The Röstigraben Letters – April 2021

April, 2021

Liebe Laura,

Wel April has undoubtedly lived up to its multiple personality reputation, hasn’t it?! Is “April, April, der macht was er will” (April, April, will do what it wants) also a saying on your side of Switzerland’s röstigraben? We’ve had -3 C mornings and 10 cm of snow covering our balcony table in between it being warm enough to ring in the opening of outdoor Apero season. Although April is always unpredictable, it is strange to see so much snow still gracing the Rigi’s 1700m tall peak. Usually, by now, my Little Z is counting the specks of snow left, wishing them away so she can finally play with her water toys. There is no playing with water until the last of Rigi’s snow has melted, or so the saying goes here. A bit like your snow swan on the Jura mountains for spring. Has the swan still got its neck intact? I love all these rules!

Here around Zug, there is no actual official start to spring as you have in Geneva. I guess because it is tough to tell, with so many false starts. But a telltale sign spring has sprung in our parts are the cherry blossoms. With many cherry trees, especially along the eastern side of Zug’s lake, we are known as the cherry canton, and their blooms are a highlight each spring. We even have a hotline to call, put on by the local tourism board, to check how far along the blooms are. The cherry blossom season isn’t very long, so it is easy to miss it altogether, which we have for many years. But last years lockdown gave us no excuse not to capture them in all their glory. This year, I had all the plans to hike the long 18km trail, but schedule clashes, sick kids and the unexpected cold weather have meant that this trail will be on my bucket list next year. We now patiently wait for the actual fruits and hope that the frost hasn’t affected this seasons crop too much.

But in neighbouring Zürich, there is a spring ritual which gets everyone talking each year, its called Sächsilüüte. Have you heard of it? In non-pandemic times, Sächsilüüte (translated chiming of the 6 o’clock bells) is Zürich’s 4-day spring festival with parades and a fair-like atmosphere. The event culminates with the burning of a snowman, or Böögg, a sort of Swiss version of groundhog day, where how quickly the snowman’s head explodes predicts how warm (or not) the summer will be. The big snowman bonfire this year though was moved to the isolated location of the devil’s bridge near Andermatt this year thanks to the pandemic, the first time in its history to be burned outside of Zürich. There they were able to safely complete the ritual without the crowds. We all then watched live on TV as the Böögg took 12 minutes and 57 seconds to explode, a rather quick time – the average is about 17 minutes. So fingers crossed the Bööggs prediction of a warm summer ahead comes true!

Did you see that one of this month’s “Married Swiss” interview was from your side of the röstigraben? The first, actually, from the French side. (BTW, I can’t wait to receive yours!). One of the answers had me questioning a long assumption I had: That every couple in Switzerland slept with two duvets. She, Lori, had never heard of the concept, and so now I need to know from you, is sleeping with two duvets as a couple only a german-side concept? I had never heard of sleeping with two duvets until I moved here from Australia in 2002 and found it rather odd at first. But this is one cultural difference my husband was stubborn about, so in our 18 years of marriage, we have slept with a duvet each. I’ve come around to liking the idea as it for sure has meant we never argue over stolen blankets, well, only when we stay in accommodation outside of Switzerland.

There are not duvet stealing fights in our distance holidaying future anyway, thanks to COVID. A trip back home to Australia feels like an unending impossibility. But before we even think of a visit Downunder, we will actually have to come down to Geneva to renew The Teen’s passport, which I just found out expired last month. Thank goodness we chatted about visiting Geneva in our previous letters, as I would have had no idea! Unfortunately, though, a trip to Geneva to renew her passport is also on hold as the Australian Consulate is only renewing emergency passports. But just so you know, a visit to Geneva is in our future, at some point, and I cannot wait to meet you in person finally.

Have you already had your spring break? We are right in the middle of two weeks off and getting ready to head down to Ticino, specifically Lugano, for a few days – with what feels like the rest of Switzerland. I’ve heard that it is challenging to find accommodation, even now that Easter has been and gone, we are lucky though, as we can stay at my in-laws holiday apartment. Do the people of Geneva also a warm-weather pilgrimage to Ticino in regular times as they do here? Or is there another warm-weather destination “everyone” goes to this time of year? Of course, with lockdown in much of Europe, this spring break looks again very different. But I am grateful we can still safely have a change of scenery and indulge in gelato and pizza without having to cross a border.

I should go and pack for our trip. We are actually taking a detour to pick up the Teen who has finally been able to have her student exchange with a family in the french part of Wallis. We will pick her up and stop by Montreux to see the Freddy Mecury statue (her request!) before heading to Lugano via the Furka train. Fingers crossed there is not too big of a traffic jam in front of the Gotthard Tunnel! I hope this month’s letter finds you well and that winter has now indeed departed for the season.

Liebe Grüsse

Kristin

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