The Switzerland Traveler

 
Time to plug something in my village – the one where I live, I don’t own it!
Every Sunday from 2pm until 5pm you can visit one of the smallest museums in the world – the mammoth museum in Niederweningen.
It celebrates the finding of a mammoth skeleton nearby, and aims to educate visitors in prehistory and also climate change, as the last Ice Age is the latest topic to be covered.
Niederweningen is located at the end of the S5 train line, so there’s really no excuse for missing it – we need your money!
Sadly you’ll need to speak German to get …read more

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We’ve had quite a lot of winter sports recently on TST, so here’s a traditional custom to be getting on with.
To be honest, the more I write about this country, the more I am convinced it’s a great (and diverse) place to live or visit.
Silvesterklausen takes place in Appenzell, particularly in the communes of Urnäsch, Schönengrund, Schwellbrunn, Waldstatt, Herisau, Hundwil, Stein, and Teufen.
Apparently (and I may well be wrong on this!) the idea is to distinguish between different types of Santa Claus – beautiful ones, ugly ones and the natural  or forest ones. And I thought there …read more

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Just a short post today on the Montreux Comedy Festival.
Montreux is usually known for jazz in summer, but it has also been hosting a comedy festival for ages.
Now I’m not sure if this week’s festival is the same one that used to award the Golden Rose to programmes such as Monty Python, and in fact I suspect it’s not. But it might be.
Isn’t that helpful?
Even worse, I don’t even know if the comedy will be in English!
The website appears to be only in French, so if you do parler Francais, it might be worth popping along.
Oh, and don’t forget …read more

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I like cars. Old cars, new cars, racing cars. Pretty much anything. But I can’t help wondering what sort of person wants to pay good money to sleep in one.
On the shores of Lake Lucerne, there is a very cute place called the Swiss Chalet. On the outside it looks like a normal restaurant hotel, but on the inside…
Actually, even on the inside it’s a good quality restaurant and hotel, it’s just when you discover some of the "speciality" rooms, that you begin to wonder what’s going on. Don’t panic, this isn’t going to get seedy!
First stop would be …read more

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I’m sorry! I can’t resist it. You all seem to love the concept of Swiss national costume and dressed up cows, so here’s the round-up of this weekends animal activities.
This weekend sees the judging of the cows by the Kloster in Engelberg on Friday 12th. Also there’ll be a small funfair for the little ones. Plus of course the obligatory beer and Bratwurst.
In Lenk, in the Berner Oberland,  the cows are due to be “moved” down the mountains, back to the village. Who could resist the sight of the most attractive cow being crowned “Miss Lenk”? Maybe the crowds eager to …read more

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OK, I’ll admit that I couldn’t resist it. You all seem to love cows so much that I’m pandering to your wishes by telling you about the next bovine event in the calendar.
Each year various towns and villages in Switzerland celebrate the return of their beloved cows from the rich mountain pastures.
It gets a bit chilly up in the hills in winter, and the cows don’t like snow that much, so in the autumn the cows and farmers come down to the huts in the villages. The event is invariable celebrated by dressing up;  the farmers in traditional …read more

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