Switzerland – Page 14

Obersaxen ski day

A beautiful day for the annual ski outing for my ETH-St.Gallen research group.

While on sabbatical I am a visiting professor affiliated with the Center for Digital Health Interventions at ETH. Each year, the professors that lead this center (and related centers) sponsor a ski day, somewhere in Switzerland. Today a couple dozen students, staff, and faculty enjoyed a day of skiing at the Obersaxen ski area in southeast Switzerland. Although this winter has been uncharacteristically snowless, and record-breakingly warm, the snow was good and the skiing excellent. The weather, initially a bit cloudy, turned into a blue-sky day. Stunning views of the surrounding peaks vied for my attention with the trails below my skis. The group generally skied together, spanning a wide range of ages and experience. We gathered for a hearty lunch at the cozy Restaurant Stai in the village of Miraniga. One reaches the restaurant by skiing directly off the trail, past a barn, across a driveway, and into their front yard. The sweet smell of rural Switzerland wafts over from the barn, reminding you that these same slopes are used for grazing cows in the summer. Inside, an Olympic Gold Medal is the centerpiece of the many medals and memorabilia from a local star skier, and the menus offer classic regional dishes and local beer. It was mid-afternoon when we stepped back into our skis for one last ride to the top, and down the other side back to our starting point – just in time for a round of aprés-ski beers. All in all, a fabulous day. Check out the photo gallery.

Aarburg castle

A sunny Sunday-afternoon hike from Olten to Aarburg, with views of its 12c. castle.

Inspired by the sunny weather on Sunday morning, I sought a nearby opportunity where I could do a little hiking and find some interesting photographic subjects. Twice I had caught a glimpse of this stunning castle while my Zürich-bound train crossed the river Aare, and I had made a point to return. My goal was to find the Aarburg castle, first built in the 12th century. “Today it houses the Kantonale Jugendheim, for holding and rehabilitating juvenile offenders” [Wikipedia]. Interesting! Read on, and check out the photo gallery.

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Referendum on discrimination

The Swiss voted to ban discrimination against lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, and public displays of homophobia.

The Swiss have an interesting system that enables almost any issue to be brought to a national vote. Only 50,000 signatures are needed to create a referendum, including those that result in a constitutional amendment. I’d recently seen a few signs around the city that appeared to be in support of (or in opposition to) some referendum or another, but few of the signs included enough context for me to discern the topic of the referendum. (There is no English-language newspaper in Switzerland, so I remain in the dark about local issues.) I heard there was a referendum about a new road/rail tunnel to be built. As it turns out, there was a far more interesting referendum underway.

Yesterday, the Swiss voted to ban discrimination against lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, and public displays of homophobia. From the New York Times story:

Swiss voters agreed on Sunday to penalize public homophobia, greenlighting an amendment to an antidiscrimination law that had not provided protection for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people. …

Voters were asked in a referendum whether they wanted to extend Switzerland’s racism statutes to sexual orientation, and on Sunday 63.1 percent voted in favor of it. The extension was backed by the government and most of Switzerland’s political parties. …

In 2018, lawmakers voted to add sexual orientation to an existing law that penalized discrimination based on race, ethnicity and religion. Under the amended law, homophobic comments made in public would be punishable with up to three years in prison. …

Yet, opponents argued that such an extension was counter to freedom of expression, and that they should be able to express their views on homosexuality publicly. They gathered the 50,000 signatures necessary to force a national referendum.

…

Kronberg

A beautiful hike to Kronberg in the Appenzell region, under blue skies and with spring-like conditions.

Today I went hiking with a colleague from the University of St. Gallen, about an hour to the east of Zürich. Our goal was the summit of Kronberg, 1662m, with fabulous views of Mount Säntis and the Alpstein region to the south, and deep into the Swiss Alps to the west and the Austrian Alps to the east, as well as to the grand expanse of Lake Constance to the northeast. Read on and check out the gallery.

Someone has stomped out a Heart in the snow.

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Flumserberg

Skiing at Flumserberg on a sunny day after an overnight snowfall.

The forecast promised the snow flurries would end around noon, and the clouds would clear to partly-sunny skies for the afternoon. That was good enough for Andy and me! We hopped on a late-morning train along the shores of beautiful lakes Zurichsee and Wallensee, and jumped off in Unterterzen. We walked across the street and climbed on the gondola, which whisked us steeply uphill past verdant green pastures and snug little cottages until the trees were dusted with last night’s snowfall. We arrived at the tiny village of Tannenboden, at the base of the Flumerserberg ski area, right at noon. After renting ski gear in a local shop, we were ready to go… just as the clouds parted and the sun broke through, illuminating the jagged mountain peaks across the valley. Spectacular! and it would only get better. Read on, and check out the gallery.

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Rheinfall and Schaffhausen

A daytrip to see the Rheinfall and wander the old town of Schaffhausen.

For our final day of free Swiss rail travel, we decided to stay close to home. We headed northeast, to a curious finger of Switzerland on the north side of the Rhine River – which otherwise forms the border with Germany. The train stops directly at the Rheinfall, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, where there are some impressive viewing platforms and an historic castle now converted into a restaurant. The waterfall was beautiful, though the flow was at an annual low – it being winter, and there being no rain for the past week. The low-angle sun (1:30pm, a few weeks after winter solstice) painted a pretty rainbow on the mist of the falls (a “mistbow”?). Read on, and check out the Rheinfall gallery and Schaffhausen gallery.

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Fribourg

A daytrip to Fribourg, on the boundary between Francophone and Germanophone regions of Switzerland.

Day #3 of our efforts to maximize the Swiss GA card, and we pick a city known for being smack on the boundary between Francophone Switzerland and Germanophone Switzerland. Fribourg straddles the small Sarine river where it passes through a deep gorge. Traditionally, the villagers on the west side of the river speak French, and the villagers on the right side speak German. The modern city uses both languages interchangeably, though French is dominant; each street sign shows the street name in each language. Read on, and check out the photo gallery.

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Locarno

A daytrip to Locarno, in the Italian section of Switzerland.

For our second day in the effort to ‘use up’ our Swiss rail pass, we chose Locarno. Not to be confused with Lugano, which we’d visited two weeks earlier, it is nonetheless in Ticino, the Italian section of Switzerland. It was Sunday, so things were pretty quiet, but there were many other families out for a stroll along the lakefront or for a coffee in the cafe. We had lunch in a lakefront restaurant, with a mix of tourists and locals. They have fresh truffle/pasta dishes to die for. The sun was strong, and the lake blue, and the surrounding mountains white capped. What’s not to like? Read on, and check out the photo gallery.

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Bern

A daytrip to Bern to stroll the old town, climb the cathedral tower, and visit the Einstein museum.

Pam, Andy, and I bought ‘GA’ cards for the past holiday month, giving us free rides anytime, anywhere the Swiss rail system (and local bus/tram systems) go. What a treat! With only four days left on our cards, Pam and I decided to make the most of them. Each day we asked, “where would you like to have lunch today? Anywhere in Switzerland. Anywhere.” Today we picked Bern, the capital city, only an hour from Zürich by express train. Read on, and check out the gallery.

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Lugano

A beautiful day to visit Lugano, in the Italian part of Switzerland.

The weather is often very different on the opposite side of Switzerland, because the country’s Alpine backbone breaks up the clouds and airflow patterns. On this cloudy day in Zürich we hopped a Eurocity train to Lugano, through the Gottard Base Tunnel (the longest railway tunnel in the world), and popped out into the sunshine on the Italian side of Switzerland. Once in the pretty lakeside city of Lugano, we walked the streets of old town, dined on pasta and pizza, and strolled along the lakeshore. I climbed up to Parco Panoramico, to catch some panoramic views across the lake and the city to the Alps beyond. Read on, and check out the gallery of photos.

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