What drink would one accompany it with? Maybe a Rivella or a Ramseier…
Ah yeah, Rivella has not made it in a big way outside of Switzerland, has it? I’d say our white wines are really good, especially in the Swiss wine valley, like Fendant that’s great with fondue or raclette. There are some good red wines too, especially the Pinot Noirs in Graubünden.
What do people assume wrong about Switzerland or traveling in Switzerland?
I guess people think it’s only about chocolates, watches, and maybe mountains. Well, we have all of that, but also so much more. People also assume we speak German and maybe English, but we have four national languages—French, Swiss German, Italian, and Romansh. Another assumption is that you have to rent a car to get around, but our public transport is actually excellent. I read a statistic once that on average, people here live within 300 meters from either a bus, tram, or train stop. I think using public transport is fun in a foreign country, instead of just taking a car and driving around—although we are famous for having great highways and great countryside roads. Also, we have close to 1100 museums in Switzerland. We have some great museums like the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne, and Basel has the Natural History Museum that I like to go to, and Fondation Beyeler, and of course the Art Basel fair.
When people think of Switzerland, they think pastoral and picturesque, but you have some lovely cities.
Our cities are a great size to visit. I mean, if you like the metropolitan powerhouses like Tokyo and New York, Switzerland will hit differently. Our cities are smaller, all below a million people. Basel, where I grew up, has a population of 250-300,000. But this makes them easy to get around. You can walk our cities, and they’re all close to a lake or a river.
You’re from Basel. What’s the one thing you are yet to experience there that you want to?
Swimming in the River Rhine. I haven’t done it yet because I’m on the cautious side, but people jump into the Rhine and, you know, they have a little plastic bag that they put all their clothes inside, and I guess they just jump in there with their underwear, and float down the river, and they get out on the on the other side and walk back up to where they came from. This is considered refreshing after a long day’s work.
What is one of your favorite places to escape to?
My favorite secret spots are probably up in Galgenen where I spend time in the summer, going on hikes with my family. Altwis is another that has a couple of beautiful lakes that I like to go to. I remember once going for an outdoor lunch, they had this nice little hut [Editors note: Swiss huts are alpine hostels for hikers], and there were, I’m not kidding you, maybe 500 to 1000 butterflies everywhere. It felt like paradise. Another place we go to is Bergün, where you can “rent a geiss” (rent a goat) and take them on a walk through this picturesque village. You walk them like a dog, but they’re, like, pretty big goats. So that’s our little secret happy place with the family.