As tickets for the matches are like gold dust, many people are opting for the next best thing.

Public Viewing Areas are springing up all over the place, even in the lakes, as you can see here in Zurich.

The idea is to promote the party atmosphere of the EM, and generally get loads of people out on the streets celebrating-

Some will be family areas, one I saw being built was sponsored by Migros the supermarket chain. Others will be corporate jollies.

I’ll probably opt for a local biergarden with a large screen and nice shady trees…

Btw – EM is short for Europa Meisterschaft (European Championship) and I’ll be sticking with the local abbreviation.

Photo: Geoff

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Not to the extent of wearing a jumper that my Mother has knitted me, and scribbling numbers in a notebook, but I do like trains. I even got to drive a steam train on the Bluebell line once.

So the annual Dampftreff at the village of Bauma near Winterthur is an ideal opportunity to get down to the trackside and smell the coal.

Not just steam trains, there are classic electric and diesel locomotives too. Expect to see famous trains like the “Red Arrow” and more importantly, be able to travel on them.

Trains run pretty much every hour between Bauma and Hinwil, running through the local hills. I’ve not travelled the route before, but it should prove to be very pictureseque.

The event runs on Sat/Sun 13/14th October, and the first trains run at 10:30. Tickets cost between CHF 4 and CHF 29, depending on how far you want to go, and whether you want to walk back.

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

So what’s annoying me at the moment? As you may have guessed from the title, it’s the amount of roadworks in Switzerland. Of course, in a way that’s a good thing, because it means that the roads are usually in an excellent state, and that means I can drive the two-seater along country lanes without being shaken to pieces like I would be in the UK.

But the problem is that all of the roadworks are done at the same time. And again I understand why, because when it’s cold, that’s not a good time to be making nice smooth roads – something to do with water and ice apparently. But there is no coordination between various towns and villages, so what tends to happen is that all the local communities dig up their roads at the same time. And when the Swiss decide to dig up a road, they do it properly.

Step 1 is to totally strip the surface off from a section of road about 2 km long, and then go off to a restaurant for a nice long lunch. Or go away on holiday. I have no idea what they do but it takes ages. In the meantime they’ll install temporary traffic lights which stay on red for a minute, and green for 10 seconds. That’s on a good day.

When they are actually putting the mirror-smooth surface down, the road will be completely closed for a few days. And as Switzerland is very hilly, there’s often no alternative than to drive down the next valley. 

 OK, so I have to take an alternative route to work for eight weeks. But what’s this? A notice that the next valley has roadworks planned starting next week? Which means I can’t go that way either?

Honestly, there have been times when I’ve taken an extra 20km detour on a 20km trip to work, only to find that the motorway has been closed down to one lane because of road works, and then been stuck in traffic for an hour.

To be fair though, there is a solution to all this. Take the train. Because Switzerland has arguably the best train network in the world. If you know somewhere that has a better public transport system, feel free to let me know.

So, fellow traveller, you probably won’t be affected by my pet hate, unless you are travelling round by hire car. Or driving through Switzerland on your way to somewhere sunny, like Italy. And then we don’t mind you suffering because we’ll charge you a full years motorway tax (40 CHF) for the pleasure of a single trip along roadwork infested motorways. It’s an ideal tax – it penalises foreigners but is trivial for locals.

So no need to worry then, just take the train, and if you happen to look out of the window and see a grey sports car stuck in traffic with smoke coming from the driver’s seat, allow yourself a wry smile. That could be me.

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler