Alpabzug or Désalpe? Swiss cows come home
Every autumn, Swiss cows in their droves leave the high pastures of summer to return to the valleys, collared with bells and with bouquets...
Ascona, Switzerland celebrates the chestnut
I love one-trick food festivals. They bring out my penchant for taking a single food ingredient to levels I would never envision on my...
Celebrating street food in Basel, Switzerland
With October comes what travel planners call the shoulder season, a concept that applies equally to food-oriented festivals. Soon we'll have the late-autumn fairs,...
Super Zampone: Over the Top in Emilia Romagna
Emilia Romagna is a gastronome's paradise, its culinary bounty celebrated with great fanfare through the autumn harvest season. Wine, fish, meats and cheeses--all kinds...
Zibelmärit offers a taste of Switzerland
Onions, in all their garlanded glory, are the basis for Bern’s Zibelmärit. They are colorful and pretty to look at in your kitchen, dangling...
Bern’s Onion Market—time to party, rain or shine
I’ve been to the Onion Market in Bern twice, once on a frosty, clear morning several years ago; and last Monday, mostly under an...
Lucerne’s Hirschenplatz—”get the message”?
Lucerne, Switzerland's Hirschenplatz is named after a vanished hotel, the Hirschen, or stag. Light-colored paving stones mark the places where two small houses once...
Lucerne’s wall paintings tell stories
It is autumn in one of Europe's prettiest settings. The Old Town in Lucerne, Switzerland, is a postcard. All of it. Almost any direction...
Five reasons to visit Ascona, Switzerland in autumn
Two of Switzerland's finest festivals take place not on a mountain, but at 196 meters above sea level—in lovely Ascona, on Lago Maggiore. Settimane Musicali...
Autumn on the High Line
A new stretch of New York’s High Line on Manhattan’s West Side opened last summer, and yesterday, I had a chance to walk it....