Here To Geneva

As you may have gathered from previous posts, I’m a webcam fan. It’s nice to be able to see live snapshots of life from cities all around the world from the convenience of my iPhone. Most of the webcams I visit regularly are of Swiss scenes (as you may have guessed). One such scene is of Barfüsserplatz in Basel. Normally a reasonably quiet market square with constant visits from green and yellow trams, last weekend when I dropped by, things were looking a little different.

After a few minutes of research, I managed to find out that this was the second event in the Coop Beachtour, a series of seven Beach Volleyball meets. Courts are set up for around four days before being dismantled and moved on. Three days later, normality had returned.

The next event takes place 11-14 June in Locarno before heading on to Geneva, Zug, Winterthur and Bern. Visit the website for more information.

Skiing and boarding aren’t the only ways to have fun in the mountains. There’s a third option that’s a fraction of the cost.

In the first part of my non-skier’s guide to the mountains, I talked about hiking as an option for those who can’t or won’t pony up the dough for skiing or snowboarding. Hiking is a great way to experience the beauty of the mountains. Arguably, it’s actually much easier to appreciate the mountains on foot then it is having experience gear strapped to your feet. Having admired the peaks though, what about something a little more exciting? On my recent trip to the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland, I gave sledging a try. Before hiring my sledge, I thought of sledging as a kids activity. Indeed, I felt a bit silly being introduced to my brand new wooden sledge and being shown how to steer it. It didn’t take long though to realise that I needn’t have been embarrassed. Sledging in Switzerland has a long history and is enjoyed by kids and adults alike. In fact, I was to discover at my peril that certain sections of the numerous dedicated sledge runs were practically for adults only.

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You don’t have to be a skier to experience the mountains. Let me show you how.

I’ll let you into a secret. Not many people realise this, but you can experience the majesty, excitement and general brilliance of the mountains without specialist knowledge and without spending a fortune on expensive equipment. I’m not a skier, so on a recent trip to the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, I went in search of alternative excursions. I should probably point out now that I’m in no way an expert on Winter activities, particularly those done in difficult conditions. Seek out professional advice if you’re unsure.

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Yesterday, I came back from another trip to Switzerland. Over the course of the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing all about my trip, through write-ups here on the blog, on Flickr, and via the medium of audio in the second edition of the HTG podcast. If you haven’t already done so, keep up to date by subscribing to the blog. While I wade knee-deep through 400 photos, amuse yourself briefly with the photo above, captured by my sister from a webcam. Right there in the centre foreground is me looking cool and casual in my sunglasses. I’m at Kleine Scheidegg, a mere 6762ft up. I’d walked 7km to get there. This snap is especially poignant, as shortly after this was captured, I lost those sunglasses. *sniff*

This is part two of a two-part set of notes I wrote while on a short trip to Switzerland in March 2008. If you haven’t read part one yet, do so before you read part two.

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These notes were originally written during a trip to Switzerland in March 2008, and then posted here shortly afterwards. That post has now been deleted and the notes reformatted into two parts to make them more reader-friendly.

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Some of you may be unaware that your every move on the Internet is tracked. Whenever you visit a website, the administrator of that website knows you’re there, knows what country you’re in, knows which website you came from, even knows your screen resolution. It’s scary, but true. This information is gathered automatically so that the website admins can improve their websites based on who is visiting. It’s like market research, only you didn’t agree to take part in it.

Such ‘market research’ takes place on this website. I gather this information purely to make sure the stuff I’m writing is being read. Also, it’s cool to know someone from Argentina dropped by.

One other piece of data that is collected is the search term that a visitor typed into Google or Yahoo in order to find Here To Geneva. As I wrote in a previous post, the most common search term for this site is “binary solo”, followed by “first time flyer”. Often, in amongst the search terms, are questions that people have queried. Google has brought up one of my pages as a result and the visitor has clicked it hoping to have their question answered. In some cases, they’ve been disappointed to find I’ve never even attempted to address their topic of ignorance. This new series of posts is designed to solve this problem.

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As I mentioned in a previous article, I kept a diary during my trip to Switzerland, so that the process of constructing write-ups once I got back would be easier. It seems now though, almost three weeks since I got back, that my notes aren’t terribly useful. I’m having a hard time pulling all the information together. So, in a change to the intended outcome, I present a jumble of observations extracted from my diary that may or may not serve any particular purpose. I apologise in advance for the recurring “you’ll-never-guess-what-I-just-ate” theme.

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A stylish and ultra-modern hotel set inside Switzerland’s tallest habitable building.

With it’s modern, minimalist rooms, amazing bathrooms, great location and affordable prices, the Ramada Plaza in Basel has a lot going for it. Did it meet my high expectations?

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