5 posts tagged “switzerland”
During our trip to Switzerland, I was amused by the many examples of bad translation that we encountered. I nicknamed it 'Swinglish', though N noted that 'Fringlish' was probably a better term, as most of the examples were French to English translations. While not quite on the par of Engrish it made me giggle.
Hiking in the Swiss Alps is a humbling experience in so many ways. Here the trails are steep and narrow and sometimes exposed, leaving you with a clear view of the river/precipice/gorge below. Here switchbacks are for the weak, and trails climb steeply upward, making mileage a useless measure of distance – which is why trails are marked in number of hours instead of number of kilometers. Here you find people of all ages, including the old and the infirm, and all appear to nimbly make their ways up and down the mountains.
I found this tour both exhilarating and hugely humbling. Having done the Tour du Mt. Blanc some years back, I figured that this one, entirely in Switzerland, would be along the same lines in terms of trails. Either I blanked out some scary moments while circumnavigating Mt. Blanc or that tour was truly easier. Using the Tour de Mt. Blanc as a reference point, I didn’t do a whole lot of research outside of looking at an English guide book (which made cursory mention of hand-guides, those chains that are attached to a rock face when there’s a steep drop off), and in hindsight, ignorance was bliss. Had I known what we were gonna get into, I probably would have chickened out.
As it was, the worst parts of the overall tour took up about an hour while descending the Pas d’Encel gorge near the town of Champery. We had been open jawed for most of the morning, with the all encompassing views of this mountain chain, its glaciers and the high elevation pastures. Rounding the corner to this gorge we saw Champery literally underneath us, and it didn’t dawn on me how we’d actually hike down until I crossed a bridge and noticed that N was no longer in sight and there was what looked to be a cliff a few feet in front of me. It was actually a rock step, and the first few were amusing, but after a couple more steeper ones, including one where you had to drop about 20 feet before you saw any trail, I started to get nervous. Ironically enough I have a fear of heights. Just as my nerves started to get to me, a family of 6, with 3 small kids and an older grandmother type, cross our paths as they made their ascent. That jeered me into continuing without having a full-fledged panic attack, but just barely.
We continued down on some genuine goat paths barely wide enough for my feet, let alone hips, and crossed the gorge. Looking up I was hard pressed to find the actual trail we took. Can you?
Happily the rest of that day’s hike was relatively benign. A steep climb up an alpine pasture or two, a contour of the Dents du Midi’s flanks, and then finally, beautifully, the Refuge d’Anteme. Located at 2,000 meters, just under the cliffs of the Dents du Midi, this hut is a small dormitory affair of the keeping it real genre. However, they do serve pastis, which is what I promptly ordered upon arrival. I figured with approximately 4,000 feet of ascent and 3,800 feet of descent (often on my ass) I deserved a most un-alpine like cocktail. And it was damn tasty.
While in Fribourg we took a day trip to the Gruyere region, the land of both the famed cheese and the Nestle chocolate factory. It’s classic Switzerland – rolling green hills, dramatic steep mountains, lots of cows, and an old castle perched on a hilltop.
And while you’ll find the typical fare there, including a history museum in the actual castle, complete with a hilarious multimedia ‘spectacle’ presentation that included a jester narrator named Shalimala, you can also visit a gallery with the works of the artist responsible for the design of the film Aliens. Scary mutant statues and 15th century history – who knew they went together?
With temperatures decidedly hot in Fribourg, I ventured to the city’s municipal pool, handily located in the old town right along the Sarine river. It’s a very nice facility, complete with a proper 50 meter pool that has a few lanes set up for lap swimmers. Fribourgian swimmers are an odd lot, with few of them serious enough to either get their head wet or wear goggles, though the men are passionate about their teeny speedos. The general lack of speed of the folks in the fast lane helped me practice short sprints as I passed swimmers.
However, lane etiquette was definitely lacking overall, and I’m not sure if that’s an overall Swiss thing or just a cantonal thing. There was a particular old lady who was kicking on her side with fins, who never stopped at the wall to let people pass, instead moving her sizable girth around with nary a glance backward. I had to pass her at one point, and I swear as I did she peed in my direction. How else to explain the sudden jet of warmth that hit me in an otherwise cool pool? It was about that time I decided to focus on kicking forcefully, unfortunately causing the old hag’s hair to get wet. Tant pis, eh?
After a surprisingly relaxed flight, thanks to a dose of prescription drugs, I'm slowly recovering from jetlag with ample Swiss cheese, wine and chocolat. We landed in Zurich yesterday morning, and after a coffee and a shower at N's mom's flat, went into town to hit the H&M sale and buy some maps for our hiking trip. She and her husband live in a gorgeous old building that handily houses the school he teaches at. From their place it's a short hop on one of Zurich's many regular trams into the town center, and it was comforting to see how familiar the places looked. Bittersweet, too, for we learned that his mom's looking to leave Switzerland to be closer to family, so our regular trips to visit her may not come as regularly. Quelle tristesse.
Views from the Zurich flat are nice...
A few photos from the Chasseral, as promised earlier.
