Switzerland - what we learnt

Some of you might know that part of the way we are funding our trip is by Melle teaching English as a foreign language on an online platform (Preply).  Melle has about 10 students and teaches about 8 lessons on average a week - most of whom started with her over the last year i.e. before we came on the trip.  One of these students, Markus from Switzerland, is very enthusiastic and friendly and once he heard of our Alpine adventure he was keen for us to come to visit him.  Although we were originally skeptical (it's quite a long way as he lives in the north of Switzerland) after our positive experience in Geneva we thought it might be quite fun and arranged to visit for 4 days from Tues 21st to Fri 24th Feb.  And what a time we had. It's so great visiting a place with local guides and enthusiasts so here is what we learned.

1. There are three main regions of Switzerland, i.e. Italian, French and German, each related to and speak a Swiss version of the language of those countries.  There is a fourth Swiss language of Romanche which is basically latin and spoken by a very small number of Swiss 'mountain' people.  Each region has their own culture but importantly all are also very passionate about Switzerland, a country that was established in the 1100's.  

2.  Switzerland has, over the years, been involved in lots of wars and fighting to protect it's borders and although they remain neutral in wars outside their boundaries they are very committed to retaining and protecting their own lands (they are a small country bordered by other countries on all sides).  All Swiss men (and now women) are required to undergo 5 months of national service when they are 18 and then every year they must top this up with 3 further weeks of training until they are 42 years old.  During this time they must keep their rifle in their home so that they can mobilise very quickly to any threat. 

3. Markus and Claudia have grown up and live near Schaffhausen which is in the north of Switzerland, they speak German Swiss, an entirely new language for Melle and I but fortunately they also speak pretty good English.  And they were both really enthusiastic to practice with us too.  Melle also had lots of cuddles with Laney their dog too - she is super friendly (especially if you offer her stomach bread - which is basically cake!!).  Schaffhausen is actually older than Switzerland and also close to the Rhine Falls which is the largest waterfall in Europe.  We visited the Rhine Falls one day and even though it is out of season (and at probably it's lowest ebb) it is a hugely impressive natural attraction.

4.  The landscape around Schaffhausen is also what you might describe as typically Swiss (straight out of a Heidi film) with huge lush green fields, lots of forested areas and the snow topped mountains in the background.  One thing that was particularly noticeable was that they didn't have any hedges or fencing or walls along the roadside which was really quite nice.  Also lots of typically Swiss chalet style houses dotted around the countryside.  There are also quite a lot of new, modern houses with huge windows in the towns and villages, but Markus is not very impressed by them and shared his dislike of these with us whenever we passed them. 😂

5.  Switzerland is not a cheap place to live but it does seem to have a good standard of living for all (although we did experience quite a bit of grafitti in public places).  The economy is booming and Markus seemed to put this down to (i) they have some very successful businesses in key economies like pharmaceuticals and banking as well as luxury -end watches, chocolate and natural products like cheese (ii) although they do have universities they also have very high standard, 4 year training programmes for apprentices in various trades - as a result they have a very skilled workforce (iii) although Switzerland has close links with it's neighbours and is part of the Schengen area, they have never joined the European Union.  I got the distinct impression they have achieved the best of both worlds as they do adopt many of the legislation but perhaps also have the freedom to do things their own way when they want / need to.

6.  We didn't sense Switzerland would be an easy place to stay in a motorhome - other than in campsites which are largely open in the summer and quite expensive.  We also found that because Switzerland isn't in the EU our mobile phone companies didn't work there without us buying extra data or taking out upgraded contracts.  This was a bit frustrating although Markus/Claudia did provide wifi when we were at their home so we didn't miss out too much. 😏

4.  As I said earlier Schaffhausen has lots of history and it was a real privilege to be shown around the castle, the cathedral and the city centre by someone who has lived there all their life.  I've posted some of the photo's from the trip below and as well as the city we also visited Lake Constance, where Napolean III lived and Stein am Rhine which is one of the smallest cities in Europe.  The story goes that when they were approached by invading troops 12th century the the night watchman at the city gates asked them to 'Wait a Moment' during which time he raised the troops to fight off the invasion.  There's lots of records of this story in the city (and you can buy lots of souvenirs with it on!!) and even if it's only loosely based on truth it's still a great story.  It's maybe exactly the kind of thing that would just make you stop and 'Wait a Minute' even if you are invading hordes?  P.S. there are no records of being held off by people with Swiss Army knives although literally every other shop seems to sell these.  Markus and I spent hours discussing the merits of different knives and he was clearly impressed that I carry one around in my pocket all the time (although he isn't a fan of the classic version I have).

N.B. The painted houses were incredible - they tell local stories of the city from history and so as well as being very beautiful they're also really important cultural icons.  What a great way to show off your place. I’m 

5.  The people of Switzerland really did feel super friendly and incredibly welcoming.  We absolutely loved staying with Markus and Claudia and they have become really good friends.  As you can imagine, we were all a bit nervous of each other prior to the stay, although probably not Markus because he is just one of those guys who is so super positive about everything.  But we got on so well and loved our time with our new friends.  In advance they asked us what we would like to do when we visited and we just said we'd like to try everything Swiss and local.  They took us to amazing places and also plied us with local meats, cheese, wine, chocolates, beer and cake - literally they had everything and we couldn't hope to eat or drink all of it while we were there (although we gave it our best shot).  They really were the hosts with the most and it took us a few days afterwards to get used to being Chris, Melle & Homer on tour again.  We are so grateful and really hope we can repay their amazing hospitality and welcome them to Shropshire sometime in the future.

Although our three month trip was originally centred on the Alps and specifically the Grand Massif region, we always wanted to experience and learn about other cultures and probably most importantly to connect with other people.  This sojourn to Switzerland did all those things and more.  It opened our eyes (and dare I say it, our hearts) and has made us think about the future too.  But for now we're also looking forward to getting back to the mountains - the weather has been some sunny and warm let's hope there's some snow still there when we get back.

This blog was written by Chris