Here it is, the quick low down on Switzerland…
First stop was the World Championships in Mendrisio, which is situated in the Italian part of Switzerland called Ticino, for the U23, women’s and men’s races on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunate luck struck us several times during the women’s race leaving the team without a podium spot in the end but that’s bike racing. The next day, a beautiful, sunny Sunday, Ben and I snaked our way through the swelling, raucous crowd lining the course until we found a comfy spot in a grassy field among hundreds of other cycling fanatics to watch the men’s race. Each lap we would watch the action unfold on the big screen except for the 30 exhilarating seconds when the race would roll right by our spot. We were so close we could have touched someone. Wow. For those 30 seconds we’d rush over to the road so that we could see the sweat in their eyes and the fatigue in their legs as they crested the first climb. Then it was back to the big screen until the next time the Tissot lead car would come through to alert us that the race was coming. Back and forth, back and forth for 7 hours. Actually, I think I took a nap in there someone. It didn’t really get too exciting until the last several laps when a solid break finally formed. The Spanish pushed the pace, Cancellara rode like a madman, but it was Cadel who raced the smartest. Of course the Swiss fans wanted to see “Spartacus” win but it was pretty cool to see them applauding Cadel for his audacious solo attack that brought him rainbow glory.
Next stop, Lausanne. 4 hours, a 17km tunnel, and a 50 dollar road side dinner later we pulled into our friends’ house in Lausanne (Blonay to be exact) and went straight to bed. In the morning we woke up to fresh bread and croissants from the bakery down the street – something I dearly miss in the US – which I sinfully loaded up with a mixture of butter and syrupy stuff (it’s the off season so why not?!) and called it good. The first stop on our tour of the Fribourg area was the village of Gruyere, as in the mmmmm so tasty, melt in your mouth Gruyere cheese that we tasted. This one street village’s most boastful attraction is a chateau that sits lavishly on a crag overlooking the photogenic hillsides and crags that surround it. It is also home to the H.R. Giger Museum, creator of the ugly creatures and special effects in the movie “Alien”. Absolutely beautiful.
Chateau D’Oex was our next stop. This quaint ski village plays host to “Balloon Week” each year and it is where you will find the Breitling Orbiter 3, the first hot air balloon to circumnavigate the earth.
Last stop for the day was the UCI headquarters in Aigle, a hop, skip and jump away from our host house in Blonay. When we walked in I immediately bumped into someone I knew who was there training on the track with the Irish national team. Small world. It was cool to see all the paraphernalia that decorated the walls and the track records that were written on the chalkboard such as Sarah Ulmer’s world record and gold medal pursuit time from the Athens Olympics. Butting up to the back of the building is the Rhone River and just next to that is the BMX track with its terrifyingly steep ramp and whoopty doos. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a bad place to work…at least for the scenery.
Day 2 in Lausanne – Swiss Anti-doping Lab, Olympic Museum, wine tasting, and fondue. Norbert, our host, works for the Swiss Anti-doping lab so we got a guided tour through the high security labs that test a large majority of the blood and urine that is taken from athletes around the world and across all sports. Norbert opened one fridge and bam, there were the samples from the 2009 Tour de France. Another fridge and bam, samples from Athens and Beijing Olympics. And the US National Team samples were there somewhere as well since we had just been visited by the vampires the day before Worlds. Lots of work goes into making sure athletes keep their bodies clean in and out of competition.
The Olympic Museum was our next stop. Lots of nostalgia there, obviously – enough to spend all day reading through the various records, perusing the different exhibits from each host city, watching videos on the Olympic spirit, and checking out the clothes, shoes, and equipment donated by athletes over the years from the summer and winter games. Definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in Lausanne.
Next – wine tasting. Not many people know much about Swiss wine because only 1-2% of it is exported, but it is certainly not for lack of it or its quality. In this area there are vineyards covering many of the mountainsides, terraced along the slopes from top to bottom. Helicopters fly in to carry out the buckets that are loaded with grapes (it was harvest time while we were there) because it is impossibly difficult to get them out any other way. You know, I’ve seen many of the ubiquitous vineyards that cover the landscapes in Italy and France but the ones in Switzerland are a different breed. The way they are situated along the steep slopes of the Alps is something special, a visual that you just don’t get in the other countries. The wine we tasted was ok but my palate is more accustomed to “new world” wines that have a bolder, bigger taste. Of course, that doesn’t mean we didn’t take several bottles home with us.
And last but not least – fondue. Yuuuummmmy! I’ll just say I don’t think I can do The Melting Pot again. Not after having the real deal. The fondue we had was half and half – half Gruyere and half vacherin. Deeelicious! Typically fondue is eaten with cubes of bread but occasionally it is also eaten with potatoes, which we also had and which was my favorite way to dip deep into the gooey cheese. Potatoes covered in rich, melted cheese? Yes please.
On our last day in Switzerland we made a stop in Zurich to see another friend who had migrated there from the US to study. Robby took us on a quick walking tour of the city, which I didn’t find to be incredibly remarkable. More or less it was just another big city, albeit one with A LOT of money. Banks, banks and more banks. Suits everywhere. Expensive stores lined the streets, the kind that wouldn’t even let someone of my “status” through the doors. You think the scene from “Pretty Woman” where Julia Roberts gets scoffed at in a store on Rodeo Dr isn’t real? Oh, I believe in Zurich it would have been very real. Don’t get me wrong, the old architecture and history of the city are cool to see but the expensive taste was just out of my league.
With that being said, the cost of EVERYTHING in Switzerland is out of my league. Right now the US dollar and the Swiss franc are about 1:1 but the price of everything there is at least double of what you’d pay in the US. 3 days in Switzerland was almost long enough to break the bank. It definitely burned a hole in our pockets. Yet, the county is amazingly beautiful. It is a necessary stop, if only for a day, or at the very least worthy of a drive through if your money tree hasn’t bloomed yet.
Finally, after 1 month in Europe it was time to go home. From beginning to end it was a fantastic trip but 1 month is a very long time on the road. Funny thing is, I was home for less than a week before packing my bags again. It’s cross season, baby!!!
By the way, if you have ever wondered, like me, why Switzerland uses the letters CH for its country abbreviation, it is because it stands for Confederation Helvetica – its name in Latin. I suppose to appease the French, German, Italian and Romansh speaking people that populate the country, the best way to maintain neutrality is to use Latin.
