Basel-based Irish writer Padraig Rooney, whose recent book The Gilded Chalet, explores Switzerland’s relationship with American, British and other expatriate authors, looks at Hemingway’s and Fitzgerald’s own encounters with the Lake Geneva region. The war was over and the French franc cheap: twenty-five to the US dollar in the mid-twenties. Ernest Hemingway first breezed into […]
Archives for April 2018
Some Swiss train fares to fall in June
This week, ch-direct, an association of public transport providers that sets ticket prices, announced there would be no ticket price rises in 2019. Instead the prices of some tickets will fall slightly on 1 June 2018. The price small cuts on standard fares in June relate to the shift from 8.0% to 7.7% VAT at […]
Patrouille des Glaciers – record breaking times in 2018
The biennial high-altitude race from Zermatt to Verbier, completed on touring skis, wrapped up on Sunday 21 April 2018. Irrésistibles, les militaires italiens explosent le record de la Patrouille des glaciers: Robert Antonioli, Matteo Eydallin et Michel Boscacci ont assumé leur statut de favoris et ont rallié Zermatt à Verbier en 5h35’27. La patrouille italienne […]
FILM: 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE – a gripping portrait of a real airline hijack
27 April 2018. 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE *** Here’s a gripping portrait of the hijacking of an Air France airliner in the summer of 1976 by two Palestinians and two German revolutionaries, which ended at the airport of Entebbe, Uganda. Seven days of high tension for the hundreds of hostages, the nervous hijackers, the Israeli […]
Child obesity in Switzerland related to education and nationality
A recent study of children’s waistlines in three Swiss cities shows strong correlations between obesity, nationality and the education level of parents. Among Swiss children, 14.5% are obese or overweight, while among foreigners the rate is 22.1%. The gap between those with the most and least educated parents is even greater. Only 10% of children […]
Basel airport – night time take-offs to be cut in half
For those who fly regularly, living close to an airport might be convenient, but it’s also noisy. To reduce noise, Basel-Mulhouse airport has decided to reduce the number of flights taking off between 11pm and midnight by half, according to a press release. Unlike Geneva airport, which is located entirely on Swiss soil but still […]
Taxes – one in seven in some Swiss cantons has tax debt
The cantons of Neuchâtel (14.7%) and Geneva (14.6%) have the highest percentages of taxpayers owing money, according to the newspaper SonntagsBlick. Fribourg (12.6%), Bern (9.5%) and Luzern (6.5%) complete the top-five. Vaud (5.9%), Basel-City (5.5%) and Zurich (2.4%) are further down. Aargau (2.0%) and Uri (1.0%) sit at the bottom with fewest with oustanding tax […]
42 suspected extremists in Swiss army
A recent reported published by Switzerland’s Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), reveals that 42 extremism investigations were requested in 2017. In 2016, there were 50. Switzerland has a system of compulsory military service for all Swiss men who pass a physical and psychological aptitude test. Those who miss the mark on […]
Swiss trains ranked best in Europe
The 2017 European Railway Performance Index placed Switzerland number one with a score of 7.2 out of 10. The index, produced by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), looks at intensity of use, quality of service and safety. A score of 7.2 places Switzerland in tier 1 alongside Denmark (6.8), Finland (6.6), Germany and Austria (6.1), […]
High temperature record broken in Swiss Alps
Friday 21 April 2018 saw the mercury climb to 28.9 degrees in Sion, the capital city of the Swiss canton of Valais, according to Meteo Swiss, Switzerland’s metrological service. 28.9 degrees is a record for this date in the Alpine city. The last record for this date was set on 21 April 1968. On Friday, […]