Hiking among the daffodils

Zurich, Switzerland - This weekend, we visited one of Switzerland's French speaking cantons for a hike among the spring flowers.

Biel/Bienne

Our first stop was Biel/Bienne, which is on the far western side of Bern, a German speaking Canton, very near to Neuchâtel and Jura, French speaking Cantons. Being on the border of French and German Switzerland, the town is bilingual and so it's official name is "Biel/Bienne" (the forward slash - and not the hyphen - being part of the official name), where Biel is the German name and Bienne is the French name.

Hannah suggested this stop because it has an "epicerie" (i.e., gourmet market) that she had discovered in one of the far corners of culinary internet. As it turns out, the town is quite charming and located along the shore of the picturesque body of water known as either Lac de Bienne or Bielersee, but (strangely) not as "Lake Biel/Bienne." The old town dates back many centuries and has wonderful little streets and alleys spilling out haphazardly from a centrally located church. For a town of 55,000, Biel/Bienne seemed to have a surprisingly large number of shops selling musical instruments (that number being at least three), and a disappointingly low number of buskers.

Look closely and you may notice a cat ladder descending for a second story window...

Tete de Ran Neuchautel

Tete de Ran is a mountain located in the very small (population: 74,000) and very new (1979) canton of Jura. It's famous for its wild daffodils and crocuses, which bloom in abundance all over the mountain top this time of year.

Tete de Ran is in a relatively remote part of Switzerland, in so far as things in Switzerland can be remote (there are no major cities nearby). The GPS system that came with our Toyota rental car was uncertain about the initial approach to the mountain top, and recommended a dubious looking dirt road. We sought a second opinion from Google and ultimately found ourselves on an exceedingly narrow, windy - but paved - ascent. At the top, we had a picnic among the daffodils with our good friends Ben and Laura. Our spread included cider, bread, croissants, pate, local cheese (aged in a bunker!), candied nuts, sandwiches and chocolate. After lunch we wandered the flower fields for some time before postprandial somnolence set in and we settled in for a nap for the rest of the afternoon.

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The Neutral Zone

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