Pictures of Switzerland, Part IV

Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden yet again puts the civilized world to shame with its New Year’s Eve traditions, which feature men dressed as tree spirits roaming around town terrifying children. If photographs could but speak, you would right now be serenaded by blood-curdling shrieks, interspersed with melodic yodeling.

A hunting trophy plate, as displayed in the house of a kindly old man where we stayed in Brienz, Canton Bern. Brienz is the acknowledged Mecca of Swiss woodcarving, together with that most venerable of subdisciplines, Swiss wild boar-sex woodcarving.

Just a regular Swiss chalet with solid concrete walls, barbed wire entrenchments, and steel-framed sniper holes, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, this is no cozy mountain hut at all, but rather a cleverly-disguised military bunker, set up to protect the border with France during World War II. Even today, its proud message lives on: better think twice before begging for help at this farmhouse, all ye tempest-tossed refugees from lands afar! (Canton Vaud)

Speaking of World War II, did you know that Switzerland’s plan in the event of a German invasion called for all men of military age to evacuate the northern plateau, home to 70 percent of the Swiss population, and camp out in the Alps for the duration of the occupation? And who could blame them! Amid attractions like the Bergün sled run in Canton Graubünden (above), the longest of its kind in the world, what would the boys care if Fritz ran roughshod over women, children, and the entire productive region of the country?