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Swiss Watching Page 31


  32 smartvote.ch.

  33 The Swiss Confederation, A Brief Guide.

  34 Ibid.

  Chapter Five: Wealthy, healthy and wise?

  1 Swiss National Bank, 2010 figures.

  2 Switzerland in its Diversity 2009/10 edition.

  3 Except for immigrants living in Switzerland for less than five years.

  4 Blick am Abend interview with Hans-Peter Portmann, 2.2.2010.

  5 casino.ch.

  6 Statistik Schweiz: 263,000 Germans resident in Switzerland in 2010, up 120,000 since 2004.

  7 Some restrictions apply to nationals of EU countries in Eastern Europe.

  8 Bergier Commission report.

  9 As quoted in Living and Working in Switzerland by David Hampshire.

  10 swissworld.org: Insurance.

  11 OECD Health Data 2009. In Norway 84% is public expenditure, compared to 59% in Switzerland.

  12 comparis.ch: 2012 figures, lowest with 2500Fr excess, highest with 300Fr excess.

  13 As of December 2009.

  14 Speech by Dignitas Secretary General Ludwig Minelli in London, 2007.

  15 My translation of the text given on snb.ch, the Swiss National Bank’s website.

  16 Swiss National Bank (74mm).

  17 Ibid.

  18 Swiss Money Museum.

  19 1 franc = 100 rappen, also known as centimes and centesimi in the French and Italian speaking parts.

  20 Swiss Money Museum, quoting Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau.

  21 swissmint.ch: Paul Burkhard und der Fünfliber.

  22 comparis.ch.

  23 IMF World Economic Outlook Database, September 2011.

  24 Neue Zürcher Zeitung article, 3.3.2009.

  25 Statistik Schweiz: Wohneigentumsquote.

  26 OECD Health Data 2009.

  27 IMF World Economic Outlook Database September 2011. Luxembourg, Norway and Qatar head the list.

  Chapter Six: War and peace

  1 Swiss Identity Survey as part of Credit Suisse Worry Barometer.

  2 Federal Department for Foreign Affairs website: International Geneva.

  3 Statistik Schweiz: Kennzahlen Stadt Genf.

  4 Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei, Volksabstimmung 3.3.2002, 54.6% yes.

  5 Ibid: Volksabstimmung 16.3.1986, 24.3% yes.

  6 icrc.org.

  7 The same Dufour as the civil war general, Swiss flag promoter and highest peak in Switzerland.

  8 icrc.org.

  9 Ibid., The Nazi genocide and other persecutions, adopted 27.4.2006.

  10 ICRC Annual report 2010.

  11 IMF World Economic Outlook Database, September 2011.

  12 Switzerland in its Diversity, 2009/10 edition.

  13 Schweizer Armee website: Zivildienst.

  14 Ibid.: Frauen in der Armee.

  15 Switzerland in its Diversity, 2009/10 edition.

  16 Schweizer Armee website: Finanzielle Entschädigung.

  17 Switzerland in its Diversity, 2009/10 edition.

  18 Group for a Switzerland without an Army (GSoA).

  19 Ibid.

  20 swissinfo.ch report, 22.2.2010.

  21 Bevölkerungsschutz website: Sirentest.

  22 SECO Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft.

  23 GSoA, quoting SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

  24 blick.ch, 11.12.2008.

  25 Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei, Volksabstimmung 26.11.1989, 35.6% yes.

  26 swissinfo.ch report, 27.9.2007.

  Chapter Seven: Made in Switzerland

  1 victorinox.ch: Production figures.

  2 swissinfo.ch: report 4.1.2007.

  3 Virtual Absinthe Museum.

  4 Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei, Volksabstimmung 5.7.1908, 63.5% yes.

  5 Virtual Absinthe Museum.

  6 A History of Mathematical Notations by Florian Cajori.

  7 BBC News online report 30.4.2008.

  8 Nestlé Research.

  9 Oxo’s History.

  10 Unilever Food Solutions: Knorr History.

  11 Foundation Dr J.E. Brandenberger.

  12 Ibid.

  13 Ibid.

  14 kristofcreative.com/great_ideas/invention-of-aluminum-foil.shtml.

  15 Broxo (Swiss Healthcare Solutions).

  16 Düring AG.

  17 Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade.

  18 Ibid.

  19 BBC News Online report, 24.7.2000.

  20 Coop Zeitung survey, 29.7.2008.

  21 Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry report 2010.

  22 Ibid.

  23 Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry: History.

  24 Ibid.

  25 unesco.org.

  26 Ibid.

  27 Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

  28 guebelin.ch.

  29 Bundesamt für Statistik: Vornamen-Hitparade 2010.

  30 Ibid.

  31 vornamen. ch/namensrecht-schweiz.htm.

  32 babycenter.ch.

  33 biel-bienne.ch.

  34 Blick am Abend report, 7.5.2009. Swiss brands: Emmentaler, Gruyère, M-Budget, Migros, Nespresso, Ovolmatine, Ragusa, Rivella, Swatch, Thomy, Toblerone, Zweifel. Non-Swiss brands: Coca-Cola, Google, Ikea, Kellogg’s, Lego, Nivea, Nutella.

  35 telegraph.co.uk based on 2009/10 Superbrands.

  Chapter Eight: The hole truth

  1 Emmerdale is an English television soap opera set in a fictional Yorkshire village of the same name.

  2 SBB timetable 2010.

  3 Stade de Suisse.

  4 Jörg Abderhalden website.

  5 Emmentaler official website.

  6 Ibid.

  7 Ibid.

  8 Swiss Cheese Marketing 2010 figures.

  9 beobachter.ch: report August 2008.

  10 Tilsiter official website.

  11 Sbrinz official website.

  12 appenzell.ch/en/.

  13 Der Bund report, 21.11.2009.

  14 St Galler Tagblatt report, 4.8.2008.

  15 Statistik Schweiz: Land- und Forstwirtschaft 2008.

  16 Appenzeller, Emmentaler, Gruyère.

  17 swissmilk.ch: 2010 figures.

  18 Ibid.

  19 International Dairy Federation, 2010 figures: EU average 16.6kg.

  20 Ibid.: UK consumption 10.9kg.

  Chapter Nine: Where the chocolate comes from

  1 telegraph.co.uk article, 27.9.2009.

  2 nestle.com.

  3 lindt.com; Lindt was bought by Zurich-based Sprüngli in 1899.

  4 Interview on WRS radio with Daniel Meyer, 16.10.2008.

  5 Ibid.

  6 Chocology booklet, published by Chocosuisse.

  7 Chocosuisse (2010 figures).

  8 Ibid.

  9 The Association of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers.

  10 Ibid.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Ibid.

  13 Ibid.

  14 Die Welt von Suchard exhibition, Neuchâtel 2009.

  15 In English: the New Rail Link through the Alps, or NRLA.

  16 alptransit.ch.

  17 Ticino Regional Railway and Bus Services.

  18 See Chapter Eight: The hole truth.

  19 NZZ Folio article April 1997.

  20 bettybossi.ch.

  21 rivella.ch.

  22 NZZ online article, 29.12.2007.

  23 252,086 tonnes to 229,000 tonnes; 2009 figures from FAOSTAT.

  24 Thurgau official website.

  25 Coop and Migros both have cheap, cheerful cafeteria-style restaurants.

  Chapter Ten: Climb every mountain

  1 Short for Schweizerische Bundesbahnen. See Swiss Watching Tip in Chapter Six for more detail.

  2 networkrail.co.uk: Control Period 3 Performance.

  3 2010 figure from The Economist Pocket World in Figures 2012 edition.

  4 swissinfo.org.

  5 Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei, Volksabstimmung 20.2.1898, 67.9% yes.

  6 rigi.ch.

  7 pilatus.ch.

  8 brienz-rothorn-ba
hn.ch.

  9 swissworld.org.

  10 Federal Statistical Office: Mobility and Transport 2011 Report.

  11 postbus.ch: Facts & Figures.

  12 SBB Annual Report 2010.

  13 On some tourist trains, e.g. the Glacier Express, reservations are obligatory.

  14 Also AG in French or Italian, short for abonnement générale or abbonamento generale.

  15 The train up Rigi is included in the GA, unusually for a mountain train.

  16 sbb.ch, January 2012.

  17 SBB Annual Report 2010.

  18 January 2010 rate £1=1.5Fr.

  19 £2320 (2012 price) from tfl.gov.uk.

  20 sbb.ch, January 2012.

  21 Ibid.

  22 See Chapter One for more on coconuts.

  23 20% for groups of 10 or more.

  24 interlaken.ch: Facts & Figures.

  25 jungfrau-marathon.ch.

  26 BOB = Berner Oberland-Bahn; WAB = Wengernalpbahn.

  27 swissinfo.ch.

  28 Statistik Schweiz: Mobility and Transport 2011 Report.

  29 The Economist Pocket World in Figures 2012 edition.

  30 BBC news report, 7.1.2010.

  Chapter Eleven: Seeking Heidi

  1 In the minaret vote of November 2009, only 3½ cantons voted no –

  Geneva, Neuchâtel, Vaud and Basel-Stadt; in the failed EEA vote of 1992, all the French-speaking cantons were heavily in favour.

  2 In Romandie, the French announcement comes first.

  3 Trains to Ticino and Italy have Italian announcements.

  4 Also spelt Schwyzerdütsch or Schwiizertüütsch depending on dialect.

  5 Chicken, pavement and bicycle respectively, or Huhn, Fussweg and Fahrrad in High German.

  6 Note that four of the ten are French speakers (Calvin, Dunant, Guisan, Rousseau), just above the average for the country as a whole. No Italian Swiss in the list.

  7 See Chapter Seven for more on LSD.

  8 English translation: ‘But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.’

  9 For more on Dunant see Chapter Six.

  10 Translates as Swiss Institute for Children’s and Youth Media.

  11 hirzel.ch.

  12 15%, according to hirzel.ch.

  13 UN Demographic Yearbook.

  14 Data from beobachter.ch report Typisch Schweiz, August 2008.

  15 Property in Switzerland is always marketed using the number of rooms. The kitchen and bathroom usually don’t count as ‘rooms’, so that a two-room flat is effectively a one-bedroom flat. But you can get half-rooms, meaning that the kitchen or hall is bigger than normal, e.g. I live in a 4½-room flat.

  16 Swiss Identity Survey as part of Credit Suisse Worry Barometer: 78% proud or very proud.

  FURTHER READING

  * Denotes currently out of print

  Andrew Beattie, The Alps: A Cultural History, Signal Books, 2006

  Angela Bennett, The Geneva Convention: The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross, Sutton, 2006

  Paul Bilton, Xenophobe’s Guide to the Swiss, Oval Books, 2008

  Betty Bossi, The Swiss Cookbook, Betty Bossi Verlag, 2009

  Tom Bower, Blood Money, Pan, 1997*

  Xavier Casile, So Sweet Zerland, Good Heidi Productions, 2008*

  Angelo Codevilla, Between the Alps and a Hard Place, Regnery, 2000

  Dianne Dicks (ed.), Ticking along with the Swiss, Bergli Books, 1995

  Mavis Guinard, Made in Switzerland: Petit Guide de la Suisse insolite, Metropolis, 2007

  Stephen Halbrook, Target Switzerland, De Capo Press, 2003

  Stephen Halbrook, The Swiss and the Nazis, Casemate, 2005

  David Hampshire, Living and Working in Switzerland, Survival Books, 2009

  Derek Jackson, Swiss Army Knives: A Collector’s Companion, Compendium Publishing, 2007

  Hanspeter Kriesi & Alexander Trechsel, The Politics of Switzerland, Cambridge University Press, 2008

  Joëlle Kuntz, Switzerland: How an Alpine Pass became a Country, Historiator Editions, 2008

  Sergio Lievano & Nicole Egger, Hoi: Your Swiss German Survival Guide, Bergli Books, 2005

  Kendall Maycock, Culture Smart! Switzerland, Bergli Books, 2004

  John McPhee, La Place de la Concorde Suisse, Noonday Press, 1994

  Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné, For God and his People: Ulrich Zwingli, BJU Press, 2000*

  Grégoire Nappey, Swiss History in a Nutshell, Bergli Books, 2010

  Margaret Oertig-Davidson, Beyond Chocolate: Understanding Swiss Culture, Bergli Books, 2002

  Max Oettli, Culture Shock! Switzerland, Marshall Cavendish, 2009

  Jim Ring, How the English Made the Alps, John Murray, 2001*

  Jonathan Steinberg, Why Switzerland? Cambridge University Press, 1996

  Sue Style, A Taste of Switzerland, Bergli Books, 1996

  Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, Penguin, 1998

  Isabel Vincent, Hitler’s Silent Partners, William Morrow, 1997*

  Switzerland in its Diversity, Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey, 2009

  A few books set in Switzerland

  Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac

  Vicki Cooper, The Bears Are Coming Back

  Graham Greene, Dr Fischer of Geneva

  Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

  Christopher Reich, Rules of Deception

  Joel Ross, White Flag Down

  Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

  Some Swiss authors available in English

  Nicolas Bouvier, The Way of the World

  Selina Chönz, A Bell for Ursli; Florina and the Wild Bird

  Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Inspector Barlach Mysteries; The Physicist

  Max Frisch, Homo Faber

  Jeremias Gotthelf, The Black Spider

  Franz Hohler, At Home

  Zoë Jenny, The Pollen Room; The Sky Is Changing

  Pascal Mercier, Night Train to Lisbon

  Johanna Spyri, Heidi

  Beat Sterchi, The Cow

  Claude Sulzer, The Perfect Waiter

  Martin Suter, A Deal with the Devil; Small World

  Robert Walser, The Assistant; Institute Benjamenta; The Walk

  Jonathan Wyss, Swiss Family Robinson

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  That this book is in your hands is down to two people: my agent, Edwin Hawkes, and my publisher, Nick Brealey, who both took a leap of faith for which I am forever grateful. If you’re part of the teams at Makepeace Towle Literary Agency, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, thanks for everything.

  I probably committed more than one social faux pas by being too inquisitive, so sorry to all my Swiss friends for that. Answering my many questions about your lives and your country helped immensely. That goes doubly for all my past colleagues at Stauffacher and in the English Bookshop. And to the Stauffacher Reading Circle, thank you for being willing chocolate tasters.

  A special mention for Markus, who has shown how good a friend a Swiss man can be; without him this book would have been far less interesting. And Jane and Marcela, who make my life as an expat in Bern so much better.

  Not forgetting, in no particular order, Julie Lennard, Sebastien Desprez, Christina Warren, Kate Coleman, Martin Girven, Kate Dietrich, David Rose, Andrea Barthel, James Woodall, Zelda McKillop, Tom Derungs, Dianne Dicks, Catherine Nelson-Pollard, Hermann Bachmann, Patricia Yates, Juliet Zysset, Hugh Brune, Alison Pouliot, Jonathan Spirig, Julia Weiler, K. Starr Schoell, Matt Wake, Connie Bodmer, Vicki Cooper, Christian Schaefer, Helen Stubbs, David Schlocker, Robin Bognuda, Dimitri Burkhard, Marcelline Kuonen, John Sivell, Christa Schuppli, Michael Gaedeke, Béatrice Rüeger, Simon Denoth, Carolin Baum, Michael Murphy, everyone at the Geneva Writers’ Conference, the Scheibelhofer family and all my ever-supportive friends in the book group. Each of you knows how you helped me create this book.

  Thanks also to my sister Sara, for being my proofreader, my brother Andrew, for my website, and particularly my parents, for instilling a love of travel in me from a very early age. And Gregor, whose love and support have
been there from the beginning of this journey. This is for you all.

  CREDITS

  Unless otherwise stated, all photographs © Diccon Bewes.

  Photos on front cover, clockwise from top left:

  Swiss flag, Appenzell

  Carnival parade, Bern

  The Eiger

  Heidi House (with Gregor) above St Moritz. Built in 1792, it was used in 1977–78 TV production of Heidi, then moved here in 1979

  Paddlesteamer Uri on Lake Lucerne

  Swiss flag on Lake Brienz

  Bernina Express on the Brusio viaduct, Graubünden

  Bundesplatz fountains, Bern

  Flag throwers at Männlichen, Berner Oberland

  A cow in Canton St Gallen

  WAB train (in front of the Eiger) at Kleine Scheidegg

  Model planes at Swiss Miniatur, Ticino

  Toblerone, photo by Ken Leeder

  Outdoor café, Bern

  Zytglogge clock tower, Bern

  Schloss Oberhofen at Lake Thun

  Shoppers in Bern

  Swiss and Valais flags

  Grossmünster, Zurich

  Farmhouse above Wildhaus

  Traditional headdresses on Mother’s Day in Brülisau

  Landsgemeinde, Appenzell

  Schreckhorn, Berner Oberland

  Clock, photo by Ken Leeder

  Bundeshaus, Bern

  Holländerturm (Dutch Tower) in Waisenhausplatz, Bern

  Madonna del Sasso monastery above Locarno

  Cable car up to Stockhorn

  Photos on spine

  Cow and Wetterhorn from Männlichen, Berner Oberland

  Swiss flag

  Photos on back cover from top

  Bachalpsee in Berner Oberland

  Lake Lucerne

  Author photo taken by Alison Pouliot (www.alisonpouliot.com)

  Maps

  All maps drawn by the author, © Diccon Bewes