Chapter 31 - Switzerland - Returning for Mountains & Pretzels

From Helsinki Toto flew south to the center of both Europe and the Alps mountain chain, to the country of Switzerland. There I visited some friends and visited the capital city of Bern, where I lived over ten years ago.

One thing I find interesting about Switzerland is that they don't have one language, or even two official languages (like Finland) but four official languages! Practically speaking, there are "only" three official languages: French, German, and Italian. The fourth is called Romansh and is only spoken in one small "canton," or state, called "Graubünden" in Switzerland. Romansch is the closest thing to Latin that is still spoken, but only by about 50,000 Swiss folks. Almost every person in Switzerland speaks at least two languages fluently and sometimes three or four (German, French, Italian, and English). I am always impressed by that when I remember how hard I worked to learn Spanish in school as my second language. We have it easy compared to what the Swiss students have to learn!

I landed in Geneva, which is a French-speaking Swiss city near the border with France. I then took the train along the north coast of beautiful, big Lake Geneva to visit my friends and their two sons near Lausanne. From Peter and Heike's home you can see some of the snow-capped Alp mountains. If I looked left (or east) from their village across the lake, I saw the Swiss Alps. If I looked right (or west), I saw the French Alps.

In fact directly across the lake is the town of Evian, France. Can you guess what they bottle there to sell all over the world?  I read that anyone can bring their own bottle to fill up for free with genuine Evian water from the actual well they use to fill the bottles you find in your supermarket! This is because the local government considers the water to be a local natural resource available free to anyone who is there in person.

Alas, I couldn't swim across the crystal-clear waters of Lake Geneva to claim my free bottle of Evian, since I had to continue on to the capital of Switzerland. So I took another beautiful train ride along the lake and through the hills to the city of Bern. Somewhere along that route, I passed the imaginary line separating the French speakers in the area around Lausaane and Geneva from the German speakers around and east of Bern. Whenever I travel in Switzerland, I expect to find a big dotted line like you'd see in a cartoon showing when I cross the language border. I've looked for it, but have never seen it.

I did enjoy my short visit to Bern, as I lived and worked there over ten years ago and was able to see my old home and neighborhood. Bern is famous for its beautiful centuries-old mechanical clock in the middle of the old town. All the buildings in the Old Town area are made of a pretty green sandstone. I like the city's flag, which has a bear on it.

As the capital city, Bern is where the Swiss parliament, or congress, is based. When I lived there, my Swiss friends told me that underneath the parking lot in front of the parliament (near where I took this photo of the clock) is the giant safe of the national bank. In that underground safe is where the country stores all its gold, just like the United States' Fort Knox. I don't know if it is true or just a joke my Swiss friends played on Americans like me. Then again, I never saw the police allow anyone to dig holes in that spot, so perhaps we all were parked in the world's most valuable parking lot!

One of my favorite things about Switzerland is the train system. I traveled from Geneva all the way to Zurich on their clean and punctual trains (punctual means they are always on time). Given how many clocks and watches the Swiss have around  the country, it shouldn't surprise you that their trains run on time! But I have to say my truly favorite thing about the Swiss railroads is the warm pretzels they sell in the Bern train station. These aren't like the stale pretzels you get at a baseball game or cinema in the U.S.  Rather, these are baked warm and fresh right there. Fortunately it was the first and last thing I did in Bern - to buy and eat a warm pretzel from my former train station as I got off and on my trains on my visit to Bern. I highly recommend trying the pretzels if you ever visit beautiful Bern, Switzerland.

Travel Questions About Switzerland:

1. Through what Swiss city's airport, near the French border, did Toto arrive in Switzerland?
2. How many languages do they officially speak in Switzerland?
3. What is the name of the Swiss language that is most similar to the old language, Latin?
4. What is the capital of Switzerland?
5. What did Toto's Swiss friends tell him was buried under the parking lot in front of their Parliament building?
6. What is Toto's favorite Swiss fast food?

Global Nomad Questions on Bern:

1. Write a chapter on your favorite food in your family or in your home town. Email it to [email protected]. Toto will post his favorite submitted chapters on www.TotoTravels.com for everyone to read.
2. Draw a map of Switzerland and color the regions based on the primary language they speak in that area. You will probably have to do a cybersearch as well as use an atlas to do this.
3. Look on a map of Europe and list all the countries that border Switzerland. Hint, there is a very small country between Switzerland and its eastern neighbor, so don't forget to list it!
4. If you wanted to take the train from Zurich to Ljubljana, Slovenia (see Chapter 3), what countries would you have to pass through?
5. Do a cybersearch to learn which famous scientist was working at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern when he published his theory on relativity and forever changed the world's view on physics and the universe.

In fact directly across the lake is the town of Evian, France. Can you guess what they bottle there to sell all over the world?  I read that anyone can bring their own bottle to fill up for free with genuine Evian water from the actual well they use to fill the bottles you find in your supermarket! This is because the local government considers the water to be a local natural resource available free to anyone who is there in person.

Alas, I couldn't swim across the crystal-clear waters of Lake Geneva to claim my free bottle of Evian, since I had to continue on to the capital of Switzerland. So I took another beautiful train ride along the lake and through the hills to the city of Bern. Somewhere along that route, I passed the imaginary line separating the French speakers in the area around Lausaane and Geneva from the German speakers around and east of Bern. Whenever I travel in Switzerland, I expect to find a big dotted line like you'd see in a cartoon showing when I cross the language border. I've looked for it, but have never seen it.

I did enjoy my short visit to Bern, as I lived and worked there over ten years ago and was able to see my old home and neighborhood. Bern is famous for its beautiful centuries-old mechanical clock in the middle of the old town. All the buildings in the Old Town area are made of a pretty green sandstone. I like the city's flag, which has a bear on it.

As the capital city, Bern is where the Swiss parliament, or congress, is based. When I lived there, my Swiss friends told me that underneath the parking lot in front of the parliament (near where I took this photo of the clock) is the giant safe of the national bank. In that underground safe is where the country stores all its gold, just like the United States' Fort Knox. I don't know if it is true or just a joke my Swiss friends played on Americans like me. Then again, I never saw the police allow anyone to dig holes in that spot, so perhaps we all were parked in the world's most valuable parking lot!

One of my favorite things about Switzerland is the train system. I traveled from Geneva all the way to Zurich on their clean and punctual trains (punctual means they are always on time). Given how many clocks and watches the Swiss have around  the country, it shouldn't surprise you that their trains run on time! But I have to say my truly favorite thing about the Swiss railroads is the warm pretzels they sell in the Bern train station. These aren't like the stale pretzels you get at a baseball game or cinema in the U.S.  Rather, these are baked warm and fresh right there. Fortunately it was the first and last thing I did in Bern - to buy and eat a warm pretzel from my former train station as I got off and on my trains on my visit to Bern. I highly recommend trying the pretzels if you ever visit beautiful Bern, Switzerland.

Travel Questions About Switzerland:

1. Through what Swiss city's airport, near the French border, did Toto arrive in Switzerland?
2. How many languages do they officially speak in Switzerland?
3. What is the name of the Swiss language that is most similar to the old language, Latin?
4. What is the capital of Switzerland?
5. What did Toto's Swiss friends tell him was buried under the parking lot in front of their Parliament building?
6. What is Toto's favorite Swiss fast food?

Global Nomad Questions on Bern:

1. Write a chapter on your favorite food in your family or in your home town. Email it to [email protected]. Toto will post his favorite submitted chapters on www.TotoTravels.com for everyone to read.
2. Draw a map of Switzerland and color the regions based on the primary language they speak in that area. You will probably have to do a cybersearch as well as use an atlas to do this.
3. Look on a map of Europe and list all the countries that border Switzerland. Hint, there is a very small country between Switzerland and its eastern neighbor, so don't forget to list it!
4. If you wanted to take the train from Zurich to Ljubljana, Slovenia (see Chapter 3), what countries would you have to pass through?
5. Do a cybersearch to learn which famous scientist was working at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern when he published his theory on relativity and forever changed the world's view on physics and the universe.