cleaning, after all).

And then there was Anis im Wunderland. (website: www.anismodel.ch)


But. Needless to say, it was all wonderfully strange.

According to Swiss Tourism, the Bremgarten Easter market receives 50,000 visitors every year. Well, after my experience, unless I hear that they’re upping the ante on the traditional Easter wares, I can tell you that next year there will only be 49,999.

Office Space (the Swiss version)

The Swiss work a 42-hour work week instead of the typical American 40-hour one (or the 35-hour one like the French). There’s a reason for this. It’s called thoroughness to the point of pointlessness. For example, requiring an entire office to attend a 3-hour printer training session that includes everything from learning where toner waste ends up to how a printer converts RGB color to CMYK.

Despite this in-depth training, the following day, I needed to print something and couldn’t figure out how to turn the printer on because that wasn’t covered in the 3-hour session. I mean who wants to do something as simple as press an “on” button when you can analyze percentage of black toner use versus cyan?

For more on the wonderful world of Swiss office life, visit this week’s Write On post, “The Perfect Print,” on swissinfo.ch.

Burn Böögg, Burn

I’ve got to say, when it comes to summer weather prediction, the Swiss have got it right. I mean, who wants to rely on a wimpy Groundhog seeing its shadow (like they do in the U.S.) when you can name a snowman the “Böögg”, burn him at the stake while prancing around him on horseback, and use this as a reason to take the afternoon off from work?

Forget sweet little Heidi. The Böögg is the bomb in Switzerland.

And he really does explode. He’s made of straw and cotton and filled with firecrackers. The longer it takes for his head to blow up, the longer it will take for summer to appear. The festival is called Sechseläuten and will be held this year on April 20th in Zurich.

Despite the Böögg’s fate, I don’t feel sorry for him at all. Even though he’s going to end up in a pile of ashes no matter what, it sort of serves him right. I mean last year, his firework-packed head took over 26 minutes to blow up. The nerve. Because as most Swiss people know, any Böögg explosion time lasting over about 10 minutes predicts a cold, hard summer for Switzerland.

I don’t know if I can even call what we had last year a summer. So I’m ready to see this Böögg guy burn. Especially since this year, thanks to a Swiss friend with access to a balcony above it all, I might actually see more than the back of people’s heads and the rising smoke.

But no matter where I end up for the festivities, let’s just hope last year’s outcome doesn’t repeat itself. Because by last July, it was sweater time. As I put on my black coat to mourn the weather, there was only one guy I could blame. And his name was Böögg.

Welcome to onebigyodel.com

In honor of spring, One Big Yodel is moving to a new address: www.onebigyodel.com.

I have to admit, moving is always a little scary, but changing domains is a whole lot easier than moving across the ocean, but slightly emotional all the same.

So yeah. Its own domain. If this doesn't make me the next big thing in blogging, I don't know what will.

No worries though. The old blogspot address will still take you here. And don't mind the mess as the design of the page may be getting a little updating along the way.

The first update is the header. Michael Wright, Creative Director at Modernista! in Boston, USA, illustrated it (yes, that is supposed to be the new European me).



Michael is an award-winning art director and designer that I had the pleasure of working with before I moved to Switzerland. He calls the One Big Yodel design an homage to Maria Kalman. Check out her blog and I think you'll see why.

And while you're at it, check out Michael's website. You might even see a few TV commercials we did together for NASCAR way back in my pre-European days when I was working with him at The Martin Agency.

In any case, be on the lookout for much more to come. Including perhaps, a bit of yodeling. After all, who says a blog can't sing too?

Swiss Food. A Mystery.

Have you ever taken a big swig of soda only to be disappointed by how warm it is? Or been confused to learn there’s more than one kind of water in the world? Or bought steak only to find out it’s really pork? Welcome to Swiss Food, A Mystery, where you can read about my run-ins with Rivella, Quark, and more. It’s this week’s post on swissinfo.ch.

Happy Easter!

In honor of actually spending an Easter at home in Switzerland this year, I wanted to post a few pictures:

View of our tulips and daffodils from our kitchen. Finally in bloom!


A number of Swiss seem to decorate their outdoor trees and bushes for Easter. Here's an example:


On Good Friday all the stores were closed, but you wouldn't know it based on the way many places just leave their stuff out, like this garden store:


And it wouldn't be Easter in Switzerland without a good chocolate bunny, like this one on display at Migros:


Frohe Ostern. Thanks for reading.

Win a Vacuum!

Has anyone else noticed the plethora of vacuum cleaner prizes offered by various Swiss contests? It's like every Swiss person's dream is to own the newest technology in dirt sucking. France could use a few of these people.

For those of you who are excited about the possibility of a big vacuum win, this week, the Tages Anzeiger is giving away three Siemens vacuums worth 279 Francs each. And all you have to do is correctly fill in a Suduko puzzle.

To read more about winning a vacuum in Switzerland, visit my blog on glimpse.org.

Paris: Fashion, Glamour, and Poop

I love Paris, but Switzerland isn’t helping matters. The longer I live in Switzerland, the harder and harder it is to travel anywhere, particularly a place known for being littered in dog poop.

While Swiss Tourism just ran an ad, jokingly claiming they even clean bird poop from mountains, the French, on the other hand, don’t bother cleaning much of anything—bird, dog, and horse poop included. It’s everywhere. And I find it amazing that a culture so concerned with appearances and filled with manicured people and well-maintained parks can be so passive about poop.

I like to think it’s because the French culture is so creative that their heads are simply in the clouds but really, this kind of attitude doesn’t do much for the glamour on the streets because from my experience, in under two days, any kind of footwear fashion statement will turn a dark shade of gray.

Still, a little (or even a lot) of poop isn’t going to stop me from going to Paris and they know it. Thus, the cliché of April in Paris still charmed me, dirty shoes and all. Because when one is rewarded by flowering trees, grand buildings, and colorful carousels, they have no reason to look down and think that maybe that nice soft ground they’re standing on is anything but a lush patch of grass.

American Tourists in Paris

Whenever I see American tourists in Europe I am always amazed at how bold they are. Yesterday, while sitting on a bench near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, I overheard an American mother telling her tween daughters, “Now don’t be shy. French boys love to have their photo taken with American girls.”

I’m thinking: Since when? And how is this woman so confident about that?

Then the mother asks the guy sitting on the bench next to me if he wouldn’t mind having his photo taken with her girls. And of course she asks in English. Assuming the guy even speaks it.

“But I’m not French,” he says, obviously having listened to their earlier conversation like I had.

“Doesn’t matter,” the mother says, pushing her girls to stand next to him.

“I’m from Denmark,” the guy protests in perfect English. Then he stands and smiles with her girls.

The mother takes the photo.

“We’re from California and we’re heading to Euro Disney tomorrow,” she says, like he would care.

“It’s a lot smaller than the one in Florida,” says the Danish guy, “I’ve been to both.”

Danish guys are really nice.

But I still wish these kinds of American tourists would go home and stop assuming the world loves their presence. They are an embarrassment to the rest of us who know better.

Get a Deal on Your Swiss Groceries

I’ve talked about grocery shopping in Germany to save money, but another way to save some cash—even in Switzerland—is to go to the supermarket an hour before closing time.

For instance, on Tuesday evening, I went to the Manor grocery store in Baden and picked up both chicken and hamburger meat at half price.

Many stores like Manor and Coop slash prices towards closing time, especially for meats and other fresh items. So not only do you get great deals on normally expensive items, but the stores are almost empty. Just make sure you eat your purchases soon or have room in your freezer (which is no small feat if yours is the size of a shoebox like mine).

Switzerland Tourism Fools Me

As I read the Tages Anzeiger this morning, I came upon an article with the headline “Felsenputzer entgernen Vogeldreck.” I wasn’t 100% sure what this meant, and as I read the article, I discovered it was something about the Swiss scrubbing their mountains clean.

This wouldn’t surprise me.

At work, I looked up the words and asked my colleague to confirm what I now found utterly amazing.

“Yes. It says they are cleaning bird shit off the mountains,” he said.

Well. Since the Swiss scrub trash cans at public transport hubs, clean my street every morning, and even have a police force to deal with people disobeying trash laws, the whole bird poop thing didn’t actually seem that strange.

Then my colleague pointed to the date above the article—April 1.

“It must be a joke,” he said.

No! I really wanted it to be true. I looked further for clues.

Further back in the paper was a job advertisement from Swiss Tourism looking for “bird shit cleaners”. This got me to their website where I discovered the most interesting and interactive advertising campaign I have seen in my three years in Switzerland. And it was launched on April Fool’s Day no less. Brilliant. It’s like the Swiss are actually making fun of themselves. Is this possible?

There’s even a YouTube video and contest on the MySwitzerland website of the Swiss crew going out to clean the bird shit off the Alps.

Awesome. I love it. It’s one of those rare moments when I can look at a Swiss ad campaign and say, “I wish I had done that.”

Halfway Between Clean and Punctual

The longer and longer I live in Switzerland, the more I repulsed I become by the rest of the world’s dirt. While I would never win a cleaning award myself, living in a country where even trash cans shine can’t help but affect you—whether it gets you to keep a spotless apartment (I wish) or heightens your awareness to the mess most of the world lives in.

Anyhow, dirt and punctuality are the topics of this week’s post on swissinfo. Click here to read more.

Weekend in Locarno

I think Locarno is my new favorite Swiss city. This is quite an accomplishment for the "sunniest place in Switzerland", since the entire two days I was there it rained non-stop.

But still. I loved the camellias that covered the town. And even if this year's Camellia Festival was a bit soggy, it was in a beautiful setting at the Camellia Park, right on Lake Maggiore.

There's something so refreshing about the Italian section of Switzerland. Palm trees. The Italian language. The bright rose, yellow, and orange buildings. I need to spend more time there. I wish it was a little closer. It's a little bit far (over 3 hours away by train) for a day trip.

Another highlight of Locarno was the Madonna del Sasso, a bright yellow church on a cliff, which is accessible by a funicular. I recommend taking the funicular up (about SFr 4,50) and then walking down. The hike down is a bit steep, but it comes complete with a waterfall, the church--which you can walk inside-no charge, and palm trees and other Mediterranean plants. And thanks to the rain, I almost felt like I was walking through a tropical rain forest.



A few other tips:

Eating:

Ristorante la Fiorentina, in the old town (Via St. Antonio 10), is a great place for a dinner. It comes complete with a view of a courtyard filled with palms trees, camellia plants, and colorful Italian-style buildings. Excellent lasagne and chocolate mousse.

Hotel:

Alexandra Hotel (Via San Gottardo 43). The hotel is located in a bright pink Italian mansion. High ceilings, comfortable beds, wooden floors. Nice breakfast. Friendly, English-speaking reception. They also rent bikes for SFr 15 a day. It's about 500 m from the train station, slightly away from the touristy areas, but by no means that far. Bus #1 will take you there. Get off at "Sociale".

Swiss Police: Stop That Fun

I wrote about those great Native American (or Peruvian or whatever country you prefer to imagine they came from) Flute Bands a couple posts back. No matter where you go in Switzerland, not to mention in Europe, these guys give us a sense of constancy on a continent with an otherwise changing cultural landscape.

So imagine my excitement when these guys appeared once again in the square below my balcony for the second Saturday in a row. I was enjoying some of those great melodies that we all know when all of a sudden, the music abruptly stopped.

I ran outside and looked down and saw the party poopers, otherwise known as The Swiss Police.

My husband, not wanting to miss a rare moment of conflict in Switzerland, ran downstairs and innocently passed by. The police were asking these guys for their "Bewilligung" and these poor musicians didn't know what the heck that was. I guess their Swiss German wasn't up to par, which just goes to prove these guys really are authentic. Whatever that authenticity or nationality may be.

But since these South-North-East-West Native Americans musicians had no permit to show the police, they were sent packing in shame. The screaming children in the square though, were allowed to stay.

I knew I should have bought a CD when I had the chance.

Shopping Insanity on swissinfo.ch

It was Saturday. I went to Migros. That was my first mistake.

As most people living in Switzerland know, the Migros supermarket is a madhouse on Saturdays. Without fail, the entire Swiss population jams itself into various Migroi around the country with no thought about the consequences (which, by personal experience and regulated calculation, involve approximately one bruise per bag of groceries.)

To read more about my psychotic Saturday shopping experience last week, go to swissinfo.ch.

Have any of you experienced the madness that only a Saturday Swiss shopping experience can bring?

Tips from a Bag Lady

How to recycle. How to reuse. How to triumph over your Swiss trash. The April issue of Swiss News features my article, "Tips from a Bag Lady" on what to do with everything from your batteries to your banana peels. Because in the world of recycling, the Swiss are the champions. See how you can become one too. Even without a shiny new red passport.

Coming soon to a town near you.

The Native American Pan Flute Band gets around. Maybe you've seen them in a place near you. They were below my balcony for two hours last Saturday.

I've seen them in Zurich, Lugano, Milan, and Athens. Whether or not they are the same band or a clone of it is irrelevant.

The real question is, how much money do they make?

That's why my husband and I created a time lapse video of the event. In two minutes, you can watch over an hour of Pan Flute footage. How generous are the Swiss? Visit The Raclette Rant on glimpse.org to find out more.

It’s a thief. It’s a robber. It’s a landlord with no regard for tenants.

We used to own a house in Virginia before my husband and I sold it to come live in Switzerland. And lately, I’ve been missing it. The fireplace, the screened-in porch, but mainly the fact that it was ours and no one did anything to it unless we said.

So combine this longing for my own place again with coming home last night to discover dirt and pieces of jagged plastic (some more than a foot long) all over the rug in our entrance room, both of our bathrooms, and our hallway. I could only think one thing—my apartment had been robbed.

But no. Apparently, our landlord decided to replace all the skylights without telling us (except via an unintelligible message on my husband’s work phone around 9.30 am after we had both left for work that day, and which he didn’t discover until late) and just left us to come home and deal with the mess afterwards.

No prior notice. No regard for the fact we might have jobs. Just jagged pieces of plastic and dirt all over our apartment to welcome us home after a long day at work. (Talk about a perfect setting for an American lawsuit—I stepped on a piece of the old skylight this morning while getting out of the shower. Thank goodness I don’t have kids.)

So this weekend will be spent washing the white bathroom rugs that are now speckled, picking up jagged pieces of skylight that we overlooked, vacuuming again and again, probably all serenaded by a few unavoidable curses here and there.

I am shocked by the treatment we have received while renting here in Switzerland. For the price we pay there is really no regard for our rights at all. It doesn’t seem fair to come home to what we experienced last night, with only our neighbor (who works from home) to have the courtesy to come by and reassure us that we were not robbed.

A Swiss friend has helped me to compose a letter in pefect German to our landlord, explaining our shock and asking nicely to please give us advance notice for things like this—but I’m sure it won’t do any good. I’ve also documented the event in photos in case they try to deduct some of our deposit for floor damage where these jagged foot-long pieces have dented and scratched the floor. I don’t know what else to do. Anyone have a suggestion?

The Four Ways to Eat at Hiltl in Zurich

Hiltl is one of the best restaurants in Zurich. It's vegetarian inspired food. It's always crowded. And it's always confusing.

At least for me.

Little did I know there were four ways to eat at the Hiltl. So here I am, almost three years into my stint at living in Switzerland and I'm still paying the most I could pay to eat at Hiltl by sitting at a table on the second floor and ordering from a menu. But thanks to my blogger blind date with Kerrin of MyKugelhopf, I am now in the know.

There are four ways (and four pricing methods) to eat at Hiltl. The first, described above, is the priciest.

The next three ways to eat at Hiltl involve getting food from the downstairs buffet. You take either a plate or a plastic container (if you want take out, excuse me "take away"). Fill your plate or container with whatever you want. Then:

If you want to sit on the right side of the restaurant at a table, you weigh your food near the hostess stand, take a receipt, and sit down. I tried this with my plate of food and it cost me SFr 18,50.

If you want to sit on the left side of the restaurant in the bar area, you take your food to the bar, weigh it there, and you can also order a drink from the bar. With the same plate of food this cost SFr 13,00. Hmm.

If you put your food in a plastic container and then decide to stay in to eat, there is no mercy. You will be kicked out because you are not allowed to change your mind. Having put the food in a plastic container, you have not paid for the pleasure of sitting in the restaurant in any place except maybe the toilet. I'm guessing my same food in plastic would have cost SFr 10.

So there you have it. How to eat at Hiltl. Thanks in part to Kerrin of MyKugelhopf, who's not known for being an award-winning travel and food blogger for nothing.

Hiking in Germany

I admit it. I love a good border crossing.

When I come upon one, I always have to snap at least ten pictures of the novelty of having one foot in one country and one in another. Maybe it's dorky, but then again I come from the Chicago area, where the biggest thrill one could have was to drive into Gary, Indiana. Somehow, that one never felt worth documenting as it always involved both a traffic jam filled with trucks and a construction site.

Anyhow, if you love a good border crossing, or are just looking for a fun Sunday hike, try this:

Take the train to Kaiserstuhl. It's a small medieval Swiss town, marked by what every Swiss town has-a clock tower. My guidebook tells me it also has a Baroque Landhaus and a beautiful historic center. No offense, but I don't have much patience for a historic center or a Landhaus when the Rhine is sitting there, just beckoning me to cross over into another country.

Marked by a Deutschland sign and a castle, the other side of the Rhine gave my husband and me a great view of Kaiserstuhl before we set off hiking along the German side of the Rhine towards Zweidlen. (About 5k).



It's a nice, flat walk along the Rhine, where you can revel in hiking in Germany and admiring Switzerland at the same time (or do the opposite--there are trails on both sides of the Rhine).



You'll know when you arrive at Zweidlen, as there is a huge dam there.

Cross it (yeah! another border crossing!) and then walk up the hill and you can take the train back from Zweideln. Or if you still have energy, you can hike another 5K back to Kaiserstuhl on the Swiss side of the Rhine.

Shopping in Germany on Swissinfo.ch

Every time I go to Deutschland to do a little shopping, I can't help but enjoy myself.

Big stores. More choices. Cheaper prices. What could be better?

To read all about shopping in Germany, visit my latest write up on swissinfo.ch

Some prices to consider at the Famila in Waldshut, Germany (a direct train ride away from Baden):

American-sized bag of tortilla chips (no, really it's LARGE!!) = 1,99 EUR
Package of fajitas = 1,99 EUR
Chocolate chip cookies that really taste American (They are called Griesson Chocolate Mountain) = .79 EUR
Honey Nut Flakes Cereal = 1,59 EUR

Read more about the greatness of German shopping here on Swissinfo.

Blame it on the Böögg

Do you ever find yourself apologizing for Switzerland’s weather to visitors?

They always want to know how the weather will be during the specific time they will be visiting.

“June,” they prod me, “it must be nice in June.”

Sadly, my answer is usually the same.

“Sorry. But it will probably be cold. With a 95% chance of rain.”

I hate to be negative. But even most Swiss people agree that their weather is terrible.

To read more about my musings about the generally crappy Swiss weather, visit Blame it on the Böögg featured this week on glimpse.org.

Sneakers für Freaks

On Page 21 of today's Blick am Abend newspaper, there's a section showing off colorful gym shoes and their coordinating bold prices.

For any friend or family member back home (hi mom!) that always wonders why I have to stuff my suitcase filled with new running shoes (along with many other various items) in the U.S., these prices will explain it all:

The featured Nikes cost SFr 199-220.
The featured Adidas cost SFr 190-200.

When I was in Chicago three months ago, I went to the Nike store at the Chicago Outlet Mall and bought a pair of Nike running shoes for $32 with tax. Upon coming home, I realized I had bought the wrong size. So I returned them a week later, was given a 20% coupon for my trouble (Customer service. I had almost forgotten about the concept), and bought the correct pair for a total of $25 with tax.

Anyhow, with the going rates in Switzerland for a comfortable pair of shoes, I could have bought six pairs of these Nikes for the price of one in Switzerland. I mean, I know people make a bit more money here, but still. Seems a little freaky to me.

Debut on Swissinfo.ch

Swissinfo.ch is a great source of news about Switzerland for English readers. If you can’t quite piece together an article from 20 Minuten or Blick am Abend, for example, you can just go to swissinfo.ch and find your story there. Auf English. Auf Spanish. Or even auf Japanese, if you prefer.

Swissinfo.ch also runs several blogs, including one in English called Write On, which is written from an outsider’s point of view about life in Switzerland. For the next two months, I’ll be the Write On contributor. You can read my first post by clicking here. It’s about my transformation from a spa virgin to spa snob. And it’s all Baden’s fault.

Further Write On posts will be available every Friday on swissinfo.ch.

Tea at the Carlton. Otherwise Known as My First Swiss Doggy Bag.

I never thought my first Swiss doggy bag would happen at the Carlton’s English Afternoon Tea in Zurich, but there I was, being offered a doggy bag for my uneaten scones.

I wasn’t going to say no. I’m an American and for me, doggy bags are nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve never seen a Swiss person take one. But that wasn’t going to stop me from taking advantage of this novelty, after almost three years of dining out in Zurich, at being offered—for the first time ever in Switzerland—to take something unfinished with me.

The American friend I was with took the concept further and managed to add a small lemon tart to our waitress-produced, aluminum-foil wrapped scones.

“Take the shortbread,” my friend urged me, handing it to me off the three-tiered silver platter.

Sure, it wasn’t so elegant or sophisticated to be stuffing little snacks from our fancy silver platter into a bit of aluminum foil, but then again, I’m neither elegant or sophisticated.

The Carlton Restaurant, on Bahnhofstrasse 41 in Zurich, offers (to quote their brochure) “Very, very british, unser English Afternoon Tea.”



You can have this “very, very british tea”, Wednesday through Saturdays from 2:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. for SFr 34. Since there’s enough food on the platter to even take it with you after the fact, you really can justify the price as it can serve as your lunch as well.

The only thing the tea included that I wasn’t happy about was the cigarette smoke-filled room. Somehow, this part of teatime seemed “sehr, sehr, Swiss” in concept.

Carnival in Basel

I have never been a big fan of Baden’s carnival, probably since I live in its center and can’t escape it, but I really enjoyed Fasnacht in Basel.

For one thing, it had more creative costumes and masks. For another, it actually seemed like the “musicians” rehearsed ahead of time. A Basel local confirmed this. The bands are allowed to practice up to three weeks beforehand in designated areas of the city.

There are two kinds of music at Fasnacht in Basel: traditional and Guggen. I preferred the traditional music myself, which consisted of fife and drum bands in groups from 2-25 who wandered the streets with no shame in running you over should you somehow fail to see or hear them coming.

Guggenmusik is normally too loud and obnoxious for my tastes, as it consists of mainly brass instruments played by large bands from a stage, which during Carnival in Baden, is typically right below my window.

The other thing I loved, besides the lantern display in front of the cathedral that was one part art show-one part political statement, was that the entire city of Basel was carpeted in confetti. I got doused with my own good dose, as it is tradition that unless you buy a Basel Fasnacht pin and display it proudly (the Swiss love festival pins—don’t get me started on them), you are fare game to get covered in confetti.



But the real novelty of the confetti carpet is that it’s so un-Swiss. Normally, even stray leaves are swept up the moment they dare decide to cross with a sidewalk, so the fact that so much colorful confetti was allowed to be thrown about the city not to mention allowed to stay around for more than five minutes before a street sweeper appeared was really something else. I loved it and took many photos of my feet, amazed that they could be standing among such creative clutter and still be in Switzerland.



Sadly, I’m sure by today there’s not a trace of confetti to be found. I’m sure that the street sweepers have done their religious duty. And I’m sure that overnight, Basel has become yet again a city of serious people wearing black coats and walking on perfectly clean sidewalks under a coordinating grey sky.

But at least now I know where to go once a year in Switzerland to find its real spirit—even if the people have to put on masks to be brave enough to reveal it.

Drunk Guy Roams Swiss Public Transport

To read my latest on the Raclette Rant, please visit glimpse.org

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Language in Barcelona

The first time I heard the Swiss German exchange of “Merci” and “Bitte,” (“thank you” and “you’re welcome”) I thought it was as little strange. Having learned French in high school, I associated “merci” solely with the French language. Hearing it used in Swiss German seemed, well, a bit foreign.

But I just returned from Barcelona. There they greet you with an “hola” and thank you with a “merci.” So what do you know—“merci” is a much versatile than I thought and I practically fit in like a local, thanking everyone with it.

In some ways, the people of Barcelona share many of the same issues as the people living in the Swiss German speaking regions. The natives in Barcelona speak Catalan, which seems to be a mixture of French and Spanish. According to a local we talked to, most people speak Catalan and Spanish—since Spanish is required to get around the rest of the country. In addition, English was also widely spoken and it was also advertised heavily by language schools, as you can see above on a placemat we received at a Barcelona restaurant.

Unexpected Switzerland

Short break from Barcelona for the moment.

As some of you know, I am serving as a National Geographic Glimpse Correspondent for this spring. One of my assignments is to create a photo slideshow of Switzerland. For this, I am thinking of showing the side of Switzerland unknown to tourists. One good example is the graffiti art wall in Neuenhof, featured recently by Twissted Swisster. I’m also looking for modern architecture, palm trees, things (or people)that are not the usual mountain/cow /chalet in the snow/skier scenes of Switzerland.

I’d love any ideas you may have from wherever you live or know of in Switzerland that's on the other side of ordinary. If you are Swiss and do something unique and would be interested in having yourself photographed, please let me know as well. Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to showing off a new side of Switzerland.

Great Tapas Bar in Barcelona

One of the great things about Spain is eating. On our trip, my husband and I went out of our way to find the non-touristy eateries since non-touristy areas equal two things: better food and better prices.

We weren't let down with Sol Soler, located in the Carrer del Planeta in the Gràcia district. Gràcia used to be a separate city in itself before Barcelona became as sprawling as it is today. It's definitely where you'll find the locals as well as plenty of little tapas bars and also a large collection of Turkish food.

Guadi's Parc Güell is also located in the Gràcia district. More on that later.

Barcelona is a little tricky, since the language is Catalan and not Spanish. So they say "Hola," but also "Merci." With that weird combination, we have to say, we felt right at home after dealing with Swiss German. But we found a lot of people spoke English, even the guy running Sol Soler. But either way, you can usually go up to the counter and just point at what you want.

At Sol Soler, I recommend the chicken wings, tomato/olive oil bread (a Barcelona speciality), the tomato tortilla, the Greek salad, and the fried potatoes. Add a couple of beers and you've got a complete meal for two. For under 20 Euros, no less.


It was hard to come back to Switzerland.