Whether you are looking out of your rail tour in Switzerland train window, standing on a Swiss Alps summit, or sitting on an outside Swiss restaurant table, your eyes, ears and nose are in constant overdrive.
Alpine Views Switzerland’s awesome scenery every step and minute of your rail tour, day-trip or multi-day hiking trip offers something magical.
Wherever you are, every corner of Switzerland offers a picture postcard kind of view.
Switzerland’s awesome cultural diversity is a function of this small country having four different national languages: French, Italian, Romanisch and German. Plus Switzerland’s small size, within three to four hours you can be in neighboring Germany, France, Italy or Austria, where you experience the regional cultural differences.
What’s also interesting with Switzerland’s 729 year history, Switzerland and the United States have long been recognized as sister republics, Sharing common democratic values, free-market principles, and even similar constitutions.
With Switzerland’s non-stop ever changing awesome scenery, you sense this all in a “peace of mind” safety. The global 2020 Environmental Performance Index report conducted by Yale University and Columbia University for the World Economic Forum ranks Switzerland # 1 out of 180 countries.
Switzerland gets the 2020 crown for the cleanest country in the world.
In addition to Switzerland’s long history of “neutrality” it also has one of the lowest crime rates among all the developed countries.
You experience this safety with all the cleanliness you see in the streets, restaurants and most evident in the bathrooms. Even the bathrooms in remote Swiss Alp huts are always kept immaculately clean.
I recall as a Bern public outdoor & indoor pool recreation area, “Badmeister” my responsibilities as a lifeguard included cleaning the changing room areas. You cleaned the changing room areas with a regimented 4 page instructional protocol of specific colored sprays and cleaning rags to use. Each shower, mirror and other areas had specific things to do and use.
The friendliness of the people and especially the local guides can make a good trip a one of your- lifetime-trips. We took our extended family members on a weeklong Swiss Alp Jungfrau region trip; it’s something they all still vividly remember and often talk about.
Our local great English speaking Swiss guide had all our transportation handled so efficiently we didn’t have to worry about what tickets to show or where to stand on the train platforms. We just followed him and it made everything so effortless. Americans are not used to making multiple train platform changes. I recall we made over five effortless 7 to 10 minute train changes in one day and all we had to do was follow our guide.
Each platform has numeric markings and our guides knew where we all had to stand to board the right section where we all sat. And yes the trains depart on time. So when the actual train was 12 to 14 cars long, we stood in the right spot to just board the car in front of us and avoided the last minute panic to fuss to find our designated car.
In addition our local guide gave us great insight into the cultural and historical uniqueness of where we were in so it helped us to understand the place we were experiencing.
We had 5 & 7 year old grand kids, in addition to teenagers and their parents who relished with laughter and fun while walking around with the surrounding Swiss Alps peak mountains as the backdrop. The simple act of all of us eating outdoors on this panoramic veranda with each of us ordering off the menu provided a meal with so much fun and happiness.
Food in Switzerland
Mostly the food is fairly normal by western standards. There are endless little variations on cured meats, breads, and cheese all over the country. There are something along the lines of 450 different cheeses, and various dishes made using them. Emmentaler, Gruyere and Appenzeller are the big 3 cheese types that you will find in every shop in Switzerland. Unsurprisingly the chocolate options are also pretty extensive.
Switzerland is definitely a dream getaway place where you and your loved ones will feel and be safe, get to live that “Sound-of-Music” experience and come home with a sense of renewal and lifelong memories.
www.echo-trails.com
