Travel Resources

This is by no means a comprehensive review of what travel materials are out there. Only sharing what I've learned. My Dad really likes the Lonely Planet books, so he bought me one for Switzerland. Juna also bought me Rick Steves' Europe. I have to say the Lonely Planet book, while fun to flip through, drooling over the color photos, just hasn't been all that helpful for planning day trips. They usually mention only two or three of the main attractions in a town, which is good if you don't want to miss the obvious highlights of a place, but hidden gems are neglected and some of the small villages and spectacular hiking regions in Switzerland didn't even make it in the book. Even though Rick Steves' book wasn't specifically about Switzerland, I feel like I learned some useful stuff about packing and being abroad (although it's geared towards tourists, not people moving long term).

But the best stuff I've found, as I've mentioned before, has been online. People's personal blogs I found by digging around on Google, somewhat stalkerishly, gave me the best insight to what's useful to know when moving, what places are cool and not just mainstream tourist attractions. That's why I'm writing this one! But also, I heartily recommend Rick Steves' TV show, which I accidentally found on Hulu when I was considering moving here. I sat down with "Switzerland's Jungfrau Region: The Best of the Alps" and literally teared up with excitement that I might get to live in this extraordinary country (Rick Steves' genial uncle-like nature and zest for exploring will do that to you). Switzerland also has a fantastic tourism website, myswitzerland.com. 

But my favorite resource for discovering cool places has been Atlas Obscura, a compilation of little-known weird, beautiful, disgusting, shocking and wondrous destinations all over the world. We discovered the Hell Grottoes of Baar, the H.R. Giger (recently deceased, R.I.P.) Bar in Gruyeres, and Jorge Luis Borges' grave in Geneva (!) on Atlas Obscura. This also led to the discovery that James Joyce, near and dear to our hearts, is buried even closer to us in Zurich. In fact, it seems a lot of famous people, especially literary types, move to Switzerland and then die.

The Giger Bar makes you feel like you stepped into one of the Alien movies, featuring a creepy wall of baby's faces and a general abundance of things that look like spinal columns running the length of the arched ceiling. The only mistake we made was planning to have dinner there. They serve snacks, but not meal-sized portions, so our dinner was a giant plate of "old Gruyere cheese" and local Gewurztraminer wine. No regrets, though! Gruyeres is a tiny, car-free Medieval village with a castle and a cheese-making museum that was a delight to visit.

The Hell Grottoes also made a lovely day trip. Located about an hour's easy hike away from the train station in Baar, the semi-remoteness made these hidden caves even neater. Only CHF 10 to get in, it was also a cheap destination (since with the GA, travel was essentially free). Reading about them on Atlas Obscura, I have to admit I thought I would find the "eerie" purple and green lighting they described cheesy and stupid. But it was actually great. There were also some tinkly piano notes playing, yet somehow they pulled this off tastefully. You have to see it in person, maybe?