Switzerland for scenery

This item appears on page 50 of the March 2012 issue.

No matter when I take a trip, I always seem to travel one week too late. Upon arriving at a B&B or hotel, the host asks, “And how are you enjoying your visit to (wherever)?” When I answer, “Fine, but I wish it weren’t raining so hard,” the response is, “You should have been here last week. It was beautiful.”

I am sure it was, but even though I consider myself a professional tourist, I still haven’t figured out how to travel last week.

After extensive research — about two dozen trips to Europe over the last 30 years — I have concluded that 68% of all the scenery in Europe is located in Switzerland.

Austria and Italy have 28%, Scandinavia and Great Britain have 24%, the Balkans has 16% and the rest of Europe, except for Holland, has 10%. Holland, of course, has no scenery whatsoever. Lots of tulips but no scenery.

Now, you may question my math, but I know scenery when I see it. Swiss scenery is spectacular and definitely worth a few extra francs to view it. (Cog railways and cable cars aren’t cheap!) But do go in the summer, as in the winter most of the scenery is covered with snow.

SOL GOLD
Las Vegas, NV