Swiss and Switzerland

A tree in the springtime, in the Swiss village of Flüelen, just astride the Swiss Vierwaldstättersee, nestled deep in the Swiss canton of Uri,

Took this nap in the Swiss village of Flüelen,

Interestingly, this little village is nestled in the Swiss canton of Uri – a very remote canton, thought to be the birthplace of William Tell.

The Neanderthals were named for ancient human remains that were found in a valley of the same name, just north of Switzerland – and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that an enclave of Neanderthals existed in Switzerland – indeed, thrived in Switzerland – many thousands of years after going extinct elsewhere.

One bit of evidence for this are bits and pieces of language – linguistic artefacts, if you will.

Here is a town in a highly secluded region of Switzerland that could easily have been home to one of these Neanderthal enclaves:

The town is named “Taa” – no, that is not a Klingon name, although you could be forgiven for thinking it is. It is one of a handful of very strange words filled with hard, explosive sounds.

For another example of a probably Neanderthal enclave, please have a look here.

As artistic a snap as I thought I could take of the “advance troop” of a small crow army that has been visiting my balcony each morning, ever since I put out some food for them.

Interestingly, they arrive very punctually at almost exactly 7 AM – am I their first stop for breakfast, or maybe already it is their first coffee break?  They must go to bed quite early – or are otherwise engaged – because after around 3 PM there is nary a crow I will see.

This is a Thinking Man sculpture, on display in Gstaad,

On the train to Gstaad,

As artistic a snap as I thought I could get of Switzerland’s largest atomic power plant,

As artistic a snap as I thought I could get of a hopper at a nearby railyard,

What really impressed me the most, however, was the extreme attention to detail and obvious handcraft that was involved in its construction, as this close-up shows here:

As artistic a snap as I could get without attracting too much police attention, at Switzerland’s largest atomic energy plant:

Here is a sight that is increasingly becoming less rare in the Swiss Alps, namely the mighty Niesen Supervolcano spewing extremely hot volcanic steam from its crown:

The Niesen Supervolcano located deep in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland is one of nine such supervolcanos world wide, with underground magma chambers many dozens of kilometers in extent. Most geologists concur when, not if, the Niesen Supervolcano erupts it will distinguish all life in Europe.

I took this panaroma just north of the town of Montreux on Lake Geneva:

I thought this snap of a Zurich church steeple behind the leaveless winter trees looked pretty artistic,

Continuing the series, the magnificent Swiss canton of Schwyz has marvels that could easily cause the eyeballs of outsiders to explode, as this snap of a roadside cathedral shows:

The view from my apartment one cold winter morning, when I lived in the Berner Oberland:

The highest peak doesn’t look like it is the highest but it is. That’s the peak in the center, and it is around 4100 m high.

Switzerland has only amazing, magnificent cantons, and the canton of Schwyz is no exception:

There is a wonderful train – some might call it a luxury train, although I’d stop just a bit short of saying that – that runs through the south of Switzerland, from St. Moritz to Montreux.

Passengers sit in honest-to-goodness Pullman coaches, like this one shown here:

To be sure, it’s hard to imagine a more uncomfortable ride – the seats are fancy but hail from the days before the term ergonomics was in common use.

One of the wonderful fringe benefits of having a first class railcard (a so-called GA) for the Swiss Federal Railways is that you can take magnificent railway journey such as this, as often as you like, with no extra fees!

No unusual sight for travellers to Sargans,