Switzerland 1 - Alpes, castles and our new flatmate Hildy

This is my first blog entry in English. In the last entry I ended things by talking about David and I’s upcoming travels to Switzerland. In the meantime I introduced him to my family and friends back home, chased him up a clock tower of the highest church in my hometown, up a mountain to see a lake, took him to a medieval festival in Germany, celebrated my birthday (twice), and flew with him around the Alps.

You might wonder why this is in English. This entry is dedicated to my English speaking friends in Australia (and whoever enjoys reading what I write). I started this blog to keep my Swiss family and friends updated about my life in Australia. I thought it to be only fair, if I share my travel story of Switzerland with you in English.

However, let’s start at the beginning. I travelled to Switzerland one week before David, to catch up with everyone. It was about 7 am on Tuesday 19 June, when I packed the last things, and slowly but steadily moved my two suitcases towards Stanmore Station. The morning was bleak and grey. As soon as I finished dragging my 30kg suitcase up the stairs onto the platform, the rain set in. I knew I was leaving Australian winter for a while so I wasn’t even mad. Ok, maybe I was slightly annoyed. After all, I knew I was facing 30 hours of travelling in the same set of clothes.

After I managed to check in the luggage at the right airport and stroll through security like the innocent lamb that I am, I got myself a magazine about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and boarded the plane.

Boring flight. My seat neighbour was a nervous Welshman from Cardiff. How I know he was nervous? He almost bit his fingers off during take-off and landing. Poor bugger. After about 9 hours I arrived in Bangkok. I did what every tired and cramped up passenger should do. I got a Thai massage at the airport spa.

After that I had a chat with David, wandered around, and wrote some stuff for the Rugby League Club I am part of until I boarded the second plane to Zurich.

Eleven hours later I arrived in Zurich on Wednesday 20 June at 7.50 am. I was glued to my neighbour’s window during landing, because we had direct view of the Alps. I took a train from the airport to Basel and some more public transport to get to my grandparents’ house. 

Something I noticed straight away was that I understood every single conversation around me. When I am in public in Australia, the conversations around me tend to blur into some English gibberish. I cannot passively sit there and grasp the key points of each one of them. Another thing I noticed was the strict etiquette of asking and thanking for everything. There are more nonverbal understandings in Sydney on a bus or train. You don’t need to talk to the plebs sharing a ride with you. In Switzerland you kind of do, especially with two suitcases.

I arrived at my grandparents’ house around noon. We hugged and I was asked to sit down. My mum and aunt came over shortly after I arrived. I told them about my flight and gave them the Tim Tams and presents I brought for them. My memory is a little blurred from that day, because of the lack of sleep. However, I vowed to stay awake until nightfall, which was at 10 pm. Before that I had tea with my dad and half-sister at one of my favourite pubs, Hirscheneck.

I fell asleep at 7.30 pm that night and woke up at 5 am. I didn’t mind it. I wanted to visit a lot of people so the extra time came in rather handy. That day I saw my friend Anna and her little boy Elias (5 months). Elias is a very sweet and happy baby, who likes when people sing to him. I left them in the early afternoon and headed to my Italian grandma, my nonna. Her and I were and still kind of are in the same situation. We are both migrants. I feel more connected to her now and appreciate the things she has gone through to be in Switzerland. I left at 6 to have dinner with my mum, and sister. We talked about our lives and what’s new.

The next day I went to a sport field of a close by school and had a few kicks, passes, and sprints. I visited my brother in the afternoon. He turns 30 in December and has autism, which is why he lives in a flat share with caretakers and other people with disabilities. Unfortunately he wasn’t in the best mood. The care takers escorted him to his room. He lay on the bed and I sat next to him, telling him, everything there is about Australia. He calmed down and listened. He cannot talk so communication is a little different with him. He uses a special keyboard with big keys to write. We didn’t have the keyboard with us so he just listened. I also brought him a plush toy koala with a vest and a ranger hat. After that I went back to the grandparents for dinner.

I wrote to a few of my friends that I’ll be at my old favourite pub. Switzerland was playing Serbia that in the world cup. The pub set up a beamer for public viewing and a lot of people sat with us on the sidewalk outside the pub watching the game. Everyone was smoking. I totally forgot what it’s like to sit at a table of eight, where seven people smoke. Holy moly. I still was stoked to see my friends that night. However, I felt that people tend to be a little distant. I accredited this to not being around each other for two years. As the evening progressed it got better and we warmed up again. I had to take my leave at midnight, because I was going to wedding party the next day.

My friend Anna married her partner Sammy back in December; however, they haven’t had the chance to celebrate their wedding outside the family circle. So we all dolled up and went into the forest to a hut, where she prepared a buffet and drinks for us. I saw my male best friend Michel again. It never matters, how long we haven’t seen each other. When we talk, it’s like we’ve never been apart. He did help me catch up on all the gossip and told me more about his girlfriend he met in the meantime.  We played games and had some more drinks. Around 11 pm people started to head home and I even got a lift myself.

The start of the wedding party

 

On Sunday I was having dinner with my dad and all three of my half-sisters. I had a cheese fondue. I felt like going to sleep afterwards, but luckily I had my Rugby ball with me. My half-sisters and I went for some kicks and passes to a nearby park. They were really good at it, even though they never played before. I showed them a few passes and kicks, and they were executing everything the way they were told. I was a little proud, not gonna lie. My older sister joined us a little later. We rarely all got together even before I left, so this was special.

Monday I went shopping. I got myself a new purse. In the evening I went to Joy and her boyfriend Joel’s flat. We had barby on the roof top and talked about garb making. Joy is a seamstress apprentice and has a lot of in-depth knowledge. We ended up playing some guitar too. At around midnight I went home again.

The next morning David arrived in Switzerland. I picked him up from the railway station in Basel. He was quite excited about everything. We had lunch in a park nearby and he asked me a thousand questions. I told him what I knew. Eventually I escorted him to my grandparents’ house, where he could freshen up.

We had a chat with them in the living room. It’s funny for me to see all of my friends and family interact with David. Their English speaking levels vary, but almost everyone was able to carry on a conversation with him in English. We exchanged gifts and said we’d be back for dinner.

I took him to a stroll through my hometown. We first stopped at the Münster church. It’s located on a hill with the Rhine floating past it on one site. It’s the highest elevation of the city. We went inside and looked at the ornaments. I then asked whether he’s up for a climb up the stairs to the clock towers. He said he was fine. About five minutes later we were on top and he had a 360° view of Basel.

We later took a ferry to the other side called little Basel (Kleinbasel), where we walked along the Rhine board. The weather was beautiful so many people were swimming in the river or strolling along the river board. We eventually stopped to have dinner at a restaurant with river view and public viewing for the fateful match between Australia and Peru. We had free reign over the TV since there was only one other couple watching the match. I am sure that the matches Switzerland was playing were equally popular in Australia. We then went back to my grandparents’ so David could get some sleep.

On Wednesday we had lunch with my mother and sister at Platanenhof. It’s a cute little restaurant in the outskirts of the city. Everybody liked David well and he finally had a face to all the stories which was probably the same vice versa. After lunch my sister joined us for a trip to the iconic Tinguely Museum. Jean Tinguely is a famous local artist who builds machines and apparatuses out of garbage. In his lifetime he founded the museum and donated numerous art pieces to the city of Basel. The same can be said of his partner Niki de Saint Phalle.

We looked at the noisy, squeaky, and rattling art pieces. David said to me, that he thinks Tinguely’s art is very erotic and that Tinguely has a bit of a machine fetish. David pointed out that there was a lot of thrusting and shaking happening in and around the machines. I kind of have to agree with that. The museum hosted another exhibition called ‘too early to panic’ by two Swiss artists; Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger. Here are some impressions and a link to a video. I am on the swing in the last two seconds of the video.

'Too Early To Panic' exhibition 

The next day we went to the capital, Bern. There we attended a guided tour. We saw the parliament house, the city gate, and learned how the city came to be. The city is full of bears. They sit on their public fountains, are painted on walls, stand on public squares as statues, have their own little park next to the river Aare, and finally roar proudly from the city’s coat of arms.

River Aare

Zytglogge (Time clock tower)

Bear from the Bernese bear park

After the tour we went to see the bears in the park and later to our hotel, which was very close by. We already walked a lot that day so we decided to have a glass of wine and a beer whilst resting our feet in the hotel room, which was styled in a nautical theme. We were surrounded by pencil drawings of sinking ships and a caricature of a stern looking one-eyed captain. I reserved a table for dinner in a lovely brasserie at the other side of town. David had a creamy risotto and I had some delicious fish. Afterwards we strolled through the city and walked past some live gigs in parks and outdoor lounges of bars. However, it was a long day, so we were back around 10 pm and went to sleep as the sun was setting.

On Friday we had a delicious brekkie with croissants, cheese, and other good stuff. We then packed up and headed to the railway station. We caught three different trains to get to Gruyère, but boy oh boy this little town knows how to make a good impression. The town sits on a hill surrounded by a valley which again is surrounded by mountains and a lake in the distance. 

Gruyère is the home of the famous cheese, the moitié moité cheese fondue, the Greyerz castle and the H.R. Giger museum. He did the artwork for all three Alien movies. He mainly worked with airbrush. His art is very dark, but often also critiquing society.

We first had the best cheese fondue of my life. David was brave enough to eat some as well. It had a strong smell and taste to it, but oh, it was so good. We are primed to like strong smelling cheese from an early age in Switzerland. This is why it is a little sad, that I cannot import a lot of cheese to Australia due to customs regulations. But of course I respect the rules of the country I migrated to. My favourite cheeses are a wee bit pricy and hard to come by in Australia is all.

We then walked through the well restored castle. Every floor represented a different time period and told the story of the family who lived there from the 12^th century onwards. It is surrounded by a breath taking landscape, plus castles are awesome ‘nough said.

Afterwards we went to the H.R Giger museum where we saw my favourite piece ‘alien cockpit’ which has also been used in the Alien movies as well as the prequel ‘Solaris’. Of course this museum was even more erotic than Tinguely’s. Giger likes pipes, masks, cables, veins and nudity in general. We’ve decided that we had enough culture for one day and headed back to Basel.

The Café right next to the museum

Saturday was the big medieval festival at the other side of the border in Germany. David and I put our garbs on and delved into medieval times. The festival site covers about 5-6 football fields. There are 200 booths with wares ranging from leatherworks, garb, armour, weapons, instruments, jewellery, mead, and many other things. I bought two brooches for my Viking garb. We met many of my friends, watched the concerts on the 3 stages. The bands play medieval folk. It was very hot so they provided garden showers, and covers with benches and tables underneath. 

When the night finally came, people were more active and the fire shows started. The festival ended by midnight. Many went to party on the campsite, but I eventually headed back to Basel.

On Sunday we relaxed a little, watched game of thrones and met my father and for dinner at Hirscheneck. They have the best penne all’arabiata in town. A group of piccolo (little flute) players and military drum players walked past the restaurant. They were returning from the national ‘Tambure und Pfiffer’ competition. They played a few songs in front of the restaurant next to us. I was glad David got to see this. These groups of musicians also play at the Basel Carnival (called Fasnacht). We are carnival crazy people. Half of the town is in some way involved in the carnival. I was leader of a carnival marching band and helped out as a drummer with a drum set on wheels for my last season. Unfortunately, David and I were in Basel in summer. The Fasnacht happens in February/March. Maybe I get to show him and subsequently you, dear reader, more about this magnificent spectacle another time. We had to take our leave eventually to be ready for the next part of our trip.

On Monday morning we got up early to pick up the rental car and be on our way to Blatten, a little village in Lötschen Valley in the Canton Wallis in the Alps. My grandparents have a vacation home there, and went up to the house a day before us to set everything up.

David was nervous since he never drove on the right hand side and I don’t have a driver’s license yet to share his burden. It was a collaborative effort to get the two of us to our destination. He was driving and I tried to navigate and introduce him to Swiss road etiquette. Of course the navigation sent us somewhere in the canton Bern onto the side roads leading over a multitude of rolling hills. We finally made it back to the highway about half an hour later. To get to the valley from the northwest, we had to take a car shuttle service train. I don’t know whether this translation is correct. One basically gets on a train by car and stays in the car during the ride. The train went through a tunnel from Kandersteg to Goppenstein. 

After 15 very rattling and shaky minutes the ride was over and we drove off the train and onto the road. The roads in the Lötschen Valley have certain stretches that too narrow for two cars to pass each other. Nevertheless there is still oncoming traffic ranging from cars to busses. So it’s like a game of chicken between locals and tourists. You can guess who wins most of the time.

The whole Valley has high mountains to the left and right. Pine trees and pastures cover the mountains up to the tree line. Above that there is only rock, snow and the occasional chamois (a kind of ibex). The Lonza river runs through the whole length of the valley starting from the Aletsch glacier. We arrived at our destination Blatten at noon. The village is 1500 m over sea level which we started to feel rather quickly. 

To get to my grandparents’ holiday home, we had to walk only 20 minutes a little bit up the hill. However, we were both short of breath during the walk. The air is thinner (has less oxygen) at this height. People living in the area have an increased number of red blood cells (responsible to transport oxygen), compared to people living at sea level like Sydney-siders.

Vacation Home we stayed at

We had lunch with my grandparents on the balcony. It was great to be back. The smell of the flowers and plants as well as the stunning view onto the valley and mountains always lift the spirit.  I decided that we should have a bit of a hike. The weather was sunny and the black lake was supposedly only a 1.5 to 2 hours hike. After about 2 hours ascent we made it to the lake.  

There was a little icy snow blanket on one side. I haven’t seen or touched snow in a while so I had to investigate. Yep. Still felt the same. We cooled our feet in the lake and rested for a bit. The weather changes quickly in the mountains. From one moment to another the wind picked up, clouds formed and we heard a thunder growling in the distance. So we packed our things and descended back to the valley. Before we made it back, the mountain presented me with a gift: Sunglasses. I found them on the side of the hiking path. My sunglasses broke two days before we came to Blatten, so I was very grateful. They fit and look nice on me.

My grandmother cooked fish for dinner which we devoured. The hike was quite tough after all. David and my grandfather spent a lot of time hanging over books about the Alps, animals and other things. I was glad that my grandfather was able to answer the many questions David had, because I am not quite an expert in the matter.

The next day we decided to take it a little slower. We went to the centre of the village to check out a mask store we spotted the day before. They are carved out of Swiss pine tree called ‘Arbe’ (lat. Pinus cembra), charred, have goat hair attached to the sides, and some of them are painted too. They are mountain demons, worn by the locals to special occasions, where they chase and scare each other. The mask maker is Heinrich Lehner, an older gentleman. David was fascinated about the workshop and the masks.

I translated between the two. On the question, how we can tell if a mask is male or female, he answered: ‘You have to lift the cloak of the person wearing it to find out.’ Most of them were frowning, but a few smiled a very ugly smile. We bought one of the frowners off Mr. Lehner. Upon inspecting the mask further, we decided that it gave off a rather feminine vibe, so she must be a female mountain demon. We gave her the name ‘Hildy’ which is short for ‘Brunhilde’.

That's Hildy

We later hiked from Fafleralp towards the Aletsch glacier. At the beginning the ascent was only little and the path lead us over planes with cows eating grass.

This part of the valley is flanked by a lake on each side. We passed one of them. It had a dark turquoise colour and was about the size of four Olympic sized pools. As we came closer to the glacier the river Lonza became more of a river delta. We had to balance over make shift bridges, which were basically planks put there by the courtesy of the council. We realised that we would not make it all the way to the glacier and decided to commemorate our turning point with a photo. It was a bright day so we had trouble holding our tears back when posing for the photo.

Back at the house my grandparents prepared a lovely Raclette dinner. Raclette is a cheese which is quite creamy but not soft. One cuts it in 5mm thick slices. Every guest has their own little pan which fits one slice of Raclette perfectly. In the middle of the table there is a little oven with top heat and no cover to the sides. One puts the cheese onto the little pan and shoves it into the side of the oven. When the cheese has nicely melted one pours it over a cooked potato or just onto the plate. David liked it a lot and I was happy to have had my first Raclette in more than two years. We were having dinner in the wintergarden facing a pasture with the neighbour's goats on it. They were having dinner too and watched us. We later tried to make friends with them.

We packed our things in the morning again and said goodbye to my grandparents and Blatten. It made me quite sad at first, but then I decided that this was unnecessary since I definitely will be back before long.

David, my grandparents and I

Back on the road again, we were driving to the south of Switzerland. We took another car train (I am settling on this translation for now) travelling through the Simplon mountain. We came out at the other side, which was at the village Iselle in Italy. The Italian government posted one road sign explaining the varying rules for speed limits on the different roads at the beginning of the road. However, we did not quite have enough time to take notes. So we had to often just guess the speed limit. I never really noticed that this is a bit of an inconvenience in Europe, but sometimes when the speed limit changes, they don’t show the new limit. No, no, no. They show you this sign.

This basically means, you can now speed up to the next higher speed limit. However, if you don’t know what is allowed on a country road, a highway, etc. you might be left wondering what to do. And again, there was a lengthy part with a narrow road, oncoming traffic, lots of turns, and very confident driving locals. After an hour we were back in Switzerland in Locarno at Lake Maggiore.

This is the Italian speaking part of the country. My Italian is, well, not really much to speak of. I stammered together an order for a white wine, a beer and cup of ice cream, when we arrived at our destination. It was about 8°C warmer than in the mountains and we were at the lowest point in Switzerland (200m over sea level). Our hotel room had a lovely view onto the lake.

After we freshened up, we went for a stroll along the lake and later for a swim. The water had a great temperature, and the hills surrounding the lake looked beautiful. David was in Italy about a decade ago and said, that this part of Switzerland reminded him strongly of his previous travels. He even started to call it ‘Little Italy’. I tried to stop him, but he has a point. The whole area has a similar architectural style.

We had dinner at a Pizzeria near the ferry stop and later sat on a bench looking at the lake. We were tired, but tried to not be too boring and go to sleep at 9. I think we made it to 10.30.

On Thursday the weather cooled down a little and we were back on the road again. This time we visited the Castelgrande in Bellinzona. It’s a great military fortress build in the 14^th century. The area has always been occupied by the military of one or the other peoples with the Langobards being the first at about 500 A.D. The area of Bellinzona is one of the access points to the Swiss Alps. David and I climbed on top of all towers and walked along the garrison.

After we had lunch, we were back on our way to Basel. It took us nearly three hours and we drove through the infamous Gotthard tunnel. I think I made David nervous by being nervous myself. The tunnel is 17 km long, and has only two lanes, one for each direction. There have been horrible accidents in this tunnel, but fortunately none of them too recently. We made it through and arrived in Basel in the late afternoon. We returned the car and I visited my friend Joy again, while David stayed in the house for an early night.

We were supposed to have a sightseeing flight around the Alps on Friday, which was rescheduled for Tuesday due to bad weather. This gave us the great opportunity to hop on the train to Colmar in France, the city where I studied two semesters during my bachelor’s degree. We first strolled aimlessly through old town and had lunch. After a while we decided to get on the little tourist train, where they provided us with headphones and information about the places we drove past in the language of our choice. The houses in Alsace have a very distinct architecture. The wooden beams are visible from the outside and they love their pastel colours for the facade.

By the time the tour was finished the city started to get more crowded with football fans. France was playing Uruguay to get into the semi-finals. The people were chanting ‘Allez-les bleus’ and other things I don’t quite remember. We ended up watching part of the first half and then leaving for an early dinner. We did not need a TV to know when France kicked a goal. We finished dinner about the same time when the game was over. We headed to the station to catch a train back to Basel. We were accompanied the whole way by honking cars and flag weaving passengers. Back in Basel we relaxed at home and stayed in.

On Saturday we bought everything we needed for my birthday party in the forest with my friends and the one on Sunday with my family, because most stores are closed on Sunday in Switzerland. I bought a piñata for the forest party and filled with candy and condoms. I never had my own piñata when I grew up, because they weren’t a thing in Switzerland. I was inspired by David’s 5 year old nephew who had one for his party. So I got one for my 28^th birthday.

At 4 p.m. David congratulated me to my Australian birthday (it was midnight Sydney time). He then showed me videos of my birthday presents. In the video he stood in front of our kitchen in Sydney, which he decorated with a birthday banner, colourful ribbons and balloons. The presents were sitting on the counter. The wrapping paper was a mix of pages of a taekwondo book and an artwork book of one of the twilight saga movies. In a second video he opened the gifts for me. They were posters with memes from one of our favourite youtuber. I did not expect anything, since we spent a lot for the trip to Switzerland. It meant a lot to me that he went out of his way to cheer me up.

David and I headed to the forest at about 6 pm. Some of my friends were already there. They made sure no one else would occupy this very popular spot, plus they started the fire for the barby. I was happy to see them all and they all talked to David in English. On some rare occasions I was asked to translate a word, but David and my friends were very self-sufficient.

I brought a bag with little nick-nags from Australia for my friends. I placed them on a blanket on the forest floor, so people could choose what they wanted. The most popular item where the stubby holders. When it was time to whack the piñata everybody lined up, and we used a thin stick to make it harder. No one was able to destroy it, so I grabbed my friend Flo’s axe (which he brought to chop fire wood), and here is the result.

At midnight everybody started to sing ‘happy birthday’ to me. I loved it. I know some people don’t like it, but I am not one of them. My forest birthday parties used to be a fixed date in my friends’ calendars with one tradition standing out. At midnight we would go for bath in the little current nearby. I did not feel like breaking the tradition so I stood in front of the fire and took my clothes off. Underneath I was wearing a bikini. I called onto the guest to get undressed too and come with me for a swim. The clothes flew off and people made their way to the river. It was a little chill at midnight, but people put on a brave face and went in. Of course someone started to splash around, so we all joined in. Back at the fire we sang a few songs and had a few more. It felt like nothing had changed, but that was probably what everyone wanted; to party like we used to. I called two cabs for the last guests at around 2.30 and we all headed home.

On Sunday we slept in and prepared everything for the birthday party with the family. I was happy to see my family again. I got the chance to speak to everyone and give them little presents from Australia. I had koala and kangaroo keyrings, kitchen towels with the Australian map on it, a pen with a boxing kangaroo, some boomerangs, etc. Everybody chose their present. David met a lot of them and most could speak English.

David, my mum, my sister and I

Eventually the time came to say farewell again. I was quite sad about that, but pulled it together. It’s an irrational sadness. I am going to see them again in due time and we will chat on skype every now and then.

On Monday we cleaned the house and afterwards walked through the city and along the Rhine with Joy, visited Alain, and had dinner with my godfather and his husband. They picked a lovely vegetarian restaurant near the river. They got married before I left for Australia in 2016, but did not tell me until after. So I brought them wedding presents: A little didgeridoo and kangaroo fur. They have both been to Australia a few times and love the country and the people, so they liked their presents.

The next day my father and my half-sister Chantal picked David and me up to take us to a little airport in Schupfart, canton Argovia. My father paid for a sightseeing flight around the Alps. The plane had four seats and the take-off and landing strip was not paved but just a field of grass. After a short wait we got on the plain and took off. At first we saw the rolling hills of the canton Argovia. We flew from the north to the south, so the longer we flew the higher the mountains became. Among many things we saw the Aletsch glacier from the Bernese side, the three mountains: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (Eiger, Monk and Virgin). After that we flew across the Matterhorn and saw the Dom in the distance. The weather would sometimes force us to leave out certain sights. We then flew via Sion and passed the Lötschen Valley.

After two hours we landed in Schupfart again and had lunch. Later we went onto a summer-toboggan run (bob sledding in summer). It was super fun. The run was on a hill with pastures and cows feeding on grass next to it. We would egg each other on about who’s going to be the fastest and who’s going to eat whose dust. My maximum speed was 44,7 km/h and I think David reached about 44,1 km/h. I am not 100% sure about his speed, but I know I definitely won.

David, my dad, my half-sister Chantal and I

We then had dinner together and my dad drove us back to Basel. We said our farewells and started packing.

The next day we got up early and made our way to Zurich to catch our flight back to Sydney.

Going back home after two years was wonderful, because I got to see so many people that mean the world to me again. I left with a heavy heart, because I feel a lot of love for them and can’t take them with me. However, I pondered a lot about why I am returning to Sydney. A conversation I had with my half-sister Chantal helped putting in words what I felt. On one hand I fell in love with David and we now live together, but we could also live together in Switzerland. However, Sydney is open and leaves a lot of space for new ideas and alternative styles of living. In Switzerland I felt I had to follow a fixed path. Go to school. Get a job. Have a family. The end. When I came to Sydney these expectations were gone. Everybody encouraged me to explore and discover. This feels right for me. I discovered a lot about Australia, but mostly about myself and I know many migrants share this experience. For now David and I are going to stay in Australia, but we might move to Switzerland in the future.

Thank you for reading and see you soon.

piranialight.