Switzerland’s official name is Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin) hence explaining its official abbreviation CH.
Switzerland is a land-locked country in Western Europe bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria & Liechtenstein to the east.
The capital of Switzerland is Bern, not Zurich. Bern is the seat of the federal government, which makes it the de facto capital. The largest city is Zurich.
The President of Switzerland is elected once every year.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, and they use their own currency and legal tender – the Swiss Franc.
There are four official languages in Switzerland, namely German, French, Italian and Romansh.
Switzerland has no official state religion. Most of the Swiss are either Roman Catholics or Protestants.
Brietling, Cartier, Chopard, Franck Muller, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Patek Philippe, Rolex and TAG Heuer are some of the renowned Swiss watches.
Headquarters of the International Red Cross is situated in Geneva while the Headquarters of International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.
The Swiss has the 2nd highest life expectancy, after Sweden.
Expectations were feverishly high because it was after all (pricey!) Europe and well… our honeymoon. The honeymoon. One may travel to many places in his entire lifetime and promptly forget about some of these places several moons later, but nobody forgets the honeymoon.
As luck would have it, our honeymoon turned out to be nothing short of perfect. The itinerary was unsurpassed, the tour leader unrivalled, and the company unparalleled. Our group was manageably small with only 19 adults including 3 other pairs of honeymoon-ers like us, and everyone was pleasant, jovial and considerate.
If anything, I only have two minor grouses – we didn’t get to see much of Rome and totally missed out on Vatican City because of late Pope John Paul II’s funeral. I also didn’t particularly enjoy the incessant rain, in which we were told was not in congruence with Europe’s usual climate in April. I didn’t remember this, but the mister recalled that the rain started shortly after we landed in Rome, and only stopped after our day trip to Volendam in The Netherlands. He knew it for a fact that it wasn’t raining prior to 8 Apr 2005 because of a colleague who left Rome the day we arrived – apparently it was the only day which rained in the week she was there.
We were in Volendam on 19 Apr 2005 having our dinner of fish & chips when our Italian coach driver (who is a Roman Catholic) announced that the new Pope had been elected. It was raining bucketfuls of cats and dogs prior to dinner, but reduced to a drizzle when we were done with our scrumptious dinner. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the rain had completely stopped.
Was it a coincidence, or was there divine ‘intervention’? The oddity of the rainy season occurring within the period of sede vacante (Latin for ‘the seat being vacant’) of the Holy See, which promptly ended with the cessation of sede vacante – seemed to suggest that it was more than mere coincidence. We are not deeply pious people, but… it was some food for thought.
Our honeymoon coincided with the funerals of late Pope John Paul II and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the wedding of Prince Charles & Camilla Bowles. As you could see, we visited Europe during a very, for lack of a better word, interesting time. The trip was quite the eye-opener – we learnt how and why a papal conclave is convened, the difference between white smoke versus black smoke, Grace Kelly (not the bag!) and the House of Grimaldi from the Principality of Monaco. Speculations on the identity of the next Pope and expostulations on the sovereignty of Monaco considering Prince Albert II’s lack of a lawful heir totally preponderated the European, if not the world’s, prime time news. The media were having a series of field days.
We thought that Jeffrey Hoh, our tour leader, is the very epitome of an exceptional tour leader. He totally blew our minds with his experience, general knowledge, even temper and high level of service orientation. Following Jeffrey’s tradition of bestowing every tour group with a specific name (to distinguish all the groups he’d ever led), our group was aptly titled ’2 Funerals & a Wedding’. He professed that it would be difficult to forget our group given the unusual events facing Europe during our travel. He held true to his words, because several years later, he found and added the both of us as his friends on Facebook.
Regrettably, we’d lost contact with almost everyone in the group, with the exception of Kenneth and Sharon. If you are, or know any of our group-mates from the picture above, please email us at tenodddays[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d love to re-connect!
‘Of all the countries you visited, which is your favourite?’
We got asked this question umpteen times, by friends and family alike, following our return to reality. Not trying to play favourites here… but we have to concede that we enjoyed Italy the most. Something about the Italians’ honest charm, warmth and gregariousness tugged at my heartstrings – possibly because being reticent and bashful by nature, I couldn’t be more different than they are. The mister readily agreed with me, for an entirely different reason, I suspect – he had been raving incessantly about the unlimited potently flavoursome shots of espresso he got to enjoy at breakfasts in Italy.
Check out CTC Travel if you would like to trace our footsteps. While we do not sanction a package tour for seasoned travellers, we highly recommend it for virgin travellers (to Europe) who have no inkling of their travel likes and peeves, as a starting point.
Though sharing the Alps mountain range with France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, land-locked Switzerland is undoubtedly regarded as heart of the Alps. The Alps occupy about 65% of Switzerland’s surface area, making it one of most alpine countries in the world. Notably, Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. Therefore, Euros are not widely accepted in the alpine country as they still use their own currency and legal tender – the Swiss Franc or CHF. So does Liechtenstein.
A few entities are synonymous with the Swiss – traditional Swiss cottages, cheese fondue, milk chocolates, banks, the Swiss army and watches. In a nutshell, anything associated with Switzerland is almost guaranteed to be of high quality.
After a half-day trip to Lake Maggiore in Italy, our coach entered Switzerland from the south. By the time we arrived in Lucerne, it was already early evening. We wasted no time in setting down our luggage in our room, for we wanted to be out and about roaming the streets of Lucerne before night fell.
The landmark Chapel Bridge during Blue Hour.
The Chapel Bridge crossing the Reuss River, a short jaunt from our hotel, is the oldest wooden-covered bridge in Europe. The current bridge standing in Lucerne is however, not the original constructed in 1333 as much of the bridge was destroyed in a fire in 1993. The Swiss wasted no time in rebuilding the bridge since it is a major tourist attraction and is easily the most photographed monument in the country.
Tomorrow we would be scaling Mount Titlis, well… not in the traditional sense. Exhilarated to finally get to meet the Alps at close range.
Mount Titlis is reputed as having the world’s first revolving cable car that delivers a 360-degree panoramic view of the glaciers, valleys, rivers etc. One has to take a total of 3 cable cars to reach the summit, and the reward for the chore of changing cable cars several times – a breathtaking view of the Alps above the clouds. No photograph in the world would do justice to the spectacular sight which greeted us – you would really quite have to see it for yourself.
At the summit of Mount Titlis. I think we managed to make it look much less colder than it actually was.
We were blessed with clear blue skies and good weather when we ‘mounted’ the summit with the assistance of the cable cars. However, we suffered the repercussions of our wilfulness. In a bid to lighten our luggage, we omitted our winter overcoats and the full works as we saw no point in packing them just for half a day’s worth of visit. Our group mates were much more prepared, and we finally understood why they needed luggage space double of ours – they were warm and snug in their bulky winter wear while we were seriously freezing our asses off. Silly us…
At a height 3,028m above mean sea level, the ambient temperature out in the open was easily in the range of minus 10°C. We couldn’t bear to stay out longer than necessary and were frequently dashing into the comforting warmth of the indoors. Even our trusty DSLR died on us intermittently, as if protesting against the biting cold.
Seeing that the tourist crowd was reaching the summit in throngs, we decided it was time to quickly settle our lunch at the cafeteria ahead of lunch hour to avoid the crowd. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Mount Titlis, you must try the delicious grape drink Grapillon. We’re quite certain this drink must also be widely available throughout Switzerland though. Look out for it if you are a grape drink lover like us.
Squinting from the glare… the struggle is real.
The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff — for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.
Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion — and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.
– Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880
A befitting tribute to the Lion Monument in Lucerne, which commemorates the Swiss Guards who served the French King Louis XVI and were massacred during the French Revolution in 1792. That sentimental Swiss monument was our next stop after Mount Titlis.
After visiting the Lion Monument, we were sent back to the vicinity of our hotel and left to our own devices. We went shopping at Bucherer and the neighbouring shops. In particular, we were looking to buy some Swiss chocolate home but were advised against it as the climate was getting warmer and there was no telling if the chocolates would hold for another 5-6 more days before we arrived back in Singapore.
Wayfaring: Still 