I am a great aficionado of Switzerland, for many reasons:

Here I learned swimming, actually at the same village where Lady Di learned skiing (in beautiful Klosters, Grisons). After having turned 18, a friend and I hiked and backpacked four weeks around Switzerland, from its Germanspeaking part across the Rösti ditch to la Suisse Romande and the Swiss Dolce Vita of Ticino. I was young and had no particular idea of great food beyond Swabian Spätzle. But I remember that everything tasted great in Ticino, promising. I followed the footprints of German Author Hermann Hesse who had conceived one of my favorite books, “Siddharta”, a story about a rich Indian Brahmin’s son search of his own destiny beyond conformism, in his beautiful new home in Montagnola. A few days earlier in spectacular Zermatt, I had been proud like a peacock to have climbed up to 3260m high Hôrnlihütte, “base camp” to Matterhorn, just to meet a young Japanese in our youth hostel dormitory who, with no climbing experience at all, would climb Matterhorn within a couple of days thanks to the assistance of his well-earning Zermatt mountain guide. Money pays off in Switzerland.In 1992 I spent my first skiing weekend with my ex girlfriend on the slopes above Grindelwald, one of the best skiing villages I have ever been. Only to be topped by a ski-in-ski-out weekend many years later on Gornergrat, 3000m above Zermatt, having my favorite mountain within easy grasp. What a pity that my last childhood holiday, planned with my parents and my sister to be in Pontresina in Grisons, could not materialize any more. For me, Switzerland is simply the most beautiful country in Europe – even when it does not always want to be belong to Europe. Wouldn’t there be fewer conflicts if more countries would dare to be as neutral as our neighbours? Switzerland is conservative but has one of the highest percentages of migration stock in Europe. Whether having a migration background, whether being an European Swiss or just conservative, people in Switzerland are great entrepreneurial people. It might be a coincidence but both our landlords of our dreamlike Ipanema apartment (from Zurich) as well as of our “Little State House” in Nairobi (from Zug) were uniquely Swiss. And they were both wonderful. The Swiss might be stubbornly neutral, but two of Europe’s most designated human rights defenders, and my friends, hail from Switzerland. 

I love the short train ride from my home in Swabia to Zurich. Arriving in the bohemian sedateness of Zurich is for me like arriving in another world. In a world which has never experienced war. Admittedly also in a world where they charge 15 Euro for a bratwurst. I believe I can see the “nothing bad can happen here” attitude in the relaxed, sovereign faces of the Swiss.The last, and quasi only real war on Swiss territory had been the so-called Sonderbund War, a civil war in 1847 between the federal army and seven cantons requesting special treatment (“Extrawurst”in German).  In lucky Switzerland even a war can do good, as this war became the nucleus for their future federal state. And even more: The commander of the victorious federal state had ordered his troops to care also for injured losers, a first in those days. A bit later the very sane commander would become instrumental in the formation of the Red Cross. Everytime I am in Switzerland, I realize how privileged countries are whose territory never had been a war zone. Zurich is landlocked, like all of Switzerland. In my theory that only ocean-side cities (my choice: Rio, Hongkong, Cape Town, Sydney, San Fran, Vancouver) may compete for the most liveable city worldwide, Zurich is my beautiful exception, and my Brazilian-Swiss friends who are happy to have lived in Rio and here,  fully agree. 

It has a fantastic location at the foothills of the Alps, and restaurants which are as well a feast for my eyes (Alpenrose, and first and foremost, with its Picassos, Chagall and Miròs, Kronenhalle) as for my palate (try roast Mistkratzerli with garlic and rosemary). Once I worked my Kronenhalle Chateaubriand off by following swarms of other swimmers into the amazing colors of its river Limmat. I swam down the river through the beautiful city and later ended with in the pool club of Seebad Enge. Barfussbar or Frauenbad, just the names let you dream of a summer of 69. As if all these dreams would not be enough, Zurich airport is my favorite  airport to get away (just rivalled by Singapore, if it wouldn’t be so far away).  In my favorite Swiss Lounge there is a wine humidor with over 1000 bottles of wine from all over the world. and a Whiskey bar with 200 different whisky varieties.But the real treat are the matching sound effects while travelling in the underground airport people mover. On every ride travellers are entertained by cows’ moo’s and yodeling straight from my beloved Heidi movies. No other airport can raise my  childhood memories as fondly as Zurich. But there are many more reasons to aporeciate Switzerland:  Swiss cheese (I love Tete de Moine) and cheese fondue, Raclette, OLMA kalbsbratwurst from St. Gallen, Zürcher Geschnetzeltes with Rösti, Polenta with rabbit, white Petite Arvine from Valais, not to forget chocolate!

In January 2018 I had been on a two-week-long business trip to Berne and stayed just opposite of the sophisticated train station in a Qatari-owned Swiss hotel icon. My daily work was finally done and my last weekend in Switzerland was about to begin. When I gazed out of my hotel window thick clouds full of grey were rolling in like boulders, crushing any possible view of the giant triumvirate of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau soaring just 60 kilometers further south. With a Swiss friend and a Spanish friend accidentally in town we were weighing our bad weather escape options: In a Halbtax country where trains always run on time and as frequent als subways elsewhere, both destinations, Lugano with its great promise of sunshine on the southern side of the Alps, and the Jungfrau skiing  region would be only a short ride away.

Less than two hours later we are waiting for our gondola to take us from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg. Weather is as bad as before in Berne, visibility is poor, with not a single mountain in sight. The gondola shoots us into the clouds…and breaks through! A giant mountain panorama enfolds under now azure skies, 10 meters below our gondola, skiers race downhill in powdery snow. Above the clouds life is even more beautiful, so our après-ski on the sunny terrace of Kleine Scheidegg may commence early: With a glass of chilled Fendant at hand I can’t help thinking; Switzerland- you have all the luck! In my next life I will follow the example of Albert Einstein. I become Swiss.p