When I was invited to tag along as a journalist with Alpine Adventure Trails Tour on a two-week hike in the Swiss Alps, I was eager for my husband Mark to book the trip and come. Somehow he did not share my enthusiasm.

“…climbs of 2,500 to 4,000 vertical feet…rugged..strenuous trails with advanced mountaineering  options,” I quoted the brochure.

There really is a hikers’ cemetery in Zermatt

“Yikes.  We’ll break our legs, or our necks. There’s actually a hikers’ cemetery in Zermatt?  Good thing I already have a doctor’s appointment  scheduled after we return.  We’ll be so exhausted!” he said.

“But July is a perfect time to go.  It’s so hot in South Carolina,” I persisted.

“We’ll miss this hot, humid weather. It’ll be freezing there,” he said. “And those tours are always full of boring people that we’ll have to talk to endlessly.”

Our First Time on a Tour

Now I was worried.  In all of our many trips we had never travelled on a tour before. “And they’ll all be twenty years old, running up the mountains with GPS and pedometers. We’re 60! Another thing, last year they had to close the trails in Zermatt because of avalanches!” He was getting seriously worked up.

My confidence started to fade.  “You don’t think they’ll make us follow in line behind some bossy guy with a cheesy flag do you?”
“But on the other hand we wouldn’t have to do all of the planning and figure out the trails.  I’ll never have to ask you ‘Are we lost?’”  In all good marriages, the roles flip. Now he was the cheerleader.
In the end I couldn’t resist the invitation. He came to protect me from avalanches. We packed a bunch of wool socks along with our misgivings and headed to Zürich to meet the group.

Joining the Group

Sizing up the Group…

We checked out the other 20 hikers before boarding the train to Zermatt. “They don’t look too intimidating.  There’s a few older than us.  She looks scrawny. He can’t possibly walk very far…” Pure bravado.  It worked well.  Until we started hiking.

After three hours of traipsing continuously uphill one day, I asked the leader “Where are we going?”  Bad idea.  Not a question they encourage.  “See that flag way up there?” she pointed to a pinnacle on the horizon. “That’s the lunch stop.”

Had we been on our own, this would have been where we would have turned around.  But the threat of being called wimps made us trudge on. We reached Hotel Trift ninety minutes later where we collapsed at the picnic tables and took in the view: a mountain range of snow covered peaks.  Waterfalls in the distance. Peels of cow bells drifted up like wind chimes.

Rösti, Hay Soup and Apple Cider

Arriving in Wengen, the Valley of Waterfalls

Somehow without electricity or running water, delicious rösti and surprisingly tasty hay soup (“We take the grass out before they serve it”) appeared.  We quaffed sparkling apple cider and marvelled at our accomplishment. Peer pressure made us do it.

After lunch the proprietor played an Alpine horn for us until he was interrupted by a helicopter landing nearby delivering his groceries.

Amidst “story of my life” sorts of conversations, we made friends. The Canadians wanted to compare health care systems; favourite Bavarian beers were a hot topic; band-aids and moleskin were shared along with trail mix and chocolate. I complimented one woman on her beautiful complexion and learned her secret: a nightly application of Crisco.

When we stopped at a beautiful Alpine lake just one day after meeting her, Barbara asked us to take a photo as she scattered her husband’s ashes in this picturesque place that they’d visited together. We discretely stepped away from the group and recited a Hebrew prayer as she flung the ashes into the wind, making us her new best friends.

“I feel like I’ve joined a youth group, only they’re older,” Mark said.

Inspiration and Insights

Ulrich Inderbinen’s Memorial in Zermatt

We had beefed up our exercise regimen to get ready for the trip but surprisingly it was the older hikers who inspired us by their endurance and vitality. Carl, Frank and Jane who were 74 to 84 years old often led the pack on even the hardest hikes.

At the museum in Zermatt we learned about Ulrich Inderbinen who climbed the Matterhorn 370 times, well into his nineties.  “I live how I climb…slow and deliberate but steady and determined.”

The trip leader, Shannon, instructed us by saying “I’m going to walk so slowly you’ll think I’m silly but follow me that slowly and put each foot flat on the ground.  Not on your toes.  If you can’t talk while you’re hiking, stop and catch your breath.”

Woven throughout the trip were vivid insights into Switzerland.

Cows go to camp, spending the summer getting fat in the valleys. Feather comforters (duvets) are so thick they feel like they have balloons inside. Trains are famously quiet and efficient but buying tickets is often on the honour system. Citizens help ensure no-one sneaks aboard and they might reprimand you if you put your feet on a seat.

All dogs are required to go to obedience school. Even Matterhorn summit climbers are required to follow rules posted on the sign in the base camp: “Rules for everybody!  Wake up call 3:30 AM.  Start not before 3:50”.

Climbing Up to the Climbers

“Say a prayer and keep on truckin’ “

The hike to the Matterhorn base camp was the most seriously exhausting one of the trip.  We had been so happy using our new hiking poles for the first two hours of trekking.  But then our leader Lisa said “Put your poles away because now you will have to use your hands to pull yourselves along. Keep going and don’t look down.”  “Really?” we said in unison.

But step by step, hand over hand, we arrived at the most magnificent view of our lives.  The Matterhorn summit towering above us, an endless expanse of glaciers and peaks below.  At the base camp were about a dozen climbers who had summited that morning.  I asked Kate Lewis how it had been.

“At the beginning I was thinking ‘when is this going to get hard?’ Then near the top it did.  I was not very prepared although I’m a mountain climber.  This was only my second time wearing crampons.”  She hiked with a guide from the lodge.  “He saved my life several times.  He had me on a rope.  One time I fell on the snow and he caught me.”  Maybe we were wimps after all.

My favourite souvenir

Back in One Piece

We have a photo of us beside a Swiss flagpole at the top of a snow covered mountain smiling, remarkably, after a long climb. It is more than our favourite souvenir because in the end, none of our misgivings were founded.  We had no broken bones, the weather was variable but pleasant and the group was pretty good company.

Well, maybe one doubt turned out to be true:  we were exhausted.  But the photo is a testimony to putting aside misgivings and climbing deliberately and determinately towards a far off but beautiful destination.

See more photos from
>>ZERMATT
>>KLEINE MATTERHORN

© Switzerland Travel, 2013. Written by Carol

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Swiss watchmaker Breitling’s commercial shoot of “wing-walking” aerobatics disturbed me from the perusal of my morning paper – a couple of biplanes and a helicopter are quite noisy – so I grabbed a handy camera and shot off a few frames from my balcony in Cremorne Point. Not the sharpest, but hey, no chance to grab a bigger lens (OK, I couldn’t be bothered, I needed my coffee).

Anyway, here they are, hot off the computer. I put them in Switzerland because, well, I couldn’t think of anywhere else…”

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

Breitling wing walk over Sydney, Australia

© Switzerland Travel, 2013. Written by Tony Page

Post tags: aerobatics, barnstorming, biplanes, Breitling, breitling commercials, Sydney, watches for men, wing walk in Categories: News & Events

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St Mauritius Zermatt

Walking around the centre of Zermatt, the dominating tower of St Mauritius parish church is hard to miss. St. Mauritius Pfarrkirche in Zermatt is a Roman Catholic parish church. It stands in Kirchplatz, next to the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof and the Marmot Fountain.

St. Mauritius Church History

St Mauritius church was built in 1913, replacing an old church that stood there since 1587. World War I interrupted the completion of the St Mauritius and it was not until 1932 that the church was completed with the installation of three new bells.

St Mauritius underwent a total renovation in 1980 and yet by 1994 further repairs were required.

Zermatt is an international community and more than a third of its population are foreigners. It is for this reason that at St. Mauritius you’ll find sermons conducted in Portuguese, Italian, Croatian and German.

Zermatt Festival

With its good acoustics, St Mauritius Church is also a regular venue for the classical concerts of the annual Zermatt Festival which takes place each September. For lovers of classical music, this is a great opportunity to enjoy Mozart,  Beethoven, Vivaldi and other master composers at the foot of the Matterhorn.
See what’s on at St Mauritius and book your tickets online HERE.

© Switzerland Travel, 2011. Written by Helen Page

Post tags: classical concerts, roman catholic church, st mauritius pfarrkirche, st mauritius zermatt, zermatt festival in Categories: Sightseeing

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Riffelalp Chapel - Zermatt

Located over 2,210 metres above sea level is Riffelalp, an intermediate station of the Gornergrat-Bahn. Many hikers come up here to start their Alpine hikes, and also at Riffelalp are the Riffelalp Resort and the Riffelalp Chapel, a chapel built by Alexander Seiler, founder of Zermatt’s Seiler hotel empire, and his wife Catharine Seiler-Cathrein.

The Riffelalp Chapel is a private chapel, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 3 July 1887 and to this day it is still owned by the Seiler family. This whitewashed chapel has a small bell tower and small canopy over the entrance. The chapel is only open to the public on certain occasions. If you’re there in summer, mass is held on Saturdays and this is when the public can get to visit the chapel.

Inside Riffelalp Chapel

Inside the chapel two commemorative plates honour the founders of the chapel. The altar, the arched windows and the choir arch display various new Gothic elements.

The main figure of the altar, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is flanked by statues of the Mother of God and presumably of Saint-Rita. Two coloured glass windows with images of the Mother of God and Joseph allow light to enter the choir. The windows in the nave are made of undecorated clear glass. On the walls of the Chapel are decorations and commemorative plates for various members of the Seiler family.

Today, the chapel is rented out for wedding parties and what a magnificent venue for weddings.

Riffelalp Chapel is also a classical concert venue for the Zermatt Festival. See what’s on and book your concert tickets HERE.

To get to Riffelalp Chapel, take the Gornergrat mountain railway to Riffelalp station and then, for the final leg, the Riffelalp Resort owns a tram which goes directly to the Riffelalp Chapel.

Alternatively, it is also possible to walk to the Chapel from the station. The five-minute walk is on one of the most beautiful trails of the Alps.

© Switzerland Travel, 2011. Written by Helen Page

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These are the main public holidays in Switzerland. Regional and local holidays, such as January 2 (Saint Berchtold Day), May 1 (Labor Day), June 7 (Corpus Christi) among others, are also observed in many parts of the country.

© Switzerland Travel, 2011. Written by Tony Page

Post tags: public holidays in switzerland, swiss Public Holidays 2012 in Categories: Useful facts

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As you might expect, finding a Swiss phone number is easily done on line, in a choice of languages and for free! Swisscom offer over 6 million listings of private people and businesses in their Switzerland telephone directory. Whether you’re looking for a Swiss chalet phone number, mobile (cell) phone number or company, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Swiss phone numbers are nine digits long, but ten if you include the initial "0" which you must always dial within Switzerland. You omit it as usual when dialling into Switzerland from abroad. The Swiss telephone country code is 41. Swiss area phone codes are part of the subscriber number.

Free telephone number search

LOCAL.CH WHITE PAGES
http://tel.local.ch/en: Official Swisscom white pages telephone directories for Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) in English. Includes reverse search.

LOCAL.CH YELLOW PAGES
http://yellow.local.ch/en: Official Swisscom Yellow Pages for Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) in English. Search by name, classification, keyword etc. Click on advance search for reverse search and other searches.

You can actually search all sections at the same time at LOCAL.CH ALL SECTIONS http://www.local.ch/en/

TEL.SEARCH.CH
http://tel.search.ch/index.en.html: "The Electronic Phonebook" Original Google-like, efficient white pages directory for Switzerland in English (or German, French or Italian). Search private and/or business. It has a neat device above the search box that shows you the number of entries corresponding with your search terms as you enter them – so if you only get to 1000 entries it would be a good idea to put in some more limiting terms! There were 4,130,261 entries in the database when last I looked…

Making Calls to Switzerland or from Switzerland to a foreign country.

© Switzerland Travel, 2009. Written by Tony Page

Post tags: cell phone switzerland, mobile phone switzerland, phone code switzerland, swiss chalet phone, swiss phone number, switzerland phone number, switzerland telephone code, switzerland telephone directory, telephone directory swiss in Categories: Useful facts

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Château d’Aigle

Brief History of Château d’Aigle

The Château was built in the 12th century by the Savoyards, but was razed to the ground by the Bernese in 1475. It was rebuilt as a defensive function as well as a residence for the installed bailiffs. After the 1798 Vaudois revolution, the castle reverted to the hands of the locals and became the town’s prison right up until 1972! When they couldn’t find anyone to take on the job of jailer, all the resident convicts were transferred to Vevey.

The arrival of the railway in 1858 and three lines of “small trains” in the 20th century helped to bring tourists to the area and contributed to the economic development of the town. Visitors come here for wine-tasting in the old Château d’Aigle.

The castle with its turrets is the main landmark in Aigle and is now home to two excellent museums devoted to wine and wine production. If wine-tasting at 11 a.m. is a bit early for you, you can go for a tour of the Musée de la Vigne et du Vin. The ramparts walk is said to be quite spectacular, with frescoes in the various watchtowers and magnificent views out over the vast vineyards all around. You can also have a leisurely walk around the vineyard and except for a few workers, there’s hardly anyone around to disturb the peace.

A Chance encounter with Monsieur Emery

As we were walking around the lower town area, we came across Cave Alain Emery at avenue du Cloître 22. Monsieur Emery (senior) was preparing to leave as we peered into his shop window, but instead of chasing us away, he kindly invited us into his cellar, took us on a tour, explained to us the grapes in the region and then offered his wines for tasting. Five generations of his family have been cultivating vines in the area and the business is now run by his son Alain. We bought a couple of bottles of Monsieur Emery’s best whites and were really surprised at the reasonable cost.

© Switzerland Travel, 2009. Written by Helen Page

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Swiss Cheese Fondue

When the temperature is freezing and the chill in the air is converting into goosebumps on your skin, there’s nothing like some rich comfort food to ward off the cold.  The Swiss cheese fondue comes to mind.

Origin of the Swiss Cheese Fondue

The Swiss cheese fondue, a most typical of Swiss foods, had a very humble beginning.  Back in the 18th century, the long winters prevented people in the Swiss villages from getting into town.  The foods that they had prepared in summer had therefore to last through the winter months and supplies like cheese and bread got really hard by then.

The villagers discovered that if they heated the cheese a little, it got tastier and it became easier to eat.  And when they dipped their stone-hard bread into the melted cheese, the bread got softer.   Voila, the fondue was invented - the word being a derivative of the French word ‘fondre’, which is to melt.

The fondue was a communal food back in the early centuries and nowadays it’s just as good for dinner parties. It is quite easy to prepare, which means that you won’t have to slave in the kitchen, as can be seen from the following recipe.

Swiss Fondue Ingredients

-   allow 150-200 gm of cheese per person, made up of half gruyere and half emmenthal
-   a clove of garlic
-   a knob of butter
-   a teaspoon of potato flour or corn flour
-   100 ml dry white wine per person

Preparation

-  Dice crusty bread into 3 cm cubes
-  Crush the garlic and leave in the bottom of the fondue pot
-  Add a knob of butter to the cheese mixture
-  Place the fondue pot over a moderate flame and stir with a wooden spoon
-  If the cheese forms into a thick mass, continue to stir and it will re-absorb
-  As soon as the mixture commences to cook, stir in a liqueur glass of good kirsch in which you have dissolved a  teaspoon of potato flour or corn flour.
- Add a little grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
- A knifepoint of bicarbonate of soda at the last moment will make the fondue lighter.

Place the fondue pot on a spirit lamp which can be regulated, with the flame just high enough to keep the fondue cooking gently during the meal.  Serve with crusty bread that’s been diced into cubes.   Spear a piece of bread with the fork and dip into the fondue.

We thought that cheese goes well with red wines, but when we were dining at the Fondue-House in Lucerne, the restaurant manager assured us that white wine was more compatible.  After taking his recommendations, Tony agreed with him.  If you’re in Lucerne and wish to try some raclette or fondue, the Fondue-House is a good place to go.

© Switzerland Travel, 2009. Written by Helen Page

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Swiss Cheese Selection

When I read that there are more than 400 varieties of Swiss cheese, I was astounded. Most non-Swiss people would only know of a handful, the most popular ones being Emmenthal and Gruyère.

Still, Gruyère is undoubtedly the big cheese of the Swiss dairy industry, so when we visited the walled city of Gruyères, we of course visited the eponymous factory which is in the AOC Production area. The AOC designation, or Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée, is an official stamp of quality that is reserved only for certain regional products. The label is a guarantee of the authenticity of the products and certifies that traditional methods and know-how are used in their production.

Gruyère is a hard cheese with a distinctive texture and flavour. The cheese is mild or ‘doux‘ when its young and when it gets more matured, it develops into a more intense flavour or ‘salé‘. The cows that produce the milk for the AOC Gruyère cheese are fed on natural fodder and special care is taken during the milking process to ensure that a high quality of milk is maintained.

The milk is processed quickly in giant copper kettles. The cheese maker adds fermenting agents and natural rennet to cause the milk to curdle. The curds are then cut into grains and the grains and whey are heated to 55ºC for 40 minutes under the watchful eye of the cheese maker. The mixture is then pumped into moulds that retain the grains but allow the whey to drain away.

Gruyere cheese maturing, note cheese-turning machine

As with everything Swiss, the production of Gruyère AOC cheese is very precise. Each round of cheese is uniquely identified with the aid of a natural casein mark. The round is compresssed using up to 900 kg. pressure and it is turned regularly for a period of at least 20 hours. Following this, the rounds are removed from the moulds and then soaked in salt baths for 24 hours.

The next stage is the maturation of the cheese. Before delivering the rounds to the maturing cellars, each round is marked with a branding iron. They are left in the cellar for four and a half months before being tested for quality. Meanwhile the rounds are turned regularly. All Gruyère AOC Swiss cheeses are cave matured with the Classic taking 6 months, Reserve 20 months and the Special Reserve taking more than 14 months.

I must say that I’ve neglected Gruyère in the past years, prefering the French cheeses. Having tasted quality Gruyère recently, I’m reminded of the great flavour of this cheese and it’s definitely back in vogue with me again.

© Switzerland Travel, 2009. Written by Helen Page

Post tags: AOC, cheese, doux, Emmenthal, Gruyère, Gruyères, salé, swiss cheese, Switzerland in Categories: Featured, Food

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Giger Museum - Gruyères

Fans of the “Alien” movies will be pleased to know that the Museum H R Giger is in Gruyères. This Giger Museum is home to the permanent collection of the works of H.R. Giger, the award winning Swiss designer of Ridley Scott’s blockbuster “Alien” movies.

After visits to medieval towns and castles and the amazingly beautiful mountain scenery of Switzerland, it’s strange to find a museum such as the  Giger Museum in Gruyères.  So how did this 400-year old historic walled town of Gruyères get chosen to be home to science fiction, extraterrestrial designs, ideas and beings?

Why Was Gruyères Chosen?

In celebration of Giger’s 50th birthday in 1990, he was invited to stage a major retrospective of his work at the Château de Gruyères. The exhibition “Alien dans ses Meubles” was a huge success, drawing attendance by some 110,000 visitors. After many subsequent visits to the medieval village of Gruyères, Giger fell in love with the region. When he heard that Château St. Germain was available for sale, he acquired it with the intention to establish his own museum and gallery.

H R Giger Museum in Gruyères

The Giger Museum opened its doors in 1998. On permanent display at the Museum is the most extensive collection of artworks from Giger’s different creative periods, including most of his film designs such as the artwork of “Alien” and “Alien 3″, “Dune”, “Species”, “Poltergeist 2″ and “The Mystery of San Gottardo”.  Even if you’re keen on Alien movies, the exhibits are very impressive.

Spacing Out at the Giger Bar

Next to the Museum is the amazing Giger Bar whose interior is like the insides of an alien spaceship and the furniture and decor adopt alien themes as well. If you feel like being lost in a Sci-fi world, this is a really surreal bar to have your drink in. But better not have too many, or you might start feeling a little off the planet and start seeing things burst out of people’s chests…

© Switzerland Travel, 2009. Written by Helen Page

Post tags: Alien, alien films, alien movie, Giger, Gruyères, Museum H R Giger, ridley scott, sci fi, swiss designer in Categories: Featured, Sightseeing

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