Please read Little Secrets, wrote about "Gemstones to attract Love"

A thought for today

Whether you know it or not, today you are placing an order for your tomorrows from the catalogue of the Universe. Your predominant thoughts and feelings today are creating a frequency that is automatically determining your life tomorrow.

Feel good now and for the rest of the day, and make your tomorrows magnificent.

 

Rhonda Byrne

Wonderful Food in Switzerland

I love the food in Switzerland, I could live there easily if it was not so cold in the Winter. Switzerland is so extremely beautiful that its food often gets overlooked. But pay attention, you can eat very well there. If you visit Switzerland you should have a taste of Switzerland food. In fact one of the best ways to enjoy a tour to Switzerland is to know about its food and enjoy it.

Finding a great meal

Tea Rooms serve hot drinks, alcohol and pastries, and are found in most towns. Go to these places for breakfast or mid-morning or afternoon snack. They are also a nice place for a late afternoon coffee or drink. Some Tea Rooms have separate pastry counters. Go in and pick your pastry. The person behind the counter hands it to you on a plate. In some places you must pay for the pastry then, other places it is added to your bill.

In the large towns, you will find traditional Swiss restaurants along with - Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, etc. However, In small mountain towns, you may find an Italian restaurant in the south, or a
German one in the north, but most restaurants will serve traditional Swiss food. Menus are much like what we are used to in the US. Starters (appetizers and soups) followed by main courses and then coffee and dessert. Bread is usually served with the meal.

Great Swiss Foods

Like me, the Swiss love cheese and some that I tried I have never had before. Switzerland is home to about 450 varieties of cheese Cows milk is used in about 99 percent of the cheeses produced. The remaining share is made up of sheep's milk and goat's milk. There's much more to Swiss cheese than making holes!

• Hard cheese, 
• Soft cheese, 
• Local cheese made in mountain chalets, 
• Regional cheese made in valley factories, 
• Cheese shaved into rosettes, 
• Cheese boxed in red pine, 
• Cheese dusted with flour and melted in wine, 
• Hot cheese dribbled over potatoes to make raclette 

Every chance you get, try  the local cheese favorites.

Raclette

Traditional preparation requires the Raclette cheese round to be heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates.  Traditionally, it is accompanied by small firm  potatoes, gherkins, and dried meat such as ham. “Raclette” comes from the French "racler," “to scrape.”

Fondue

Fondue is Gruyeres cheese, Swiss cheese, white wine, garlic, and kirsch melted in a pot. The pot is brought to the table and put on a flame. You use a long fork to dip pieces of bread into the cheese mixture. You can ask for potatoes as well as the bread for dipping. In the Valais, tomatoes’ are added to the traditional cheese fondue. Frequently restaurant menus offer Fondue only for two people, but we found one place where you could pay a small supplement to have it for just one person - so I would ask if you want it for one only.

You are to place the bread on your fork, dip it into the kirsch, and then dip it into the cheese ... be careful, the alcohol adds up much faster than you might imagine. 

Rosti

Rosti, fried potatoes, is a very popular dish at the mountain restaurants. You can get them plain, with cheese or with one or two fried eggs.

Kaseschnitte

This is a open faced melted cheese sandwich. This dish is also served at most mountain restaurants.

Swiss Chocolate

Do you love chocolate? I love it!

I consider Swiss chocolate to be the BEST in the world. But it wasn't. Here is a little secret about Swiss Chocolate because I always thought that chocolate was first made in Switzerland.
In 1502, chocolate was first introduced to Spain from Christopher Columbus who returned from his forth voyage to the New World. The Spaniards learned about cocoa from the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish invasion in 1519.

Spanish explorers learned to convert the bitter cocoa into a beverage and its origin and preparation method was a secret for 100 years. The ancient Aztecs and Mayan cultures discovered the value of the cocoa plant. They believed that power and wisdom came from eating the fruit of the cacao tree.
Introduced to Europe in the 16th and 17th century, chocolate was a great success and production spread to Switzerland. However, cocoa and sugar were in short supply in the 1800's; so, an enterprising Swiss business man, M. Daniel Peter added milk to chocolate to extend the cocoa and it ended up producing a smoother chocolate.

The experimentation took 8 years to perfect before he took his product to Henry Nestle the maker of evaporated milk. Nestle had perfected the manufacture of condensed milk, he and Peter hit upon the idea of mixing sweetened condensed milk with chocolate and viola, Swiss Chocolate was born! Just a few decades later the Swiss made a successful reputation and foreign manufactures spread throughout the world using their technical genius to manufacture  sweet, smooth Swiss chocolate.


The Pig had little to do with the process, but I just had to show you this cute picture of a cow kissing a little pig!

Resources

If you are a food lover and want to learn more about Chocolate, I highly recommend this book. It will be a great conversation starter as well.  Also, while Fondue was popular in the US back in the 70's you might be hard pressed to find a good recipe for Fondue and a very authentic Fondue set. Enjoy!

Brief History of Switzerland

Switzerland is a lovely country which is only understood if you have a perspective on its history. And it history has been significantly impacted by its geography, of a plains located between two mountain ranges, one to the north and one to the south. I address the geography in more detail in my earlier blog, so I won’t do so here.
   

 

Ice Age – Iron Age

The history of the region began after the Ice Age. After all, the plateau where Lucerne now sits was under approximately 3000 feet of ice. Following the Ice Age some traces of human development have been found in several natural caves in Switzerland and ice melts in the mountain passes. Finally, around 3000 B.C., a few people began building houses made of wood and clay on posts on the shores of Switzerland's lakes. However, one can see from the National Geographic Geno graphic Project how migrations from the Middle East to the north bypassed Switzerland, no doubt due to the formidable Alps. This geographic isolation led to the first colonization from the East by the Helvetian’s a Celtic tribe who was colonizing Europe.

Roman influence

When the Helvetians attempted to move south to Southern France they were stopped by the Roman commander, Julius Cesar in 58 B.C. and forced to return to Switzerland. The Romans then controlled Switzerland's territory until about 400 A.D. Roman military camps and forts were erected at the northern Rhine frontier towards Germany. Several major Swiss cities and towns were founded by the Romans, among others Basel, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne and Chur.

At the time, the total population of Switzerland was only 100,000 to 200,000 people. They settled where the soil was easy to cultivate and the climate not too cold (especially in winter). The central plains and a few major alpine valleys. Vast tracts of forest remained a wilderness.

Languages of Switzerland

Building the core culture of Switzerland

Attacked by Germanic tribes from the north, The Roman’s withdrew to areas south of the Alps. This opened Switzerland up to the southern Germanic tribe called Alamannen who settled in southern Germany and northern Switzerland and tribes of Franks coming in from the East. The Alamannen’s stuck to their German and the Franks to their French. Today's border between German and French languages in Switzerland is more or less the border between the Franks and Germanic tribes that infiltrated Switzerland in the vacuum left by the Roman’s. In the illustration to the left, you see French language in area 1 and German in area 2. Italian in area 3 and Romansh in area 4. The original Celtic population in Switzerland completely melded with the newcomers leaving little evidence of their culture.

You will find a French, German, Italian translator indispensable in your trips around Switzerland. I use my  Android phone but you can also get an app for the I phone.

  

 

The Road to Democracy

In the Middle Ages the Feudal System was developed in Europe but, Swiss political history never consolidated into a single monarchy like that found throughout Europe. In 1291, as a defensive alliance, three Feudal areas, now called Cantons, developed a loose confederation. In succeeding years, other Cantons joined the original three. Finally the Swiss Confederation secured its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499. Switzerland's present boundaries were fixed in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna. Then in 1848 a constitution replaced the confederation with a federal government.

Switzerland was neutral in World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Its neutral stance has also kept it from joining the United Nations until 2002.

Today, the Swiss live in a democracy where the average citizen often has greater influence than in other countries. A unique example of direct democracy found in parts of Switzerland is the Landsgemeinde (People's Assembly). Citizens gather under the open sky on a Sunday in spring to pass laws and elect officials by a show of hands.

Something to think about it

Any words you speak have a frequency, and the moment you speak them they are released into the Universe. The law of attraction responds to all frequencies, and so it is also responding to the words that you speak. When you use very strong words, such as "terrible", "shocking" and "horrible" to describe any situation in your life, you are sending out an equally strong frequency, and the law of attraction must respond by bringing that frequency back to you.

The law is impersonal, and simply matches your frequency. Do you see how important it is for you to speak strongly about what you want, and not to use strong words about what you don't want?

 

Rhonda Byrne
The Secret...

Please read Little Secrets, wrote about: "Tiger's Eye Stone, protection against Evil Eye"

How careful should you be going to Switzerland

Crime in Switzerland

Unlike many other European countries, Switzerland is a very safe country to live in or visit.  Violent crime including assault and robbery is virtually unheard of in Switzerland. The infrequent violent crime that does occur, is usually directed at expatriates who are living in Switzerland.

However, petty crime such as pick pocketing is known to occur and is usually directed at foreign tourists. Prime pick pocketing areas include busy tourist attractions in all of the major towns of Switzerland including Zurich, Geneva and Basel as well as train and bus stations. Be especially careful during the tourist season and in high traffic areas such as the International Festival in Geneva and other places that attract large crowds. Late night trains where tired passengers often fall asleep are a favorite of pick pockets.The rules are the same in Switzerland as elsewhere.

• Don't become alone at night in dark places, 
• Don't carry your wallet in the open
• Don't carry more cash that you need that day

Be a smart traveler.

Drugs in Switzerland

Hard drugs including heroin and cocaine are completely illegal in Switzerland and being caught either in possession of these drugs or selling them, holds stiff penalties almost certainly including prison time. The police attitude towards softer drugs such as hashish and cannabis is more ambiguous. While possessing or selling these drugs is technically a crime, police often turn a blind eye to discreet use of such drugs and prosecution for being in possession of small quantities of these drugs is not likely.

Police in Switzerland

The emergency telephone number in Switzerland is 117. Call it to report a crime. Police in Switzerland are either federal or local. Your first response will be local police reporting to the Canton you are in. Swiss federal police are plain clothed officers and only become involved in serious crimes that go beyond Canton level.