Switzerland

 Adventures in Switzerland
Swiss Travel PostersClick on the link below to see a slideshare collection of Swiss Travel Posters.
Link 

A Quote from Ernest Hemingway about Switzerland

"Switzerland is a small, steep country, much more up and down than sideways, and is all stuck over with large brown hotels built on the cuckoo style of architecture."

from www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1455.Ernest_Hemingway


Heidi 

Heidi, by Johanna Spyri (1827-1901), is the most famous children's book from Switzerland and one of the most famous Swiss books of all time

One of the Swiss travel posters depicts a typical scene from Heidi

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This postcard is advertising the train line that begins in the Swiss capital Berne and travels overland, across the Alps. The train is called "Oberland" and the postcard includes the term referring to the city of Berne in German: Berner and in French: Bernois.

 

Music in Switzerland: The Alpine Horn

Image from http://www.johnnyjet.com/images/PicsForNewsletterJuly2005ZermattRIFFELAPJJBlowingHorn.JPG

Follow this link to hear music of the Alpine horn at a Swiss festival with flags of Switzerland and canton Bern waving: 

http://youtu.be/KBJc_2VYrfY

Swiss Design: Helvetica Typeface The headings in this blog are written in the typeface Helvetica. And the name of this font is derived from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland. (From http://www.helveticafilm.com/)

A Swiss Company: Freitag

The Swiss are known for being a very frugal people. Therefore it's no surprise that recycling would be a big hit. One of the companies that is recycling is called Freitag (meaning "Friday" or "Free Day") and they recycle the tarp-like coverings of long-distance European trucks. These bags are durable and waterproof and strong and very chic. They have just this Fall opened a store on the Bowery in Manhattan across the street from the New Museum.

The brothers who started the firm have the last name Freitag and every bag has the name on it.

The tarps are cut in random patterns, sometimes showing the type used on the truck tarps, sometimes multi-colored.

Images are taken from the Freitag Web site:

http://www.freitag.ch/shop/FREITAG/page/frontpage/detail.jsf

 

The Four Languages of Switzerland 

(Map located at http://www.planetware.com/map/switzerland-switzerland-languages-map-ch-ch20.htm)

The following information is from the site: http://official-swiss-national-languages.all-about-switzerland.info/index.html):
Switzerland is not and has never been an ethnically homogeneous nation. The first tribes settling in the region today known as Switzerland having left written historic records were the celtic Helvetians (some 2500 - 2000 years ago), speaking a celtic language and the Rhetians who where not Romans but have adopted the Roman language (Latin) before they left any written traces. While the Rhetians, living in the alpine valleys of southeastern Switzerland, were able to preserve their language (Rumantsch) and culture to our days, the original celtic population has left almost no traces in Switzerland except from a few geographical names.

In 58 B.C. the Helvetians attempted to leave Switzerland and to settle somewhere in southern France, but they were stopped and defeated by the Roman commander Julius Cesar. So they had to return to Switzerland under Roman administration. From the times of Cesar, a Gallo-Roman culture flourished in western Europe (Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, England and western and northern Switzerland). Generally speaking, River Rhine separated the sphere of the Romans and Celts from those of Germanic tribes.

But during the migration of nations around A.D. 400, several Germanic tribes, among them the Francs (hence: France) and the Burgundians (hence: Burgundy, a region in southeastern France) crossed the Rhine border. The Francs settled in northern France (around Paris), the Burgundians in western Switzerland and Burgundy (their capital being Geneva). These tribes negotiated agreements with the Romans and installed themselves as heirs to the Roman administration. So they also adopted the Latin language and culture.

Another Germanic tribe, the Lombardians (hence: Lombardia = northern Italy around Milan) settled in Italy and in the valleys of southern Switzerland geographically easily accessible from there. In the course of the centuries since, Latin dialects spoken in France / western Switzerland, Italy / southern Switzerland and Spain have developed into French, Italian and Spanish.

Groups belonging to yet another Germanic tribe, the Alamannen, infiltrated northern Switzerland while a part of the tribe remained in southwestern Germany (today known as Baden-Würtemberg with capital Stuttgart). Contrary to the above mentioned tribes they were neither really interested in Roman towns nor in Roman culture, settled in small villages and stuck to their Germanic language. Within two centuries they had established a clear majority of the population in northern Switzerland, however, while many Celts and Romans retreated and the public use of the Latin language disappeared in northern Switzerland (except, of course, for the use of Latin in church rituals and on documents, as generally everywhere in medieval Europe).

So the ethnic origin of the native Swiss population (that is, the population present before migration in the 20th century) is in any case some kind of melting pot:
 · Celtic - Roman - Burgundian in western Switzerland
 · Roman - Lombardian in southern Switzerland

 · Alamannic - Celtic - Roman in northern Switzerland

 

Ticino: Where the Swiss Speak Italian

Lago Maggiore (Great Lake), Lake Lugano, Locarno, and the lovely towns of the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland border on the northern lake district of Italy where the towns of Como and Bergamo, for example, are well known. However the towns in Switzerland with the Alps hovering over them, are amazing. It was in the little town of Mendrisio, where Swiss author Max Frisch (1911 - 1991) lived, that I learned how to make polenta in a tiny mountainside inn in the cellar dug out of the rocks: the proprietor's wife kept returning to the fireplace where there was a big black cast-iron cauldron filled with cornmeal and mountain spring water in the ratio of 7 to 1. She stirred the pot every time she passed, or at least every minute or so, and it took about an hour. She sprinkled salt in now and then and took occasional tastes to make sure it was just right.

Photo of Mendrisio from http://www.switzerland-trips.com/Mendrisio/Mendrisio-Hotels-Tourist-Info.html

 

The 4th Language of Switzerland: Romansch

Romansch is spoken in the eastern part of Switzerland, principally in the canton of Graubunden.

A Swiss travel poster of 1918 by Augusto Giacommetti featuring Graubunden. In the canton of Graubunden is a lovely town called Spluegen which is highlighted on the map attached to this post. Graubunden is located near Italy, near Austria, and near the canton of St. Gallen.

I have a friend who was born in St. Gallen who speaks Romansch in his family. He, Jurg Stamm, speaks all four languages of Switzerland: French (he lives in Geneva), Swiss-German and German, Italian, and Romansch. The majority of Swiss people speak only the principal three languages and do not speak Romansch. Historically the language and the peoples it derived from may have originated with the ancient Etruscans.

Romansch is taught in three universities in Switzerland: in Geneva, in Fribourg, and in Zurich.

I have attached a couple of links that offer some of the interesting history of this rare language.

http://www.swissworld.org/en/history/prehistory_to_romans/celts_and_other_peoples/

The Swiss-German Language and the Heart of Switzerland


Interlaken is a town in the heart of the Alps where many travelers begin their explorations of the Swiss Alps. Jungfrau is one of the peaks in this region and is surrounded by a glacier. Interlaken is located at 1,870 feet between the lakes of Brienz and Thun. (This map was found at http://www.holidaze.com/images/Jungfraumap.jpg)

Swiss-German is the language spoken in this part of Switzerland, as it is in about 70% of the country including the cities of Zurich, Lucerne, Basel, Zug, St. Gallen, Winterthur, Schaffhausen, and the capital Bern. 

As you can see from the photo above, Interlaken is situated very close to some of the highest peaks in this region of the Alps in Switzerland. Although the photo above was taken between 1890 and 1900, the area looks the same today.  (Photo found at http://www.old-picture.com/europe/pictures/Interlaken-Switzerland-002.jpg).   There are small villages where Swiss chalets dot the hillsides and, in the lower meadows, daily cows can be seen. 

The French-speaking part of Switzerland

Although Geneva, on Lake Leman, is the best known of the French-speaking cities in Switzerland, this blog will focus on La-Chaux-de-Fonds in canton Jura.

"The cityscape of La Chaux-de-Fonds, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, is characterized by a chessboard design that was created at the beginning of the 19th century after a catastrophic fire. Switzerland's highest lying city (1,000 meters above sea level) is the birthplace of the architect Le Corbusier and the poet Blaise Cendrars.

Le Corbusier, born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, (1887-1965) was an architect, city planner, designer, and artist. One of his early residential architectural projects, the Villa Schwob or Villa Turque (1916), is located in La-Chaux-de-Fonds and is now the headquarters of the Swiss watchmaker Ebel. A photo of the Villa Turque can be seen at the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpmm/262392346/

Another of his early works, "Maison Blanche", is also located in La-Chaux-de-Fonds. He built the house in 1912 for his parents." (from http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/holiday-destinations-in-switzerland/la-chaux-de-fonds.html accessed 27 september 2011).

Blaise Cendrars, born Frederic Louis Sauser, (1887-1961) was a poet, novelist, and travel writer. His poem La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France) (1913) is a collaboration between Cendrars and artist Sonia Delaunay produced in an edition of approximately 60 copies and is considered one of the most beautiful artist's books ever created. Here's a small section of this great poem and artist's book: