Finding our Footing in Switzerland

The First Day

After our fast-paced spin through Iceland, our first week in Switzerland gave us a chance to slow down into the rhythms of daily life.

Colby’s relatives Marianne and Ewald welcomed us with warm hugs at the Zurich Airport. We schlepped our backpacks into their little red car and rode about 30 minutes to their house in Winterthur, where we would spend the next week. Winterthur is known as “the garden city,” and it couldn’t have been a more striking contrast from the barrenness of Iceland. As we drove through the streets, we couldn’t stop marveling at the lushness of this new place  -- the fullness of the soaring trees, the colorful bursts of May flowers.

Once we settled in at the house, we were immediately introduced to the diverse wonders of Swiss cheese. For an afternoon snack together, we were presented with a beautiful spread of cheeses from various regions of Switzerland: Emmental, Appenzell, Tilsiter, and Tête de Moin (meaning “monk’s head” in French, as the monasteries historically had to pay a tax in cheese). Tête de Moin is scraped off using a pivoting blade, creating delicate forms that look quite unlike cheese - more like a carnation or a mushroom. This snack was just the beginning of all the delectable cheese we would enjoy throughout the week.

Our Hosts Introduce us to Winterthur

Wine barrels in the castle cellar

On Sunday Marianne and Ewald took us up to Kyburg Castle, which is up on one of the hills near Winterthur. Standing among the thick,  cool stone walls, we had fun imagining how the castle functioned as a living community in its heyday. On the other hand, seeing the extremely scary-looking bludgeons from the peasant rebellions made us think about the brutality of life and the iron rule of those in power.

Once it was Monday and the stores were open, we headed into central Winterthur to buy our train passes and get our Swiss SIM cards set up. There is some stress involved in any logistics like these, especially in another country, so it was a great relief that our hosts were there to help us communicate and navigate the details. Afterwards they treated us to mugs of rich hot chocolate from their favorite cafe in town.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, Winterthur’s market is held in the streets of the car-free old town. Strolling past the stalls, we feasted our eyes on the vibrant visual tapestry of seedlings, flowers, baked goods, cheeses, and crates of vegetables - fresh asparagus, salad greens, storage apples, root vegetables. Unless labeled otherwise, everything in the market is produced in Switzerland. Marianne bought an unfamiliar dark woody root crop named schwarzwurzel (black salsify) for us to try. It was delicious when steamed and topped with butter. “Schwarzwurzel” is one of the most entertaining but least commonly useful words that has now joined our small ranks of Swiss German vocabulary. We also enjoyed the handmade lemon and artichoke ravioli that Marianne bought from a special pasta stall.

Our next outing was heading to the Rheinfall, where the Rhine River churns and froths with a deafening roar as it cascades over a 75-foot drop. As the river’s current quickens into the falls, the mint-teal color of the water morphs into crashing white clouds. The river races downwards with unstoppable power. In the midst of such a mighty display, a blackbird nest in the cliff provided a striking contrast of smallness and tenderness. Every once in awhile the mother bird would fly in and give a quick-as-lightning food delivery to the two little heads peeking out. Later, we also watched a graceful heron fishing in a side channel. So much life in the raging water.

Near the Rheinfall, we also visited a town called Stein am Rhein known for its “painted buildings.” We marveled at the building exteriors within the medieval old town, which are alive with dazzlingly elaborate murals.

For dinner we enjoyed a traditional Swiss dish called Raclette, a new take on the “can’t-go-wrong” combination of potatoes, cheese, and herbs. Traditionally, the dish was made by turning a big wheel of cheese over a fire and scraping off the cheese as it melted. Today, modern raclette appliances make it easier. All we had to do was layer creative concoctions of steamed potatoes, raclette cheese, and herbs into a little personal tray. Then we slid it into the raclette oven and a few minutes later pulled out some warm cheesy yumminess. Raclette is almost always eaten as a social meal, a time to slow down and spend time with friends and family. Just don’t forget to close the kitchen doors to keep the smell from pervading the house.

On Wednesday the two of us set out on our own, armed with the Swiss Pass for a day trip to the Rigi, a spectacular viewpoint near where the foothills meet the Alps. As we waited for our boat in Lucerne to take us across the sparkling lake, we walked across the famous wooden bridge in the city center and meandered through the busy streets. Wanting to escape the crowds and noise, we wandered up the hill into a residential area and enjoyed seeing segments of the old city wall embedded throughout the modern houses.

After the boat ride to the base of the Rigi, and an incredibly steep cog train ride up to the top, we were rewarded with a 360 degree panorama. Looking north, the view spread over the rolling hills and lakes of northern Switzerland. Looking south, the snowy peaks of the Alps stretched out in an almost endless 180º spread. After a long morning in transit, we were ready to spend some time in one place. Finding a patch of grass among the snow fields, we kicked off our shoes and reclined for a nap in the bright sun and cool breeze, gazing out towards the Alps.

The Appenzell region in Eastern Switzerland was our next wandering. We wound our way on foot through the rolling green hills covered in lush pastures and peppered with lovely farm houses. The smell of barns, hay, and wet soil wafted in the breeze and cowbells tinkled in the distance. Along the way we said hi to cows, pigs, and an affectionate cat. There was something very calm and soothing about the landscape. It gave the feeling of a long-lasting and familial human relationship with the land, of responding to its curves rather than colonizing it.

Next we explored the area north of Zurich by hiking along the Jura Crest Trail, which traverses a long ridge top that becomes quite rocky and narrow as it descends towards Baden. Diversions along the way included climbing to the top of the castle in a little town called Regensberg, watching kites (the bird, rather than the toy) soaring around in the sky, and smelling the saliva-inducing aroma of hillsides full of wild garlic plants.

Culinary Adventures

In addition to the aforementioned cheese and raclette adventures, our hosts introduced us to lots of their favorite foods... Swiss bratwurst, muesli, fresh baked croissants from the local bakery, celery root salad, garlic bread, asparagus with creamy sauce, potato gratin, green salads, fresh peppermint tea from their garden, and always bread and a variety of Swiss cheeses. And the bestowal of Swiss chocolate bars cannot be forgotten.

One interesting dish was the traditional farmers’ pasta hot dish, made with whatever is on hand - pasta, cheese, little bits of meat, etc., all put together and baked in the oven. You top the dish with applesauce of all things, which was surprisingly delicious.

Marianne also showed Julia how to make the traditional Sunday bread Zapf (meaning braid). After the dough has risen, you roll it into two thin strips to fold together into a braid. Then the loaf is brushed with egg whites and baked in the oven until it makes a particular noise when you knock on its underside.

To share some of our favorite meals from Minnesota, we cooked up some of our hand-harvested wild rice, and made roasted root vegetables from the market. A different night, Julia and Marianne put together rhubarb apple crisp, which turned out just fine despite the extremely approximate measuring conversions.

Conversations and Contemplations

While in Winterthur we greatly enjoyed connecting with our hosts through lots of in depth conversations.

One aspect of Switzerland that really struck us was the layout and patterns of human activity on the landscape. Since it’s a small country with a long history, there is significant human influence almost everywhere (such as the manhole we came across in the middle of a random cow pasture). But despite its dense population density, there is lots of green space. Rather than sprawling everywhere, houses and buildings are clustered densely into villages, interspersed between farm fields and remarkably intact-looking forested hills. Of course, this didn’t happen as an accident, but is the result of very intentional land use planning. In general, it seems like Switzerland does a lot to support a high quality of life by preserving a healthy environment.

Looking out across the landscape struck us in a new way. There isn’t really any pure “wilderness” like there is in the USA. But seeing the significant human influence on the landscape also didn’t make us want to run the other direction as it usually does at home. In Switzerland, it seems like “civilization” and “nature” over time have found a somewhat more harmonious way to merge together in the landscape. For example, it was interesting to see how the forests of Goldenberg were being selectively logged in a way that left them looking like lush healthy forests. In general, it seems like many aspects of life and society are much more integrated than in the USA, where many operations are fragmented into invisibility. Here, in one snapshot of your eyes, you can see cows grazing in a field, a neighborhood of houses, an industrial warehouse, and a modern commercial area.

We also noticed how much more crop diversity there is than in the US. The land was cloaked in a patchwork quilt of different colors and textures - vineyards on the hills, canola flowering in bright yellow, vegetable fields, wheat, oats, barley, rye, and pastures with cows, sheep, and goats. Although the fields weren’t small by any means, it felt like a much more “human scale” agriculture - one that was much more visible and integrated into society.

In some of the larger vegetable fields we passed, there were crews of people harvesting asparagus. Immigrants and foreign workers often come to help with this seasonal work. In Switzerland as in the US, immigrants are sometimes blamed for “stealing our jobs,” but again it’s the jobs that very few native citizens would be willing to do.

Our hosts also explained the story behind all the Energy Strategy posters that were peppered everywhere. We learned that Swiss citizens have the opportunity to make direct decisions on some individual issues by voting in a referendum. For example, back in 2005, the GMO ban in Switzerland was approved through this process. The current debate was about the May 21 vote that will determine the future of Switzerland’s energy sources. Currently, about 40% of the country’s electricity comes from nuclear plants and 60% comes from from renewables (mainly hydro). If enough people vote “Ja” (Yes) and the proposal passes, this means that Switzerland will phase out all of its nuclear plants and replace them with renewables and energy efficiency. Of course, the nuclear industry is opposed to this and has developed the ubiquitous propaganda posters of a woman taking a cold shower.

To us, having a popular vote on individual issues seems like a more directly democratic approach than the USA, bringing the decision-making process one step further away from politicians who can be influenced by campaign donors. We asked our hosts about the risk of propaganda influencing the masses to vote a certain way. Although fearmongering does happen sometimes, they believe that in general Swiss citizens are educated enough to make sound decisions, and that the national TV station provides fairly balanced coverage.

Solar energy is already more noticeably developed in Switzerland than in the United States. We saw panels on lots of building roofs. For their electricity and hot water, Marianne and Ewald have mini solar panels covering the tiles on their roof. Whatever energy their own panels don’t provide they get from the grid, where they pay a bit extra to have the energy come only from renewables rather than nuclear.

We also learned about the Swiss educational system from our hosts, who are both teachers. The whole system seems utterly functional compared with the United States. After completing a basic education as children, students are able to choose what their next path will be. One option is an apprenticeship, which directly prepares them for a vocational field. During an apprenticeship, a student spends most of their time working and learning on-the-ground in their specific field of choice. For instance, the young woman who helped us buy our SIM cards at the Swisscom shop was an apprentice. Among students going into an apprenticeship, banking and other relatively high-paying jobs where you don’t have to get your hands dirty are the most popular. However, it seemed like in general there is much more respect for the value of hands-on vocations than there is in the US. The other option is to pass a hard test and attend gymnasium, which prepares students to attend university if they want to become a doctor, teacher, lawyer, engineer, etc. Best of all, the educational system (including university) is basically free!

In Switzerland, education is highly valued as one of the country’s only “natural resources.” Since the country has so few resources to extract, it has a long history of innovation and technology. Most importantly, it values teachers. As we heard Marianne and Ewald talk about their deep care for their students, for helping them love learning, for inspiring them to think deeply about important issues, it was so clear that this is how education should be everywhere.

As we learned about all the social services that Switzerland provides for its citizens, we were impressed to learn that this is not in fact associated with astounding tax rates. A comfortable middle-class income only pays about 15-20% in taxes. And although there is no all-encompassing legal minimum wage in Switzerland, the wages in pretty much all jobs are high enough to live a comfortable life without tips or overtime.

Although Switzerland has plenty of its own challenges, many of our conversations made us consider how the USA acts like a bit of a teenage country. One great aspect of traveling so far has been learning about all the different, and sometimes better, approaches of other people and cultures.

Farewell to Winterthur

Now that we had finally, after endless repetition, almost learned to pronounce Grüezi (Hello in Swiss German), it was time to move to our first WWOOF farm in Italian-speaking Ticino. What a wonderful week it had been - settling in, getting to know Colby’s relatives, exploring cities and towns, hiking through the countryside, marveling at overlooks, trying new foods, and learning about a different society.

And a big thank you to Marianne and Ewald! We couldn’t have asked for more warm, welcoming, and generous hosts to introduce us to Switzerland.