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.