Jack and Nancy's Great Adventure: 2011

Switzerland is absolutely a beautiful country. Switzerland is an amalgam of French, German and Italian influences. Tehy are isolated by the mountain ranges that make it an alpine paradise. But appearances can be deceiving and Switzerland is a land of contradictions.

First settled by Celtic tribes, it later came under the control of the Roman Empire in the battle of Marc Antony refers to during his tribute to the dead Caesar. Later, it was part of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire. When William Tell led resistance to the Habsburg's rule over Switzerland, he was condemned to death unless he could shoot an apple off his son's head using a bow and arrow. We all know how that turned out. So, Tell led a revolution against the Habsburg's. Over the next 200 years, as the vastly outnumbered Swiss fighters defeated the Habsburgs' armies, the Swiss earned a reputation of being Europe's fiercest fighters. That's why the Pope hired Swiss soldiers as this "Swiss Guards" at the Vatican. They protect the Pope to this day.

Divided between Catholics and Protestants, Switzerland was bitterly fractured by the 30 Year Way but finally a truce was reached and the "Everlasting League" was established which states "We will be a single nation of brothers.."

While Switzerland proclaimed itself neutral in WWII, evidence indicates it aided the Nazis, financing the Nazi Party and German re-armament in the 1930s and later helping them dispose of the gold bars made from gas chamber victims' gillings. In the late 1990s, the Swiss admitted to holding over a billion dollars of such gold. Also much of the treasure of Europe's Hews placed with the Swiss for safekeeping during the Holocaust was kept by Swiss banks when descendants of those slaughtered had difficulty providing the "evidence" of death demanded by the Swiss. Unfortunately, the death camps did not issue death certificates due to the volume of their operations.

Today, Switzerland provides a haven for tax evaders from all over the world and is a large international seller of arms. Despite its idyllic appearance, Switzerland is also secretly an armed camp. Every Swiss male is made to serve in the military. Most houses have a gun (600,000 of them) and a military shelter stocked with government provided provisions. Twelve thousand heavy artillery pieces are hidden but ready for use. Rumor has it that secret air strips and planes exist but our tour guide knew nothing of this.

Yet, despite all of this, Switzerland ultimately became and is today a center of reigious tolerance and a have for free-thinkers. A land where Protestants, Catholics and non-believers (7.5 million in total) live in the most prosperous democracy in the world.

What surprised many of our fellow travelers was how expensive everything is in Switzerland. A bottle of water or Coke will be five Swiss franc or about $4.00 US Dollars. An average lunch or dinner runs about 50 to 100 francs ($40-80 US Dollars). Since it is expensive to live here, many of their workers drive from France and Germany every day to jobs in Switzerland. We were told in Geneva that a very average apartment for a couple would cost about 3400 to 3800 francs a month. Guess even though we like it here, it is just too expensive to ever think about moving here.

In our last blog, we showed you some pictures of outside our hotel room window in Geneva. Here are some additional pictures of the area:

Monument in the town square by the hotel

We are amazed at the large number of swans in every lake and river in Switzerland

In old town, many of the homes are from the 14 - 16th Century. Here is an example where "new" meets "old."

Every street in old town is incredible!

Permanent ferris wheel at the edge of Lake Geneva

We also went to the Musee D'Art Et D'Historire which is Geneva's most important museum. It had everything including antiquities, Rodin, Renoir, Picasso, Corot, Monet, Pissaro, etc. Of course, no pictures inside so here is just a picture of the museum:

We also took a long walk to the watch museum. Lucky for you, we were not allowed to take pictures. There were hundreds of watches and each was unique and had a story behind it. However, we did take some pictures going and coming from the museum. As we were walking, we walked through a park dedicated to the reformation. It is next to the university so it was full of students enjoying the day and playing chess.

Just outside of the gates of the park was the Geneva Opera House:

It was an exhausting day. The leader of our little group decided to take a nap in the park:

Everyone from the tour dashed back to the hotel to gather for a boat ride on Lake Geneva. Here are a few pictures from the boat:

And last but not least, we thought that we would end our trip to Geneva with a sign that we saw:

Now, off to Luzern (or the French spellng of Lucerene). On the way to Luzern, we saw some of the most beautiful country on our trip. We saw mountain lakes, green valleys, winding roads, perfect houses and, of course, the Alps. Here are a few of the many, many pictures we took:

Luzern is located on an ancient trade route between Lombardy and the upper Rhine. it sits along the Reuss River. This mostly German Catholic town of 60,000 (although it seems much larger) is the tourism capital of Switzerland and has long been a required stop on any Grand Tour of Europe. Queen Victoria loved to come here. When William Tell pinpoint arrow shot started the Swiss revolution that led to the Swiss Confederation, Luzern was the center of Catholic resistance during the religious wars. This is a picture perfect town of medieval buildings and covered bridges.

Here are a few pictures of Luzern from our hotel room:

As you can tell, the river flows quickly from the lake into the river. Great place to do white water rafting or maybe a little surfing.

We had a short visit here. We did take an evening walking tour along the Reuss River and old town. We were surprised to learn that the fountains around town dated back to the 12th to 15th century and that the water was 10 times cleaner than required by law. Everyone has been drinking from the fountains and filling up our water bottles. The water is great.

Here is a picture of our hotel that served as the first government building and our local fountain:

We crossed the Kapellbruck Bridge dating back to 1334. It is the best covered bridge in the world. It was partial destroyed by fire in 1993 but has been restored. It has art work in the eaves.

After dinner we crossed the Spreuerbrucke (Mills Bridge) which was built in 1407. It has murals commenmorating the plague that swept through the city in the 17th Century. Too dark to take pictures but it was impressive. Also, next to the bridge was a hydroelectric plant that provided electricity for 300 homes.

This is one city that we just didn't spend enough time in. Truly a lovely medieval city. Now on to Zurich.

Zurich was originally settled by the eltic tribes in 58 BC and it was a Roman garrison. Later it was the center of the Swiss Protestant Reformation. Today it is part of the "German" Switzerland and the largest city in the country with 400,000 citizens in the city and one million nearby. It sits astride the Limmat River and has the largest gold market in the world.

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the Museum Reitberg. It sets away in a lush park overlooking Zurich. This is a hidden gem and we were lucky to have a private tour of the museum AND the storage area. This was a private mansion once occupied by Richard Wagner and has been converted to an exquisite museum of Asion and African art. Here are a few pictures:

Then, off to the Kunsthaus Museum for a private guided tour. The Kunsthaus is considered to be Switzerland's greatest art gallery. Of course, no pictures inside but here are a few pictures outside.

Zurich did not have the charm that some of the other citities in Switzerland have had. Here are a few pictures of the city:

We had a great second day in Zurich. We went to the zoo to see the Masoala Rain Forest.We had a private tour before the zoo was opened. there were bats and monkeys flying through the trees but they were difficult to catch on film. Here are a few pictures of the animals that would sit still for us.

We finished Zurich with a private tour of the Buhrle Collection. This is another little known jewel that is only opened by reservation. It specialized in French Impressionist such as Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Cauguin, Degas, Renoir and some pieces by Picasso, Rubens and Rembrandt. CG Buhrle was a banker who became a collector late in life. He only collected for about 6 years but had over 400 pieces of art work. Sorry, no pictures.

The last city we visited in Switzerland is Basel. Basel was first settled by the Clets and later in 375 AD was a Roman outpost. Basel sits on the Rhine River at the French, German and Swiss borders. Many of their workers come across the borders to work here.

Basel is a wonderful medieval town. Since we need to get this post sent and get ready for tomorrow, we are just posting pictures. How you don't mind. We are leaving early in the morning for Heidelberg.