Hi all! My family is looking forward to learning about your country. Hopefully we can get some good ideas for exploring Switzerland, especially since we live far away from mountains and lakes. We are also thankful to be able to communicate in English! I had 1 year of German in High School, but my memory is challenged with many years since that time. We do try to learn the languages of whatever country we are in. Hopefully our brief time in your country will be a rich time of new places and new friends! Our first priority will be to find a spirit-filled community / church of believers near Interlaken. We want to attend their service if we can locate it. Maybe someone here can help us with that task. Secondly, we love trying different foods...local favorites that are true to the traditional fare. We will have time at Luzern also, so we welcome your recommendations! Lastly, our family is a bit unsure about getting around by train travel since we are use to driving our cars all the time. Looking forward to learning from all of you!

welcome ot the forum

I think your first priority should be finding a roof to stay.
-then registering in the gemeinde
-getting your insurance
-getting the proper trash bags
-rest of items you actually want to do go here and below....

The impression I got was they were coming here on holiday?

ahh.. in that case...err.... mmm...

I'm gonna have to put my thinking cap on this one...

www.sbb.ch will help you with the train travel.

For the church thing - I think many members of the forum posted a good few options on your earlier thread(s) on the subject. Have you checked them yet?

Hi Praisinghim,

Welcome to the forum, and yes learning the local language is a great way to integrate, even though English is widely spoken here, especially in the bigger cities.

Regarding your quest for a church community, that might be a bit difficult, since the hand clapping, high energy church you mentioned in your last post isn't common here, and most are not done in English. I have heard however, that some churches have a designated service that's done in English, maybe one Sunday out of the month.

Good luck.

When you have fondue, bear in mind that it is melted cheese and bread. That is all. And you have to eat it all, or the chef will take it as an insult (told to me by a Swiss). I've brought American friends out for fondue on two occasions where they simply didn't fully grasp the cheese/bread concept beforehand and were "finished" after about 6 clumps of bread. Not wanting to offend the chef Mr. Mud made himself ill eating essentially a pot of fondue for 3 all by himself. Twice. Cheese, and bread. 200 grams of cheese per person (250 if it's a generous restaurant). Convert grams to ounces here. You did say you want local food.

As for the trains, just go to the counter and ask politely if they speak English. They will. Tell them where you want to go and when (usually right now) and they will take care of it. Stick your credit card in the machine and voila- tickets like magic. The ticket inspector on the train will probably come by and ask to see them. Just do as all the others around you do and hand them over to get stamped. Easy!

This is why I always describe the whole ritual in painstaking detail before the invitation is even extended (even though our sons invariably make sure there's nothing left).

On trains again-

You might get nervous about missing your stop. The big fancy looking trains display the next stop over the exit doors at either end, viewable from your seat. The older trains don't have this, but both will announce the stop over the loudspeaker. If you miss the name in the garble of foreign language, just look out the window as you approach the stop, there will be several blue signs with white writing showing the name of the town.

And if the elderly gentleman sitting next to you is looking at a nekkid woman in his newspaper, don't be alarmed. That's just how they roll here .

Whatever you do, don't drop your bread in the fondue.

Have a coffee with that sombrero



My favorite Swiss coffee- thought it was a hat hanging over stirrups for like 5 years before a Swiss friend set me straight!

good luck enjoy your time in Switzerland...