Swiss National Day

In 1294, three cantons came together to form the first agreement that would lead to the Confederation of Switzerland. The canton of Schwyz was one of the first three cantons and the namesake for the whole nation. It is on the east bank of Lake Luzern with a history to Tell…get it? William Tell?

While the French-speaking part of Switzerland mostly feels left out of this history because if its recent addition into the confederation, the German-speaking cantons host giant fireworks shows, communal barbecues, and underwhelming parades. With modern soldiers, soldiers with muskets, marching bands, and Alphorn players, the parade lasted only about 5 minutes.

I still can’t believe I spent 3 hours on a train to go to Zürich just to see a 5-minute long parade. Actually, I didn’t even know where the parade took place before I got there. I just followed a bunch of men in redcoats with a mini-cannon in tow to find the mustering grounds for the parade. I wished the tourism website would just make it easy and told me where it was.

On the way back to Geneva, I took a connection that left Bern at about 10pm so I could see all the fireworks along Lake Geneva from the left-hand side of the train. I must’ve seen six or seven displays along the way but my favourite was the one Lausanne. Not only could I see the city’s lights from the north end of the valley but the train’s movement along the line showed me a different angle of the fireworks show at every turn.

Back in Geneva and many other French-speaking cities, a fun fair is organised along the shore of the lake to provide entertainment for the whole week. Pirate ships, bumper cars, a Star Wars simulator, archery games, and food.