Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Money

by Diccon Bewes

The Glacier Express shows that for the Swiss the mountains are a challenge rather than a barrier, there to be tunnelled under and driven over. They are also a playground, to be walked up and skied down, as much as a defence against the outside world. They are, in essence, the Swiss equivalent of the sea, the soul of the country and the reason it is the way it is, beautiful and inviting yet defensive and unwelcoming.

This used to be the city’s red-light district but now the tarts are of the plum or apple variety,