By Shel Horowitz
Zurich: It seems so easy to get around here! The trams and buses run constantly and cover a wide area. Arriving mid-day after a beautiful train ride from the Italian border through the mountains, we took a couple of short walks downtown.
The Landes Museum is a striking, massive castle directly outside the railroad station. The river is an oasis of tranquillity, but the city as a whole does not seem frenetic.
Old Town is very pretty, lots of elegant churches, winding alleys, and such. We particularly enjoyed a walk through two streets lined with art galleries and antiquarian bookstores—Schifflnde and Kirchgasse (Church Street).
Also in the old city— a famous church with five long vertical and one round Chagal stained glass windows—very lovely, and not crowded.
On our final day, we rode out to Albisguetli—the last stop on tram 13—to climb the Uetliberg, a tall, scenic hill whose trails twist through a beautiful—and nearly litter-free—forest and climax in scenic views of both Zurich and the rural canton of Aarau. The lookout tower at the top brings the total height to over 900 meters, and on a clear day, you can see the Black Forest in Germany.
Then another scenic train ride and we were in French Switzerland.
Many Swiss slip seamlessly from one language to another, mixing French, German, Italian, and English—which is not one of the four official languages, but is very popular. As far as I know, I haven’t heard any of the fourth official language, Romansh, which is an old, dying Latinate language used deep in the mountains, and which comes in dozens of variants. The same conductor will ask for tickets in Italian as the train leaves Lugano and in German as the train approaches Zurich.
La Chaux-de-Fonds/Geneve
We’re staying in a chalet on a beautiful mountain, in this non-tourist town whose name translates as “last place to get chalk” (limestone).
My image of a chalet had always been of a large, prim, fairly fancy dwelling with flowers hanging from every shuttered window—and there are a couple of those right around here, used as fancy restaurants.
But most of those around here are simple cabins. Ours has no electricity and a water system that requires human pumping. The toilet is a very recent addition.
It’s absolutely beautiful up here. One view overlooks the town and another, a green hillside with pastures, cows wearing bells, and some cropland. And at night the sky fills with stars.
This was once the centre of the Swiss watch industry, and there are still a few factories operating. And its home to the International Museum of Horology.
We had a brief layover in Geneva, just enough to walk around near the station. The city had that New York energy and feel. The neighbourhood was upscale, touristy, full of watch shops, travel agents, money changers—and abutting oversize McDonald’s and Burger King, both set up as European sidewalk cafes.
Toulon/Provence
We started in Pignans, a town that time forgot. On the main square, a few men languidly played cards in front of a cafe; no one else was around.
A quick turn under an old stone arch and we were in the medieval part of the city, built from the 13th through 17th centuries.
Our next stop was Flassans-sur-Issole, where we climbed to the ruins of a medieval fortress. A few stone walls, a tunnel or two, and a beautiful 360-degree view of the town below and the surrounding countryside.
By this time, the heat was getting to us, so we ended our afternoon with a swim in the lake at Besse-sur-Issole.
Walking around Toulon, we went first through the vast open-air market: clothing, fruits, vegetables, spices, fish, olives and tapenaudes.
The Opera square, recently redone with palm trees, is very beautiful, as is a neighbouring building just behind it. The waterfront is bustling and touristy, with shops of maritime odds and ends, pictures of the waterfront, and a few small tourist attractions like the naval tower and museum—one of the few museums in Toulon that charges money.
An unexpected pleasure was one of the free museums, dedicated to Asian art. While not enormous, the collection was amazing in its breadth and depth. Chinese and Japanese sections were arranged chronologically; the areas devoted to India, Tibet, and Korea were smaller and less well organised.
Provence strikes me as eminently liveable, with a great deal more to explore than we could squeeze in on this short visit.
Leaving Toulon after three nights, we took a fast train to Nice, with lovely views of the Mediterranean beaches, then a subway-type local to Monte Carlo, where we had to switch to a bus because of tunnel repairs—switchbacking through the city to gain altitude. It looked very French (it is completely surrounded by France) and very wealthy. Then back on the train for two more stops. Just before the last stop, we crossed the river between France and Ventemiglia, Italy and immediately it felt like Italy again.
In all, that final day consisted of one car ride, five trains, two buses, five international borders (Monaco-France-Italy-San Remo subway station-Italy), no passport control, and nine hours.
