Swiss and Switzerland

Coupling Trains – 1

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How do you couple train wagons together?  That’s easy: with a coupler!

Here is a modern automatic coupler in use with the Swiss Federal Railways (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen):

Sadly . . . I don’t know what couplers are called in German, and I really don’t feel motivated to find out.

Also sadly . . . I’m afraid I can’t truly understand the complexity of these couplers. As you can see from the photo there appear to be hundreds of small parts that are exposed to dirt and the weather – but I assume in spite of this, it must be the simplest possible design.

But wonderfully . . . I had the privilege of working for the Schweizerische Bundesbahnen and also being in the cabin of a train when the train driver used one of these automatic couplers.  He told me the process is to, quite literally, smash his train into the train to be coupled, being sure to use a maximum speed of less than 1 km / hr.  No other effort from the driver is required; the system is 100% automatic.

The older trains use a manual coupling system that requires someone to climb under the train and connect the wagons manually.  As time permits I’ll post a photo of that system.

Schloss Hegi

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Just around the corner from where I live sits a really unusual Swiss castle, Schloss Hegi.

What’s so remarkable about it is that it sits alone, in almost total isolation from anything nearby. Many castles were built for defense purposes and therefore sit high on a hill or surrounded by forests – but not this castle. It is quite remote and in a totally flat area.

But that’s not all, it’s incredible age: there are records of this place that date back to the year 1225!

Free stuff in Zürich – 1

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Zürich is the most expensive city in the most expensive country in Europe.  Even most cash machines won’t dispense anything less than CHF 100 notes – since that is about the minimum you need here for a light lunch.

But despite this, there are still plenty of things you can do for free, such as using your valid train ticket on the Seilbahn Rigiblick.  An automated, driverless funicular shuttles you to the top of a nice mountain in about 10 minutes:

Springtime in Europe – the rapeseed in bloom

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France, Germany, and Switzerland are amazing in the Spring!

If you’ve visited France, Germany, or Switzerland in the spring time, then you know how amazing it is. The lush green countryside is filled with bright flowering patches of rapeseed, or Raps in German:

Now, I don’t know the fine subtleties between rapeseed and canola, but I do know this is one amazing sight:

It’s more than a bit frustrating when you see a field like this, because you never really know how the plant will be used.  Some of it is used for cooking oil, but at least in Europe, a huge fraction is used for biofuels.

Amazing Schaffhausen

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In the north of Switzerland, Schaffhausen is one amazing village. It’s known as Schaffuuse in the Alemanic language, spoken by the locals. Its buildings from the Middle Ages have a whopping 171 bay windows (called Erker in German, more than any other Swiss town), as you can see here:

This is the Mohrenbrunnen, or “Moor Foutain,” dating back to around 1576. Until the late 1800’s this is where the inhabitants drew their drinking water.

Interestingly, the Alemanic language (i.e. Schwiizerdüütsch) is a more advanced, evolved form of standard German (Hochdeutsch) – but more about this in blogs to come!

When bad things become good things

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As far as modern nation-states to modernize in the 20th century go, Switzerland doesn’t exactly rank first.  The homes in many American cities, for example, began to get indoor plumbing as early as the mid-1800’s; but in Switzerland, particularly in rural Switzerland, many homes did not get indoor plumbing until after WWII.

But what does this mean?

My neighborhood in Switzerland is filled with DOZENS of communal water fountains, many of them within a stone’s throw distance of one another. Here is one:

And here is another:

What could be viewed negatively (modern plumbing arriving quite late) has in fact left a very positive legacy, with Swiss neighborhoods filled with these wonderful old fountains that still deliver fresh drinking water today!

Were medieval cities planned?

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It seems unreasonable to think that the streets in medieval cities were somehow planned. But when I travel through medieval cities, I can’t help but notice the large number of small streets that are optimally laid out to frame a view of the large, central cathedral.

This one is Santiago de Compostella, in Spain (from which you can see the Cathedral of St. XXX):

This one is Mulhouse, in Alsace, France (from which you can see the Cathedral of St. Etienne):

 

And this one is Paradeplatz, in Zurich, Switzerland (from which you can see both the Grossmünster and Frauenmünster cathedrals):

Is this just coincidence – or are these cathedrals and towers visible because they were designed to be visible?

Solothurn Seagull

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A seagull cruises the Aare River in Solothurn. In the background you can see the the St.-Ursen-Kathedrale:

Solothurn is both a village AND a canton (national state) in Switzerland, and it’s name dates back to around the year 0 AD, where it was known by the Romans as Solodurum – so it is amazing how things like names can persist over thousands of years!  And you won’t find many German speakers here: like most areas in this part of Switzerland, the locals speak the Bernese version of Alemannic (a more advanced, evolved version of high German).

Christkindelsmärik

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Unless you’ve been to Germany, you may not know that the German towns and cities all have Christmas markets in the weeks preceding Christmas, filled with stands where you can buy small gifts and stalls selling food and Glühwein (a hot mulled wine).

That’s the nice part.  The not-so-nice part is: Christmas markets and Christmas itself in Europe doesn’t have the history of music that you find in America.  I always think Christmas in Germany could be improved with more traditional music.

But anyway, the best known market is not in Germany at all, but in Strasbourg:

And if you have good eyes you will have spotted that it’s not Markt but Märik, which is the word for market in the Alemannisch language – less commonly spoken in Strasbourg today, but still the lingua franca among Switzerland’s many unique dialects.

Happy Cows

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It’s hard to take a bad photograph of a good cow!

These cows are relaxing just outside the ultra affluent town of Gstaad, deep in the Bernese Oberland.  Most likely the few square meters of ground they are laying on is worth more than my apartment!

The world’s most expensive boarding school is located here (Institut Le Rosse, costing well over CHF 100K per student per year); and the international school for smaller children is so select, they have no webpage.

China is cleaner than Zurich!

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The first reaction of most people who’ve never been to Switzerland’s city of Zürich when they come here: how can a place be so clean?!

And of course, most people who’ve been to big Chinese cities like Shanghai or Beijing have a similar reaction: how can a place be so dirty?

Well . . . if you think China is dirty, think again!  The tourist island of Hainan is at least 10 to 15 times cleaner than the cleanest city in Europe!

Here is a view of downtown Hainan from the city park, with the Hilton Hotel framed between the trees:

And here’s another view of dowtown Hainan, taken from a beautiful park built along the north coast of the island:

Why is Hainan so clean?  The government has mandated this: strict fines for pollution, a huge staff of people to keep it clean.  And the amazing part: only electric vehicles are allowed in some areas of the city, as you can see from the electric scooters here:

It probably also helps that Hainan is a small tropical island, to the rains and winds keep the air clean.

 

World’s highest tunnel ventilation shaft?

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I don’t know if it is or it isn’t.  But this photograph was taken at the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland, at an elevation of 2106 m high in the Swiss Aps:

And hundreds of feet below this open shaft is the Gotthard Tunnel, a two lane road that lets automobiles and trucks pass underneath the Swiss Alps. It was build in 1882 and until recently one of the world’s longest tunnels.  Even from the point at where I am standing you can hear the roar of the traffic deep underground.

An amazing bit of trivia that goes directly to the heart of Swiss innovation: dynamite was invented in 1867, and this tunnel project was the first large scale industrial use of dynamite in the world.

Lake Thun

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This is a beautiful panoramic of Lake Thun, taken from a top secret vantage point that I often take visitors.

The tall mountain in the center is the active “Mount Niesen” volcano. Some scientists have speculated its eruption could destroy most of central Europe.

Interestingly, the castle shown here in the town of Oberhofen is one of seven castles that surround Lake Thun, and I remember somewhere that they were known in the Middle Ages as the “seven gateways to Jerusalem.”

MyPost24: The Swiss innovation hasn’t stopped yet!

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For more than I year I’ve been a big fan and user of the Swiss postal system’s electronic portal for snail mail.  Any snail mail you get is not delivered to you directly, but instead it is re-routed to a special post office where it is opened and scanned.  You are notified about any new snail mail via email – and you can look at your mail, delete it, or chose to have it snail mailed to you or anyone else.

mypost24

Just when you think it can’t get any more innovative: MyPost24!  This is an automated post office.  It is a standalone collection of lockers – and with this system, you can receive packages or snail mail, or you can send packages or snail mail.

I can imagine they have systems like this in other countries . . . but it is wonderful to see how the Swiss are among the first adopters of new and innovative technologies!

Instant Soup got its start in Switzerland

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I’ve lived in countries like India with an older history – but I’ve never lived in any country with more history than Switzerland.  There is an historical artifact or monument or place on every corner.

So I was hardly surprised to see this historical plaque just a few kilometers from where I live, at the train station in Kempthal.

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Everyone takes instant soups for granted these days, but this is the factory in Winterthur where Mr. Maggi, a Swiss entrepreneur, invented them:

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Even today, and far more than in any other country in Europe, that spirit of invention and entrepreneurship pervades Switzerland – and it is a big reason I enjoy living here so much!