Is there biking in Jerusalem?: Swiss Report

I'm back in Jerusalem, settling into the patterns of the fall semester at the University. The undergrads are back in full force, my favourite campus coffee shop is gone, and the campus cats are well fed. Before more stories about life in Israel, I thought I'd share a few pictures from my great trip to Switzerland to see my friend, Theresa. My kind and generous hosts really made sure I saw a good amount of central Switzerland from north to south.

Here's a brief tour through the Schweizer Mittelland (the Plateau part of the country that isn't all mountains) and the Alps in the central part of the country.

Basel where the weather was grey and damp

City Hall with Tram

At the market

Mushrooms!

Lucerne and its lake where the weather was splendid!

In English - Lake Lucerne. In German - Vierwaldstättersee - lake of the four forested cantons. Switzerland is a federation of cantons which are a bit like small, highly decentralized provinces with more direct democracy than you can shake a stick at. The Swiss are constantly voting. Seriously. About things like whether petrol stations can sell a particular type of sausage on Sundays. And, about other things...

Lake Lucerne

On the lake cruise (part of the SBB train system) - we were on a +100 year-old steam paddle-wheeler that drinks copious amounts of oil

view of the mid 19th century hotels

old Lucerne

Theresa and Markus on one of the old covered bridges

Toward the Alps near Bern
We went hiking in what might be called the foothills of the Alps...

On the way up

A view from the top

The Alps - Zermatt and the Matterhorn

From Lenzburg (our base) we took the train to Bern and then south toward a town called Visp, the gateway to Zermatt. At Visp you get on the Matterhorn Train an older, slower train specially made to tackle the mountainous terrain. In many places the Swiss have replaced slower routes through and over the mountains with tunnels because it makes the journey so much faster. There remain a few scenic lines that will likely never been replaced with tunnels: this is one of them. The route from Visp to Zermatt is spectacular. To manage the grade the train has a cog-like mechanism in the middle that can lock on to a chain that runs through the middle of the track. The conductor slows the train to hook in and out of this chain when the grade (up or down) is sufficient to require it. (There are funiculars in Switzerland too, but those typically use a pulley system and are for shorter, steeper tracks.)

Gornergrat rails with cogs

Anyone who has spent any time in Whistler or Banff wouldn't be surprised by Zermatt. It's a mountain resort town with loads of stores selling souvenirs and ski gear, cafes, and hotels. Neat feature of Zermatt - all motorized vehicles are electric.

Upper Zermatt


Main Street Zermatt

Electric delivery van (of people - it's a taxi)

At Zermatt we boarded the Gornergrat Train to climb the 1400 metres to the top of the ski resort. The town is at 1620m. The views along the ride were fantastic.

Tada! The Matterhorn!

Am I the only one who loved the Matterhorn Ride at Disneyland as a child? When I was 8, on my first trip to Disneyland (I have an uncle who lives near Anaheim) I thought the Matterhorn was the coolest ride. And, I thought it was pretty scary on account of the Abominable Snowman with the red eyes. What was he doing in the Alps anyway? It's such a long walk from the Himalayas. Oh well, it's not like Walt & Co ever minded a little mixed metaphor, factual mashup, is it? Anyway, the real Matterhorn is breathtaking.

Views along the train ride up to the ski resort:


The train route - snow shelter ahead

Cool feature of the train - a map of the route on the table between seats

Looking down the track

Arrived:

Elevation: High!

ETH Zurich has a research hut just a bit to the right of that green water they are studying climate change in the high alpine

at the high alpine


Yup. They really do wear those little kegs of rum (?); at least in front of the tourists!

After Zermatt we rode the train back to Wisp and over to Interlaken. Yes, that Interlaken of backpacker fame. It's a lovely town that sits, yup, you guessed it, between two lakes. The next day we took a boat from Interlaken to Brienz (on Lake Brienz), with a stop at Giessbach hotel (that we hiked up to) for our picnic lunch and coffee and pastries.

leaving Interlaken

aboard

Lake Brienz

From Brienz we went back to Lenzburg via Lucerne. The journey from Brienze to Lucerne is another fantastically scenic route, the train cars all had observation windows (like side skylights) and the train had a cog wheel. At certain spots the train seemed to only squeeze through slabs of rock as if parking a 4X4 in a "small car only" parking stall with just a hair's width to spare.

Bern where the weather was autumnal again...

The Swiss who don't live in Bern make fun of the Bernese and their town as being slow and boring. I wondered if the non residents were slagging Bern because it is the seat of the federal government. They are, and it's a bit true. Bern may not be the liveliest town, but it is lovely. Settlement at the old city, a UNESCO heritage site, dates from the 12th century. Unique historical features in Bern include arcades, numerous water fountains, and the Zytglogge.