As part of her latest „Covered“ tour, Macy Gray is making a single stop in Switzerland this summer. She will be performing live from Kaufleuten in Zürich on July 2, 2012.

Macy Gray has newly interpreted a fine collection of hand-picked songs ranging from Arcade Fire to Sublime. Once again, her unique style shines through as Gray distills genres such as soul, funk, and hip-hop.

Exclusive: Newly Swissed is giving away two pairs of tickets to this concert!

(Tickets sponsored by AllBlues.ch)

© dimitri for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: concert, contest

“April, April, macht was er will!” (April, April, it will do whatever it wants!) That’s how Swiss Germans lament over crazy weather changes in April, from summer-like sunny weekdays to merciless snowstorm over the weekend. But I have not heard any set phrase to describe the extreme ranges of temperature and moisture this May…

We marked 28 degrees Celsius last Friday, and many enjoyed the first BBQ of the year. Now, we are expecting a week of morning frost and cold rain! I refuse to dig out my sweater from the winter box in the basement! We need to chase the sun and blue sky in the south!

Yes, Ticino! Get the RailAway special offer! Pack some sun lotion, bring hiking boots, and fill those water bottles!

In just under 3 hours from Zürich HB by train, passing by the UNESCO world heritage site of the Bellinzona castles, we are welcomed by skinny, tall palmtrees and the milky pink colored station of Locarno. We do not miss a second to stretch our legs. We run – almost out of joy or from a sudden overdose of sunshine – to the nearby Funicular to Orselina.

Keeping the yellow monastery for descent, we jumped onto a cable car, flying above the Lake Maggiore and switching to yet another cable car to the peak: Cardada (1340 m).

After having had a Titanic moment at the landscape promontory, we walked for about 15 minutes to a chair lift station. It was closed for an hour lunch break… The yellow hiking sign by the lift station showed a 45 minutes hike to the final destination of our RailAway tickets: Cimetta (1671m).

Just 20 steps away, we located the nearby restaurant under dense pine trees. Trying to guess which guest could be the lift operator, we decided to burn some calories to make more space for our lunch break on the way, preferably with lake view!

An easy but steadily uphill hiking path snaked from the pine forests to the fields of fern leaves, then on through soft green pastures with a light breeze, all the way to the hilltop restaurant! The perfect timing for thirsty and hungry hikers!

Looking down on the sparkling Lake Maggiore, I enjoyed a Ticino speciality: Red wine risotto. Another 15 minute ascent later, we had sweat off the Rivella and made it to the Cimetta observatory.

It offers Ticino’s dynamic landscape “from the Maggia river delta between Locarno and Ascona, the lowest point of Switzerland, to the Monte Rosa massif, the highest point of Switzerland.”

Although our squinted eyes could not identify the Monte Rosa in the haze, we deeply appreciated the dazzling silver lake radiating our pale skin.

On our way down, we enjoyed the most scenic vistas from the chairlift. This was one of the most beautiful adventures we have ever been on in Switzerland… Ticino, we love it!

More Information

- RailAway Special Offer: 50% off Cardada/Cimetta

© mamiko for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: hiking, locarno, railaway, ticino

It has been a good week for the Swiss boulevard press. Because how often does it happen that a black panther is on the loose, terrorizing a country as small as Switzerland? Or is it?

Numerous eyewitness reports and an equally high number of news articles later, the Black Panther of Switzerland has still managed to avoid people’s smartphone cameras. On top of this, the traps which were set to capture the beast became house to smaller forest animals instead.

In order to help animal rescue squats locate the Black Panther of Switzerland, we have brainstormed about some possible hiding spots along his trail:

Lion Monument in Lucerne

PUMA Store in Zürich

The Fountain at Badstrasse in Zürich

At Gornergrat in Zermatt

© dimitri for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: humor, news, panther, slider

As winter’s snow has melted away in the flatlands, the blanket of snow is retreating further up the mountains each day. To some, this brings about pangs of sadness knowing that their skis will need to be packed away for the summer, but to the average Swiss person, this simply means it’s time to put away their snow gear and break out their hiking gear.

With 62’416 km of marked hiking trails in a country that would fit into California ten times over, the Swiss not only claim to love the outdoors but prove it.

Hiking in Switzerland is made possible in large part by the Schweizer Wanderwege (Swiss Hiking Path) organization. Groups of volunteers clear paths, ensure signage is correct, repair small footbridges and secure safety cables where paths get narrow and the chance of slipping is high. The countless hours of work done by these people makes Switzerland a hiking Mecca.

Each year, people can sponsor the signage and work required to maintain these paths through donations to the Wanderwege organization. In return, people receive books detailing interesting hikes in different areas of the country as well as discounts on hiking gear at the outdoors outfitter Transa.

While two-thirds of the Swiss population use the Wanderwege every year, many do not know where they came from: These paths were the brainchild of the Zurich teacher Jakob Ess after he took his class over the street route of the Klausenpass.

Noticing that there was simply too much traffic on the roads for pedestrians, he decided to start special hiking paths. The idea quickly caught on, but each commune and canton was using their own signage. So in 1933, Ess and the secretary of the Pro Juventute foundation and the Association of Swiss Youth Hostels, started the Zürcherische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wanderwege. A year later, this association went national with the new name Schweizer Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wanderwege (SAW), at which point it was made a rule that all signage would be on yellow plaques with black writing.

Viewing the life of a Swiss person through hiking

Their life looks a little like this:

0 – 3 years of age: Hiking with parents. Many parents even take their children into high alpine terrain and will carry them on their back.

4 – 12 years of age: After the child learns how to carefully walk around the mountains, they are free to walk. At first, many parents, usually the fathers, will tie a rope around the child and himself – should the child slip off a cliff. By about 5 years of age, though, most children can easily walk on their own.

13 – 18 years of age: Children are still asked to go hiking with their families on the weekend, but this is no longer a fun activity. The now teenagers think hiking is a waste of time and would rather go swimming or to the city at the weekend.

19 – 25 years of age: Somewhere in here, people rediscover the love of hiking. It’s all of a sudden a very cool sport, and the more challenging the tour, the better!

26 – and onward: Hiking is almost a summer obsession. Hüttenwanderungen (cabin hikes) are the epitome of all seasoned hikers. Here you book beds in mountain cabins that are run by the Swiss Alpine Club and stay out for multiple days.

Getting Ready for Hiking

When the Swiss rediscover hiking, it also brings with it an element of fashion. A good pair of hiking books is still essential, but the latest seasonal colours for wind jackets, raincoats, trousers with removable legs, and rucksacks are all very important. The number one brand you will see in the mountains is the Swiss Alpine firm Mammut.

Going hiking Swiss style means setting out early in the morning. You should bring a rucksack with the following:

• Water in your Sigg bottle
• Fruit (usually apples)
• Cheese (from the area you are setting out from)
• Bread (Bürli)
• Dried meat/salami (Landjäger)
• A 0.5 liter bottle of wine so you can imbibe a sip when you reach the summit
• Wallet with cash for your real lunch at a Bergrestaurant (mountain restaurant)
• A change of shirts for when you get there, in case you’re all sweaty
• A wind jacket, in case it gets cold
• Swiss Army Knife (this is self evident)
• Compass, even though I’ve never had to use this
• Pen to sign the book at the top of the mountain
• Camera

If you’re going very high, then you should also bring:

• Rope
• Climbing helmet in case of falling stones
• Crampons in case you hit snow and ice

It sounds like a lot of gear for a hike, but this is how the Swiss do it. If they see you in the mountains with inadequate footwear, you may very well be scolded by a passerby for how careless and dangerous you are being.

In many ways, they are right to do so. According to the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU), every year there are some 9000 accidents in the mountains with approximately 40 deaths, making mountain hiking the sport claiming the most lives each year.

For this reason, it is also a good idea to be a Rega member – should anything happen. Rega is the Swiss Air Rescue, and while they will still help you even without a membership, the costs are high and the CHF 30/year will have seemed like a good investment.

Useful Hiking Apps

Living in the 21 century, it must also be said: “There’s an App for that.” Here are a few apps that might be useful on your next hike:

	Swiss Topo	Swiss topographic maps up to 1:25’000 scale
	Gipfelbuch	A digital summit book that allows you to sign in when you hit a peak. Works around the world and is supported by Mammut. You can also share your assents on Facebook.
	Rega	An app that lets you easily call for help and gives the Rega your exact position.
	Alpenkalb	Free App with maps, lists of Berghütten near you, its own Gipfelbuch and more.

And just before you decide to grab your boots and go, you should also be familiar with the different markings for hiking paths:

Hiking may not be Switzerland’s official national sport, but it is definitely the most popular one, and the best way to see the country. If you plan on visiting Switzerland in the spring, summer or in autumn, make sure you bring your hiking boots and get out there! The country’s true beauty lies outside.

For a humorous account of hiking, see the article Where boots are made for walking? on Swiss Watching!

© christian for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Share on Facebook
Post tags: alps, hiking, mountains, slider

It is a simple question with a complex answer: How many official languages does Switzerland have?

The straightforward answer is four: French, German, Italian and Rumantsch.

While it is true that these four languages are official, the complexity comes in when it is considered that the proportion of foreign residents in Switzerland is 22.8%. In other words, at any one time, up to a quarter of the population is in the process of integrating into Swiss society.

World Radio Switzerland

World Radio Switzerland caters to the English speaking population in Switzerland, as well as to the Swiss Abroad community. WRS is a government funded service to the public, and it is about to be shut down.

Some of you may have heard that after 15 years of providing valuable programming, the parent company of WRS (The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) is planning to privatize or close the station by the end of 2012.

Sign the Petition

As a platform catering to English speakers in Switzerland, Newly Swissed is supporting the movement to save WRS. We would like to encourage you to sign the petition if you feel that an English radio station is important to maintain diversity and ultimately help foreigners assimilate to life in Switzerland.

Listen to my Interview

Here is my recent interview with WRS’ The Connectors. Catherine, Margriet and Bruno had been looking at our site and made some interesting observations…

Stream WRS from anywhere in the World

To listen to the live stream of WRS, look for the orange “Listen Online” link at the top of every page.

© dimitri for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: interview, world radio switzerland, wrs

Hands up who thinks of Heidi when thinking of Switzerland! Trouble is, when you move here and become an expat in Geneva, Zurich or any other modern Swiss city, you lose sight of the country’s most evocative and enchanting cliché.

Expat Husband and I are definitely guilty as charged: We make the most of the Swiss slopes in winter, but then spend all our spring and summer holidays with family in Italy or the UK.

All this changed the summer Little Miss Cutie was born. The weather in Geneva was great and we were just too exhausted to travel to Italy with two energetic toddlers and a newborn baby.

Instead, we took full advantage of Expat Husband’s holidays and set off in search of the full Heidi experience, complete with emerald green pastures, hopping baby goats, soaring mountain ranges and wooden chalets.

And here’s what we found: The Swiss open air museum of Ballenberg (250 km from Geneva, approx. 3h by car) is unique! Over 100 historical rural buildings from all over Switzerland were saved from demolition and transported here in the heart of the Bernese Oberland, one of Switzerland most scenic regions.

If it’s the Switzerland of Heidi you’re looking for, Ballenberg has all you need to take a step back in time and really feel what it must have been like to live in rural Switzerland hundreds of years ago.

At least, this is how it was for me. Cars aren’t allowed inside the museum’s green dominion: It’s just you, the other visitors, 250 farm animals roaming around happily and the vastest alpine sky you could ever imagine.

I had an unexpected but wonderful epiphany here: I am very much a city girl at heart and whenever I spend more than a few days in the countryside, I start pining for some hustle and bustle. Although I love to daydream about idyllic country retreats, I always believed that I’d never be able to live there permanently as I’d feel too lonely. But as I sat on the long, soft grass in Ballenberg, watching the boys run around safely and stroke the farm animals, Baby Girl dozing in my arms, lulled by the rythmical chime of cows’ bells, I finally GOT IT.

It’s certainly not by accident that bells are used in meditation practice as well, because I felt my mind float gently to a higher ground of peaceful stillness, of fundamental togetherness with nature and its rhythms. And I finally got that there can be no loneliness when man is at one with nature and its boundless pulse.

I don’t know if this was also what Heidi felt, and the reason why she loved her mountains so much, but I’ll always cherish the memory of this fluttering, amazing feeling. When you sense you’re one piece of a great puzzle, fitting into place is all you want to do and I doubt anything can feel as liberating or as fulfilling.

There are many options for overnight stays around Ballenberg, which you can find on the MySwitzerland website. We decided to try out one of Switzerland’s fab campsites and stayed at the Aaregg Family Campsite in Brienz, right on the shores of the majestic Brienzersee Lake.

As you can see, the boys were very happy with the choice and absolutely loved being able to go fishing with Dad at the end of our long day!

The Aaregg Family Campsite is fantastic: Small, cozy and lovingly run by a young couple. You can bring your tent, camper-van or rent one of their pretty bungalows, which is what we went for:

Ballenberg is a perfect destination for a family getaway – I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!

© michela for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Share on Facebook
Post tags: ballenberg, bern, interlaken, museum, slider

It’s a blast from the past! My new favorite design blog von gestern has collected some of the most retro looking Swiss advertisements from the 1980′s!

Apples, bank accounts, chocolate and potatoes: These were some of the Swiss staples chosen for the first print advertisements in color. Thanks to a new technique called chromolithography, the 1980′s were sort of a playground for more cost efficient ad campaigns in color.

(Copyright scans by von gestern blog)

© dimitri for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: advertising, marketing, slider, swissness

This weekend, we stayed in a mate’s rustico 40 minutes up the road from Bellinzona in the Blenio valley.

Bellinzona is not the most famous town in the (one and only) Italian speaking Canton of Ticino, Switzerland. But it has fast become my favorite: On Saturday, we decided to visit Bellinzona. It was easy to find a parking space in the center of the old town and we were soon walking through the market.

We stopped for coffee at one of its many cafés where people were sitting outside as the temperatures were in the high 20′s! My espresso only cost 2.30 CHF – try finding that price in Zurigo!

The market was great and we found some organic produce for our supper.

We had lunch in the Pizzeria Giardino on Via Orico 1, and the kids’ pizza was only 10 CHF each! All our pizzas were great and were cooked in a wood fired oven.

Via Orico also has a one starred Michelin restaurant – maybe for next time…

And of course, we had to have gelato on the way back to the car!

By the way, Bellinzona has three castles and is a World Heritage Site.

We love Bellinzona and will return soon!

© fergus for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: bellinzona, ticino

Many of our most loyal readers have almost reached expert level in Swiss trivia thanks to these 13 interesting facts. In order to get you all the way there, allow us to present a fresh batch of facts you (probably) didn’t know about Switzerland!

All garments and fabrics on Air Force One are exclusively supplied by a Swiss company

As the leader in fashion for public transportation, Lantal has one very prominent customer: The President of the United States of America!

For the third time, this Swiss company has furnished Air Force One with seat covers, curtains and carpets. Apparently, the interior changes with each new president!

Switzerland is ranked 5th among most networked countries

Ranked right behind Scandinavian countries and Singapore, Switzerland comes in fifth in terms of use of networking technologies. Interestingly, this coincides with the statistic that every third Swiss is on Facebook…

There was only ever one Swiss astronaut – Claude Nicollier!

As the first ever Swiss astronaut, Claude Nicollier has flown on four Space Shuttle missions during his career. All flights took place between 1992 and 1999, and Nicollier became the first astronaut of the European Space Agency to do a spacewalk!

And thanks to Claude Nicollier, a library of fascinating Space Shuttle pictures has been made public! During a “back flip” maneuver in 2005, the “Discovery” happened to be located right above Switzerland:

In 1969, a rocket not only landed on the moon, but also in Switzerland!

On July 20, 1969, Frisco launched the still popular Rakete (“rocket”) popcicle in Rorschach, Switzerland. I, for one, have many childhood memories of this delicious pineapple/orange glacé…

Switzerland is launching a satellite to clean up space junk

A recycling program is now being expanded into outerspace! Switzerland is launching CleanSpaceOne, a satellite capable of grabbing space junk and returning it to earth.

75% of global coffee trade happens in Switzerland

(Picture copyright by Nelson Ching/Bloomberg)

I bet you never knew that there is a strong tie between your daily Starbucks and Switzerland! No less than 75% of worldwide trading activity for wholesale coffee happens in Switzerland – namely in places like Zug or Winterthur!

Like with most commodity trading, the coffee never physically passes through Switzerland. Instead, companies like Starbucks, Nestlé or Kraft Foods have their global purchasing centers for coffee strategically located in this tiny country!

Geneva has a pretty amazing river confluence

(Picture copyright by Reddit)

The Rhône river and Aare rivers collide in Geneva, as seen in this incredible photograph. The river on the left is the Rhône, which is leaving Lac Leman. The river on the right is the Arve, which receives water from the many glaciers of the Chamonix valley before flowing north-west into the Rhône on the west side of Geneva. The much higher levels of silt bring forth a striking contrast between the two rivers.
(via TwisterSifter)

50’000 Swiss can demand that the Constitution be revised via referendum

(Picture copyright by KEYSTONE/Yoshiko Kusano)

Any Swiss citizen may challenge a law that has been passed by parliament. If they are able to gather 50’000 signatures against a particular law within 100 days, a national vote has to be scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law.

 
A pedestrian crossing in Bern is lined with Swarovski diamonds

(Pictures copyright by Swarovski, twicepix)

In order to increase visibility during the night, Bern officials are blending the yellow color of pedestrian crossings with tiny Swarovski diamond glass beads. Up to 500 g/1 lb of Swarovski diamond dust is being used per square meter!

According to one engineer, optimal visibility occurs if two thirds of diamonds are blended on, and one third is sticking out!

© dimitri for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Share on Facebook
Post tags: slider, statistics, surprising facts, swissness

Anyone who has traveled abroad via an airport will recognise this ubiquitous chocolate that graces the shelves of duty free shops the world over.

Even if one was not aware that Switzerland boasts some of the best chocolate on the planet, they would be able to make an educated guess as to the origins of the Toblerone bar without even reading the packaging, thanks to the Matterhorn logo.

If one cannot identify one of the most famous mountains in the world, then frankly, they shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy the perfect harmony of creaminess and crunchiness this triangular bar delivers. Contrary to how this may sound, I do not work for Kraft Foods, I am merely a chocolate lover.

You would be forgiven, however, for not noticing the symbol of Bern, the triangular chocolate’s Heimatort, hidden within the crevices of the Matterhorn. I’m pretty sure only a fraction of Toblerone enthusiasts have noticed this hidden devotion to Switzerland’s capital.

Take a moment to scrutinise the image above and join the ranks of the select few who know this chocolate bar’s secret.

Look closely at the middle of the mountain. If you don’t see the hidden symbol, dust off your Swiss trivia skills and try to think what animal might be the symbol of Bern.

If that fails, say “Bern” out loud a few times and you should have a eureka moment – you have to pronounce it the German way, as in not the English way that rhymes with “burn”.

For those of you who are remarkably good at overlooking the obvious (I include myself in this category more often than not, to be honest), take a look at the uplifting cheat video below.

© christine for Newly Swissed - Switzerland Expat Design Lifestyle Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Share on Facebook
Post tags: bern, chocolate, slider, toblerone