Search Results for: Lake Zurich

August 1st is Swiss National Day, and thanks to William Tell, Switzerland’s independence will always be associated with apples. Who doesn’t know the story of that legendary Swiss hero? That mountain man, that peasant from Bürglen in the canton of Uri, who resisted the commands of a tyrannical overlord, and was then forced to shoot […]

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“Funiculì, Funiculà!” I find it impossible not to sing the popular Neapolitan tune – at least in my head – whenever I ride a funicular railway. The song was composed in 1880 to commemorate the then-new funicular track up Mount Vesuvius. Cable railway systems, designed for steep slopes, have been in use since the 1820s […]

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“You do know, don’t you, that we don’t live in the mountains? Zurich is in the “Low Country!” my friend exclaimed. We were making plans for our summer visit to their Swiss home, and I was day-dreaming about Johanna Spyri’s Heidi, high-mountain meadows, and hiking in the alps amongst cows and goats with bells on. And, of […]

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Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, my husband I were staying with friends in that enchanted, fairy-tale-land of mountains, lakes, and alpine meadows known today as Switzerland … It really does feel that long ago! That is what happens when you have too many external drives full of photos and memories. They […]

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Travel in Europe is such a joy! Everywhere you go, there are beautifully-maintained, fresh and green outdoor public spaces, and well-preserved and integrated historical buildings. Take Rapperswil on Lake Zurich in Switzerland, for example. Part of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona, this is a town I probably would never have heard of, had we not been […]

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