Country Roads of Switzerland

Day Two – 14 July 2015

Weather: Hot. Sunny.

Happy Bastille Day!

Well, this is going to be long, jam-packed day! Wake up was for 6:15 so I decided to swap a little more sleep for food and had my wake-up changed to seven. This morning was a staggered departure. The Secret Switzerland optional left first and the rest picked us up at the tunnel entrance around 9:30.

So, I munch on granola bar and roll my luggage out to the hallway for eight. The optional was a visit to the world’s largest Cold War bunker and we all expected it to be a ride out to the countryside, so we were a little surprised to find ourselves driving down a tree-lined residential street inside the city limits.

If I had had to go looking for the entrance, I would have never found it.

We were dropped off and Vincenzo left us with the local guide, Zora. After all, she had the keys.

The Sonnenberg Bunker The bunker is actually twin tunnels that are part of the highway system that can be converted into a shelter – ten thousand per tunnel. There are three hundred and fifty ton doors that can close off each end. A seven story cavern between the tunnels contained the command area, communications and medical facility.

The tunnel was never fully tested and a five day exercise in 1987 uncovered a number of faults including the fact that the doors took almost a full day to close. They began to doubt that they could care for twenty thousand and its capacity was reassessed between ten and seventeen thousand. It was later reduced to a capacity of two thousand.

The concept for the shelter comes from the Swiss’ long history of living under a siege mentality. After all, they were the doormat of Europe as their mountain passes gave empires the ability to cross through the country en route to conquer or trade with others. The Swiss likely have had enough and they’ve even planted explosives in the passes to cut off the highways and tunnels should it become necessary.

With the Cold War, the Swiss ensured that every Swiss citizen either owned or had access to a shelter. If one was unable to build one on their property, they shared with their neighbour. As it stands, the country has capacity to shelter a hundred and twenty percent of its population. Richard Ross, an American photographer, published a book in 2004 entitled Waiting for the End of the World which contains photos of shelters worldwide. According to him, the only survivors of a nuclear war would be the American president and vice-president, some Israelis, the Mormons, assorted insects and the Swiss.

The real question that comes out of seeing their obsession with preparedness is whether or not the Swiss are paranoid or just prepared.

I tend to go for the latter. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Granted, not sure how many want to live in a post-nuclear war.

But I digress.

Zora opens up the main door and the first thing we see inside is a long tunnel and two Segways.

You know it’s large when.

Inside is a sample of the plate that directs locals to their shelter if they don’t have access to a backyard shelter. Other bunkers are much smaller with most having a capacity of a few hundred. The shelters are paid for from taxes but those without a backyard bunker do pay a fee to maintain their local shelter.

The ironic part is that the Swiss government had repealed the law requiring the shelter space for all Swiss – two days before the Japan earthquake, tsunami and subsequent Fukushima meltdown.

They reinstated the law as a result.

We walk down the long tunnel and Zora shows us to the prison which has a couple of large cells and a smaller one meant for solitary confinement.

They surmised that given the conditions they would be living in, the space would not be enough so they considered reducing the oxygen levels to help placate the large population. This problem was one of the reasons the shelter capacity was later reduced.

The area was actually used as a prison in 2007 following a protest.

From here we walk down a level along ramps to visit an example of a living quarters. In the case of an emergency, all the raw materials for the barracks are stored in the area and they would have to be constructed in place, as this photo of the process shows.

The idea was that they would have some warning of a potential attack like declining relations and threats from the superpowers. However, the suddenness of disasters like nuclear power plant meltdown also contributed to the reduction in the shelter’s capacity. They realized they may not have the time to prepare the shelter.

Each dorm room was designed to house sixty-four people with beds stacked four high with one section for washing and toilets.

The toilets are camp toilets.

To dump them, they had a way to exit the tunnel to dispose of waste. There were no showers as at the time, a daily shower was not a common amenity that the Swiss were used to.

The food situation also led to some problems. As it stands, the Swiss not only have to prove they have two weeks of food available for their time in a shelter, they have to have two months of food available in their homes (which is good for any number of emergency situations). They can be subject to inspection and can be fined if they are found to be lacking.

But requiring them to bring their own food to the shelter meant they also ran into the problem of food storage.

Since the idea was that they would only be sheltered for fourteen days, it was expected that they could carry enough of their own food in. With nowhere to store it, the fourth level of beds were eliminated as bed space and now considered food storage space.

This automatically reduced the twenty thousand capacity to seventeen thousand. Even then, the risk of unrest among the population when some started to run out of food also meant the large numbers wouldn’t work.

The feasibility of the motorway tunnels as a shelter also came into question. Zora had had a woman on a guided tour who had been a part of the exercise in 1987, and according to her, the authorities never did get the doors at the end of the tunnels to close. Without the ability to seal the tunnels quickly, the motorway tunnels were useless as a shelter.

This is a photo showing the cubicles set up inside the tunnel.

After the exercise, the shelter’s capacity was reduced to two thousand with the seven story facility between the tunnels being the primary location of the shelter during the exercise.

After we had a good look at the barracks, Zora brought us through the small hospital and showed us the carts they had to move the material through the shelter which turned out to be a hindrance.

From here we were able to get a glimpse through a door window to the cars flying by in one of the tunnels.

And then we visited the kitchen.

It wasn’t very large because its purpose had been to only feed the administrative and operational staff working in the central structure. Zora showed us canned rations that were full of white powder. They had no ingredient list or directions. Since the decision to downsize, the cans are apparently being sent to third world countries.

Next to the kitchen are some water tanks used to store potable water which would be connected to the water system but also used purified river or rain water.

We returned to the entrance via the stairs and ramps and were out by 9:30. There was a playground next to the entrance and we waited there, inspecting rides that you’d never see on a North American playground anymore.

I couldn’t get anyone to give me a push.

The bus rolled up a couple minutes later and we said farewell to Zora and got aboard, where we raved about the optional. Yes, I highly recommend it for anyone with any kind of interest in history or engineering. I found it fascinating.

We drove through the residential streets and headed out to the highway towards Bern. On the way, Vincenzo gave us a map folding lesson so that only Switzerland is visible on the map of Europe. It made it easy for him to later point out the routes as he can refer to the creases to direct us on the map. He also gave us a talk on the remaining optionals and outlined the rest of the tour.

It was a short two hour drive to Bern, a city that was founded by Berthold V, Duke of Zahringen, in 1181 though there is evidence of Roman settlements not far the current location of the city. The geography of the area made it an ideal spot as the city is located on a river elbow.

That means it meandered around a piece of land, cutting it off on three sides and making it much easier to defend. When Berhold V founded Bern, legend has it that he went hunting and would name the city for the first animal they came across, which was a bear. The city was named Bern and the black bear also graces its coat of arms.

Too bad they didn’t come across a cat. That would have been cool.

Berthold died in 1218 without leaving an heir and as a result, Bern was designated an imperial free city by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. The city was one of the eight original cantons that made up the Swiss Confederacy.

Today Bern is the fourth largest city in Switzerland with a population of 140,000. In 1983, the old town was named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We pulled into our break stop just outside the city at the Bear Pits which were used as a way to display the animals safely to the public.

The first record of bears being brought to Bern is from 1513 when soldiers returned from battle with their spoils of war, including a bear. The first bear pit was called Barenplatz but the current one is the fourth pit which was opened in 1857.

In 1996, the city completed a renovation of the Barengraben but complaints forced the city to construct the BarenPark which linked the pit to a larger enclosure with a tunnel. A smaller pit is no longer used for the bears and is now used for the shop and performances.

We got a half hour to go to the WC, get snacks and check out the bear pits. The bears were not in the park right now as it was undergoing another renovation.

The pits were next to a bridge leading into the city and this afforded a great view of the city.

You can see how the river curves around so that there is water on three sides of the original settlement.

From here we drove into the old town and met Hector, our guide. He was an older gentleman and quite the character. Vincenzo said he might be a bit fast for us, but I thought he kept a good pace.

Although it was hard to get a sample picture of him that wasn’t blurred.

We started at the Federal Palace where the Swiss Federal Parliament and Federal Council are housed.

The building was built in 1902. A mosaic in the center shows the coat of arms for the twenty two cantons that existed in 1902. The Latin motto Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno (One for all and all for one) surrounds the coat of arms.

We walk a short distance and open up onto a large square with a massive church.

The Bern Cathedral is the largest church in Switzerland and built in the gothic style. It took centuries to complete, with construction beginning in 1421 and the final touch, the steeple being added in 1893.

At 100.6m, the tower makes this cathedral the tallest in Switzerland. The current structure sits on the site of older churches built after Bern was founded in 1181. Over one of the entrances is one of the most complete gothic sculptures in Europe depicting the Last Judgement which was sculpted by Erhard Kung.

It depicts the wicked standing naked on the right.

While the clothed righteous are on the left.

Justice is in the centre

And the wise and foolish virgins surround her.

The virgins are crying because they’re not ready for judgment yet.

This sculpture was the only one to survive the reformation. The forty-seven free standing statues are replicas (the originals are in the Bern museum) while the rest is original.

The sculptures were impressive, if not a little nightmarish.

We walked down a street and came across coins on the ground.

Hector warned us not to pick them up and he pointed up. There was a contraption set up so that if you attempted to pick up the coins, you got sprayed with water.

Given the heat, some of us didn’t think that was a bad trade-off.

Hector pointed out the house where Albert Einstein spent most of his time when he was living in Bern between 1902 and 1909. The house had one bedroom and it had a desk that was later found and returned to the house. It is also believed that he came up with E = mc²in this house.

From here, we could see the clock tower at the end of the street.

The tower was built between 1218 and 1220 as a guard tower for the city’s western fortifications. When the city walls expanded outwards, the tower was renovated and eventually changed in the mid-14^th century into a prison for women who had had sexual relations with priests.

The tower was severely damaged in a fire in 1405 with repairs continuing well into the 20^th century. The prison was abandoned after the fire and in the 15^th century, an astronomical clock and bell were added, giving the tower its name – Zytglogge (time bell). In 1981-83, the tower was renovated back to its appearance in 1770.

We arrived just before one and watched the show where the Lord of Time calls out the hours (only one in this case) and tells the knight to strike the bell. The hour glass is turned over to count down to the next hour.

We finished up with the walking tour here and say farewell to Hector and then Vincenzo points out some places to have lunch. I headed for Mcdonalds since it was right in front of me and discovered, finally, a Royal with cheese!

Cause Europeans use the metric system, so they can’t have a Quarter Pounder now, can they?

After lunch, I walked down the street to find the Ogre Fountain which was only a few steps from Mcdonalds.

Kindlifresserbrunnen, as it is called, is translated to mean Fountain of the Eater of Little Children. It was constructed in 1545/46, replacing the older wooden fountain, by Hans Gieng. Around the base is a depiction of armed bears going to war. The fountain was originally called the Place Fountain but that was replaced by the current name in 1666. There are a number of theories surrounding the meaning of the fountain – from a warning to children to avoid a nearby bear pit that once existed there to the creature being a depiction of a Roman or Greek god. It may also be just a simple statue to frighten children into obedience.

My vote is for the latter.

I spent the rest of my time seeking out a fridge magnet and checking into a couple of camera stores for an extra battery for my point and shoot (I left one somewhere in Mexico). On the way back to the bus, I came across children playing in the fountain in front of the Federal Palace.

Oh man, would I have loved to join in!

Back aboard the bus, we headed to Montreux. On the way, Vincenzo introduced us to his Pantry.

It was the spot on top of the washroom where he left a lot of things we might find useful. There were extra information sheets, all of Insight’s catalogs, reading material and a silver box of goodies.

He gave us the password for the coach wifi and noted that we may lose the signal in the mountains from time to time. As it turned out, the signal was pretty reliable throughout the tour.

The driver also had cold water available for two francs which was a pretty good deal.

On the way, Vincenzo gave us an interesting talk on Insight that I haven’t heard from any other guide. He noted that they can offer the reasonably priced tours because they spend nothing on marketing.

Which was a light-bulb moment for me. When is the last time you saw a commercial on TV for Insight or Trafalgar? He says that some companies can spend up to fifty percent of the tour price on marketing whereas Insight and its sister companies rely on word of mouth and social media.

He said the Travel Corp also has huge buying power and often will book whole hotels from April to October and that they book the lowest category (as some hotels can have as many as fourteen categories). This is why they never advertise or promise that hotel rooms will have a view.

Now, go look at another company that does promise a hotel room with a view and compare the cost.

Yeah. I go on tour to see the sites, not sit in my hotel room.

And in some cases, not having the view can be a blessing.

Bet you know where I’m going with this.

Yeah. If you’re into jazz then you know the name Montreux. After all, it’s famous for its jazz festival.

Guess what was going on that week?

Yup. We didn’t *want* the rooms with a view in this case.

He signed off for nap time as we travelled through the Bernese Oberland.

We arrived in Montreux just after three and headed straight for Chillon Castle which was nestled between Lake Geneva and a steep hillside.

The Castle dates back to the Roman era when it was built as a fort on an important trade route through the alpine passes. The oldest written reference to the castle dates from 1005 CE which noted its purpose was to control the trade routes. In the 12^th century, the castle was a summer residence for the Counts of Savoy and it was expanded in 1248. The castle, for a time, was on the only route between Italy and the rest of Europe, and with the toll it charged for passage, it made the Savoys quite wealthy.

No. The Savoy didn’t build the highway 🙂

In the 16^th century, the dukes of Savoy used the castle as a prison. A Genevois monk, Francois de Bonivard, was its most famous prisoner. He spent six years in the prison before he was rescued. The ruts made by his pacing as far as his chain would allow are still visible in his cell.

The castle was converted to a state prison in 1733 but it was converted to a weapons and munitions depot when the French arrived in 1798. Today, it is Switzerlands’ most visited historical site.

We arrived and were early, so we had to wait a short time for our guide, Tony. We used the opportunity to go potty and check out the shop. He arrived and showed us into a room with a model of the castle.

The castle was not huge with a footprint about the size of a football field and it was built on a rock outcropping which you can see in the lower levels.

From here we descended towards the dungeon, passing the wine cellar on the way. The room used to be filled to the rafters with the tolls collected by the castle. This could be in the form of salt, spices, olive oil and other goods.

Down in the dungeon we could see the door used as an escape route as it led straight to the lake.

In the dungeon there was a noose, a stake with a neck chain and chain loops still attached to the columns where Francois de Bonivard was kept.

The columns are covered in graffiti dating back centuries, including Lord Byron, who wrote the Prisoner of Chillon in 1816.

The interior of the castle had three courtyards which permitted the occupants to withdraw farther into the castle should it be attacked.

We climbed the stairs to the dining room which was large and open as they used to spend hours eating and then usually bed down right inside the room for the night.

The columns in the room were original and still show the original burn marks from the torches used to light the room.

In the next room, the walls were painted with Bernese coat of arms dating back centuries.

In 1798, the paintings became French.

Since the castle never experienced a major fire, much of the wooden parts and art is original. In the Duke of Savoy’s office, there are depictions of unusual animals like lion, camels and even a dragon, which were meant to signify the Duke’s power and authority.

They were also painted in blue which was very rare as it required trade with Asia, so this further exemplified his wealth.

On the ceiling were the shadows of hundreds of small crosses which were silver. No doubt where they ended up.

Outside, in the third courtyard, the window to the Duke’s office was decorated so as to attract attention.

From here, we could see the newer walls built farther out from the original. The outer towers are round instead of square. This meant the enemy wouldn’t be able to hide around the corner.

The castle was only attacked once when the Bernese came in 1536 and set up canon on the hills above. They fired on the castle and killed six people. The Duke of Savoy surrendered and requested that they negotiate the terms the next day.

The Bernese, in a Monty Python moment, said, “okay.”

Remember that door on the lake?

Yeah. He slipped out during the night and hailed a cab. He sneaked by the Genevan navy and got to the other side of the lake. The Bernese went inside the next morning to find the castle empty except for Francois de Bonivard chained to his column.

I imagine the first thing he said was, “what took you so long?”

We finished up the tour and had a bit of time to shop, take photos and look around. When we got back to the bus we found our keys on our seats as Marcel went to the hotel to deliver our luggage and Vincenzo checked us in. Very convenient. Included with the room key is a pass for the local bus system which is great for those that can’t walk far.

There is also a set of earplugs. LOL

I got to my room to find that I was facing the lake while everyone else who came up with me got a room on the other side of the corridor.

Okay. Cool.

Until I opened the balcony door to see this below me.

I didn’t think much of it until they started playing. The room was shaking. So, I got my photos of the view and went down to the front desk to ask how long the music would be going on.

She said two or three in the morning.

After I choked on my next breath, I asked if I could change my room. She said no problem but that they didn’t have any other rooms facing the lake. I thought that was curious and said it didn’t matter. At that point, the valet’s closet in the basement would be fine with me.

What I get is another huge room – actually, two rooms – facing away from the shore. It’s very cozy.

I later learn that Vincenzo had asked the office if he could upgrade me given the troubles I had had which was unexpected and very sweet of him to do!

It was just bad timing that it was during the jazz festival. Either way, the new room was also an upgrade – it just didn’t have the view and that was okay. It was quiet and very comfortable.

Or rather, quieter. I still needed the earplugs but at least the room wasn’t shaking. I slept like a queen for three nights.

Once I was settled in, I went down the shore and checked out the festival.

The promenade is full of shop and food stalls that went on for about two kilometres.

I took my time walking along until I came to Freddie Mercury’s statue.

The plaque at the base read:

“Born Farrokh Bulsara on the East African island of Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury became one of the world’s greatest rock music performers. His career as lead singer of the band Queen spanned twenty years and together they sold over 150 million albums worldwide.

Innovator, showman, musician extraordinaire, he left a compelling legacy and had an enormous influence on the next generation of rock performers.

Queen acquired the lakeside Mountain Recording Studios in 1978 and Freddie’s strong links with the town continued until his death. He appreciated the kindness and discretion of the townspeople and Montreux became a haven for him, his second home and the setting for his final work.”

A fitting tribute to a great musician.