Coming from the sub-tropical climate of Houston, I am used to and enjoy the noise of bugs and critters giving traffic and sirens a run for their money. Nothing sings summer to me like the harmonious battle between the rattling trills of cicadas, the chirping of crickets, and the sex-crazed croaking of toads.
So, nearly two years into my immigration to Switzerland, it still jars me that there is virtually no nature noise to be found, unless, as my husband tells me, you get up early enough to hear that a few birds do actually sing out in our garden.
Maybe centuries of careful Swiss planning have bred impeccably quiet birds. Maybe the bugs that both feast upon and feed the profusion of ivies and flowers around my neighborhood all move at night to party in the Schrebergarten. Never had we been to a cemetery in the U. While the cozy walkways and tiered fields of Friedhof Nordheim mask how big the place actually is, Sihlfeld Cemetery lays out its grandeur right up front. Among them was J. In addition to the plethora of colors and sounds, travel writer Diccon Bewes author of the best-selling Swiss Watching explains in his article The Secret of Swiss Cemeteries another unique feature of Swiss cemeteries: In most Swiss cemeteries, plots are typically rented for 25 years.
In the US, they are purchased. Families can keep, bury, or scatter ashes as they prefer. No point in wasting precious land on the dead; far better to use it for the living. With so many birds singing and so much green and flowering beauty surrounding me, all I could think of during both cemetery visits was that Switzerland is the place to be dead or alive.
And as one poster on TripAdvisor. When year-old Dr. The audience was blown away with Dr. The Swiss have know how to brighten up the festive season.
