Without Lifting A Finger

I ordered a bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape from a restaurant near the Sihl bridge, drank a few glasses. There was always an awful mess in that room, I won’t deny it, a jumble of books and files. I did that on principle, because in my opinion it’s everyone’s duty in this well-ordered land to maintain little islands of chaos, even if only in secret.

                              

Another place I'll have to discover (been close but close only counts in ...). * Neuchâtel ( French pronunciation: ​ [nøʃatɛl] ), Old French : neu(f) "new" + chatel "castle" ( French : château ); German : Neuenburg ; Italian : Neocastello or Nuovocastello ; Romansh : Neuchâtel or Neufchâtel ) [notes 1] is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel . The city has as of December 2013 [update] approximately 33,600 inhabitants (80,000 in the metropolitan area). [3] The city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name   Neuenburg   ( help · info ) , which has the same meaning, since it originally belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and later Prussia , which ruled the area until 1848. The official language of Neuchâtel is French . Neuchâtel is a pilot of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural cities programme. [From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuch%C3%A2tel ] *   ...

Switzerland is tunnel heaven (it's not just a land of cheese and chocolate). Of course, as I was driving, I didn't get too many good pictures of tunnels. Here's a couple shots of the tunnel we took from Italy back into Switzerland, landing in Brig. Can't really see the tunnel but we're waiting in line. We're on the "car train" and the tunnel's up ahead.  

Our next big stop was Locarno, Switzerland (on the northern tip of Lago Maggiore). Of course I had to go to the Ticino largely because of Max Frisch (more on his Berzona soon). Here are just a few pics from around Locarno: A view down to the lake (we took the funicular to the top) Madonna del Sasso The Stations of the Cross (we walked down, backwards, through these) Piazza Grande The side of an art gallery

Vevey Fork , a photo by JR Studio on Flickr. Apparently this sculpture was originally meant to be temporary. I guess it became part of the landscape. Also, so far as I can tell, just a few steps (dry and wet) from Charlie.

Statue of Charlie Chaplin, Vevey , a photo by mindweld on Flickr. Just a stone's throw away from Montreux, so we may stop by.

Excited? Maybe. But--whatever the reality--I thought it'd be fun to hang a few photos (borrowed from Photobucket or elsewhere--we'll compare my photos once we return) re our 99% certain trip (got the flights, hotels, car; pretty much locked into the somewhat "literary" itinerary--e.g., hope to get to Frisch's Berzona) to Switzerland. Let's see what I can find. We fly into Stuttgart, Germany, and I plan to make a little stop, heading south, near (and within view of) the Hohenzollern Castle: Then we head to Zurich to see something of what Celan saw from the Hotel zum Storchen: Then on to Locarno (see below) and Berzona (see earlier posts re this shier village and the Frisch connection): Next stop: Montreux and Nabokov's grave (maybe I'll shoot Freddie Mercury if he's convenient): After two days in Montreux we'll head back to Stuttgart, possibly making a detour through the Schwarzwald for fairy tales and Celan/Heidegger (Tod...

Berzona is a village and former municipality in the canton of Ticino , Switzerland . In 2001 the municipality was merged with the other, neighboring municipalities Auressio and Loco to form a new and larger municipality Isorno . [1] Berzona is first mentioned in 1265 as Berzona . [2] The village section of Seghelina is located directly on the main road, while the main village is above the road. During the Middle Ages it was part of the Squadra of Onsernone. The church of S. Defendente was built in 1564 and became a parish church when it separated from Loco in 1777. The section of Seghelina has the chapels of Santa Maria (1682) and S. Maria Lauretana (1766). The political municipality was created at the same time as the Canton of Ticino in 1803. [2] After World War II, much of the village population emigrated and sold their properties to outsiders. Many people who bought houses in Berzona were well known personalities from the arts and culture, such as Alfred Andersch , G...