Swiss and Switzerland

The mind blowing restaurant trams of Switzerland

kenritley

As any visitor to a large Swiss city like Zürich knows, the Swiss are proud of their public transportation – and rightly so. Next to Japan, it’s the most punctual and reliable transportation in the world.

But did you know something else?

The big cities in Switzerland have large collection of antique electric trams – and some of these trams have been turned into travelling restaurants, such as this snap of a restaurant tram in Bern shows:

I’ll post more pics of restaurant trams in different cities as time permits.

FAKE: Zurich Castle

kenritley

This is what Google did to one of my snaps of a castle in Zurich, right next to the main train station (Zürich Hauptbahnhof). Even the original photograph is quite impressive – it was taken with my little point-and-shoot camera in color mode, yet it turned out nearly black and white.

Just for the record: the photos I post are never in any way retouched or enhanced or changed – except for cropping.

But in this series of blog posts entitled FAKE I publish some rather interesting images I have enhanced in some way.

Niesen Supervolcano spewing hot volcanic steam

kenritley

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.

FAKE: Prime Tower

kenritley

This is what Google did to one of my photographs – Google applied some interesting colors, not actual colors you’d ever see with your eyes, but nice colors nonetheless:

Just for the record: the photos I post are never in any way retouched or enhanced or changed – except for cropping.

But in this series of blog posts entitled FAKE I publish some rather interesting images I have enhanced in some way.

Pullman Coach on the Glacier Express

kenritley

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!

Amazing train station infobooth

kenritley

France is world-famous for its information booths at their train stations, proudly labelled with the French word Accueil (Accueil is a French word that can be translated as out of order or not staffed). Although not technically useful for any purpose, they are like museum-type displays of what a working information booth would look like, if in fact it were staffed.

Switzerland is a bit different. Here the train stations all have working information booths, staffed by very knowledgeable people. This is a stunning architectural example of an information booth towering high above the main train station in Luzern:

Boat on the lake

kenritley

I thought this snap of a tourist boat on the Vierwaldstättersee (also known as Lake Lucerne) near the sacrificial Swiss city of Luzern was quite impressive:

I always call Luzern the sacrificial city because I believe there is a very intentional conspiracy of the various Swiss chambers-of-commerce (Handelskammer) to channel tourists to Luzern, thereby preserving the much more impressive cities like Bern, unspoiled, for the locals to enjoy. I’ve you’ve been to Luzern, and if you’ve been to Bern, then you’ll know exactly what I am talking about!

Luzern panaroma

kenritley

At the risk of being prosecuted for giving away one of Switzerland‘s more closely guarded secrets, I‘ll spill the beans: Luzern is Switzerland‘s sacrificial city.

It is a stunning town, to be sure, as this panorama shows:

But it is filled with tourists. Lots of tourists. Loads of tourists: carloads of tourists, truckloads of tourists, boatloads of tourists, busloads of tourists.

What this means is that some of the truly amazing cities such as Bern are kept relatively tourist free. And the tourists, being none the wiser, are quite happy to come to Luzern by cars, trucks, boats, and buses.

 

Niesen Supervolcano in Spring

kenritley

I took this breathtaking, amazing snap of the Niesen Supervolcano in spring, nestled so deep within the Berner Oberland of Switzerland that few tourists ever see this sight:

Although many scientists are reluctant to discuss this, for fear of frightening the local population, in fact the Niesen is one of less than a dozen so-called supervolcanoes, capable of causing eruptions so large that the entire planet will be affected for centuries. When (not if) this supervolcano erupts, all life in Europe will be extinguished.

The mighty Niesen supervolcano, deep in the Berner Oberland

kenritley

The central mountainous region of Switzerland is known as the Berner Oberland, and it contains a danger so frightening that most scientists are reluctant to discuss it at all.

For here is a breathtaking view of none other than the Niesen Supervolcano:

There are around 9 supervolcanos in the world, and an eruption by any one of them would permanently change the face of the planet.

Scientists and geologists universally agree that when (not if) the Niesen Supervolcano erupts, all life in Europe will be extinguished.

Cheese that boggles the mind

kenritley

Switzerland has two chains of supermarkets, Migros and Coop.

Generally speaking, the Migros chain of supermarket is far superior in every way to the Coop chain of supermarket.

Although it is doubtful they will ever get there, due to the tremendous talent and creativity of the people who work at Migros, nevertheless the Coop chain is trying hard to make inroads and catch up, as this snap from my local Coop shows:

It’s a little hut inside of the supermarket where a sprayer keeps the air very moist, where the temperature is almost freezing, and where you can buy (and I am not making this up) pieces of cheese with prices in the triple digits!