Switzerland

Switzerland. The orderly, tidy, on time, quiet nation. The differences between Switzerland and Turkey are so drastic that it took me a while to appreciate Switzerland. Turkey is loud, in your face, constant bantering with people on the street. Having to shake your head at “Lady, yes please!” (i.e. come into my shop) and smiling at “You’re so beautiful” (i.e. come into my shop). 

Basel and its Cathedral

In Switzerland, I was unremarkable.  No-one likes to make eye contact or strike up conversation with random tourists. You get the impression that problems are not shared and complaints are rarely made. And it they were made, it would be done quietly.  The hostels were comfortable, really clean and obviously expensive. The people at the desks there were polite and helpful. Again different to Turkey where you kind of become part of the family for the duration of your stay.

 

Even the dogs in Switzerland were sedately standing beside their owners while tickets were bought or groups of Swiss chatted quietly. But after about 2 days I found some life and heart here too. Just very different. 

I had a good giggle as the vast majority of people waited patiently for the pedestrian light to turn green before daring to set foot across the road (even if no traffic was in sight). Also, if there is a pedestrian crossing the cars happily come to a complete stop to let you cross. There is no squealing of breaks or looks of frustration at being delayed. They just stop for you. Coming from South Africa where you have to be careful not to be run-over, this was a little different. Pedestrians just expect to be stopped for - so they just walk (unless at a robot where they wait for the green man to tell them that they can). There is obviously no jay-walking. You look for the correct place to cross the road.

Inside the town hall

Basel where I landed from Turkey has some lovely museums I’m told - but I was keen for the outdoors. I took a number of walks around the city. I found their bright red town hall dating far back. 

The ferry accross the Rine

Their main cathedral was being restored and was a strange brown colour. But the roof was stunning colourful patterned tiles which shone in morning and evening light. The Rhine was stunning and I took a ferry across (thanks to a geocache on the boat).

The boat had no motor and was completely run from turning the rudder and following the current. A guiding cable helped too.

The open air market

I also enjoyed the open air markets with some of the best strawberries ever!

I have to say that it’s been amazing to me how many people I have found to chat to. Be it for 5 hours or 3 days. I’ve probably had about 3 days wondering completely by myself for the total trip so far.  In 3 weeks that’s not too bad! But even so, it’s not often that talking to strangers the subject of religion comes up at all. But in the Basel hostel I overheard one of the women talking about missing her friend’s baptism. So I asked if she was keen to go to church in Basel. The church recommended to her happened to be the same one I had found out about and so we ended up going to church together. That for me was such an amazing experience – finding a stranger to go to church with.   

The Church in Basel

The congregation was so friendly that I think I ended up being introduced to at least 10 people after the service and invited for lunch and a Bible Study. The weather was dreary and rainy and I was rather glad to be able to meet new people. So, I accepted the invite and went with a Hong Kong – Malasian family to their house. We took off our shoes at the front door and waited for the others. In the end I think there were about 10 of us. We came from all over the world: China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Romania, Swiss, UK and of course me. It was intriguing as Basel, while in Switzerland, is right on the border with France and Germany so a number of the congregation cross the border to come to church! I had a lovely afternoon with this beautiful crowd of people and I really pray for them.  I think that this was the first glimpse for me that Basel (home of pharmaceuticals) has a great heart beneath it.



The flash mob

 Also, walking through the train station I caught my first flash mob! I really wanted to experience one of these but had no idea how to. It was a male voice choir of about 15 people that suddenly started singing a few songs. Also there was a dance festival on in the city and I came across a number of people during the day that randomly set up an instrument (drums / electric guitar) and then people started dancing to the music! This was in the middle of a normal street on a busy shopping day.

View of Luzern from the city wall

I moved from Basel through to Luzern to see real Swiss mountains. Luzern is really one of the most beautiful cities around (but really expensive!). Asking someone to take your photograph in front of something famous is a rather good way to meet people. Or people offering to help you out when self-portraits are really not working! And so it was that I met Nick (an American student studying Nuclear something). We ended up chatting and spending the rest of the day touring around Luzern together and had some really interesting conversations while trying to find cheap food that was not a Mc Donalds meal.



The hall of mirrors in Luzern





Luzern has two famous bridges made from wood dating back to about 1600 and something, and of course the city wall where you can get some really good views if you are willing to climb a few staircases.  The Alps in the background and the lake with swans and ducks swimming on it right in the city really make this city a feast of natural beauty.



Evening view from main bridge in Luzern



Luzern's mountain



On the ferry going to hike the Alps!

The next day, I met up with an Aussie lady, Vic, who is really energetic and loves to cycle for hours or hike for the whole day (especially uphill) etc… With a bit of trepidation at my level of fitness, I went hiking with her. We climbed the Rigi mountain which is about 1800m high. Well, not quite all the way - much to my relief. We took a ferry to a tiny town near Luzern and then the cog-train up the mountain (which is supposedly the steepest train ride in the world) and then hiked from one of the stations for about an hour straight up. The road snaked up the hill with a number of S curves, some so steep that I thought I would roll backwards. The hillsides were covered with short green grass and spring flowers (there is no green like the green in Switzerland – it really does look like the postcards).

Mount Rigi - the hike to the top

  

Hiking through farms



Reaching the top in the smow!

You feeling old or young at this point?
Hard / easy climb?

We hiked above the clouds and … into the snowline! It was just the spring thaw snow with tufts of green sticking out – but still! I can say that I climbed into snow! We then took a path down the hill and round back to the station. We walked through farms and forests where our almost constant companion was the low ringing of cow-bells. The Swiss apparently still put bells around the necks of their cows. You certainly won’t lose them that way as it makes quite a noise! A rather mellow low ringing. I thought it was rather lovely though it irritated Vic. With Vic keen to do more walking we split up, she took a walk down the mountain while I took the cable car.

Coming down the cable car

I have to say that the cable car was an experience. It was packed with Italian tourists and it was REALLY steep going down. Each time we went over a pylon, the cable car slowed until the peak of the pylon and then it suddenly dropped down the other side at a bit of pace, swinging on the line with the ground about 100m below us at some points.  It was a little like a roller coaster and all the Italian tourists obviously made all the appropriate gasps and screams on the way down which didn’t really help my nerves as I was right in front and could see the whole thing. Good fun though once you got over the sudden drops!

Anyways I wrote this blog on a train to Italy. I'm off to hike along the coast in North Italy near La Spezia. Next update from Italy! 

View from the top of Mt Rigi