CHARM OF SWITZERLAND

Evening Star, Issue 21717, 11 May 1934, Page 13

CHARM OF SWITZERLAND

SKI-FIELDS IN GLORIOUS WEATHER I’he view from my study window is is near perfection as any scene sot by Nature and modified by man. iKrectly below tile main motor road to Lftusautie pursues its way with an air of tremendous importance (writes Norman Hillson, the ‘ Daily Telegraph’s ’ Geneva correspondent). I catch a glimpse of the Windswept lake. When the sun shines I can see the raflge of Mont Blanc. All the majesty of _ the Savoy Alps is there for my delight. The Whole world is covered in a cloth of white. The trees are huge filigrees. The roofs of houses and chalets—there is a chalet lodge gate to the park I 'am ndw looking at—are like great vvhite tents suspended in mid-air. In the distance the lake looks angry, green and grey, with white horses riding sWift! V towards the outlet of the Rhone, stirred to anger by the cold hut invigorating breeze. There are no leaves on the trees; only a fairy network of snow. All was so different a few months ago. Switzerland changes its coat every month of the year. Other countries have their delights, according to the seasons, but Switzerland seems to take tho traveller an annual tour of the Clinlatic world from a summer of tropical heat to a winter of Arctic cold, made pleasant by the paradoxical behaviour of the snri in persisting to shine at midday. INSIGNIFICANT POLITICS. Switzerland is a country of little political significance so far as size and population 'are concerned. Its arCa is very small. There are twice as many people living in Greater London ns inhabit all the twenty-two cantons., I'ef Switzerland has been famous for cetituries. Its cities and cantons are known to millions, who have ne* been privileged, to visit them. Its traditions are familiar to men of all parts. Its bhanfis have been enjoyed by all discerning travellers for generations. Many things enter into the sum total of that charm, but I fancy Switzerland will always attract the traveller because of her changing colours. Down the Rhone valley at this time of the year the waters of the river leap over great falls, and on the banks the spray is caught by the frost and transformed into huge stalactites of ice. It is grey and grim below*; the picturescjue.ness of the chalets find curious Valaisiah architecture alone relieve the drab horizon. But a mile up the nearest funicular, at places like Montana-Yermala, the siiii is shining gloriously on the ski fields. The glare on the snow' is almost blinding. and the hare patches on the steep slopes of the Alps stand forth in all imaginable colours of rare beauty. The tinkle of .sleigh hells echoes on nil sides. Far below* you see skiers speeding, like lightning down the slopes. The sun is so hot yon are uncomfortable in your overcoat. THE SUNSETS. The evening comes and red glows coVer the snow-capped mountains as the sun gradually disappears. The whole sky becomes momentarily scarlet and gold. Then darkness arrives, with almost the rapidity of an Egyptian twilight. Lake Lucerne is itself unique. There is a surprise round every corner, for the steep slopes of the Pilatns, the Seelisberg, the Rigi, the Burgenstock : the mountains along the Axcnstrasse descend straight to the green-bine waters, and round each rock there is a new view with chalets of all shapes and sizes, mehdows seemingly hanging ort the side of mountains, and each crag crowned with a white church or chapel miles from anywhere. Tho same contrast in colour and customs is to be found in every canton and city. No two Swiss towns ato alike. Each one has its characteristics.. Geneva has never quite thrown off that Calvinistic austerity of the old town in spite of the gayer streets by the lake >idc erected by a generation of men not quite so steeped in Reformation pnritaliisiii. Geneva is olio of the most beautifully situated cities in tho world, with her two parts

joined together by the half a dozen bridges that span the llhone. Yet within sixty miles there are three or four lakeside cities which bear no resemblance either to one another or to Geneva. If it is cold and drear in Genova and I /neerno and Interlaken, there is sun in the high heavens at Arose, Davos, Klostcrs, and Cans. ,\cxl summer Interlaken will he a blaze of sunshine, and Lucerne a garden of beautiful flowers, and Genova a place in which to promenade under the moon as a relief from midday heat. Switzerland is twice blessed. It has varied entertainment all the year round.