Travels & Traditions: The Future of Shopping - #506

BURT WOLF: The earth is surrounded by a mass of air we call the atmosphere…oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and dozens of other compounds that make it possible for us to live on this planet. The word atmosphere is also used to describe the physical and emotional environment of a particular place on the planet. But in addition to the atmosphere we are surrounded by the world’s most intense Buyosphere.

The buyosphere is made up of opportunities to buy stuff. It’s a place to see what you can get in exchange for money. It invites us to reward ourselves for all the annoying little things that we put up with in life.

The idea of the buyosphere comes from Thomas Hine, the author of I Want That, How We All Became Shoppers. He pointed out that sellers try to give special meaning to their products. A special meaning that makes you want to have that product as part of your life. The buyosphere welcomes us, and offers us the opportunity to change our lives in exchange for money.

We are shown what we could be, if only we purchased that product. We are overwhelmed with variety. And, of course, that is precisely what a democratic society is all about. Our number one sovereign right, and I mean this in the most positive way, is our right to shop, and to change our lives in the process. Of course you do end up with an invoice they don’t call it the bill of rights for nothing.

We tend to think that people buy things in order to compete, to say that my stuff is better than your stuff. But in fact, most shopping is done in order to show our association with a group. We shop to belong.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Historians tell us that our original thirteen colonies held together because of their belief in freedom and we usually we assume that meant political freedom, but in fact it might have been the freedom to shop. The colonies were big buyers of British goods. But when the British imposed taxes on those goods without giving us the right to vote we responded with a consumer boycott. And it looks like that consumer boycott might have actually held the colonies together.

ONE NATION UNDER GOODS

BURT WOLF: T. H. Breen is a professor of American History at Northwestern University and the author of a book that explains how consumer politics shaped American Independence.

T.H. BREEN ON CAMERA: There were so many ways in which the Colonists were divided. Anyone would have predicted at the time that they couldn't possibly have gotten together to form a country. Their labor systems - in the South, because of the slave system in the North, because of free farm, animal husbandry, religious divisions were extremely important. Ethnicity - a great German population that was already changing the character of Pennsylvania. These people would have been divided by economics and by their religious heritage, by their language. But they didn't. They managed to pull it together.

By the 1740s and 50s, most of the people ... most Americans went to stores for sundry items - everything from clothes to glassware to metal goods, and all of this stuff was manufactured in England. 

The most original idea that the American people had, was a new strategy approach, that’s called the consumer boycott. What most Americans, including historians of the period, overlook, is that there was a ten-year experiment, a tradition, of using consumer goods to affect political protest, an ever-tightening interruption of the consumer marketplace, until by 1774, the Americans had truly caught the attention of the British, but more important, they caught each other's attention, because a boycott is something that you can monitor, you can read about, you can see if the other guy is cheating, and out of these experiences came a sense of trust, which allowed Americans to pull together at key points, when military options came into question.

Boycotts are a very interesting mechanism of protest, if you think about it. We're talking about a world, a Colonial world, a late Imperial world, in which, wealthy white males, voted, and all the people that, were in the legislatures, had come out of a rather narrow base of power and experience. But suddenly, you have a consumer boycott, and if the only people who are boycotting are these fellas in the Legislature, it's going to fail. They don't buy enough stuff, and there's something about a boycott that immediately is more politically inclusive, many of the consumers then, as now, were women. Women made this market go along. In fact, many of the merchants were women. Now, they didn't vote - they weren't allowed to be judges or generals, but when boycotts were mounted, if these women hadn't come forward, the political side would have collapsed. 

BURT WOLF: Bottom line -- in the past, the American family that shopped together, revolted together. And it looks like these days America’s technological skills may revolutionize shopping.

THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

WOMAN INTERNET SHOPPER ON CAMERA: I just found a Chinese Hong Kong silk jacket and it includes a set of pants. Starting bid is 8 dollars and 88 cents. It looks pretty interesting to me, but I have to check the shipping, that’s the most important thing.

There’s one bidder. It’s my size, size 36, and I like to look at the close up shots. And I like to make sure there are no damages to the item. This one is in perfect condition. I can put a bid in for $9.38, so I can go in front of this person. So I’m gonna put a bid in of 15 dollars. And that’s my proxy bid.

The proxy bid means that I enter a maximum amount that I will give to eBay to know only and they will go and bid for me.

Now when I put my bid of 15 dollars into the system it will only record the next one up.

Enter it. I’m the current high bidder. Good. 

I’m considered a poacher and a sniper. Meaning, I will look at my inventory of items that I want to buy. Keep them in my favorite eBay area, and then a few minutes before the auction ends I will go in there and bid quickly to try to take the item from someone else. So what I tend to do is watch items for several days and just bid at the last few minutes. 

A lot of people don’t like people like me, but I’m a bargain hunter so most of the time it does work for me.

BURT WOLF: At the end of June 2004, eBay had over 114 million users, buying and selling in more than 50,000 categories. At any given time there are about 28 million items available, and three and a half million new items are added each day. The value of the things that are sold on eBay each year is about 25 billion dollars, which makes it a very serious place to shop. 

Diane Hamill is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who earn their living selling things on eBay. 

So how did you get started in this business?

DIANE HAMILL ON CAMERA: We’ll about 25 years ago I started a small antiques and collectibles business. And I sold at local antique shows outdoors. And in the late 1990’s I started to hear about something called eBay. And I did a little investigating and asked questions and I realized there was a very big change coming in the American antiques and collectibles market. And in early 1999 I decided it was time to move my entire business onto eBay.

I sell the things I had always sold. Mostly vintage collectibles, antiques, used books, and it’s working great. My market is all over the world and I get much better prices. I go out to estate sales, moving sales, yard sales, garage sales. I go to about a thousand a year. And I buy things like a tea set that I think I can resell on eBay. And one of the very first things I do is what I’m doing now, photographing it. I upload my photos to the web so other people can see them. I write a description of my item, and then I use eBay’s sell item process to list my item. And people will see my listing and bid on it. The auction ends at an exact time and whoever is the highest bidder at that time wins my item. When I receive a payment I pack it all up and take it down to the post office and mail it you know.

My best buy was an Arts and Crafts copper Jardinière. A Jardinière is a big decorative pot you put a potted plan in. And I bought it at a garage sale about four blocks from my house. And I turned it over and I recognized the mark. It was a very famous San Francisco artist Dirk van Erp. And the price sticker on it said a dollar. So I shoved the dollar at the lady and took it to my car and about a month later I sold it on eBay to a collector up in Berkeley for over $2,100. 

eBay has changed my life because it has made the selling process much more flexible. I used to be tied to the schedules of the antique shows. Now I can do this at 6am or at midnight. And I go to the post office a whole lot more than I used to.

It’s fun because I never know what I’m gonna get for things. And I love to watch my auctions and see how much interest there is in them. And who’s bidding on them so it’s a lot of fun.

BURT WOLF: Over 430,000 people already make their living selling on eBay part-time or full-time and every year thousands of users get together to talk about what’s happening.

MEG WHITMAN ON CAMERA: There are 715 eBay employees here today and I know they cannot wait to meet you. Spending time with you during the next few days will motivate everyone at eBay for the rest of the year. eBay Live is perhaps our best opportunity to hear directly from you about what we do right, yes we want to hear that part. But just as importantly it’s a great opportunity for us to hear directly from you what we could do better.

BURT WOLF: In 1998, Meg Whitman was hired as president of eBay. Meg was a senior vice president of marketing in consumer products at Disney, director of global management and marketing at Hasbro Toys, President of Stride Rite Shoes, and President of FTD Florists. Understanding how people buy and sell is her specialty.

MEG WHITMAN ON CAMERA: So eBay was started on Labor Day of 1995 by a young computer scientist by the name of Pierre Omidyar. And he wanted to use the web this whole new technology to enable individuals to connect with one another and do business. And he was interested in the sort of notion of efficient markets and that’s why he launched with the auction format.

Today I would describe it as a community anchored in commerce. It is an online marketplace where buyers and sellers get together every single day to do business and then connect with each other about the items they are selling or the topics of the day. And obviously the amount of trade that is taking place on the platform is far beyond what Pierre or even I in the early days could ever have imagined.

One of the early, early founding principles was eBay was designed to be a level playing field where your next door neighbor has an equal chance of success with a large corporation.

So your next door neighbor pays the same fees to eBay as does a large corporation and their items compete side by side. 

It is a dynamic self- regulating economy you know some times we call it the eBay economy because with this auction format and with buyers and sellers breaking down the barriers of time and distance. Whatever that item sells for that minute that day on whatever part of eBay is the market price for that item. It is real time pricing on things, that never had a real time market before.

We thought maybe in the early days that this was a uniquely American concept. But really by the time I got here in 1998 we had users from over 100 countries. And they were using eBay.com in English. And that was sort of a tip off that maybe this concept was extensible to other countries.

Today we have localized eBay sites in 31 countries outside the United States. Those are contained communities they trade with one another, but they also trade across the boarder. And it’s now a very big part of our business. It’s almost half of our eBay business. It’s these eBay trading communities outside the United States. And it’s a totally unique marketplace that was developed only because the web came into being. It isn’t a land-based concept that got put onto the web like so many businesses. This was a business that could only exist because of the web. And it’s that very special intersection of commerce and community. And I think most of our users around the world find it to be entertaining and fun and exciting. And they can find items that they never thought they could find. And items of a real value.

IT’S ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY

BURT WOLF: The existence of a community, a group of people with shared interests and beliefs is central to the story of shopping, and the larger the community the greater its economic impact.

Communities are not new. Tradeshows are communities by trade; the diamond district in New York is a community.

Women who buy shoes by Manolo Blahnik are a community. They wear them. They seem to collect them.

Community is also at the heart of shopping in cyberspace. When eBay was launched it created a community of users who included their e-mail addresses so they could communicate directly. There was even a message board on the site so any one person could communicate with everyone else.

In 1996, Jim Griffith was working as an administrative assistant to a non-profit arts organization in West Rutland, Vermont. And he was looking for an unusual type of computer chip. When he found it on eBay and had the winning bid at 10 dollars his life began to change.

JIM GRIFFITH ON CAMERA: So what happened from there is that whole summer of 1996 I was spending more time everyday on eBay as opposed to doing things like finding a job or finding work.

So by the end of the summer I was spending about 90 hours a week on the site.

What I ended up doing was spending a lot of time on this chat board that the founder of eBay Pierre Omidyar put up where people could talk and share information. And as people, new people, would come on I would welcome them and show them how to list pictures, how to write a description, how to deal with customers and get them up and running on eBay.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What are you doing now?

JIM GRIFFITH ON CAMERA: Telling people how to list items, how to take pictures, and it’s still a lot of fun.

BURT WOLF: Eventually, Jim came to work at eBay and wrote The Official eBay Bible. A how-to manual for everyone from a first time user to someone who wants to run a business on eBay. 

JIM GRIFFITH ON CAMERA: Well PayPal is an online payment service which allows buyers and sellers to send funds to each other through credit card funding or bank account funding without ever giving away the details of each others financial information.

It’s safe and it’s secure, it’s very quick. It’s easy to set up a PayPal account, and then when you find something you can pay for it using PayPal and then it’s just a few clicks away. And once the seller has the money they’ll ship the items to you. So it really speeds things up the whole transaction process.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: From the very beginning it was set up to be a “virtual” business, no inventory, no retail outlets, no warehouses. Just a group of like-minded people hanging out in cyberspace. The founders believed that most people were honest most of the time, but just to encourage them in that direction they set up the Feedback Forum.

JIM GRIFFITH ON CAMERA: Feedback’s really interesting. See if you go to any listing you can find a seller or a buyer. Everyone on eBay has a feedback. Let’s just open up an item and look at some of these feedbacks. This is their user ID. You’ll see the number that indicates the number of their current score of feedback. And then underneath it a positive feedback rating, which this seller is excellent. If you want to read the actual feedback profile just click the number in the parentheses. This will show you their feedback score and profile. They have no negatives to speak of. They have had eleven positives in the past month. And you can view what people have written by just scrolling down and looking at the comments. These are ordered chronologically in the order they are received.

BURT WOLF: Many of the early users of eBay were collectors…stamps, pottery, antiques, coins. They were part of a community and enjoyed talking to each other and buying and selling within the group. Once again, community was an essential part of shopping. 

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT STORE

BURT WOLF: Ebay was also interested in any area where they could make the market more efficient like automobiles.

Simon Rothman, was a strategic planner for eBay and had a strong passion for cars. 

SIMON ROTHMAN ON CAMERA: If you go back to early 1999 eBay was a collectibles only site. We were looking to expand beyond that. And as it turns out while we were thinking and analyzing and doing all the business stuff you do, the community themselves were actually already starting to buy and sell cars.

If you looked in the dye cast toy category, right next to the toy 355 Ferrari dye cast you saw a real Ferrari being sold on the site.

We launched the business in mid 1999 and it evolved from there to exotics and high line vehicles and today it’s a place where every day people can buy and sell everyday cars.

BURT WOLF: New cars, used cars?

SIMON ROTHMAN: Used cars, we sold this year on the run rate of doing about 10 billion dollars and we sell about a car every minute.

The same concept that works here in the U.S. in terms of buying is working very well internationally. The consumers wanting to be in the center of the industry, having a level playing field, having a fare price and broadening the scope of the market place. All of those play really well internationally. 

BURT WOLF: Adam Cohen is on the editorial board of The New York Times and the author of The Perfect Store -- A Case Study of eBay.

ADAM COHEN ON CAMERA: e-Bay has a fine line to walk, is it started as this very idealistic, really anti-authoritarian site. And that has always attracted people to it. You know, even the strange colors of its logo, everything about it is a little bit funky and anti-authoritarian. And people have loved it for that. The challenge e-Bay has always had is to keep that, communitarian values and so forth, while also making it a rigorous business that meets the quarterly earnings requirements of Wall Street. 

e-Bay remains the most successful thing to come out of the dotcom revolution. It is growing by leaps and bounds. Its stock is doing incredibly. And its globalization is remarkable. The idea that everywhere from Germany to China, people are buying and selling on e-Bay. This is really the culmination of Pierre Omidyar 's dream, which was to create a global market place, e-Bay is now a global marketplace.

BURT WOLF: From the ancient markets of Europe to cyberspace…shopping is constantly evolving.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: How you shop can express who you are, or who you want to be, both as an individual and as a society. Shopping can be the basis of your own evolution or your society’s revolution. For Travels & Traditions, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The History and Science of Shopping - #505

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Originally people traveled because they were looking for something to eat or it looked like something was going to eat them. The idea of traveling for pleasure is only about 200 years old. But from the very beginning people were asking two key questions. “Where should I eat and where should I shop?” I’ve got a pretty good grip on where you should eat. So I thought it was time to take a look at the story of shopping.

BURT WOLF: These days the world epicenter for shopping is New York City. It’s the place to see shopping in all its forms. You can shop in Bergdorf Goodman…a palace of American fashion. It was originally designed to look like a series of apartments so customers could see what the clothes would look like on them when they wore them at home…

WOMAN SHOPPER ON CAMERA: Nice hat right?!

BURT WOLF: …or perhaps even more important what they would look like when they wore them to someone else’s home.

You can shop in an elegant boutique like Akris, where Swiss designer, Albert Krimler presents his classic work.

TOBIAS MEYER (AUCTIONEER) ON CAMERA: Let’s start the bidding here at 15 million dollars…

BURT WOLF: You can shop at an auction house like Sotheby’s, where they have been reshuffling the good stuff for over two hundred and fifty years.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: Sold! Thank you sir.

BURT WOLF: You can shop for one of Donald Trump’s million dollar apartments. But you’d better keep shopping.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: If we are fearful about the future we stop shopping, which hurts the economy, which makes us even more fearful about the future. So we shop even less, and that is why government and industry are always saying to us “everything is going to be just fine as long as we keep shopping”.

BURT WOLF: But where and when did all this shopping get started? And why do we shop the way we do?

MEN ARE FROM HOME DEPOT. WOMEN ARE FROM WALMART

BURT WOLF: In the beginning there was no shopping; just hunting and gathering. Men did most of the hunting and women did most of the gathering. And they did things very differently. Guys wanted to get what they were after and get home as fast as possible. Researchers believe that early man hunted only three times a week and each time lasted only 45 minutes. Women were the gatherers. They gathered in groups for long periods of time, and they exchanged valuable information during the process. Skip the bananas when they are green, they’ll give you a stomachache. Keep an eye on the bears, they’ll show you where to find honey. For women it was all about detail, and sharing, and there was no big rush. Today’s industrialized societies have replaced hunting and gathering with shopping.

Most men shop the way their ancestors hunted. They see shopping as something they need to do in order to get on to something else. It’s about meeting some immediate need. They don’t see shopping as a valuable activity that gives them a sense of accomplishment.

Women on the other hand, tend to shop the way their ancestors gathered. They see shopping as a serious activity that gives them a clear sense of achievement. But there is also a biological explanation for the difference in the way men and women shop. Men and woman have different brain structures.

Most women have more brain per ounce of body weight than men. In addition, the connections between the two sides of the female brain are better developed. That appears to give women the ability to deal with more detail than men. Woman can take in more of what’s going on, process that information more effectively, and communicate their findings with greater speed and accuracy.

WOMAN SHOPPER ON CAMERA: Gramwiches?

BURT WOLF: faced with an environment that is filled with thousand of things, a woman can pick out what is important and respond quickly, and she can do that while she is surrounded by children,

WOMAN SHOPPER ON CAMERA: O’s?

BURT WOLF: An extraordinary skill and I believe central to the survival of our species. Men seem to deal with the world in a much more compartmentalized way.

BUTCHER ON CAMERA: How you doing sir?

CUSTOMER ON CAMERA: All right how are you?

BUTCHER ON CAMERA: How can I help you today?

CUSTOMER ON CAMERA: I’d like some chicken sausage: Hot Italian. Two links, packaged separately if you will.

BURT WOLF: When we look back at the time when we were hunter-gatherers we tend to celebrate the strength, the skill and the daring of male hunters rather than female gatherers, but the truth is, that hunters only brought in 15 percent of the food that was necessary to survive. The other 85 percent came from the women gathering.

The only place where men shop like women and women shop like men is on the Internet. Men wander into cyberspace like women into a department store. They go from one department or screen to the next … just looking. 

Women shop the Internet much more like men in a traditional store. They check out what’s available, determine that the price is appropriate, add it to their virtual cart and get out. 

MONEY COULDN’T BUY YOU LOVE OR MUCH ELSE

BURT WOLF: These days, most people want to make as much money as they can and use almost all of it to buy things. But for most of human history people had the opposite approach.

almost everyone lived close to the land and survived on what they could grow or make themselves. It wasn’t that they didn’t love things; the problem was that there were very few things that money could buy. No one dreamed of a wallet filled with cash, or a big balanced checking account. They dreamed of having lots of land that they could farm, and fish and hunt.

unfortunately, it was almost impossible to be completely self-sufficient. You needed money for taxes, and things you couldn’t make yourself. So markets and trading fairs opened and you traded the surplus from your land for money.

After a while, the kings, and the dukes, and money men who ran the fairs decided that life would be more convenient if they all lived in the same neighborhood. So they moved their homes to be near each other and in the process they ended up building the great power centers…London, Paris, Rome.

It was during this time that fashion became important, not only to the nobility, but to the general public. Cities filled up with craftsmen…tailors, boot makers, and jewelers were making great stuff. Of course, they had been making great stuff for hundreds of years but they had always been making it inside someone’s palace. Most people never saw the great stuff. For the first time buying things became a public activity.

The next important development in the history of shopping was the introduction of “small change”. Sounds like a small thing but it was huge. It made it possible to purchase things that were low in price.

BURT WOLF TO CAMERA: During the middle ages, the most common coin available and for the most part the only coin available in England, was a silver penny. But if you went into a tavern to buy yourself a beer, a silver penny bought you a gallon. So the introduction of small change was a big change and the number of transactions rapidly increased.

Here’s looking at you guys.

BAR CUSTOMER ON CAMERA: Thanks for the beer Burt.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That’s what you get for a silver penny.

FAR-FETCHED IDEAS

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: If you were looking for a specific time and place where just buying things turned into shopping the time period would be the hundred years between 1550 and 1650. And the place would be London. Three important things happened.

BURT WOLF: The population of London went from 60,000 to 400,000…so they had lots of people. But it was not just about numbers. Many of those people were rich, so there was a concentration of money. More people with more money demanding more stuff … the critical mass for the birth of real shopping had been reached.

In London and Paris and Rome and other cities where there was a great concentration of money and power the most impressive things to buy were those that had been imported. Sellers described them as being “fetched from afar” or “far-fetched”.

London became the hot spot for far-fetched goods. Dealers came to London from all over Europe offering silks from China, glass from Venice, linens from Flanders, and furs from Russia.

Today, New York is the place for far-fetched goods, and one of the cities most far-fetched places is Tender Buttons.

So how did you get into the button business?

MILLICENT SAFRO ON CAMERA: Really accidentally. Found a lot of buttons in an old Hungarian man’s shop the size of a closet. Bought the buttons to have an art event. People came in and asked for buttons for their clothing. And we found we were in business.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: So, you started as an artist and wandered into business.

MILLICENT SAFRO ON CAMERA: Wandered in. Absolutely.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Show me some of your favorites.

MILLICENT SAFRO ON CAMERA: These absolutely beautiful 19th Century enamel buttons, which are gentlemen’s pursuits of the 19th Century. There’s women, sailing, hunting, and horse racing.

BURT WOLF: So, it hasn’t changed very much.

MILLICENT SAFRO ON CAMERA: This is a fascinating button. They’re buttons that were made for the inauguration of George Washington’s, the first and second inauguration of George Washington’s presidency. They’re buttons that go over into American history. The top one says, “Long live the President” and the bottom one are the original 13 States, which are linked. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I like these a lot. In case anybody tells me to get lost, I don’t have to worry, I got a compass on my button. 

NEW STUFF FOR OLD MONEY

BURT WOLF: For most of history, everything that was available for sale was made by hand which was usually slow and expensive. Suddenly the Industrial Revolution that took place in England during the second half of the 1700s changed that. Machines were producing things on a mass scale and at lower prices than ever before.

More people started making more money. More things, and more money, meant more shopping. In 1781 the firm of Asprey was founded and soon became a perfect example of the shop designed for the serious upscale shopper. It bridged the space between the old money customer who expected the craftsman to come to his country castle and the new money customer who wanted the same quality craftwork but wanted it to be easily available in London. Asprey had its own team of craftsmen and most of them worked above the store.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The people with the new money wanted the same great stuff as the people with the old money. But the people with the old money didn’t like that. I mean after all, what is the point of being the King if everybody has what you have just because they can pay for it? That was the attitude in London and it was pretty much the same thing in Paris. The stores had the new stuff but they only wanted to sell it to people with the old money.

BURT WOLF: The French Revolution, however, changed things. The extensive use of the guillotine during the Revolution eliminated a large number of upscale shoppers and altered the retail climate.

The French Revolution had an amazing effect on shopping. Manufacturers of luxury items who for centuries had earned their money by selling to the aristocratic families of Europe were suddenly offering their goods to anyone who could afford them. The London shops were slow to accept the idea of new money and while they were busy resisting, Paris opened up and became the new shopping capital of the western world.

Today the Anthropologie stores throughout the United States reflect the new attitude. The environment has a sense of adventure and found treasures. The customer is invited to wander through different environments that connect them to distant places and the past. 

LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND A GOOD DEAL

BURT WOLF: Today we expect to see price tags on things. But it was the shops of Paris that accepted the idea of putting a fixed price on merchandise long before most other cities. It made shopping even easier. You could check the price tag, skip the bargaining and get right to the buying.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When we think about famous department stores we usually think about the great department stores of New York City. But it was in Paris that the department store first got started. In 1859, an entire building was constructed just for shopping. It was called Le Bon Marche, “the good deal”.

BURT WOLF: Department stores began to show up in cities all over the world, but it was the introduction of ready-to-wear clothing that made them the great retail establishments they eventually became.

JOHN WILLIAM COOKE ON CAMERA: Sea captains, in particular, were Henry Sands Brooks and Brooks Brothers first customers. And they didn’t spend a lot of time on land. And they had the first practical need for ready-to-wear. Brooks saw this opportunity for ready made. So a sea captain could come in, identify a garment that he wanted, get it altered within a couple days, and be back at work. Brooks really developed a business model based on a kind of new, commercial America. Not only was American capitalism needing ready-made clothing, but also the other part of the essential America, which was kind of American democracy needed it as well, because high quality clothing was something that sort of identified you as an upwardly mobile individual, and upward mobility was becoming a really, really important thing in the first half of the 19th Century.

ATTENTION SHOPPERS

BURT WOLF: The 20th century introduced the golden age of shopping. People learned that shopping was a leisure time activity and that going into a store with a specific idea of what you planned to buy was not an essential part of the experience. Just looking became the national pastime. But if you did buy something you had to bring it home.

In 1961 Bloomingdale’s Department store introduced the first designer shopping bags. And Andy Warhol made the whole thing into an art form.

The bags you carry your stuff in have become a symbol of your social status.

During the 1700s, English manufacturers of table china began offering their products through mail order catalogues. But the father of modern mail order was Aaron Montgomery Ward, who in 1872 began mailing his catalogue to millions of American farmers who did not have easy access to large retail stores. The Ward catalogue weighed over 4 pounds and became known as the “farmer’s bible”, once again confirming that shopping can be an almost religious experience.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: These days tens of thousands of different catalogs are mailed to hundreds of millions of homes and they bring in billions of dollars. It’s a business.

BURT WOLF: If the Montgomery Ward catalogue was a logical response to what was needed by America’s rural population then the His & Her sections of the Neiman Marcus catalogue was the logical response to what was totally un-needed by everyone. How about a set of His & Her camels?

In 1960 the catalogue offered His & Her planes. A rancher from west Texas wrote in, saying that he already had a plane of his own but if they would break up the pair, he like to buy one for his wife. Neiman Marcus was pleased to be of service.

Four years later they offered His & Her hot air balloons. A pink air truck powered hers. They also taught you how to fly them. Stanley Marcus turned this publication into a national event with its most outrageous items being covered by the media.

This is Sotheby’s auction house in New York City, and its business is based on a simple premise…there is a limited amount of great stuff and in most cases it’s one of a kind. From time to time the people who own these things want to sell them but more than one person wants to buy them. So Sotheby’s job is to auction them off to the highest bidder. What Sotheby’s does is reshuffle the goodies. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The first documented auction took place about 2,500 years ago in Babylonia. A bunch of guys were locked into competitive bidding for a wife…kind of like an early version of The Bachelor. Five hundred years later in Ancient Rome, when an Ancient Roman soldier dispatched an enemy to the afterlife he had the right to auction off the possessions of that enemy, often right on the battle field.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: And here he is. The Boy With The Pipe from 1905. Start the bidding at 55 million dollars, 56 million dollars. . .

BURT WOLF: But auctions did not become a big deal until the end of the 1600s when the British started using the system to sell works of art in coffee houses.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: At 70 million dollars then. Are we done? 71…

BURT WOLF: Sotheby’s was the first of the great auction houses. It opened in London in 1744. Today it is the largest auction house in the world with sales of about 2 billion dollars a year.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: At 75 million dollars then. Are we done? I’m happy to wait.

BURT WOLF: You can come into any of its auctions; you can bid by telephone or over the Internet using eBay’s Live Auction service.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: 80 New bidder. There we are, at 80 million dollars. So Warren what should we say? 81, 82…

BURT WOLF: To a certain extent today’s great auctioneers work in an environment filled with dueling, confrontation, and set rules of engagement. Tobias Meyer and Hugh Hildesley are two of the masters. 

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: Last chance at 93 million dollars. Thank you Warren. 

TOBIAS MEYER: The great thing about auctions is that you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s the element of surprise and it’s the element also of fulfilling your desire. That is the key to auction… also the key to success of auctions.

HUGH HILDESLEY ON CAMERA: I remember many, many years ago in Wilmington, it was the most extraordinary thing I’d been asked to sell. It was a ton of horse manure. We don’t do this at Sotheby’s. Or we try not to anyhow. So there I was offering a ton of horse manure. And there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of interest. So I said to the audience, who were making a huge amount of noise, and not in the least bit interested in what I was saying. I said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m offering a ton of horse manure. The important thing you need to realize is, it can be delivered to any address. So you can deliver it to somebody else’s garden, on their front drive, and it’s a good opportunity to make a surprise in their lives.” Whereupon it took off of course. Everyone got the idea and so we sold our ton of manure.

TOBIAS MEYER ON CAMERA: At three million, five hundred thousand dollars ; three million six hundred thousand dollars, three million seven…

HUGH HILDESLEY ON CAMERA: Do people have secret signals? Yes, they do. Because very often the bidder wants to remain anonymous. Doesn’t want to be seen bidding by their competition, be it another collector or a dealer. 

A lot of people worry of course in coming to an auction that if you scratch your nose you’ll be mistaken for a bidder. A good auctioneer will say to the person if they’re worried about whether it’s bid or not, they will say, “Are you bidding?” Needless to say, they don’t say, “Are you scratching?”

BURT WOLF: The end of The Second World War was greeted with a huge demand for homes…a demand that was met with the introduction of the planned suburb. 

NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER: And now lets go to Levittown. A modern garden community in Long Island New York. A community designed for modern living.

BURT WOLF: Millions of American families settled into gigantic housing developments. They got the home they were dreaming about but they also got a rather isolated and often boring environment. 

Selling jewelry, encyclopedias, and cookware at home shopping parties had been around since the early 1930s. But when Tupperware took to the suburbs the business exploded. TRUST ME, IT’S YOU

BURT WOLF: A personal shopper is someone who does the shopping for another person or at the very least helps them shop. Department stores have been offering the service for years. But the hot thing these days is to have a fashion stylist -- someone who worries about every aspect of your appearance.

PHILLIP BLOCH ON CAMERA: So Natalia it’s great to meet you.

NATALIA WOLF (WOMAN SHOPPER) ON CAMERA: Hi Phillip, it’s wonderful to meet you. 

PHILLIP BLOCH ON CAMERA: Thank you. So you have to think of me as your fashion doctor. I’m the Doctor Phil of Fashion.

BURT WOLF: Phillip Bloch has the ability to make other people look great. He is a stylist to some of the biggest names in Hollywood. In the 1990’s stylists worked backstage dressing models for photo shoots but Hollywood made them stars in their own right.

PHILLIP BLOCH ON CAMERA: Wow that Catherine Malandrino dress looks great. And it’s a halter see.

NATALIA WOLF ON CAMERA: My God, I never had thought.

PHILLIP BLOCH ON CAMERA: This is beautiful it’s really great I love the color. Wow that looks absolutely gorgeous. This is probably my favorite. I’m feeling like this might be the winner. A star is born.

BURT WOLF: Shopping is how we express our very complex relationship to stuff. On the simplest level we shop because we need things to survive. But the house you buy, the suit or dress you wear, and the car you drive, carry meanings that go way beyond their function. They help us say who we are and who we want to be. We are shaped and in turn shape the world around us through our shopping.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: We tend to trivialize shopping: “I shop therefore I am,” “I shop till I drop.” But in fact, knowing how to shop properly, how to get the most for your limited resources can be essential to your survival and the economic survival of your society.

For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Mexico City - #504

BURT WOLF: Every culture, from the most primitive hunter-gatherers to the most sophisticated societies, have land that they consider sacred. Holy places charged with a divine energy. These sites remain important locations in the history of religion and they continue to inspire spiritual feelings.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I wanted to know “why”? Why do certain places become sacred sites, and others don’t? What were they before? Why do millions of people visit them each year? I started out as a journalist researching a story, and I ended up as a pilgrim.

MEXICO CITY

BURT WOLF: Mexico City has been called a city of miracles and for good reason. Twenty million people live in a valley that is over 7,000 feet above sea level. It was built on top of an ancient Aztec capital, which was built on top of a lake, so the whole place is slowly sinking. Each year, thousands of new residents arrive, increasing the stress on every aspect of life in the city.

And yet, Mexico City has some of the world’s most interesting museums, excavations of

ancient temples, extraordinary Baroque churches, colonial palaces, magnificent parks, and great restaurants.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The fact that Mexico City functions as well as it does is a miracle. A complex urban miracle but never the less a miracle. Mexico City is also a center for religious miracles, miracles that date back for hundreds of years.

FEAST DAY MEXICO CITY

BURT WOLF: The epicenter for miracles in Mexico City is the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the hill of Tepeyac, at the edge of town. 

Her story goes back to 1531. In front of the shrine is a life-sized mechanical presentation of the story. An Indian named Juan Diego was passing the hill of Tepeyac, when the Virgin Mary appeared. She told him to go to the bishop of Mexico and instruct the bishop to build a church on the hill. Diego told the bishop what had happened but the bishop asked him for proof. When Diego returned, the Virgin Mary sent him to the top of the hill to fill his cloak with flowers and carry them to the bishop. When Diego opened his cloak in front of the bishop, the flowers fell to the ground and revealed an image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on the cloak. The bishop considered this to be the miraculous sign that he had asked for and the church was built.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is venerated throughout the Americas, but the events that take place each year on her feast day, December 12th, here in Mexico City, are remarkable. During a three-day period over five million people make a pilgrimage to this hill. They come to pray for help for themselves or for someone they love. They come on their knees, from miles away, to show their devotion. Young, old, sick, well, they all arrive asking for our lady of Guadalupe to enter their lives.

THE NATIONAL SHRINE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BURT WOLF: Mexico City may be the world’s epicenter for the festivities surrounding Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day, but The National Shrine in Washington D.C. is a close second.

The largest Catholic Church in the Western Hemisphere and one of the largest in the world is the Basilica of The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington. It stands as a tribute to the Virgin Mary. The Shrine’s architects chose a Byzantine-Romanesque design in order to reflect the traditions of church art and architecture. The cornerstone was laid in 1920 and the Great Upper Church was completed and dedicated in 1959.

Each year over seven hundred and fifty thousand people visit this magnificent sanctuary.

The Basilica honors The Virgin Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception. The sacred art is also designed to show that the United States is an ethnic melting pot.

Reverend Monsignor Michael J. Bransfield is the Rector of the Basilica.

MONSIGNOR MICHAEL J. BRANSFIELD ON CAMERA: After Christ, the greatest saint in the history of the church is his mother, his Blessed mother. And the devotion to Mary, no one competes with, in a worldwide phenomenon for the Catholic Church. 

The devotion to Mary goes back millennium and to the early Church. So as a result, it is the greatest devotion.

She goes across cultures, she goes across nationalities, and she sort of penetrates the whole Catholic culture totally.

People are looking to her to cure them from their illnesses, to understand the suffering they’re going through, because she has the image of the mother. So mother as a protector and a healer, there are her to normal functions. 

Today it is the most popular chapel. If you go into Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel, there are always flowers there… and they’re always being brought in by somebody. It’s really a lively place of devotion that enriches that chapel. It was always a beautiful chapel, but it’s much more beautiful with the people in it, as is true of any chapel.

BURT WOLF: The building contains more than sixty chapels and oratories that reflect the religious heritage brought to America by generations of catholic immigrants.

Each year hundreds of Hispanic residents of the Washington D.C. area march to The National Shrine and attend a special mass dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

THE TILMA TOUR

BURT WOLF: Because the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was impressed on a cloak that was made of a coarse and easily damaged fabric, and subjected to years of handling, it was eventually placed in a protective shrine.

If you want to see the Tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe you go to Tepeyac, she no longer travels. One result of her continuing residence in one place has been a growing interest in copies of the image.

And the more exact the copy, the more it was thought to invite the assistance of the “real” Mary. In fact, several precise copies became pilgrimage sites on their own. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the cloak is filled with elements that speak to both the native population of Mexico as well as those of Spanish decent.

Arturo Rocha Cortes is an expert on the subject.

ATURO ROCHA CORTÉS ON CAMERA: What we have here is a collection of symbols which were as meaningful to the Spaniards as they were to the native Indians. Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s appearance was important for both groups. 

The first element we see is her face. It is a mixed face of Spanish and Indian. A union between the two groups which had previously been separated by a wall of hate and misunderstanding. 

To an Indian in the 1550s, there were many interesting elements. The Spanish saw a flower, but the Indians saw the symbol of the mountain of Tepeyac. In the language of the Aztecs, Tepeyac means nose or mountain’s peak and if we look closer you can see the shape. It is a mountain with a nose. The Indians believed that the river of life came from this mountain. Our Lady of Guadalupe is also a source of life. A black ribbon was the Indian sign of a pregnant woman.

The Spanish saw Our Lady’s feet on an Angel or a Cherub, but the Indians saw a deity they recognized as part of their ancient religion. The Angel is a symbol of the union between the two religions. The Spanish saw Our Lady embracing the sun, a symbol of Jesus. But the natives saw a symbol from their calendar, which promised great change. Our Lady was bringing the Indians the message of Jesus. 

More than anything else the picture of Our Lady is the blending together of Spanish and Aztec images.

BURT WOLF: The importance of those copies has continued, but during 2003 and 2004 a piece of the actual Tilma traveled throughout the United States.

The piece of cloth from the cloak is small, only an inch square. But size is not the issue. This is about power. And for the faithful, any single piece of the cloak contains all the power of the image. A power that arrives from a supernatural place.

The Tilma Tour was made possible through the efforts of The Knights of Columbus, an organization I heard about but I never really knew what they did.

THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

BURT WOLF: Most of the immigrants who came to the United States during the 1800s were single men. But when the Irish potato crop failed in 1845 and hundreds of thousands of Irish men and woman fled to America many came as families. And of the others who did not come as families, there were almost the same number of men as women, which allowed for the immediate formation

of more families. The Irish American community developed a strong identity from the moment they came ashore.

Patrick and Mary McGivney were typical of the Irish families that arrived during the mid-1800’s.

Patrick landed with very few skills and with almost no money, but like most of his fellow immigrants he showed up with the need and the willingness to work. The great infrastructure that allowed the American economy to dominate the 20th century—the railroads, the canals, amazing works like the Brooklyn Bridge, were all built with major contributions from Irish workers. 

The McGivneys settled in Waterbury Connecticut and Pat became a molder in a nearby brass mill.

They were not faced with the prospect of starvation which haunted them in Ireland but they did live in the grip of poverty.

Their oldest child Michael grew up in a community filled with the sorrow that comes along with scarcity.

When he was thirteen years old he went to work in a spoon-making factory so he could contribute a few dollars towards the family’s survival. At sixteen he left the mill and began his studies for the priesthood.

On Christmas Day, 1877, Father McGivney began his ministry as Curate of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven Connecticut.

It was a time when parish clubs were popular. For the most part, they were social organizations that gave the Irish community a chance to hangout. But Father McGivney saw them as an opportunity to build a fund that would provide for the financial needs of families that were overwhelmed by illness or death. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Father McGivney began working with a group of Civil War Veterans that had come to the United States from Ireland. They wanted to form an organization that would help protect their families during times of stress and they called their group The Knights of Columbus. They wanted to make the point that they themselves were still struggling for equality in our own country, but they were now in the new world.

BURT WOLF: Today, The Knights of Columbus combine fraternalism and an insurance program that meets Father McGivney’s vision of support for families in trouble. There are one million seven hundred thousand Knights and during the past ten years they have contributed over one billion dollars and four hundred million hours of volunteer service to charitable causes.

The head of the Knights of Columbus is Carl Anderson.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What are the Knights doing these days?

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: Well, we’re doing a lot. We’ve raised about 128 million dollars for charity, volunteer about 60 million hours a year. And we’ve got hundreds of different projects at the local level, helping the handicap, helping children, working in schools and communities. We want to get people opening their hearts more to charity and get men involved in doing very practical things that they can do to help people in their community.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It’s tough to teach guys about love, huh?

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: Well, sometimes, but sometimes it’s giving guys an opportunity to express it. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Knights were part of the original USO.

CARL ANDERSON ON CAMERA: By the end of the First World War, we had over 200 facilities for the servicemen in the United States, in the western and eastern fronts in Europe. And our slogan was, “everyone welcome, everything free.” And we thought we would help those guys when they were serving the country. But also, make a statement about religious tolerance, and the fact that really we’re one country and we can serve together and actually enjoy things together as well.

THE HILL OF TEPEYAC

BURT WOLF: For over 300 years, the faithful have been constructing churches on the hill of Tepeyac. Padre Gustavo Watson is an expert on the hill’s history.

PADRE GUSTAVO WATSON ON CAMERA: At the very top of the hill is the Old Basilica. It is on this spot where the first three apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe took place. During the 1600s a small church was put up to commemorate the site. And during the 1700s this great temple was built.

Just down the hill is one of the great examples of Mexican Baroque architecture. It was built in 1791 with an unusual plan around an ancient spring. The well’s waters were thought to have curative powers. The water has dried up but not the people’s love of this small church.

This is the Antigua Basilica. Its construction was started in 1695 and it soon became the most important place of devotion in New Spain. When a Viceroy was sent from Europe to take control of Spain’s possessions in the New World, this was the spot where he took power.

THE NEW BASILICA

BURT WOLF: Like many old buildings in and around Mexico City the foundation of the Old Basilica is slowly sinking. When it became dangerous a new basilica was built nearby.

It was completed in 1976 and can hold over 10,000 people. It’s the most visited Catholic sanctuary in the World. It stands in the form of a tent, a reference to the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. The circular plan allows the image of the Virgin to be seen from any point in the building.

A slow-moving pedestrian walkway carries you past the Virgin. 

The architects knew that every day thousands of people would want to stand in front of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and if they didn’t find a way of moving the people along they’d be in big trouble.

Services take place throughout the day, but tourists also wander in and out of the building to view the architecture and the image.

QUIET & SECLUSION

BURT WOLF: When I started this program I talked about the somewhat frantic pace of Mexico City. But while I was working here, we stayed at The Four Seasons, which is an oasis of quiet and seclusion. You enter into a marble lined lobby that feels like a Spanish colonial mansion. And the staff treats you like you were a colonial governor, a colonial governor before the revolution…that’s an important point.

One reason for the peacefulness is the architecture of the building. The structure wraps around a cloistered courtyard that is filled with flowers and a central fountain.

At one corner of the courtyard is the hotel’s bar, which has the feeling of a library in London.

But behind that reserved exterior is one of the world’s great collections of Mezcal and Tequila.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Indians who lived near Guadalajara were known as “Tequilas” or “Tequilos” which means “hill of lava or hill of volcanic stone”. Then they cultivated the blue Agave plant, which they used to make a fermented beverage which they called mezcal. Today it’s the specialty of the Mexican area known as Oaxaca. And they believed that it had a mystical quality and I think it does too, because I just had a sip and now I know where all my cavities are.

BURT WOLF: When the Spanish arrived, they took the mezcal and distilled it into Tequila which can be as sophisticated and subtle as any Brandy. And this bar serves over a hundred different Tequilas.

Next to the bar is the hotels’ restaurant, which is called Reforma 500. Reforma has a general menu based on the classic dishes of the Mediterranean.

But it also has a tasting menu with dishes that go back to the foods of Mexico before the Spanish arrived.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The guacamole goes onto the tortilla. The sauce goes onto the guacamole. The ants go onto the the Ants, the Ants? The ants go onto the sauce and you roll it up and it’s ready to eat. Now if you can get past the fact that this is not your normal source of protein, you’re gonna love it. And it proves once again that anything that is deep fried and salted tastes great. Didn’t think I was gonna do it, did ya?

BURT WOLF: They also have some excellent post-conquistador Mexican specialties: tortilla soup, Vera Cruz red snapper on tomato caper sauce, glazed chicken with pepper sauce, and sautéed chicken fajitas with bell peppers and onions.

The hotel can take you on a gastronomic tour, but it also specializes in cultural tours. They have a hotel historian that will accompany quests on special tours of the city’s cultural attractions. Each runs for about five hours.

There’s one that introduces you to the amazing artistic works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; another just deals with the great Mexican Muralists; there’s one to the magnificent Aztec ruins; and one to the Palace of Fine Arts. There are over a dozen cultural tours including the one to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

You couldn’t describe The Four Seasons as a Sacred Place but it does have some impressive healing powers.

SCIENCE BEHIND THE HEALING

BURT WOLF: There are thousands of people who believe they have been cured by Our Lady of Guadalupe and it would be easy to write off their stories as unscientific fantasy. But in fact, there is a considerable amount of medical evidence to indicate that these miraculous recoveries take place.

Over thirty years ago, Dr. Herbert Benson, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, took a group of researchers to Tibet so they could study the relationship of spiritual beliefs to mind-body control. The ultimate question: could your mind heal your body?

DR. HERBERT BENSON ON CAMERA: I’m a cardiologist by training, and early in my career, I noticed that people were coming to me and I was finding disproportionately high blood pressures in my office, and I wondered what was going on here. I was consistently overmedicating them. So I went back to Harvard Medical School, from which I had recently graduated, to see whether or not I couldn’t set up an animal model for stress-induced high blood pressure. We were successful. And then some young people came to me and said, “Why are you fooling around with monkeys?” These were the animals I was studying. “Please, investigate us.”

And we found that when a person meditated, repeating his or her focus, there was decreased metabolism, decreased heart rate, decreased rate of breathing, a quietude in the muscles. They were less tense. And this was a state that had never really been described before.

Then we searched to see whether or not these two steps hadn’t been described before. Every single culture of humankind that had a written history had these two steps within them. The first is a repetition, and that repetition can be a prayer. The other is a disregard of other thoughts when they come to mind. That repetition of a prayer of course involves belief.

People choose a word, often a prayer that they believe in. And that belief is religious. And you see, you’re hooking right in, or tying in, to the power of belief, on the part of the individual. And people will believe that it’s not only my inherent healing powers, but God-given healing powers that will bring about my healing. 

Historically these powers are normally tied to religious belief.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH

BURT WOLF: Are there gaps in the history of Our Virgin of Guadalupe? Do twenty-first century scientists question certain aspects of the story? Of course. It’s the job of historical scholars to question everything. However, it’s also essential to remember the importance of tradition. Often a tradition will have a life of its own and will not be easily subjected to scientific study. But having a vision of the Holy has been essential to human history.

It was the vision of the Holy that produced many of our greatest masterpieces of art and music.

And it is a vision of the Holy that motivates the faithful to risk everything to relieve the world’s suffering; to care for plague victims; to defend the rights of children; to go into war zones to feed the poor.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: History seems to tell us that the people who did most for us in this world were the people who thought the most about the next world. And that when we lose sight of the next world, we become ineffective in this one. 

BURT WOLF: Tepeyac is a sacred place and has been so for centuries. If you believe in a life beyond the one you are living now, then this place is a natural home for you. But no matter what you accept as true, a visit to Tepeyac will remind you of the importance of faith. Someone once said to me, you can think about a sacred place or you can think with it. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Taipei - #503

BURT WOLF: Taiwan is an island that sits about 120 miles off the coast of Mainland China.

It’s 250 miles long and about 90 miles wide at its widest point.

A chain of mountains form a spine down the center of the island with more than 200 peaks rising over 10,000 feet. The rain that falls on these mountains flows into rivers that bring water and soil to the sea-level plains that make up the western part of the island.

The fields are ideal for agriculture and for hundreds of years they have attracted farmers who came to Taiwan from Mainland China.

Taiwan has held on to most of the ancient principles of Chinese culture and at the same time incorporated the most modern aspects of western society.

Taiwan’s surface is clearly western. But just beneath that surface is a bedrock of ancient Chinese culture. And it is this ancient culture that supports the western façade.

You are never more than a few blocks away from a temple where gifts are offered to the gods and the gods respond with advice about your future.

Each morning the parks are filled with people practicing the art of Tai Chi.

They are balancing their mind and body.

For hundreds of years the Taiwanese have worked to balance the modern culture of the west with the ancient wisdom of China. In the process they have become masters at balancing almost everything.

About 23 million people live in Taiwan, and nearly 98 percent of them are ethnically Chinese, which means that at some point in the past, they or their ancestors came here from Mainland China.

From the middle of the 1600s to the end of the 1800s the island of Taiwan was ruled by the emperors of Mainland China.

In 1895, China ceded Taiwan to Japan at the end of the Sino-Japanese War.  Japan occupied Taiwan until the end of the Second World War when it was given back to China.

In 1949, the communists took control of Mainland China and hundreds of thousands of people left the Mainland and settled in Taiwan.

NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM

BURT WOLF: Very often when a community leaves its ancestral home and settles down in some other part of the world, it makes a great effort to preserve its ethnic history. The community wants to hang onto its culture, and to a great extent that is what has happened here in Taiwan.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: While the communists went through a period of trying to destroy every aspect of traditional Chinese culture, the Taiwanese were very busy preserving it. As a result, you can see more authentic features of traditional Chinese culture here in Taiwan than anywhere where else in the world. 

BURT WOLF: This is The National Palace Museum in Taipei. It opened in 1965 and holds over 700,000 works. They represent over 5,000 years of the most important arts and crafts. It is the largest collection of Chinese art in the world.

When the Japanese attacked China in 1931, the treasures were boxed and for 16 years shuttled around China to keep the Japanese from finding them. There were thousands of crates so this was a pretty serious shuttling.

After the Japanese surrendered in 1945 and it looked like the communists would take over China, 4,800 crates of the most valuable works were shipped to Taiwan for safekeeping. Amazingly, not a single piece was ever lost or damaged.

There are 4,400 ancient bronzes, 24,000 pieces of porcelain, 13,000 paintings, 14,000 works of calligraphy, 4,600 pieces of jade, and 153,000 palace records.

Most of the collection is held in storage rooms that were dug out of the mountain behind the museum. The objects are periodically rotated but it would take someone twelve years to see the entire collection.

THE FOUNDING

BURT WOLF: Taipei is not only the capital of Taiwan; it is the economic heart of the country. Until the mid-1960s, Taipei had few paved roads; today it is one of the most modern cities in Asia.

At the end of the Second World War, Chiang Kai-sheck led an exodus of soldiers, industrialists, craftsmen, artists and intellectuals across the Straights to Taiwan. Following Chiang’s death in 1975, a memorial was built to honor his contribution to the nation’s history. Today it’s a major tourist attraction.

Modern Taiwan is a world leader in the production of computer chips, chemicals, and hi-tech components.  It’s also the world’s leading manufacturer of laptop computers. Thirty-five percent of its university students study engineering and they are building a nation that reflects 21st century technology.

The engineers of Taiwan may be constructing some of the tallest buildings in the world but they also have their feet on the ground.

Many of the crossing lights give you a visual count down along with the image of a little green man walking. When it gets close to the end, the guy starts running, and so should you.

WHAT’S COOKING IN TAIWAN

BURT WOLF: Intellectuals and artists were not the only ones who left the Mainland for Taiwan. Many of the great chefs of Mainland China came along too. In fact, anyone interested in Chinese cuisine will find a greater variety and a higher quality here than anywhere else.

L.F. Huang is the master chef in charge of the Chinese kitchens of The Grand Formosa Regent in Taipei. I asked him to show me a classical dish from each of the most important regional cuisines of China.

He started with Cantonese. The food of Canton is considered to be light. It’s the most expensive, elaborate and exotic of Chinese regional cuisines. It uses seafood that has been lightly steamed. Often fruit is often mixed with seafood, chicken or pork.

If you like spicy food, Sichuan is your ticket. It uses lots of chili oils, hot sauces and dried chili peppers. The spiciness is often balanced with sweet and sour flavors. Taiwanese food combines cooking traditions from the Fujian province of China and Japan. It uses lots of local seafood—clams, oysters, and freshwater shrimp.

The most famous Taiwanese recipe is a noodle dish called Dan Dan Noodles. A fisherman invented the dish in 1895 during the months when the fish were not running. It’s a bowl of fresh noodles mixed with bean sprouts and seasoned with cilantro and a pork sauce, no fish.

The Hakka people came to Taiwan from northern china. Their dishes are considered peasant food. This dish of stir-fried eggplant is a good example.

Shanghai cuisine is known for seafood which is often combined with delicate vegetables.

The most famous dish from Peking is Peking duck. It’s sometimes called duck three ways because the crispy skin is served first, then the meat, and then a rich broth made from the bones. You’ll often find dishes in Peking that come with wheat pancakes or a sesame seed bun. That’s because in northern China, wheat flour is more common than rice. 

They also have a unique approach to fast food. This is the Ting Tai Fung dumpling house and there is always a line of people waiting to get in. In order to keep your waiting to a minimum the wait-staff starts waiting on you while you are waiting outside. They give you a menu and relay your order to the kitchen on their wireless intercoms.

While you were waiting the dumpling masters are doing their thing.

Table spotters on each of the restaurant’s four floors alert the outdoor wait-staff when your waiting is over. And you arrive at your table seconds before your food.

A great dumpling is juicy, the filling is packed with flavor, and the dough is thin and light. We had hot and sour soup, shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, vegetable dumplings, crab dumplings and for dessert, dumplings filled with a mash of sweet red beans. These are great dumplings and worth waiting for.

In addition to knowing what to eat, it’s helpful to know how to eat.

Rather than greeting someone by saying “how are you?” many Taiwanese will open a conversation by saying “Tsai Fon Le Mayo”, which means, “have you eaten yet?” The theory being that if you have eaten you’re okay, if you haven’t, there’s some kind of problem.

Dishes are shared, usually one dish for every diner.

Each person gets a bowl of rice. You take what you want from the communal dishes and place it on your rice using the serving spoons rather than your chopsticks. 

It’s also polite to take the item nearest you.

Hold your rice bowl close to your face and use your chopsticks to move the food into your mouth. And never leave your chopsticks standing vertically in the rice bowl. It mimics the sticks of incense in a bowl of ashes and is considered a sign of death.

Though people will squabble over the bill, whoever invited the guests is expected to pay for the meal.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In Chinese culture, food is often used as a metaphor to make a point. A great Taoist teacher once said that a government should govern its country the way you fry a small fish.

Don’t turn things over too much. Keep the heat low. Be careful and delicate.

Considering the economic condition of some of the governments in the United States. It’s probably a good idea to add the point that it’s helpful to be able to pay for the fish before you cook it.

GRAND FORMOSA REGENT

BURT WOLF: The word “Formosa” is Portuguese and it means “beautiful island”. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to see the island of Taiwan and Formosa was what they called it.

While I was in Taiwan, I stayed at the Grand Formosa Regent.  The hotel is part of The Four Seasons Regent Group which is the largest luxury hotel and resort group in the world.

Like other institutions in Taiwan, the Grand Formosa is faced with the challenge of balancing the traditional values of Chinese culture with the demands of modern society and it has had an interesting response. The public areas of the hotel are wide open and spacious. It’s what the ancient emperors liked to come home to after a hard day of managing the empire.

But the emperors also liked to keep in touch.

So the entire building is equipped with wireless Internet service. You can set up your computer laptop anywhere in the hotel and connect with the worldwide web.

The emperors spent a lot of time stretching out in bed or on couches so pillows were very important.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: There’s a hard pillow, a tealeaf pillow, a goose down pillow, a memory pillow, a wood pillow, an air pillow, a non-allergic pillow and a feather pillow. Accordingly, the Regent offers you a selection of eight different pillows.

BURT WOLF: Emperors liked to be physically pampered.

They would have loved the Regent’s Wellspring Spa. The idea was to create a relaxing coddling environment right in the center of the city.

The emperors were into food. No problem.

The Regent has ten different restaurants.

Lan Ting offers elegant Chinese cooking with a special emphasis on the traditional foods of Shanghai.

The Brasserie has an all-day buffet. You can pop in for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. It was originally opened for hotel guests but over the years it has become a favorite eating spot for locals who come here throughout the day.

Robin’s Teppan is a traditional teppanyaki restaurant where seafood and steaks are cooked in front of the dinners.

And let’s not forget… emperors were into stuff.

The Regent Galleria has two floors of the world’s most famous stuff.

And when the Galleria couldn’t hold any more shops they began opening in the nearby streets.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It was good to be Emperor.

THE WAY OF TEA

BURT WOLF: Taoism tells us that the way to have a good life is to line yourself up with the ways of nature. It is an idea that constantly shows up in the daily life of the Taiwanese, even when it comes to something as simple as having a cup of tea. This is the Wistaria-House. It opened in 1981as a meeting place for artists and scholars who wanted to discuss their ideas for improving the nation. Today it is a Taipei City historical site and the perfect spot to experience the Tao of tea.

The way to start the way is to place a square tray on the table. In Chinese symbolism the earth is square, similar to the square of a rice field. The teacups, and utensils rest on the earth. You select your tea and perhaps some cookies or dried fruits to go along with it. The elegance of the room represents heaven. The quiet environment is designed to rid the drinker of the tensions of daily life. The tea will help you concentrate and gain clarity. The roundness of the cups reminds you of the roundness of life. The possibilities for completeness that should not be forgotten. The tea becomes the connection between earth and heaven.

WOMAN: How’s that?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Very nice.

BURT WOLF: Some of the world’s finest tea is grown in the mountains of Taiwan. The folk legends that tell of the origin of tea describe it as an accident in which a tea leaf drops into someone’s boiling water and they date that event back about 4000 years.

If you think you might enjoy buying some top quality tea you might want to stop into the Wang De Chuan Tea Shop. The setting is elegant. Antique French cabinets. Traditional red tea canisters for holding the tea. And Ming Dynasty furniture for the tasting area. They offer some of the world’s finest teas, but even if you are not interested in buying any tea it’s still worth a visit. The staff is interested in raising your interest in the subject and will gladly prepare a few samples.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

BURT WOLF: In spite of Taiwan’s rapid shift from an ancient agricultural society to a modern industrial nation, or perhaps because of it, Chinese folk religion has remained an important part of the culture. Originally Taoists and Buddhists worshipped in separate temples. But between 1895 and 1945 the island was occupied by the Japanese who persecuted the Taoists. The Taoists continued to worship their gods but they did so secretly, inside the Buddhist temples. By the end of the Second World War when the Japanese were expelled from Taiwan, the two religions had blended together into a single form of worship that included Taoism, Buddhism and folk gods. In the west, we tend to think of Buddhism and Taoism as organized religions, but in reality they are much more like a set of general instructions on how to behave properly and have a happier life.

There are over 10,000 places of worship in Taiwan and they are easily accessible to the visitor. They need to be because you never know when you are going to require help from a departed ancestor or a powerful god.

This is the Paoan Kung Temple, it is over 200 years old and dedicated to the God of Medicine. As you enter the building, you’ll see carved dragons on the main support column. The Dragon is a symbol of strength, intelligence and good luck.

Inside the temple there are images of 36 different deities. They are assistants to the main god and each is responsible for a specific illness and its cure.

You stand in front of the appropriate deity, explain your problem, and make your request.

Most people come to a temple to ask a god for a favor or for some advice. They start by burning a few incense sticks while mentally repeating their names, birth date, address and the question they have or the favor they want. Then they drop two crescent-shaped pieces of wood to the floor. If they land with one round side up and the other down the answer is “yes”. Things look good, go for it. If both curved sides are up, the answer is “no” forget about it. If both flat sides are up its neutral and you should ask again later.

This is the Hsingtien Temple. It’s dedicated to the red faced, black bearded god of war, martial arts and money management. He is also the patron saint of businessmen who come here to pray and ask for guidance. Unlike most temples, it does not accept donations, and it discourages the burning of spirit money as an offering to the gods. Recently it has come out against the shredding of corporate documents.

What are the people doing over there on line?

ROBIN CHENG ON CAMERA: It’s a tradition about Chinese.  We believe that we have ten spirits.  If you get sick or get shot you lost some of your spirit.  It’s acquiring your sprit and combining it with your body.

BURT WOLF: So all of them are getting their spirits replaced.

ROBIN CHENG: Ya

BURT WOLF: Wonderful.

Gods, ghosts and ancestors play major roles in Chinese folk religion. When you pay your respects to an ancestor you thank them for the life they have given you. And the offering you make helps them with their life in the other world. It connects you to the past. And because the same rituals are taught to the children in your family, it connects you to the future.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Connecting the past to the future is one of the essential aspects of Chinese culture. One of the nicest things that you can take home from a visit to Taiwan is a reminder of the good feelings that can come from family traditions.

For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The Shrine at Guadalupe, Mexico - #502

BURT WOLF: Every culture, from the most primitive hunter-gatherers to the most sophisticated societies, have land that they consider sacred. Holy places charged with a divine energy. These sites remain important locations in the history of religion and they continue to inspire spiritual feelings.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I wanted to know “why”? Why do certain places become sacred sites, and others don’t? What were they before? Why do millions of people visit them each year? I started out as a journalist researching a story, and I ended up as a pilgrim.

MEXICO

BURT WOLF: People have been living in Mexico for over 20,000 years. The ancient people of the region; the Olmecs, the Maya, and the Aztecs developed some of the most sophisticated cultures in history. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1519, the Aztecs controlled most of what we now call Mexico.

And the center of their civilization was what we now call Mexico City. Today, Mexico City is one of the largest and most populated cities in the world…twenty million people live and work in a maze of Indian, Spanish, French and modern buildings. It’s the nation’s center for politics, business, culture and religion.

From the moment the Spanish came ashore they began converting the natives to Catholicism. Today ninety percent of Mexicans are Roman Catholic. The Church plays an important part in Mexican life, and the country is filled with religious sites.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The most important religious site in Mexico is the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It sits on a hill about six miles from the center of Mexico City and each year millions of people come here. Some are pilgrims looking for salvation, some are people asking for help for themselves or someone they love, and some are people who are coming just to see what happens here, because they’re curious.

BURT WOLF: Who are these people? Why do they worship Our Lady of Guadalupe? And have their prayers been answered?

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

BURT WOLF: When Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World there were no Christian saints to meet him—no Christian relics were carried to his ship to celebrate the success of his voyage. As a matter of fact, there weren’t any Christians at all.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the 16th century, thousands of Christians began to show up in the New World, but the place was still pretty short on certified saints and relics. During the middle of the century, however, things began to change, miraculous images began to appear -- and most often they were images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.

BURT WOLF: Our Lady of Guadalupe on the hill at Tepeyac, at the edge of Mexico City, was the first apparition of Mary in the New World that was officially recognized by the Catholic Church. She is the patron saint of Mexico and all Hispanic nations in America, as well as the patron saint of Canada and the United States. 

Today, the shrine attracts more than 20 million pilgrims each year. Of all the sacred places in the entire world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most popular. 

Eventually she became the national symbol of Mexico and her story is an essential part of the history and culture of the nation. Her image is found throughout the country.

In 1737, Guadalupe was chosen as the patroness of the city of Mexico. But her significance was not confined to Mexico. Her patronage was soon extended to all of New Spain, then to Guatemala and finally to all Spanish colonies throughout the world. 

THE STORY OF JUAN DIEGO

BURT WOLF: The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is based on the story of Juan Diego.

REV. STAFFORD POOLE ON CAMERA: The story is set in the year 1531, which was just ten years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Juan Diego was an Indian, a newly converted Indian who, in 1531, had a vision of the Virgin Mary at a place north of Mexico City called Tepeyak, or Tepeyak. It was a mountain. He was walking by there one Saturday on his way to receive religious instruction when he heard his name called and together with it these beautiful heavenly sounds, the sounds of birds singing, of sublime music; and the voice called him to go up this hill of Tepeyak; and there he saw this splendid vision of the Virgin Mary who identified herself as the Mother of God. And she told him that she wanted him to go to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan friar named Juan de Samarruga. And it struck him that she wanted a church built on that particular site, and there, all of her people could come, and she would hear their pleas, their prayers, their entreaties, and their sorrows.

So Juan Diego went to the bishop who received him kindly but initially was skeptical. So Juan Diego went back to Tepeyac, and informed the Virgin of what happened. He told her about the bishop’s request for a sign. 

She told him to go up the hill and to gather all the flowers that he would see there. It was December at a time when there was nothing there but frost and cactus and rocks and mesquite, but he found all kinds of flowers which he cut and put into his cloak, which in the Aztec language was called a Tilmatlee.

Juan Diego took the flowers back to the Virgin, gave them to her, she blessed them, and then he went back to Mexico City to present them to the bishop. 

He opened up the cloak; the flowers cascaded to the floor. And imprinted on the cloak was the image which is venerated today at Guadalupe. 

BURT WOLF: Some historians see the story as an essential element connecting the Indian past to the Spanish future. The Virgin Mary appears to a lowly Indian at the hill at Tepeyac, which had once been the sacred home of a pre-Columbian mother goddess. Indians came to the site of the miracle and accepted her as the incarnation of the Aztec mother goddess of life, health and happiness.

To the Indians, Our Lady of Guadalupe became the new image of their mother who could restore order to their devastated world. She was able to bring continuity to their lives—connecting the past to the present and the future.

Dr. William Taylor at the University of California has been studying Our Lady of Guadalupe and what she has come to represent to different people.

DR. WILLIAM B. TAYLOR ON CAMERA: She has always meant many things to many kinds of Mexicans. She wasn't just the Indian Virgin, she wasn't just the Masteesa Virgin, and she wasn't just the Spanish Virgin. She's appealed to all of these groups and over a very long period of time. Today, she has a remarkable appeal for any number of people in this country, especially Mexicans who have come to this country. Not only Mexicans, though, New Age questors are interested in Guadalupe; Protestant theologians are interested in Guadalupe. But above all, she has an appeal to Mexican-Americans, who think of her in many different ways. Think of her perhaps as the Masteesa Virgin. A symbol of patriotism. A symbol of their ethnic solidarity. A symbol of home here in the United States. She comes with them. She never leaves. She has the appeal of independence to Chicana feminists. She can be a symbol of resistance…

But she has equal appeal to an older woman in East Los Angeles who came here 50 years ago, has a home altar with a cheap print of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There, she's a symbol of consolation, of a kind of presence, a kind of healing power that's very important to her.

HONORING THE IMAGE

BURT WOLF: There is a passage in the Bible that says: I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Old Testament is pretty clear on the subject: man-made images are off limits. Don’t make any pictures. Don’t make any sculptures. If you’ve got something to say, say it directly. But during the sixth century things began to change. The Christian Church started to accept praying to pictures.

REVEREND STAFFORD POOLE ON CAMERA: It was the separation of Christianity from Judaism. And in the process, Christianity either dropped or rejected many Judaic practices. This starts with St. Paul. And the first one that was not imposed upon Christian converts was circumcision. Then, sometime in the first century, they changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. They gave up the idea of ritual purification, or ritual and cleanness. They stopped observing the dietary laws. Christians would eat pork, and Jews don’t eat pork. So it was all part of that divergence, and the use of images was just one part.

BURT WOLF: People began to promote the idea that when you prayed to a picture, your prayer passed through the picture and reached the model.

Pope Gregory loved the idea and added the thought that “the picture is for the simple man what writing is for those who can read.”

It was clear that the souls of the great martyrs were in heaven, but their remains on earth were filled with extraordinary powers. They could protect worshipers from the devil and heal the sick. Some relics were powerful enough to protect an entire city. Thousands of pilgrims would visit the sacred sites where these relics were kept. And the miracles that took place were carefully documented.

HOLY WEEK

BURT WOLF: In order to understand the religious environment of New Spain, it’s helpful to take a look at what was happening in Old Spain, particularly in the city of Seville. 

It was from Seville that Christopher Columbus set sail, and it was right back here that he returned with his treasures. For decades, Seville had a monopoly on the commercial and religious activity between Europe and the new world. 

To understand the church in Seville it helps to understand Holy week, which is a symbolic conflict between the forces of good and the forces of evil. During the 1300’s, the people of Seville began to group themselves into brotherhoods. Each brotherhood agreed to produce an image from the passion of Christ or a sorrowing Virgin, and to honor that image throughout the year. The members who actually walk in the procession wear long robes in the colors of the brotherhood. The pointed headgear, which looks rather terrifying, was originally designed to hide the identity of the person inside. There’s a theory that being disguised in this costume gave men the opportunity to get in touch with their feelings and their love of God. Showing religious emotion in public was not easy in a culture that has often seen religious behavior in public as not “macho”. Under the hood, your emotions remain private. Some of the members have taken the cones out of their hoods. They want the peak to hang down, to look humble. These are people doing penance. The visual symbol is like that of the cock that has become crestfallen, and is therefore no longer cocky.

Today, a brotherhood might have up to 3000 members, including both men and women. Each brotherhood owns from one to three floats with scenes showing Christ’s passion or the weeping Virgin. 

Each float weighs two to three tons, and is carried through the streets of Seville by groups of young men. For years the floats were carried by professional stevedores. Eventually, the fees for the stevedores became too expensive for the brotherhoods. People thought that carrying the floats through Seville would come to an end. But the young men of each brotherhood came through and the general opinion is that the young men do a better job than the stevedores did. There is considerable art to carrying the floats - the objective is to make the figures sway so they seem alive and moving. 

As the Passion of Christ is played out along the streets of the city, Seville becomes Jerusalem. It’s an ancient way for a festival to teach a story. The town where the festival is going on is turned into the town where the original events took place. 

The floats that pass through the streets of Seville express suffering and pain in two different forms. There are the images of Christ - images of direct physical pain - and there are the images of the weeping Madonnas: images of the pain of looking on, knowing that you are helpless to prevent the suffering of someone you love. The Madonna’s pain is the pain of the parent.

There are magic moments during the festival that are called Sietas, which is the Spanish word for arrow. In this case it is an arrow of emotion, of passion, of sentiment, and it passes between one of the statues being carried through the streets and one of the people watching the procession. The viewer has been overwhelmed with feeling for Christ or the Virgin Mary, and she expresses herself by singing the story of her love and her sadness.

Writing and singing Sietas is an art form, and one of the most amazing aspects of the entire celebration. But they are also very personal moments. Often it is only the singer who knows when and where a Sieta will take place. And sometimes, a singer only finds out because he or she is suddenly singing.

The processions go on day and night for seven days. Each float must pass through a series of specific streets, and every float must stop at the cathedral. 

This public commitment to Christ, this show of love, is a central part of the church of Seville, and it became an essential aspect of the church of Mexico.

GOING FOR BAROQUE

BURT WOLF: During the middle of the 1500s the Roman Catholic Church decided to introduce a new form of religious architecture designed to oppose the almost barren approach of the reformation. The new style came to be known as Baroque. It was adopted throughout Spain and soon began appearing throughout Mexico. It was rich, grand sensuous and dramatic. Its object was to evoke an emotional response. In essence, it said this was the appropriate level of splendor for the Lord. It was a way to extend and encourage the public’s faith in the Church. The ceilings of Baroque churches are always painted with vivid images of the divine world above. They invite the viewer to contemplate the rewards of heaven.

But the Baroque was not limited to art and architecture it also became one of the greatest periods in classical music…Bach, Handel and Vivaldi were all masters of the Baroque.

THE MYSTERY OF OUR LADY’S EYES

BURT WOLF: In 1979, Dr. Hose Aste Tonsmann, a graduate of Cornell University, while working at IBM, scanned a photo of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and filtered the image in order to produce the highest quality picture.

When he did so, he discovered that there was other people reflected in her eyes…in fact an entire family, as they would have appeared in the 1500s. 

Tonsmann concluded that the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe contains any number of messages and each will be revealed at the appropriate moment in history. He feels that the modern technology needed to see the family reflects the reality that these days more than ever the idea of family is being challenged. Her eyes remind us of our present need to address this problem.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Not everybody agrees on the images in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe. One noted authority told me that in order to see those images you needed computer enhancement and a great imagination. Well, fortunately we have computer enhancement and if Jesus could imagine a world filled with love and peace, I’m all for imagination. 

CHRISTIAN TRADITION

BURT WOLF: In almost every religion there were men and women who were able to make contact with the spirit world and use the power of that unseen place to work wonders in our world. When the bible says, “The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me,” it is a reference to the unseen universe. It is also a reference to the idea that our well being is the result of having a proper relationship with that spiritual world.

Jesus was in the tradition of men who stood between our world and the spiritual world and used the power of the spiritual to influence events. These men and women were always dramatic personalities and dynamic speakers and they always attracted lots of attention.

One of the major differences between Jesus and the mediators that preceded him was that instead of just using his power to heal individual people Jesus set out to heal the entire world.

Jesus asked his listeners to believe in his message not because he said it was true, or because the message came from God, but because if they looked in their own hearts they would feel the truth of his words. And His message was very simple: God’s love is unyielding; we need to accept it and we need to let it pass through us to others. Love is the ultimate power.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Jesus taught that everyone was equal in the eyes of God – and that the poor were as important as the rich. He opposed the corruption of the ruling class, and that challenged the status quo, and so they had him executed. Details around the crucifixion and the days after are somewhat limited but what is clear is that his followers felt his presence more than ever.

BURT WOLF: They had experienced his resurrection, and that produced the Christian Church, which swept across the Roman world.

GUADALUPE AS THE SYMBOL OF MEXICO

BURT WOLF: Experts on Mexican history and culture have said that their nation was born at Tepeyac with the appearance of the Virgin Mary. And that’s because in addition to her religious significance, she is the symbol of Mexican culture.

In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo, a parish priest urged the rural population to rebel against Spain. He gave them a copy of the Virgin of Guadalupe from Tepeyac and told them that their battle cry should be “Long Live Our Lady of Guadalupe”.

Once Mexico won its independence, Guadalupe became the symbol of the new nation. She represented not only the Spanish born in Mexico and the native Indians but everyone associated with the country.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Octavio Paz, Mexico’s Nobel prize-winning poet once said that, after two centuries of experimentation, the people of Mexico have come to believe in only two things, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the National Lottery. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Taiwan - #501

BURT WOLF: The first Europeans to get a look at Taiwan were the Portuguese and as soon as they saw it they called it “The Beautiful Island” -- Ilha Formosa. In 1590 they arrived and set up a trading settlement on the north coast. The next Europeans to turn up were the Dutch who built their center on the southwest coast. The Spanish and the English also saw Taiwan as a great place to do business. So did the Emperors on Mainland China and Japan. Taiwan has always been open for business.

NIGHT MARKETS

BURT WOLF: Most people spend their days working, which leaves their nights free for shopping. As a result, the cities of Taiwan have some of the world’s most interesting night markets. The vendors pay little rent which allows them to offer lower prices than traditional shops.

The markets sprawl out over dozens of streets, opening at 7 pm and going on until sun up. They offer lots of different things… clothing, shoes, watches and they are always jam-packed with vendors.

Chen Hong is the host of a popular local television program about food and my guide to the market.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Every time I come by here there’s a long line. What are they doing here?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Here we’re waiting for Pepper Cat.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Pepper Cat? Like a pussycat?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ok. That’s pork?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: That’s pork mixed with peppers and then spring onion. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And they roll it in like a dough.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Every body loves it. It’s a big deal?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes. As a meal it’s very good.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And they cook it in like an Indian oven?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes. Very similar. But the smell is different.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Um. Very good taste.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: You like it? 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA:I like it.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes me too.

BURT WOLF: What’s this?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Tomato.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Tomato.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Tomato.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That’s tomatoes too?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: It’s fried.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Fried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes and fried tomatoes.

What are these stones for? 

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Ah. Stones.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Just for good luck?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Not good luck. For massage.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ahh. I feel better already.

BURT WOLF: What is she doing?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: The fried tempura. Tempura is Japanese food. The Seafood to mix.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Oh yes. It’s like a puree of seafood.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Then she’ll fry it. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Got it ok.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Very sweet.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And what are they cooking here?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Shaboo Shaboo.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Shaboo Shaboo I know, ok.

I always remember that for 50 years Taiwan was controlled by the Japanese

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes

BURT WOLF: So there’s a lot of Japanese influence there all the time.

CHEN HONG: Mixed yes.

BURT WOLF: A small candy store.

CHEN HONG: For tea

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Oh these are to make tea. What are these?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Rose. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What is it?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Dried Roses. You can mix dried lemon and this.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ginger.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Ginger yes. You can try this one.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Um. I put this in the wine.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Zheng Chang Jian

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I didn’t say it right

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Zheng Chang Jian Wei Bang Zhu Siao Hua

(translation: It will promote the health of your stomach and aid digestion)

Next I recommend this one. The seafood soup.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Seafood soup.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes seafood soup. This soup is very fresh. So today’s seafood to use the soup makes very fresh. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The stuff that’s here is this special night market food or do people eat it all the time?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes all the time.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: All the time.

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: All the time.

In here we have 30 years ago already.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Would you make this food at home?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: You would?

CHEN HONG ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ok, very interesting.

SHOPPING

BURT WOLF: Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan and one of the world’s major economic centers, which means that every major international retailer has a store. But there is very little point in buying something in Taipei that you can get in your hometown. You want to take advantage of what’s unique to the country.

For traditional Chinese items, you can visit Section One of Tihua Street. The shops carry all kinds of dried foods and Chinese herbs, equipment and crafts. This section of Taipei offers a nice contrast to the modern areas of the city. The buildings date from the late 1800s and often display architectural details that indicate what’s for sale inside. The ginseng roots surrounding the top window tell you this is an herbal shop.

If you’d like to take home something that is both very Chinese and unique, you can get yourself a chop. A chop is an essential piece of equipment in Chinese culture.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During my first visit to Taiwan, which was in the early 90s, I was given a Chinese name. They wanted it to sound like my English name, but also have special meaning. My last name became Wu, sounds like Wolf, but it’s associated with storytellers. And because I was a journalist they decided I was a storyteller. My first name became Boa Da. So Wu Boa Da is my name, and it’s close enough for government work. 

As soon as I got my name I got a chop which is a block of material with your name engraved in the base. You put it into a little read ink. And then you stamp it on whatever document needs your official signature. Pretty cool.

BURT WOLF: Name chops date back thousands of years to a time when most Chinese were illiterate and needed a simple form of identification. Even though today 93 percent of Taiwanese are literate, the tradition continues. Without a chop it is difficult to enter into a legally binding contract. It’s used for bank accounts, safe-deposit boxes, even land sales. Engravers work with many different materials—wood, plastic, stone, metal and jade.

You might also enjoy a visit to the weekend antique market. Every Saturday and Sunday hundreds of vendors set up small tables and offer their stuff. It’s virtually impossible to tell if you are looking at a rare and valuable object or just something that is being cleared out of somebody’s closet. Where’s the Antique Road Show guys when you need em? Anyway, there’s a lot of stuff here and all prices are subject to bargaining. You can always talk your way into a ten to thirty percent discount.

I was particularly interested in the jade area. Since the 11th century, the Chinese have worshiped the Jade Emperor. And when they started mining jade commercially in the 1700s, it became the country’s most precious stone. Jade is usually thought of as a green stone, but it is also found in white, red, yellow and lavender.

The most highly prized jade is a clear emerald-green and it comes in a variety of shapes. Jade in any form is worn for good luck.

Taiwan is also motor scooter heaven.

So many people here own motorbikes and motor scooters that you’ll find a wider selection of equipment in Taiwan than just about any other place else in the world.

TOURIST ON CAMERA: Taiwan makes lots of motorcycles and scooters. And they make lots of after market parts for your scooter or motorcycle. So, I came here to get some things to make my bike cool and different. I’m going to get a muffler. I’m going to get a cool iridescent windscreen. Maybe some lights and some metallic parts to put on the bike to make it original.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In my somewhat misspent youth I was a serious biker. Not quite in a class with the guys in the American Chopper television series, but I was heading there.

BURT WOLF: For a somewhat more refined shopping experience you can stop in to Artasia, a shop that carries fine Asian art and Antiques.

JOHN ANG ON CAMERA: This gallery is quite special in Taiwan in that it sells not just Chinese antiques, but antiques from all over Asia. So I have in my gallery Indian art, Indonesian art, Cambodian art, Burmese art, and even art from Africa. I think this is possible because the Taiwanese are very open minded to other cultures. Perhaps this is from their Japanese influence and perhaps because Taiwan is an island. They are very curious about other countries.

MARTIAL ARTS

BURT WOLF: In the west we tend to think of the Chinese martial arts in the context of the Kungfu films like “Kill Bill” and “Hero”. But in fact, Kungfu means “time and energy spent in cultivating an art”.

A wood worker can have good Kungfu. So can a cook or a dressmaker. It’s all about developing a skill.

On any given morning, at the crack of dawn, you will see hundreds of Taiwanese practicing Tai Chi, which is probably the most popular of the martial arts. This is not about defending yourself against the evil master. It’s more about keeping your body and mind in good shape and defending yourself against the negative effects of aging.

A good place to study the martial arts is the Mei-Men Qigong cultural center where they teach the ancient art of lining up your body and mind with the way of nature.

LI FUNG SHAN ON CAMERA: The difference between Oigong and regular exercise is that Oigong works on breathing techniques. In Qigong, we cultivate our Oi, or breath, whereas regular exercise simply works on muscle development. Qi is the foundation of martial arts. It will first reduce the risk of injury, and therefore allow us to continue to excel in martial arts. Qi also enables us to grow stronger and stronger and bring more power and energy into martial arts. And no matter how old you are you can still practice Qi.

LOU DE XIU ON CAMERA: The big circle is like one integration of everything. Like your body movement, your power, your mind and sometimes you’ll find your body rhythm and become very peaceful and organized together so this way we can train you to become really the one, and trigger your body’s potential. Sometimes spiritual. Sometimes energy.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: So it’s about a martial art and fighting. But it’s also about a sense of control of your own body and your ability to focus on things. 

LOU DE XIU ON CAMERA: Yes, yes. Because in Chinese every kind of things including martial art, we try to combine the Tao.

Sticky hands are one of Ba Gua Zhung high level training. They use the body to bring the temple, circle the temple and come out of the body the way the hands the width and they train you to be sensitive so two ways. One they used the arms and sensitive and circle and find the weakness in an opponent. The point where you can push him so he lose the.

BURT WOLF: Looking for the weak spot.

LOU DE XIU ON CAMERA: Yea. And lose their balance. And another thing sometimes you have no movement. The body movement will find a better. So hold the circle, become the one. So this is what we call the small circle, it includes the bigger circle.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Now you’ll show me sticky hands.

LOU DE XIU ON CAMERA: Sticky hands, stick your hand here. Yes. And then. No, no, no you must follow me. Because this one. One, I still come to you. This don’t come out yet. And then this one come out and connect. Yea, this one. And then when I do this one, if you too fast I catch you because of your ankle. So this one.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Oh two hands. No, I’ll never be able to do this. Wait I’ll show you something really good. Put your hands up. Ok ready? Go like that. Ok now like that. 

LOU DE XIU ON CAMERA: Ok that’s ok.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: We’ve exchanged valuable information.

BURT WOLF: The secrets of the Chinese martial arts have been handed down from master to student for thousands of years. They believe that health and longevity are the true goals of the martial arts. They also point out that the martial arts can be used to protect you from dangerous enemies, but the man whose internal powers are strong normally never has to fight. His power is so evident that no one dares challenge him.

CHINESE MEDICINE

BURT WOLF: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that a good doctor should first try to cure an illness with food. Only when that fails should medicine be prescribed.

Years ago, families retained a family doctor who would be paid a monthly fee and make regular visits to the family. When someone fell ill, the doctor was held responsible. Gary Lin is a doctor of traditional Chinese Medicine.

GARY LIN ON CAMERA: We judge a person’s body health by four situations. At first we will check how do they look? Like color of face and looking the situation above his tongue you see the tongue is just like a meter of your body’s health. And second we will listen and smell. And the third we will ask some questions of you to check what is going on. First question is when do you go to sleep?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When do I go to bed? Ten o’clock. Ten, ten thirty.

GARY LIN ON CAMERA: Ten, ten thirty. And when do you wake up?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Six.

GARY LIN ON CAMERA: Six o’clock. Ok. Fourth step is to check the pulse. Doctor will use three fingers on each wrist of patient. And every single finger has specific meaning equal to heart, liver and so on. Now I will make a brief conclusion about your body situation. I think you have something problem with your kidney. Just because the color of your face look a little dark. Your liver is just ok. Your kidney pulse becomes upper, it’s decreasing now, so it means you work too much. And you maybe need more good rest. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Are you guys all paying attention to that? The doctor said too much work ok. I’ll see ya. 

GARY LIN: Okay!

CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE

BURT WOLF: For thousands of years, the artists of China have focused on how people relate to nature. And it’s still an important theme for contemporary artists in Taiwan. The work of the Cloud Gate Dance Theater is a perfect example.

Cloud Gate is the name of a 5,000 year old ritual dance. It is the oldest known dance in China. In 1973, it became the name of the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community. The company is made up of two-dozen dancers who are trained in Tai chi, meditation, marital arts, Chinese Opera, modern dance and ballet.

The first time I saw the Cloud Gate Dance Troupe they were at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. The performance was extraordinary and ever since then I have been a devoted fan of their work.

PUPPET THEATER

BURT WOLF: Hand puppet shows have been part of traditional Chinese entertainment for hundreds of years. Puppet masters, using their unique multiple-voice talent, enacted complex legends. Tales of chivalry, passion, and humor were brought to life.

These days, the Huang family not only carries on the tradition but has also used modern technology to advance the art. In 2000, with a budget of over a million dollars, they produced “The legend of the Sacred Stone” a movie that gave the world a glimpse into the infinite possibilities of the puppet show. They also attracted young audiences by introducing stories that use Kungfu sequences and characters that travel through space and time. They even have their own television channel. Once again, an interesting blend of ancient Chinese content with modern technology. 

FESTIVALS

BURT WOLF: The traditional Chinese calendar is based on the movement of the moon. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month which usually falls during the western months of June or July is the date of the Dragon Boat Festival.

BURT WOLF TO CAMERA: The festival comes with a magnificent story. In the year 300 AD there was a great poet much beloved by the people. Who was also an advisor to an Emperor who was not so much beloved by the people. He got so fed up with the incompetence of the government that he took a big rock, held it tight to his chest and jumped into the river. People rushed to the river to try and save him but it was too late. Then they tried to find his remains to give him a proper burial, but they couldn’t. In order to keep the sea creatures from eating what was left of him, they began to throw rice into the river hoping the fish would eat the rice rather than their beloved poet.

BURT WOLF: The anniversary of the event was marked by throwing rice into the river. But after about two hundred years the ghost of the poet showed up, expressed his appreciation for the annual offerings of rice but pointed out that very often the rice was stolen by the monster that caused floods.

The ghost asked that the rice be wrapped in leaves and tied with string. It seems that leaves and string, both of which are high in carbohydrates, were not on the flood monster’s diet. Since then, eating dumplings filled with glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves have been part of the festival.

The dragon boat races commemorate the search to save the great poet. They also demonstrate the Chinese devotion to cooperation and teamwork.

Dragonheads and tails are on the boats. Taoist priests bring them to life with incense and firecrackers. Each boat has a helmsman, a drummer, twenty-two oarsmen and a flag catcher. Teams come from all over the world to take part in these races. A process of elimination produces a winner.

There are over a dozen important ritual holidays in Taiwan and they fall throughout the year. So no matter when you are visiting some festival will be going on.

A festival designed to enhance your well being and drive off evil spirits. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Jungfrau Region - #406

BURT WOLF: The Jungfrau region sits in the heart of Switzerland and is considered to be one of the most remarkable places for lovers of nature. Steamers on the crescent-shaped lake Thun stop at dozens of small villages where you can go ashore for lunch, visit an ancient castle, and see what life was like for the rich and infamous in the bad old days. You can ride to the top of the Jungfraujoch and visit the highest railway station in Europe. You can look up at the Eiger where Clint Eastwood confronted a double agent in the Eiger Sanction. The area is an international center for mountaineering and attracts climbers with various skill levels. There are masters of the massif who come here from all over the world to test their abilities. And then there are beginners.

CLIMBING INSTRUCTOR ON CAMERA: Hey! Come on. You are on my rope.

BURT WOLF: The three most famous mountains in the Jungfrau region are the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau. The Jungfrau is the highest at 13,500 feet. In 1896, the Swiss started building a railway to the top. It took them 15 years to complete and it’s quite a trip.

I got on the train at Interlaken’s East Station, which is a short walk from the center of town. During the first part of the trip the train runs on standard wheels, slowly increasing its elevation as it travels past wooded mountains and small villages.

After about 30 minutes you arrive in the town of Lauterbrunnen where you change to a cogwheel railway.

At the Kleine Scheidegg station you change trains. The next part of the trip is on the Jungfraubahn which tunnels straight into the rock face of the Eiger. The best views are on the left side. There are two stops on the Jungfrau line. The first is the North Wall Station at 9,400 feet above sea level. You get five minutes to view the Grindelwald Valley, the Kleine Scheidegg, and Lake Thun. “OK. Time’s up”.

The second stop is called the Sea of Ice because very often everything you see here is covered with ice. At 10,368 feet above sea level you begin to feel the effects of the reduced oxygen. Deeper breathing helps and don’t try rushing around.

About two hours after getting on the train at Interlaken, you arrive at the Jungfrau terminus where you can take a ski lesson, trek through the glacier, or ride on a dogsled. Just above the terminus is an observation deck, known as the Sphinx Terrace—it has a 360-degree view of the surrounding area.

On the second day of the trip we went back to the Jungfraujoch, this time it was totally enclosed in cloud cover, which was somewhat upsetting for us, but seemed to have absolutely no effect on certain tourists. I’d love to hear how they explained their photographs when they got home.

About 500 million years ago, give or take a week, Ice Age glaciers filled the valleys between these mountains. As they moved about they carved the walls that we see here today. The smooth rocky surface of the valley bears witness to the power of that shifting ice. As the snow and ice melted, water poured off the glaciers and set in motion a mill effect. For thousand of years the water wore away the rock creating a spiral path to the valley below.

These are the Trummelbach Falls. Trummelbach means “the stream that sounds like a drum” which is a perfect description of this confluence of ten glacial waterfalls that are hidden deep inside the granite and limestone at the base of the Jungfrau.

Originally, you could only see the bottom of the falls where the water entered the valley. The main falls were hidden but throughout the 1800s the lower falls were sufficiently dramatic to attract tourists from as far away as England.

That changed in 1913 when members of the Von Almen family built a tunnel and a lift so visitors could walk into the mountain and along the path of the falls. At the height of its flow almost 20,000 liters a second come tumbling over these rocks. 

The Trummelbach has been thundering through these rocks for at least 15,000 years.

As the glaciers melted and drained into the rivers their waters created some of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. This is lake Thun, surrounded by green hills and snow covered mountains.

The thing to do on this lake is take a ride on one of the steamers that crisscross the waters on an hourly schedule. I took the boat from Interlaken to the town of Thun, which takes about two hours.

I traveled on the “Blumlisalp” which means flower of the Alps. It was built in 1906 and it’s in great shape for its age. By the end of the Second World War, the golden age of lake steamers was drawing to a close and the owners of the boat slowly withdrew it from service. But the local lovers of lake steamers banded together and forced the government to have a public vote on the issue—as a result the Blumlisalp was restored to its original glory.

The steamers are fun for tourists but they are also a part of the local transportation system and people living along the lake use them to get from one town to another. You can get on and off and visit the small villages and in some cases the village castle.

The Jungfrau region is dotted with old castles and five of them are on the edge of the lake. Many of the castles are still owned by the ancestors of the people who built them, which may sound like fun until you think about redecorating and you find out that the chair you really hate has been in your family for a thousand years and you’re stuck with it.

The town of Thun is the gateway to the Jungfrau region and was originally built on an island in the River Aare. The word “Thun” comes from the ancient Celtic language and means a settlement with a protective palisade. Archeologists believe that people have been living in this area for over 4,500 years. These days Thun is busy protecting its history and its culture.

Its major tourist attraction is the Castle of Thun. The original tower was built in 1186. The castle may be Thun’s major contribution to culture but Thun’s Gerber Company has made a major contribution to gastronomy.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Gerber got started in 1836 as a distributor of spices and dairy products and after a while added wine and liquor and wool, but for some strange reason the people who were into wine and liquor and dairy products weren’t interested in wool and so they down sized and decided to concentrate on milking the dairy business. And lucky thing they did too.

BURT WOLF: During the middle of the 1800s every Swiss male upon reaching the age of 20 spent the next 17 weeks in his initial military training and then returned to the trenches for two or three weeks each year until the age of 45. This was serious male bonding. And during these periods of bondage a common meal was cheese fondue.

A pot is placed over a fire, cheese is melted, pieces of crusty bread are stuck on the tip of a long fork and dipped into the melted cheese. The guys loved these impromptu gatherings and brought home the ritual and the recipe.

BURT ON CAMERA: An interesting manifestation of this custom is that in opposition to the tradition of the time where housewives did the cooking, fondue was made by the male head of family. Looks like in Switzerland real men melt cheese.

BURT WOLF: During the early years of the 20th century, people began exporting cheese from one country to another but since there was no refrigerated transportation the cheese often arrived at its destination in, shall we say, a state of over-maturity. Walter Gerber and his partner Fritz Stettler found this unacceptable and spent 6 years trying to create a cheese that would keep longer.

Today Gerber makes dozens of different cheese products including a ready to heat and eat fondue. Giant rounds of Emmental and Gruyere cheese sit in an aging room and like so many things, including present company, they get better as they age.

At the proper moment of ripeness they remove the rind with a piece of equipment that looks like a giant old-time record player. Then the cheese is cut and grated and moved into tanks where it’s blended with wine, spices and flour. At this point, the mixture is heated to a temperature that destroys the enzymes that would spoil the cheese thereby extending its life.

Following my fondue I headed back to the town of Interlaken where I was staying. Interlaken means “between the lakes” and the lakes that Interlaken is between are Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. The original village was built by monks in the 1100s. For the first 800 years of its existence Interlaken was a quiet farming community, but when steamboats starting sailing along the lake during the 1830s tourists from all over Europe came to town to look at the landscape.

Since then Interlaken has been attracting tourists from all over the world. Lord Byron, Felix Mendelsohn, even Mark Twain visited Interlaken. Most of the tourists who come here are interested in the natural beauty of the environment and there are many ways to interact with these surroundings.

Some folks just sit around and look up. Some folks will take a walk. And others feel the need for a more dramatic approach.

While I was in the Jungfrau region I stayed at the Victoria Jungfrau Hotel. Originally, they were two inns, the Jungfrau and the Chalet Victoria. In 1895, they were merged together and expanded. The late 19th century was a glorious period for the hotel and for Interlaken. Emanuel Berger has managed the hotel since 1970.

EMANUEL BERGER: You know in these good old times, as everywhere in these fine hotels, the dinner event was the highlight of the day. And so in 1884 they added on Grand Ballroom with extremely rich paintings on the ceiling with chandeliers. Now we have kept on that ballroom up to today, in his charm and an event there is really a treat.

BURT WOLF: The hotel has made a point of preserving the look and atmosphere of the 19th century while adding modern comforts.

EMANUEL BERGER ON CAMERA: Where we are here les arcades is an interesting room. It is a lobby which links the two main buildings and gives us more space. I think the key word space is important for the Victoria Jungfrau too. Space is luxury and that’s something we have everywhere in our public rooms, our guest rooms are more spacious than usual.

Now when you come here, the reason is to relax, to recover from your stress and for that we have added on a spectacular pool, with all the treatments you can think of in a spa, from health to fitness treatments. We have added on an indoor and outdoor tennis court as well as golf.

BURT WOLF: The hotel even has a kindergarten on property. Parents can drop off their kids and television producers can drop off their reporters, and both can be picked up in the late afternoon.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It looks like some of the markets are up, way up and others are kind of like down so you know it doesn’t work so great. And but we’re going to be okay because everything is kind of cyclical you know. I wonder what’s for lunch?

BURT WOLF: The Victoria Jungfrau has three restaurants. La Terrasse which serves elegant French cuisine and two restaurants that are more laid back. Pastateca, which serves pastas from around the world and has a great antipasto bar and the Jungfrau Brasserie, which serves Swiss food.

The hotel has an impressive wine collection. Just the red wines are worth over half a million dollars. They’re kept in a room that has not changed since the hotel was built. But my favorite part of the Victoria Jungfrau was the view from my room.

Just down the street from the hotel is the Tin Figure Museum, which as you might expect is a collection of tin figures. Erich Reber was a newspaper owner who started collecting tin figures when he was a child. These days his collection is on display in Interlaken’s old monastery. There’re 150 exhibits that deal with different periods and different events in history.

The first production of toys like these began in the mid-1600s. Manufacturers in Germany started producing flat tin figures in cast metal. They would illustrate daily life and military exploits. The most popular figures were the soldiers.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the 1600s Europe was in constant conflict and the toy soldiers gave children an opportunity to interact with reality through their toys. During the Second World War when I was growing up, my toy soldiers allowed me to interact with what was going on in the newspapers and they also gave me a great sense of security because my guys always beat the bad guys.

BURT WOLF: The collection starts with the dinosaurs and ends up with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of England.

As I was walking around Interlaken getting a feel for the city, I heard the sound of an accordion coming out of a small shop. Inside I found Peter Bruhin. For thirty years, Mr. Bruhin was a schoolteacher who turned to accordion making after his retirement.

The accordion was developed in the 1820s and is actually a patented instrument. It’s portable. It’s hand operated and it uses a piano-style keyboard and buttons for its base range. You pull the air in and push the music out. To build an accordion you need the skills of a carpenter, a bookbinder, a mechanic and a musical tuner and it doesn’t hurt to have the patience of a saint.

Mr. Bruhin and his son play traditional Swiss folk music in a folk band. Mr. Bruhin plays on the accordion and his son plays on the clarinet or the saxophone. Typically folk music is like a form of literature. It’s a story originally written by one person then carried on in an oral tradition in which it is constantly modified.

This song was written in the 1950’s and it tells the true story of a man who went skiing near Interlaken. After his skiing, he went to a friend’s house for a drink. As he was leaving he fell and broke a leg. And as his leg was sitting in its cast, he wrote this song to commemorate the event. Today it is actually one of the most popular folk songs in Switzerland.

So what’s to eat in the Jungfrau region? Probably the one thing you wouldn’t want to miss is the fresh perch or white fish from Lake Thun. They come either deep-fried in oil or pan-fried in butter and there’s always a side of tartar sauce and some boiled potatoes. I recommend the Restaurant Hecht in a village called Faulensee. Good food and great views to dine by.

This is the guesthouse Hirschen. In 1242 a tavern was built on this spot. It had the right to sell wine but overnight guests were not allowed. After 300 years of loyal service to the local drinkers, the governor, one Christian Sterchi had the old tavern torn down and replaced with a guesthouse.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: He was told by the local bailiff that he could serve wine but not run a guesthouse at the same time. And in true Swiss tradition he told the bailiff precisely what he could do with his alp horn. Same thing that William Tell had told him when the bailiff tried to tax him unfairly. And Sterchi like Tell triumphed over oppressive government regulation and don’t we know what that’s all about.

BURT WOLF: Today Marianne Graf Sterchi, a descendant of the governor, owns the guesthouse. It still serves wine but it’s added an excellent menu. If you end up here during the fall, I suggest you try the wild game. That’s a sautéed scallop of venison with mushrooms and plum sauce, chestnuts, asparagus and red cabbage. And if you’re game for it, you can try the sautéed breast of pheasant with berry sauce, grape tomatoes, chestnuts, poached pear and pumpkin.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I also took the opportunity to taste the local brew. It’s an apple and pear cider with a low-alcohol content. It’s called Mountain Twister and it comes in a twisted bottle and it’s served in a twisted glass. It’s quite good.

BURT WOLF: Each summer in Interlaken, 250 people who consider themselves amateur actors come together to perform the story of William Tell which is undoubtedly the centerpiece of Swiss legend.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The story deals with William Tell who in 1307 rose up against an oppressive government that was only interested in making its members wealthy and cared nothing for the needs of its people. Once again taxation without representation. Tell was arrested by the local bailiff and forced to shoot an apple off his son’s head. After which, he shot the bailiff. The story became popular throughout the world when it was turned into a play in the early 1800s by Friedrich Von Schiller.

BURT WOLF: In Interlaken it’s performed at a huge amphitheater. The stage is actually a recreation of a 13th century village. And even though it’s performed in German, it’s easy to follow. Lots of action. Galloping horses. Stampeding cows. Flaming bonfires and the never to be forgotten apple shooting scene. And in the end, Tell triumphs over incompetent federal officials and becomes a leading authority on tax reform.

Having tested Swiss International Airlines on the way into Switzerland, I thought it was only fair to see what they had to offer on the way out. First of all there are a number of options for checking in and dealing with your luggage.

You can start your trip in any one of 125 Swiss cities and just check your bags at the railroad station or the postbus station. The service is called Fly-Rail-Baggage and it’s provided in conjunction with the Swiss Travel System. They’ll get your bags to the airport and on to your flight. And you can take the train or the bus hands free. This service also works well when you are coming to Switzerland. You check your baggage at the airport and Swiss will deliver it to the nearest station to where you’re staying.

If you’re traveling First Class out of Zurich they have a First-Class Island at curbside. You hand over your luggage, give your car keys to the attendant who parks it for you, walk into the check-in room, sit down and get checked in. And just in case you find flying stressful they give you a glass of champagne or a bar of chocolate or both.

If you are traveling with one piece of luggage to check, you can check in using an automated machine. They’re located in the corridors between the train station, the parking lot and the airport. Slip in your credit card. The one you used to pay for your ticket. The machine can read the magnetic back and out pop your luggage tag and your boarding pass. Put the baggage tag on your luggage and hand it over to the Swiss representative. You checked in.

If you’re traveling with children there’s a separate check-in counter for families. There’s also a supervised playroom and a frequent flyer program for children 2 years old and up.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Sometimes I travel with my grandson Max and he likes to leave me here while he goes to duty-free.

BURT WOLF: They also have an excellent first class lounge. The part I like the best is the relaxation room. Go in and stretch out on these comfortable lounge chairs. Close your eyes and in the privacy of your own little room think about whatever you want to think about. It’s like going into therapy without having someone ask you annoying personal questions.

The first class seat is pretty amazing. There’s one position for take off and landing. One for lounging, reading and watching movies. A third position is reached by pushing the dining icon. Your seat turns into a table for two. Push the bed icon and your seat stretches out into a bed. You’re given a down pillow and a sleeping bag. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Could you leave a little light on?

FLIGHT ATTENDENT ON CAMERA: Of course.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Can I have a glass of water?

FLIGHT ATTENDENT: Of course, Mr. Wolf.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Can I have a chocolate?

FLIGHT ATTENDENT: Of course.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Well that’s what it’s like to visit Switzerland. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I hope you will join us next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.

BURT WOLF: Could you read me a story?

FLIGHT ATTENDENT: Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle that was high up in the Swiss Alps and everyday she put on her Manolo shoes.

BURT WOLF: Manolos. I like this story already.

Travels & Traditions: Eastern Switzerland - #405

BURT WOLF: The eastern part of Switzerland is one of the best kept secrets in European travel. It’s picturesque and uncrowded. It has one of the most interesting Baroque abbeys in the nation. There’s an ancient textile and craft tradition that makes it a great place to shop. The food is good. And anyone interested in the great outdoors will love the neighborhood. Though 1500 years ago it had a few problems.

BURT ON CAMERA: St. Gallus was an Irish monk who came here in 612. Not that there was anything attractive to attract you here. But that in fact was the precise point. In those days if you wanted to assure yourself great accommodations in the after life, you had to have horrible accommodations in your present life and things around here were pretty horrible. It was the perfect neighborhood for a monk on his way to sainthood.

BURT WOLF: After the monk’s death, a Benedictine Abbey was founded on the spot where he died and during the next two hundred years it became one of the most powerful monasteries in Europe. It was the most important educational institution north of the Alps.

During the mid-1700s a cathedral was built. The design is known as Bodensee Baroque. The guiding principal for its architect was “more is never enough” and baroque was the condition the abbey was in after they paid the architect’s bill. 

Just in case you’re ever looking for something in Bodensee Baroque, the way to spot it is to check out the pillars and the spot where they connect to the ceiling. The white part of the pillar represents life on earth. The area where the tops of the pillars of life meet the golden glow of the afterlife is always painted a light green. The ceiling filled with frescoes represents the afterlife.

BURT ON CAMERA: It was designed to signal an easy and pleasant transition between life and death and death and the afterlife. What American economists call a “soft landing.”

BURT WOLF: The cathedral also has two organs that were built with a unique system that allows the music from one organ to come out of both sets of pipes. 

Among the relics in the cathedral is the bell that St Gallus brought here from Ireland. It’s the oldest bell in Europe. But ask not for whom the bell tolls—no one is allowed to ring it. 

The room where the scribes worked was part of the original abbey and laid the foundation for one of the world’s most famous libraries. Built in 1758, it contains more than 150,000 books from and about the Middle Ages. The books are arranged according to different scientific fields of study. The angel at the top of each section is dressed to reflect the particular science dealt with in the books below.

It’s still a working library for scholars studying the Middle Ages. The library is also considered to be the cradle of the German language. It was here that Latin was first translated and written in the High German dialect. Before the St.Gallen translations, German was spoken but not written.

The town that grew up around the monastery is known as St. Gallen. During the Middle Ages, workers in the convent wove linen of such excellent quality that it was exported throughout Europe. And during the 1400s the town became a prosperous textile center for linen, cotton and embroidery. 

You can still see some of the more bizarre results of the town’s wealth. As soon as you hit the big time you built yourself a town house with a big bay window up front. And you used the design of the window to indicate your wealth and power.

This one was built in 1707 and there is a figure representing each of the continents. It was a way for the owner to indicate that his business was worldwide. Australia, however, is missing, because at the time, Australia had not yet been discovered. It was also common to have a face on the bay window with its tongue sticking out—it was designed to send a message to your neighbors—I’m richer than you are. My favorite bay window shows Hercules holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was how the owner of the building indicated that he had a higher education and had read the classics. In order to appreciate the architecture of St. Gallen you must look up.

Over the centuries, much of St. Gallen’s success has come from the fashion business and it still has a great house. It’s known as Akris and it is the only remaining couture house where the designs are made and produced in Switzerland.

ALBERT KRIEMLER ON CAMERA: That’s it. It’s okay.

BURT WOLF: It was founded in 1922 by Alice Kriemler-Schock. Her children had grown up and gone off on their own. She was bored and began sewing aprons and selling them to her friends. Over the years, the company grew into a manufacturer of high end ready-to-wear, while producing couture clothing for famous designers in Paris.

At the age of 20, Alice’s grandson Albert was brought in to take over as the designer of their own label. Albert’s work has given the house an international reputation for outstanding designs. 

ALBERT KRIEMLER ON CAMERA: For me, everything starts with the fabric first. I cannot draw or sketch or design an idea without having a piece of fabric in my hand.

BURT WOLF: After he picks the fabric, he makes the drawing and discusses the design and fabric with the tailor.

ALBERT KRIEMLER: It gets to the 3-dimensional appearance. She dyes a pattern and she does a first silhouette, which we put on a mannequin and then we start speaking. It has to be more narrow. It has to be more straight. I want the shoulders larger, less large. She goes through all these details and if we are good we need 2 or 3 fittings. If we are not so good we need 7, 8, 9 fittings. Perfect.

BURT WOLF: Albert is respectful of St. Gallen’s history as a center of embroidery. He often consults the family archive of fashion periodicals and vintage pieces. His signature clothes mix classic embroidery with modern fabrics and design. 25% of the manufacturing process still requires highly specialized handwork. Akris employs and trains a group of 20 to 30 artisans to do that work.

ALBERT KRIEMLER: I think it’s the most difficult thing to do something simple right. I look for an interesting simplicity, for a feminine simplicity because I feel clothes should underline my diverse personality. I think it’s the most awkward thing if a woman comes into a room and you first look at her clothes. I think this is not Akris. If in a second attempt somebody realize that the woman is wearing a great jacket or wonderful pantsuit or a great dress, I take it as a compliment.

BURT WOLF: The people in St. Gallen are also rather artful about their gastronomy. One of their specialties is a cookie called a biber. It originated in the Abbey of St. Gallen, but these days it’s produced by a number of bakeries around town. I sampled them at the Roggwiller Café and Tea Room, which is a great place to stop in for a morning coffee or an afternoon tea and taste the cookies, cakes, and chocolates.

The master biber baker is Mr. Bar who has been baking bibers for more than forty years. The ancient technique starts with a sheet of ginger bread dough. Eventually that is pressed into a decorative mold. Then the molded sheet is covered with a sheet of marzipan. The marzipan is topped with a second sheet of gingerbread—it’s really a marzipan sandwich on gingerbread and it’s delicious.

A few blocks away from Roggwillers, is a building that during the Middle Ages housed the Butcher’s Guild. Today, the second floor of the building houses the restaurant Zum Goldenen Schafli, which means “the golden lamb”.

The ceilings are low and made of the original wood. Like many things that are old, the building tends to sag a bit. The room is so slanted that the restaurant has developed a slanted glass to even things out. The kitchen specializes in fish. The signature dish is sole gratineed with rice.

BURT ON CAMERA: Another local favorite is St. Gallen Bratwurst and when wurst comes to wurst, these are the best.

BURT WOLF: They’re served with rosti which is the national potato dish. Strips of potato that have been parboiled and pan fried on both sides into a disk.

BURT WOLF: And now it’s time to move on to Appenzell. Moving to Appenzell has always been fashionable. The trend started when a group of monks from St. Gallen decided to move here.

BURT ON CAMERA: First thing they did is look for a place to store their stuff. They found a nice cellar and they put everything inside it. The Latin word for “the abbot’s cellar” is Appenzell and that’s what the place is called.

BURT WOLF: The Appenzell Museum is the present repository for a considerable amount of local stuff. The top floor is devoted to the working tools of Appenzell that are made of wood. A very distinct and creative style and in one way or another they are all related to cows. The floor below has a collection of traditional Appenzell furniture. All of which is normally used to rest on after you’ve been working with your cows. The main floor gets right to the point---paintings of cows. And people who own cows. And fields in which cows have grazed. And snow through which cows have walked. You get the point.

The canton that surrounds all this stuff is famous for hanging on to old traditions. They still use an ancient system of voting. On Election Day, everyone gathers in the town square. The proposed laws are read and a vote is called. You raise your hand and the secretary general estimates the total vote.

BURT ON CAMERA: The system is simple, straight forward, easy to operate, inexpensive, and presently being considered by a number of counties in the state of Florida.

BURT WOLF: If, however, you are more interested in new stuff than old stuff you can stop into the shop of Roger Doerig. He is the fourth generation in a family of craftsmen that produce engraved pieces of metal to be worn on leather belts. It’s a handcraft that was originally associated with Alpine dairy herdsmen and uses images that were part of the herdsman’s life—there are cows, and there are cows, and, of course, some cows. Once in a while he throws in a cow herding dog or the farmhouse in which a cow herder lives. The cow and cow-related elements keep coming up because in Appenzell the cow is a symbol of wealth.

The more engraved pieces, like these, that a herdsman owned, the wealthier he appeared to his neighbors. These engraved belts are still very popular with the people of Appenzell and during the past few years tourists have joined the market. Roger also makes jewelry but his biggest seller with tourists are dog collars. It appears that the more engraved dog collars a person owns the wealthier that person appears to his neighbors and perhaps even more important to his neighbor’s dog. 

But the craft tradition in Appenzell is by no means limited to engraved cows and dog collars. Appenzell is also the home of Johannes Fuchs. Now on the surface he appears to be just a carpenter making furniture. But behind that dulcet exterior is a man who makes dulcimers and not just any dulcimers; he makes some of the finest dulcimers in the world. He learned the craft from his father who was a dulcimer maker but unfortunately not a dulcimer player so Johannes not only had to learn how to make them but also figure out how to tune them and play them.

JOHANNES FUCHS ON CAMERA: And for each tone we have five strings. And they should have the same tone. We have a bridge and this bridge cut these five strings on the right positioning two tones but we have on the left side one tone and the right not the same of course. And this one on this side which is up goes through this hole in the middle and this is a long a long string from here to here and we can play like.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I noticed you were also hitting it with different sides of the hammer.

JOHANNES FUCHS ON CAMERA: We have the wooden side and then I can turn with my finger to the leather side. And this is a different sound.

BURT WOLF: In Persia, the playing of hammered dulcimers goes back at least two thousand years. During the 1500s, gypsies traveling from Eastern Europe to L.A., brought the dulcimer to Switzerland where it soon became a basic part of Swiss folk music.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I think I’ll get out while I’m ahead.

BURT WOLF: Throughout the world, the shape of a dulcimer is pretty much the same—a trapezoid, which means it has four sides but only two of them are parallel. There are 125 strings. The long strings produce deep tones, the short strings produce high tones. And each edge on the hammer produces a different tone with each note.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: How important is the earring to the music?

JOHANNES FUCHS ON CAMERA: How important? You cannot play better like this.

BURT WOLF: They say that music sooths the savage beast but my experience is that food works much faster. So what’s there to eat in Appenzell and where should we eat it. The mountains and the farmland that surround Appenzell contain the densest network of hiking trails in Switzerland.

The local hangout for farmers and hikers is the restaurant Ruhesitz. It’s located on the side of a mountain about twenty minutes from Appenzell. And it has one of the great views to dine by.

The food is simple and traditional, perfect for hard working farmers and exhausted hikers. Meals usually start with a plate of beef that has been marinated in sweet apple cider, air-dried and sliced into thin strips. This is often followed by a dish of pasta layered with Appenzell cheese and topped with fried onions. There’s a side dish of applesauce.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Their signature dessert is an ice cream made from ginger bread cookies with a little bit of Appenzeller liquor on top. I thought I asked you not to do that.

BURT WOLF: The drink of choice is beer made by the Appensell brewery. The Appensell Brewery makes an extensive line of beers and many are quite unusual. There’s one made from chestnuts, one from oak, one from wheat and one from hemp. The hemp beer is particularly popular with people who lived in Northern California during the 60s.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: His most famous beer, however, is called full moon and for good reason. People who gather herbs believe if they are gathered on the night of a full moon they have a more intense flavor and the brewer believes the moon has the same effect on his beer. So every time there is a full moon he brews a batch.

BURT WOLF: Appenzell is proud of its local beer but even more significant to the area’s gastronomic importance is Appenzell’s cheese. This is the Chas Sutter cheese shop in Appenzell. They carry all the major cheeses of the area. The most famous of which is the cheese called Appenzell which is nice because it gives me one less thing to remember.

The curds have been cooked and pressed and the rind brushed. It ripens for about three months and ends up with a scattering of little air holes. There’s a slight tang to the taste which comes from the newly formed cheese taking a bath in white wine or cider that has been seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs. You’ll find Appenzell in good cheese shops throughout the world. It’s used as a snack with fruit or crusty bread and it’s also a cheese that can be used for making cheese fondue.

After my tour of Appenzell, I took a post bus to the canton of Graubuenden which is also in eastern Switzerland. It’s the largest state in Switzerland with over 180,000 inhabitants. The area was originally settled by the Welch, same Welch that now populate Wales in the middle of England. In the year 15 BC, the ancient Romans marched into town, because they wanted to control the mountain passes between Italy and the rest of Europe. Graubuenden contains 14 passes so it was high on Rome’s acquisition list. The passes were of great importance and a constant cause for battle, until the railroads came along, at which point, everyone took a pass on the passes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The people who live in Graubuenden are known as Bundners. And their heritage goes back for thousands of years. It’s a heritage that they honor in many ways. First of all, in addition to speaking German, French, Italian and a little bit of English, there are people here who speak Romansch. Romansch is a language that got started thousands of years ago when the Roman soldiers who were guarding the passes took their Latin and combined it with the dialect of the people who were living here originally. In addition, the people of Graubuenden celebrate New Year’s Day on March 1st, as the ancient Romans did.

BURT WOLF: Chur is the capital of Graubuenden and its cathedral was built during its occupation by the ancient Romans. By 451 it had a bishop in residence. The present cathedral was put up in the middle of the 1100s. The portal dates from that time and so do the four columns that were designed to carry the bishop’s pulpit. This was the cathedral of an important city on the ancient trade routes and it shows the influence of the cultures that passed through.

Hidden in a corner of the cathedral is a room that contains the cathedral’s relics.

Relics are things that belonged to saints or people who were on their way to becoming a saint or hoped to become saints. If a church had a good collection of relics, it attracted more visitors and more visitors meant more donations. Chur did well--that bone belonged to Saint Placidus, 1480. There’s a religious case for Saint Luzius, 1252. A Eucharist wafer case 800 and glasses that held wine during the service, 795 and 1250, plus shipping and handling.

The technique for shaping a mass of glass that has been softened by heat and blowing air into it through a tube goes back to the first century BC in ancient Syria. They formed things for everyday use as well as works of art. Their glass was exported all over the Roman Empire.

Graubuenden was part of the Roman Empire and the art of glass blowing has been practiced here for hundreds of years. For over a quarter of a century, Fred Mayer has been blowing glass in the city of Chur.

The technique is pretty much the same as it was over 2,000 years ago. The molten glass, which has the consistency of a thick molasses is held in a ball at the end of a hollow pipe. The glassblower blows into the pipe which inflates the molten glass. The glass is shaped by blowing, rolling on a hard surface, pressing with tools, and cutting. Additions to the basic form, like handles and stems can be made by welding.

He makes a carafe shaped like an apple with an arrow going through it—a commemorative work honoring William Tell who shot an arrow through an apple that was sitting on his son’s head. Fred also makes glass containers shaped like alp horns. Brandy bottles with shapes inside that indicate the flavor of the brandy. My favorite are these tilted glasses which are used on the Glacier Express Trains. The slant on the glass has a very specific angle.

It matches the slant of the dining tables on the train as it travels up and down the Swiss Alps. Interesting, the railroad doesn’t have any slanted plates to keep your food from sliding around but all the wine is carefully protected. Well—that’s a brief look at Eastern Switzerland. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I hope you will join me next time. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Yucatan, Mexico - #404

BURT WOLF: The Yucatan Peninsula on the east coast of Mexico juts out into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf. It is one of the ancestral homes of the Maya who settled here about 4000 years ago.

The Yucatan’s nearness to the islands of the Caribbean and the Maya’s contacts with distant

cultures made it a trading center, but it also produced a culture that valued scholarship, artistic creativity, and a sophisticated lifestyle. Within the Mexican state of Yucatan you will find the most impressive concentration of Maya ruins.

You will also discover some of the finest colonial cities. Merida is the capital of the Yucatan and filled with colonial architecture.

The Yucatan is also lined with coastal communities that are famous for their beaches and their wild life.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The story of how the Yucatan got its name represents one of the classic encounters between Europe and the Americas. As the first Spanish explorers came ashore they were greeted by a group of Maya. The head of the Spanish expedition, in Spanish of course, asked the Maya what they called their land. The Maya replied “Yucatan” which roughly translates as, “I’m terribly sorry but I don’t really understand what you’re saying.” And from that day forth this part of Mexico has been known as “I don’t understand what you’re saying”, or Yucatan for short.

BURT WOLF: At about the same time the Roman Empire was falling the Maya were standing up. They started building magnificent temples devoted to the god of rain. Their palaces and municipal buildings were as impressive as the structures of ancient Greece, Rome or Egypt.

They recorded their history on stone monuments using hieroglyphs.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Maya had a natural appreciation for both mathematics and astronomy. They were fascinated with the idea of measuring time and developed one of the earliest and most accurate calendars. Eventually however, they began worshiping time and their entire life was controlled by a time-based bible. The book told them when a particular god wanted something done and god help you if it didn’t happen.

BURT WOLF: Mayan agriculture was highly advanced. They grew corn, chili peppers, runner beans, tomatoes, and cacao, which was used to make chocolate. The cacao beans were also used as a form of money. The Maya were the largest indigenous group in the Americas. In addition to living in Mexico, there were Maya communities in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. And they lived with rigid class distinctions. Those who had it flaunted it and those who didn’t, didn’t. And to make sure you knew who had it and who didn’t the nobility flattened the skulls of their children so you could tell them from the masses.

The general population who were not part of the privileged classes lived in thatched wooden huts, an architectural style that is still found throughout rural Yucatan. The huts are oval and made of wood frames. The walls are filled in with branches and the spaces between the poles are filled with mud. The roof is made of waterproof palm leaves. The whole thing is about the size of a one-car garage.

Like their post-Columbian ancestors present-day Maya prefer hammocks to beds—having a gentle breeze circulating completely around you is their form of air conditioning. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When Columbus first saw a hammock, he was so impressed that he ordered a version as a space-saving bed for his sailors. The idea was quickly accepted by European fleets and for the past 500 years hammocks have been part of navy gear. Now the trick to sleeping in one is to sleep on the diagonal and that way when you wake up in the morning you won’t be shaped like a pretzel.

BURT WOLF: Today Merida is the center of Maya hammock making and selling. When you’re buying one it’s helpful to know that nylon is better than cotton and silk is the best of all. The larger the hammock the more comfortable. And the more end strings used to produce a given hammock the better—fifty is a minimum, anything less will not be strong enough.

Yucatan’s southern district is known as the Puuc region—which means “hill country”. Archeologists estimate that at one point during the 9th century hundreds of thousands of Maya lived here. These days only the ruins of their classic period remain. 

This is Uxmal. It was the intellectual and cultural center of the Yucatan. Today the site is one of the important tourist attractions of the Yucatan.

Juan Carlos Delgado is of 100% Maya decent and an official guide to the site.

JUAN CARLOS DELGADO ON CAMERA: This is the Pyramid of the Magician or the Pyramid of the Dwarf. According to a legend, this pyramid was built in only one night by a dwarf with supernatural powers. But of course, it wasn’t built in only one night. Actually, we have 5 temples. Each one was built in a period of time of 52 years. Going up this first flight of steps, on the first landing you can see a doorway and that façade pretty well decorated. That’s the 4th one and the 5th temple is just at the very top. This building was used to worship the rain god Chac because by these steps you can see little representations of these gods. 12 on the left side. 12 on the right side as well. You see take a look at the 4th temple. The 4th temple actually it’s a huge mask. You can see that the doorway is a mouth. Over the doorway you can see a broken stone sticking out. That’s the nose and at each side of this nose you can see some eyes. Take a look at the whole façade. That’s a huge mask of the rain god and on the corners of this façade is decorated with those Chac masks as well or the Rain God.

So that’s the Governor’s Palace. This is not a religious building but a civil building. This building is considered the masterpiece of the whole Mesoamerican cultures. Experts believe that the Mayas choose approximately 20,000 carved stones just for the decoration. And take a look at the central doorway. The widest one. Up there you can see a throne and a torso on that throne. That’s considered the representation of the last governor from here. And the name of this governor was Ah Suytok Tutul Xiu.

BURT WOLF: Uxmal is considered to be the purest example of Maya architecture but very little is known about its history. At about 900 A.D. Uxmal was abandoned—probably as the result of a military invasion.

The Yucatan rests on a giant sheet of porous limestone covered by a thin layer of soil. There is a considerable amount of rainfall during the rainy season but all of it quickly drains through the soil and the limestone. As a result there are no above ground lakes or rivers in the Yucatan. But the entire region is crisscrossed with underground rivers.

When a section of the earth above an underground river collapses an underground waterhole is formed. They’re called cenotes. There are thousands of them in the Yucatan and some are hundreds of feet deep. Most of the Maya cities in the northern Yucatan were built near cenotes.: The Maya believe that they connected our world with the secret and magical world underneath the waters.

Today they are no longer a source of water for drinking and farming but an ideal sheltered swimming hole for locals and tourists.

In 1526, Francisco de Montejo, a young Spanish nobleman who had served under Cortes during the conquest of the Aztecs asked the king of Spain for the right to take military control of the Yucatan Peninsula. He planned to advance the interests of the king, spread the Catholic faith and in the process make a few bucks for himself.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And though I have nothing nice to say about his royal evilness, I have a very positive association with his name. It’s the name of my favorite local beer.:: 

BURT WOLF: Montejo chose the name Merida because the ruins of the Maya city that was once here reminded him of the Roman ruins of Merida in Spain. What can I tell you, the guy was into ruins and ruining. Today the city is famous for its architecture.

Carlos Sosa was my guide.

CARLOS SOSA ON CAMERA: This is the zocalo. The plaza. The main one of the city called the Plaza de la Independencia. It’s the place where a lot of people hang out. And also the place where people come to fix and mend all the problems of the world. This is one of the places you can find the architects of the universe and the plaza is a center of the activities that we have on Sunday where all kinds of displays of handicrafts and music and food. Actors that come here to perform. This is happening every Sunday.

BURT WOLF: The park is lined with confidenciales, s-shaped love seats where, at least in theory confidential conversations can take place.

On the east side of the Plaza is the Cathedral San Ildefonso. It was built during the second half of the 1500s and designed to double as a fortress. It was also the first Catholic cathedral built on the American mainland. Like many churches in the Yucatan the architecture is austere—plain rough worked limestone.

CARLOS SOSA ON CAMERA: This is the Cathedral De San Ildefonso that was built by the end of the 1500s. And as most of the cathedrals they were used as a fortress, this one is considered to be one of the oldest of the American continent. Just right after the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. And as most of them were considered to be fortresses and they were working with a double function. This style of architecture as with most of them is very simple, very big buildings, strong ones but practically the decoration is none.

BURT WOLF: The most valued object in the Cathedral is a 10-foot tall statue known as Christ of the Blisters. Legend has it that the statue was made from a tree that had been stuck by lightning and burned through an entire night but was never destroyed. When a second fire engulfed the statue it developed a few blisters but once again survived. It is considered to have miraculous powers.

On another side of the square is the Governor’s Palace which was built in 1892 and still houses the executive government of the Yucatan. Along the walls are a series of murals painted by Castro Pacheco.

CARLOS SOSA ON CAMERA: Fernando Castro Pacheco is a painter from Merida. He depicted the Mayan history in his murals that we can see here at the Governor’s Palace. The one that we see here behind us, the first one in the middle, it represents the creation of man by the Mayan gods. Two gods on the side of the man that you can see on the mural are representing the twin gods. And the corn which is the material of the man was made out it’s represented right here held by a hand that is supposed to be one of the hands of the gods supporting the heaven in one of the corners. One of the four corners which are the cardinal points and on the sides we can see also the other directions. We have South here. North on top. West and East on the sides and each one of these sides are representing different aspects of the Maya life and the Maya religion.

BURT WOLF: On the corners of many buildings you will notice plaques with paintings of people, animals and other objects with their Spanish names underneath. They were put up during colonial times to teach Spanish to the natives.

For thousands of years the Maya have been growing henequen which is a spiky relative of the agave plant. Agave was once used to make a mildly alcoholic beverage. Today it is used to make tequila. Henequen was used to make rope.

During the late 1800s, European planters began to grow henequen and convert it into rope. The leaves are cut from the plant and processed to produce a strong natural fiber. The equipment was somewhat primitive but it did the job.

The fibers which have enormous strength are hung out in the sun to dry. When all the moisture has evaporated the fibers are bailed and shipped off to rope makers.

Europeans called the fiber “sisal” which is the name of the gulf coast port from which the henequen was shipped. At the end of the 1800s and early 1900s the demand for sisal in Europe and the United States was so great that the plantation owners became enormously wealthy. The height of the boom came during The First World War when the demand for rope was greater than the supply. At the time, Merida, the capital city of the Yucatan had more millionaires per capita then any other city in the world.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Looks like business has dropped off a little bit. Seems that synthetics have taken over the market that once belonged to sisal. There’s still a couple of plants left. They only operate a few days a week and their output goes to craft shops to make rugs and handbags.

BURT WOLF: And one of the best places to shop for local crafts is the government craft shop in Merida. They have representative works from all over the Yucatan. There’s a group that reproduces traditional jewelry designs--earrings, pins and necklaces from the Colonial period. Bags made from sisal and dyed in tropical colors. Lots of pottery and glasses to hold the local beer.

The white dresses embroidered with bright colors that you see are called huipiles. They’ve been worn by Maya women since the 1500s. When the Franciscan missionaries arrived they started preaching modesty. And I guess if you’re going to wear something these are pretty good. Simple, light, loose fitting and traditionally made of cotton—they are well suited to the hot climate. And to watch them being made is a trip. I couldn’t resist buying one for my granddaughter.

The sisal wealth is gone but part of its impact is still around, especially when it comes to eating and drinking. The Maya were some of the great cooks of Mesoamerica. And once you have a tradition of good cooking in place and you add big money you end up with a recipe that usually produces excellent restaurants.

The food here is a mixture of native Maya and Spanish influences. They season much of their food with a blend of herbs and spices. The mixture is spread on pork, chicken or seafood which is grilled, steamed or braised.

One of the best meals I had was at the restaurant in La Mission de Fray Diego which is housed in a 17th century villa in the center of town. It’s small. It’s charming. And the food is good.

I started with a lime soup made with a base of chicken stock and seasoned with lime juice and coriander. Onions, tomatoes, chopped chicken and pieces of fried tortilla are part of the recipe.

The main course was barbecued pork seasoned with bitter oranges and served with a tomato sauce, roasted onions and black beans.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And it goes great with the local beer.

BURT WOLF: The second restaurant that was top notch was Los Almendros. This place has been around since the early 70s and is a favorite with local businessmen at lunch and families at dinner.

One of the things I like about this place is “what you see is what you get”. There is a photograph of each of their dishes on the wall and on the menu. Even if your native language is esperanza you can be sure of what you’re ordering.

I started with Panuchos—home made tortillas filled with black beans and topped with shredded turkey, tomatoes, lettuce and sliced onion.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And it goes perfectly with the local beer.

BURT WOLF: Next up was Papadzules—tacos filled with chopped hard-boiled egg and served in a pumpkin seed sauce with tomato sauce. And finally, Cochinita Pibil. Pibil refers to the ancient Maya method of pit-roasting meat in a stone-lined hole in the ground. In this case, pork has been rubbed with a mixture of bitter oranges, tomatoes and onions and wrapped in a banana leaf.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It ends up being baked and steamed and at the same time infused with the flavors of the spices and the banana leaf. And it goes perfectly with the local beer.

BURT WOLF: While I was in the Yucatan I stayed at the Hotel Villa Mercedes. It’s rated as a five-star property. There are only about 80 rooms and suites which make it small enough so the staff can really care for you.

It’s managed by Edith Chablé who has a great sense of hospitality. When she says you are my guest she means it. Of course, the first time she said it to me she said it in Spanish which slowed me down a little but her English is excellent.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: She also told me that my ancient fear of drinking water in Mexico was unfounded in her hotel. All the water used for drinking including the water used to make the ice is filtered. And that’s true for many of the restaurants in the Yucatan that cater to tourists.

BURT WOLF: In 1903, the first consul of France bought a villa that had been around for decades and transformed it into his personal residence. It stayed in the family until 1997 when it was transformed into a hotel, but it still has much of the feeling of a grand villa.

Parts of the family photo album are in public places. And other parts are in private. Breakfast is my favorite meal and Villa Mercedes gets 10 out of 10. Every morning there was a full buffet. They also have a chef standing by to prepare any special dishes you have in mind. They introduced me to Huevos Motulenos—a tortilla coated with black bean paste, covered with a fried egg and topped with tomato sauce, chopped ham and peas. I had a half portion every morning.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Gracias. And it goes perfectly with the local beer.

BURT WOLF: You don’t have to spend much time under the Yucatan sun to appreciate the value of a good hat. Most of the local men and male tourists have succumbed to the baseball cap. But some have held to the tradition of the Panama—the Rolls Royce of tropical headgear. This is the hat shop of La Casa de los Jibis, a hat shop in the market of Merida, and an excellent place to indulge your millinery madness. Contrary to its name, the Panama hat is not a native of Panama.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: North American engineers, who went to Panama to work on the canal liked the lightweight local straw hats and began wearing them and calling them Panamas. But to tell you the truth, workers in Central America, South America, and Mexico had been wearing them for years. During the 1920s, travelers began wearing them and eventually they caught on in Europe and United States as an item of upscale menswear.

BURT WOLF: Panama hat making is a complex and delicate task which in the Yucatan is still done by hand in much the same way that it has been done for thousands of years. Once the weaving has begun the straw must be moist which requires a humid environment and lots of water. The finer the weave, the higher the quality. There are pits and caves in the Yucatan where the great Panama hat makers work. They provide a naturally humid environment which is perfect for weaving.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I was going to take you to the cave where this hat was made but last night the cave caved in—strange but true. The finest example of these hats are called finos and they can sell for over $1000. This one however was $45, but I got it for $40 because I bought five of them.

BURT WOLF: And the hats go perfectly with the local beer. Properly attired with our hats we are ready to head out to the national park of Celestun.

In 1997 Mexico set aside almost 200,000 acres of beach and mangrove jungle and designated the area as the Celestun wildlife refuge. It’s of particular interest to tourists because of the flocks of wild flamingos that come to the shallow waters to feed.

The name Flamingo comes from the Spanish flamenco, which means flaming. It’s a reference to the birds’ bright orange and electric pink plumage which is the result of the carotene in the algae, larvae, shrimp and other minute life that they eat.

To us, male and female flamingoes are identical in appearance but they must have a very reliable way of telling each other apart because when they mate they form a monogamous couple for the rest of their lives which can last up to thirty years.

Just west of the wildlife refuge is the small fishing village of Celestun. It’s perched on a narrow peninsula connected to the mainland by a causeway that crosses over a lagoon which is part of the national park. A non-profit organization, Pronatura, works with Celestun’s 6,000 residents to help preserve the natural resources while developing the local economy of Maya fisherman.

And those natural resources are magnificent. From the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, that’s TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Valais Winter - #403

BURT WOLF: The tectonic plates that hold our continents float on a sea of molten earth. About a hundred million years ago, the African plate began moving north and banged into the European plate. The collision took place along a 300-mile ridge. Billions of tons of rock were rammed together. The landscape was warped, folded and pushed skyward, and the mountains of the Swiss Alps were born. The most mountainous region in Switzerland is called the Valais, which is the Latin word for valley. It’s an L-shaped valley, and runs for 80 miles between mountain chains that have some of the highest peaks in Europe. World famous mountains like the Matterhorn are part of the Valais. 

BURT ON CAMERA: Since the middle of the 1850s, the blue sky, the mountains, the snow on the mountains and Swiss hospitality has attracted tourists to this area. Today it is a world epicenter for winter sports.

BURT WOLF: Each year, 24 of the world’s best snowboarders are invited to take on the North Face of the Bec des Rosses, a mountain that rises over ten thousand feet into the sky. The event is known as the Red Bull Xtreme, and it starts with the participants climbing to the top of the mountain with their boards on their backs. Snowboarding was invented in the United States, and each year the nation is well represented in the competition. Each rider picks his or her own path of descent. One after another they snowboard down the mountain, on slopes that angle down at 45 to 55 degrees, with 500-yard vertical drops.

The snowboarders are judged on the difficulty, originality and steepness of the path they have chosen. How they have navigated through the cliffs, their techniques and the control of the board. Any fall or loss of control incurs a penalty.

There are 5 experienced snowboarders who judge the event. They view the action through binoculars. There’s also a group of 20 spectators, who have been chosen to watch the event alongside the professional judges and make their own award. Prize money ranges from $4,000 to $10,000.

During the event the nearby town of Verbier holds a street fair. Verbier is located in the French speaking part of the Swiss Alps, at about 5,000 feet above sea level. The village faces the southwest, so it gets lots of sun. The slopes face the north, which helps preserve the snow. Verbier is in the heart of a four-valley ski area with over 250 miles of slopes and a hundred chair lifts. The highest summit in the area, Mont Fort, is almost 11 thousand feet. It offers a panoramic view of the Alps.

The first skiers arrived in 1925. By 1944, the population had exploded. Twenty-seven people were actually living here. ‘44 was also the year that Roger Pierroz, a baker from a nearby town took his wife Anita to Verbier for a holiday. She loved the place, and persuaded her husband to open a chalet and tearoom which she could manage. By 1961, the tearoom had been transformed into a hotel and a restaurant called the Rosalp. Today their son Roland is the owner and chef, and is considered to be one of the finest chefs in Europe. He starts by drawing the dish the way he wants it to look when it arrives at the table. That’s the point where the guests first see his food, and he wants the presentation to be well thought out.

ROLAND PIERROZ ON CAMERA: Foie Gras chaud aux asperges en vinaigrette verbette et tomates. Là une petite soupe de langoustines aux coquillages, petoncles et moules.

BURT ON CAMERA: Woody Allen once asked, why does man kill? And decided that man kills for food. And often there must be a beverage. 

BURT WOLF: In the case of the restaurant Rosalp, that beverage can be chosen from a 65,000-bottle wine cellar. It will take considerable dedication to get through these 65,000 bottles, but the people of Verbier are noted for their toughness and endurance. In fact, Verbier is associated with one of the world’s toughest tests of endurance. The race of the Glacier Patrol.

Every other year a thousand people show up to race from Zermatt to Verbier.    They race across the glaciers that separate the two villages. The competition actually began as part of a training program for Swiss mountain troops. Just before the start of the Second World War, two Swiss officers noticed that the Italian army had organized patrol races to upgrade the skill of their troops. The Swiss decided to do the same. The first race took place in 1943. The entire event is still under the control of the Swiss military, who inspect all the equipment used by the participants.

The military also set up safety stations along the route, and continually monitor conditions on the glaciers. These days the race is also open to an international group of non-military personnel. Each team consists of three participants, who are roped together for much of the race.

The total distance is 50 miles. The record time was set in 2000 by three members of the Swiss Border Patrol--seven hours, three minutes, 44 seconds. 

Across the valley from Verbier is the town of Crans-Montana. When I first came here in the late 60’s, there were two towns. Crans to the west and Montana to the east. During the 70’s they merged to become a single town. Now some say it was just a marriage of convenience, but I think it was true love. They both loved shopping. They both loved eating. And they both loved winter sports.

Today Crans-Montana has over a hundred miles of downhill slopes that are ideal for beginners and intermediate skiers. At an elevation of ten thousand feet, there is a three-mile long glacier that’s been set up for skiing. It’s dead flat and called the Plaine Morte, which is French for, uh, dead flat. There’s also an excellent area for cross-country skiing, with 31 miles of loops.

And if stand up skiing is not your thing, you can sit down. It’s called snow biking and it was originally developed in 1892 by an American who called the equipment an Ice Velocipede. The early models were basically a bicycle fitted with skis instead of wheels. Snow biking became a sport during the 1940s, when two engineers combined their inventions to create a Skibob. George Gfaller, a German, invented a single-track steerable sledge, and Engelbert Brenter, an Austrian, patented the “Sit Ski”. 

Right in the center of Montana is the curling rink. The sport goes back at least to the 1500s, when the Dutch and Germans played a similar game. On the surface it appears rather simple. Before the game begins, a pebbler sprinkles water on the ice, which freezes and produces a fine layer of pebbles for the stone to ride on.

Eddy Cottini was a member of the Swiss curling team, and was kind enough to teach me some of the finer points.

EDDY COTTINI ON CAMERA: First you go down. Second you push the stone in front, push your knee on the floor. Take back, and push very strong on your leg. 

BURT WOLF: It’s a round, flat, polished granite stone that weighs 42 to 44 pounds, with a handle coming out of the top. The circle around the circumference of the stone is not polished, which helps prevent chipping.

EDDY COTTINI ON CAMERA: Again, very strong, take out.

BURT WOLF: Each player sends a stone sliding down an alley of ice that’s 14 feet wide and 138 feet long. The target is a circle at the end of the alley. Teammates use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the stone, which helps control the distance that the stone will travel. 

EDDY COTTINI ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF: The more you sweep, the farther the stone goes. Each player has four stones and the objective is to get your stone as close to the center of the circle as possible. Your opponent has the same objective, and tries to knock your stone away in the process.

EDDY COTTINI ON CAMERA: The stone is the closer from the middle and the stone who are taking the points. For example, here you have two stone like this, you have two black points. If you have one red, who come a bit more than this one, you have only one black, one point. Okay, this one cut the second point. BURT WOLF: There are four players on each team, and two teams. The game will usually take a little over two hours.

Being pulled behind your curling stone is one way to travel, but a much more traditional source of power during the winter are dogs. The native people in the Arctic have been using working dogs for over 4,000 years. Life at the top of the earth, especially in Alaska, northern Canada and Siberia depends on the daily use of working dogs. And the breeds originally domesticated, the Alaskan Malamute, and the Siberian Husky, are still relied on by dog sled drivers throughout the world. Pierre Antoine Heritier lives in Crans-Montana, and has been teaching people how to dogsled since 1992.

PIERRE ANTOINE HERITIER ON CAMERA: I started because I read Jack London. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What makes a good dog?

PIERRE ANTOINE HERITIER ON CAMERA: Patience with the dogs. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: How long can they run? 

PIERRE ANTOINE HERITIER ON CAMERA: Five hours, when the time is cool. My lead dogs are two females.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Because they’re smarter and the big guys are in the back because they’re stronger. How many miles do you get to the biscuit?

BURT WOLF: Dog sled racing is a sport which was invented in North America. During the Alaskan gold rush of the 1800s, miners used dogs to move their supplies. Racing the dogs became a major pastime. The first all-Alaskan dog sled sweepstakes race took place in 1908. Dog sled racing was also a demonstration event in both the 1932 and 1952 Winter Olympics. Today it has a sizable and enthusiastic following and a full calendar of international events. 

At the crest of one of the nearby hills is the Chateau de Brignon. It was built in 1260 by the Count of Savoy so he could set up a little kingdom for one of his pals. These days it’s a charming secluded restaurant, decorated in the style of the Victorian period. A favorite place for an elegant dinner after a day of skiing. It’s owned by Sandra Schnyder, who is Swiss, and responsible for the wines. And Abdallah Hamadouch, her husband, who is from Morocco and does the cooking.

Dinner started with bass, stuffed with ratatouille, and garnished with fried leeks. That was followed by lamb surrounded by mustard-coated potatoes, roasted garlic and morel mushrooms.

ABDALLAH HAMADOUCH ON CAMERA: Voila. 

BURT WOLF: My dessert was designed by Aude, their three year old daughter, who I’m going to introduce to my three year old grandson. She loves to cook, and he loves to eat. This could be the start of something grand.

ABDALLAH HAMADOUCH ON CAMERA: Tu tiens ici. Là.

AUDE ON CAMERA: Là?

ABDALLAH HAMADOUCH ON CAMERA: Oui. Tu as pris et tu mets dedans. Ici. Voilà. 

BURT WOLF: While I was in the Valais, I stayed at the Excelsior MilaHotel. It was built in 1946 and recently restored and updated to meet the needs of international guests. The central lobby is where everybody hangs out in front of a wood-burning fireplace. There’s also an afternoon tea during which the chef makes crepes. 

The second floor has a sauna room and a Jacuzzi room. You get the key from the front desk and it becomes your private space.

The restaurant has a Swiss French menu. Today the chef prepared a round of salmon steak on a bed of vegetables, with a drizzle of caviar sauce on top. The garnish was purple potato chips and toasted salmon skin. The owner of the hotel is of Lebanese descent, and that shows up on the menu with a series of excellent Lebanese dishes--hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, spinach and meat pies, spicy Moroccan sausages and lamb patties. The hotel rooms have a feature that is very convenient. Each room is connected to the next room by an internal door, so when you are traveling with children, you can connect everyone in a long train, or not, as you see fit.    And that is the view from my room. 

The Valais is famous for its hospitality and winter sports, but it’s also well known for its vineyards. The Valais produces more wine than any other area in Switzerland, and the quality is excellent. The medieval castle town of Saillon has been in the wine business for over a thousand years. They produce syrah, petite arvine, dôle and one of the finest examples of a blend called fendant. It’s considered to be an elegant wine; typical of Swiss wines in general, with a smoky bouquet, a fruity taste and light spritz that gives it a refreshing character. It’s exported as far as the end of the street, so if you’re in the neighborhood, give it a try. This is also the land of the legend of Farinet. Farinet was born in northern Italy in 1845, and soon realized that he was a gifted artist, able to work in extraordinary detail.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: His favorite subject was the Swiss twenty centimes coin, and he reproduced it as often as possible. And he would take his work down to the local casino and exchange it for other works of art, quite similar, perhaps less artistic, but definitely more valuable. All right, he was a counterfeiter. But he distributed much of his work amongst the poor, which made him a local Robin Hood. Eventually the authorities caught him, executed and buried him here, but he lives on as a folk hero. 

BURT WOLF: In 1980, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Farinet’s death, the local government created the world’s smallest vineyard, and gave it to the actor who played Farinet in a major movie. The vineyard only has three vines, and it takes up about three square yards of land, but it has become more famous than Farinet. Since the year 2000, it has been owned by the Dalai Lama, and each year world famous personalities come here to harvest the grapes on these three vines. Their names have been marked in the nearby vineyards.

The wines made from these vines are added to a thousand bottles of the best wines of the Valais, and sold at a charity auction.

The vineyard is covered with stones from the most important historic sites in the world. The Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the Grand Canyon. In their quest for worldwide representation, no stone has been left unturned.

One of the great trains of Europe is the Glacier Express. It got started in the 1930’s and runs for over 150 miles through some of Switzerland’s most beautiful scenery.

Under the theory that there can never be too much window surface, the Glacier Express introduced the panoramic window frame that extends into the roof. They also have a guidebook that tells you what you’re looking at.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: If you’re coming from the United States, get yourself a Swiss pass, it will give you a free ride on buses, trains and boats, and if it’s not free, it will give you a substantial discount. Of course you have to get on the bus to have the full effect.

BURT WOLF: And speaking of great views, there is the Aletsch Glacier area, which has been included on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List. You can enjoy the natural environment by hiking alongside the glacier, or taking a guided tour across the top. It’s over a thousand feet thick, and has the longest ice flow in Europe. They tell me that when a snowflake falls at the top of the glacier, it must wait 400 years to get to the front edge.

As you can tell from the story of Farinet, the world’s smallest vineyard, Switzerland has some unique traditions. Now in most cases I’ve been able to discover their source, but I am at a loss to explain the history of their brass bands.

It appears that almost every town in Switzerland has a brass band. It’s a hobby for the participants, but it’s taken very seriously. They practice once or twice a week, appear at municipal events, and give concerts.

The brass band at Crans-Montana was founded in 1933 and has 60 members. And clearly this is not a dying tradition. The average age of the members is 22.

Well, that’s winter in the Valais region of Switzerland. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Winter in the Lake Geneva Region - #402

BURT WOLF: Switzerland is divided into states called cantons. The canton that runs across the northern and eastern shores of Lake Geneva is known as the Canton of Vaud. The general area is known as the Lake Geneva region and it offers some of the best locations in Europe for a winter vacation.

During the late Sixties, I lived in this part of Switzerland and spent my vacations right here. The area has all the winter sports you’d expect and comfortable accommodations. What makes it special is that unlike many of Europe’s winter resorts that are designed for the rich and famous, most of the towns in Vaud are set up for families, or couples who are considering becoming families.

Ah, the thrill of true love, like a balloon it lifts you to new heights. And the Lake Geneva region is a perfect spot for balloonists or people who just want to take an amazing ride. The microclimate in the town of Chateau-d’Oex creates ideal flight conditions and has made it a world center for ballooning. Each year during the last week of January, hot air balloonists from all over the world come to Chateau-d’Oex. Over 80 balloons from 15 different countries take part in a week of mountain ballooning, and 60,000 spectators come to watch.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Hot air ballooning was introduced during the late 1700s by the Montgolfier brothers, who were responsible for the first flight with passengers. You couldn’t actually call it a manned flight, because the passengers were a rooster, a lamb and a duck. I should say in all fairness that a year later in 1783, they were responsible for the first flight that was manned. It was over Paris, it lasted 28 minutes, and there was a pilot and a passenger.

BURT WOLF: Hot air balloons depend on the lifting power of hot air, which is lighter than cold air. Accordingly, ballooning in the cool winter air of the Swiss Alps has a particular advantage.

Xavier Feal is a licensed balloon pilot who takes part in the great balloon events, but he’ll also take visitors up for a ride.

XAVIER FEAL ON CAMERA: For the hot air balloon, when you burn inside the balloon, the hot air it’s,

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Expands.

XAVIER FEAL ON CAMERA: Exactly. So like this you can fly. Only control I have, up, down. That’s it. The speed and the direction I can’t control. It’s all the time the wind. 

BURT WOLF: There is no propulsion system, a hot air balloon can’t be steered. The pilot can control the height by dropping the weights attached to the balloon. He can add more hot air to increase the balloon’s height, or let some of the air out, which will lower it. The direction of travel is controlled by locating and catching air currents heading in the direction you want to go.

The longest balloon flight, both in terms of distance, 25,361 miles, and time, 20 days straight, began right here in Chateau-D’Oex. It’s still the world record, and it’s held by a local Swiss psychiatrist named Bertrand Piccard and his British co-pilot and balloon designer, Brian Jones. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In 1999, they completed the first round the world flight, and because they were locked

together for 480 hours, they also get credit for the first successful lighter than air psychoanalysis.

BURT WOLF: The wind currents took us into some of the more remote valleys and above some of the more traditional chalets. Originally the word chalet described a small dwelling used by sheepherders in the Alps of Switzerland, Bavaria, France and Italy.

Eventually it was used to refer to any small house on the side of a mountain or in a mountainous region. Chalets are made from heavy planks of timber that are framed together like a log cabin. The sidewalls often extend past the corners, forming private sheltered porches. The balconies are detailed with carved railings. The windows are small and the shutters are decorated. The roofs are low and slanted to deal with the heavy snow they must support. The most traditional roofs are made from hand cut wooden shingles. Olivier Veuve is one of the few master roofers in the world who practices this historic craft. He spends the winters preparing the wood and then cutting it by hand.

OLIVIER VEUVE ON CAMERA: I am making shingles. It’s to put it on roofs in the chalet in the mountains, or in towns. We have it in the forest. We don’t need big factories to make it; we can do it, our self. It protects from the snow, it’s very elastic, but in the same time it’s very solid. It keeps longer on the roof. New system can maybe it’s okay for 20 years, while this one will be for 50 years. I got into this work because when I was very young I keep the cows in the mountain and I always wanted to do this job when I see this beautiful roofs, and I ask many old people if they can teach me this work, and

after long time, I found two old men who teach me. I like it because you work from the forest to the roof, you do everything yourself. And always be outside in the mountain, and it’s nice.

BURT WOLF: All of this is surrounded by some of Europe’s finest spots for winter sports. One of my favorites is Villars-Gryon. It’s where my sons learned to ski when they were little kids. 

The main area fans out over a sunny bowl with runs for beginners, intermediates and advanced skiers. Lots of off-trail terrain. And 75 miles of downhill runs that can be reached with 45 lifts. There’s also 27 miles of cross-country trails. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The cross-country trails are also used for snowshoeing. Now if you’re just getting into winter sports, and you’re not ready to learn to ski, snowshoeing is a great activity. Excellent cardiovascular exercise, and it burns hundreds of calories an hour.

BURT WOLF: The ultimate calorie burner in the neighborhood is the GP-24 hours of Villars. A charity race that got started in 1998. It’s a team relay race, where each team tries to accumulate as many miles as possible during a 24-hour period. There are two easy downhill runs. The first one is used for the day. The second one is used at night. The team that covers the greatest number of miles wins and each mile for each team raises money for the charity, with individuals and businesses donating the funds. 

The Lake Geneva region is also the home of an organization called HandiConcept. It’s devoted to increasing the range of sporting and recreational activities available to people with special physical needs. Trained instructors and modified equipment allow people to meet the challenges of sports that had previously been inaccessible. Claude-Alain Hofer worked for the Swiss Association for Paraplegics, taking groups on trips throughout Europe. Eventually he decided to open a business that created outdoor activities for the people he had been working with.

CLAUDE-ALAIN HOFER ON CAMERA: On the wintertime we have uni-ski, that’s for the paraplegic people or amputated people. We have the dual-skis. Dual ski is the same with two ski, and this one we use for quadriplegic. And then we have the foto-ski and this one is pretty for strong handicapped people, and so when people just sitting, and I drive on the back. Also on the summer time, mountain bike, with three wheels, and then biking also with three wheels just with hands.

YOUNG BOY ON CAMERA: When I came to Villars, I heard there was a concept here. And so, I ask if I can do like everybody else, and when I start, I liked it, and so I continue.

MALE SKIER ON CAMERA: The most important is to be outside, to be in the mountain, to have fun with the sun. 

OTHER MALE SKIER ON CAMERA: For me, it’s like paradise. It’s incredible. It’s new freedom. 

YOUNG BOY ON CAMERA: It feels like a good feeling. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I’m just beginning to learn to ski.

YOUNG BOY ON CAMERA: Yes?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Mostly I’m scared.

YOUNG BOY ON CAMERA: Don’t be scared. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Don’t be scared. I’ll try not to be, okay. I’ll use you as an example.

BURT WOLF: Claude-Alain Hofer’s work with physically challenged people has begun to change Villars-Gryon’s sensibilities. The entire town is becoming more and more open to what nature offers, and how to make it available to everyone. And in areas that are quite surprising. This is the restaurant Peppino in the Eurotel. The chef, Joel Quentin was born in France, and came to Villars one winter to cook for the season. Twenty years later, and he’s still in the kitchen. A while back he took a course with a local botanist and discovered that there are dozens of edible plants in the woods surrounding Villars. Almost every day he heads out into the forest and returns with a selection of herbs and plants that end up on your plate. Bear in mind however that Joel is an expert and knows what’s safe to eat and what’s not. I definitely wouldn’t try this on your own.

The meal he prepared for us started with a tomato flan with garlic leaves and baby ivy. The main course was roasted lamb with an Alpine thyme cream sauce, baby carrots and sautéed wild mushrooms.    Dessert was geranium ice cream, a small forest, and an herbed flavored cookie. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ice cream was good. Cookie was good. Joel said to me that everything on my plate was edible, so I’m going to take him at his word. Mmm. Good cup, made of sugar.

BURT WOLF: Two or three times each year, Joel runs a class where guests go into the Alps and learn which plants are tasty and safe to eat. They bring the flowers and the herbs back to the restaurant, where they learn to prepare them.

You can sit at a table and see Switzerland’s natural beauty on a plate, or you can sit on a train and just watch it roll by.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: As you travel from town to town, it’s great to have a Swiss pass. You get them in the United States and it makes it a lot easier to get around Switzerland on buses, trains and boats. But you gotta get the train to get the full benefit! 

BURT WOLF: While I was in the Lake Geneva area I stayed in the town of Leysin. Its history goes back to the year 515 when the Royal Abbey of St. Maurice was founded. The Roman Empire had fallen, and robbers were pillaging the valley. Leysin was built high up and behind a hill, which kept it hidden. Then for the next 1200 years not much happened. From time to time a priest would come up from the valley to bless the cows who’d become very religious. And that was pretty much it. BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In 1789, Thomas Malthus, the great British political economist, studied the life expectancy of the people in Leysin and compared it to the life expectancy of the general population in Europe. He decided that people lived longer here because of the healthful climate and the isolation. And he published that in his famous book, and that was the end of the isolation. 

BURT WOLF: Clinics began popping up and the place became a major international center for people recovering from assorted diseases. Dr. August Rollier came to town, and presented his theory that sunshine was the great cure. He believed that everyone should do everything in their underwear, so your body would get as much sunlight as possible. That’s a photograph of children sitting in class, in their underwear. When antibiotics took over the curing business, Leysin turned itself into a winter sports resort, and everyone put their clothing back on. Today it offers ski slopes for intermediates and beginners, skating, curling, ski bobbing, snow boarding, cross country skiing, and an amazing assortment of underwear shops. 

In the center of town there’s a restaurant called La Fromagerie, which means "The Cheese Farm." The building was put up in 1687 and was the home of a cheese maker. Eventually it became the center for a farmer’s co-op and finally this restaurant, which specializes in dishes that use cheese as a primary ingredient. The starring dish is a cheese fondue designed for big dippers. The children’s menu has one for little dippers. There’s raclette, melted cheese and steamed potatoes. Tomme Vaudoise, which is a disk of grilled cheese over beet, cabbage, and carrot salad. Rosti au fromage, hash brown potatoes with melted cheese on top, and there are at least three variations on each of the above. 

In the center of the room is a giant fireplace in which cheese is actually being made. It’s made from the milk of local cows, and tastes like a Gruyere. They make cheeses that are semi-hard and hard. And the aging room is right behind the bar, where they keep the real hard stuff. When the restaurant opened, the owners decided to turn the upstairs room into a museum, and invited people from the area to donate their historic farming tools, cooking equipment, and other antiques. It will give you an idea of what life was like on an Alpine farm in the early 1800’s. 

The Swiss have a deep respect for their agricultural heritage and often use the most traditional equipment. Pierre Turrian is a local coppersmith who builds and repairs the giant cauldrons used to make farmhouse cheeses. He also shapes the bells that hang from the necks of the cows that lead the herd up into the mountain pastures each spring. He’s one of the three cauldron makers left in Switzerland. And for those of us who don’t make cheese in giant cauldrons, or own a lead cow, Pierre hand makes copper kitchen utensils. 

He starts his cauldrons by taking a sheet of copper and flattening the edges. Then rolling it into a circle. The ends are fitted together and fastened. The inside edges are sealed and shaped. The bottom edge is rounded into a bowl. The rim is formed and pounded. The bottom is fitted. A handle is made and attached. 

And now back to the cowbells. Cow bells to mark the lead cow. Cow beanbags. Cow dishes. Cow potholders. It’s all part of Switzerland’s bovine bonding. The domestication of animals began about 10,000 years ago with the reindeer and the dog. But it wasn’t until hunters and gatherers decided to stay put, growing crops and living in one place, that animals were bred in captivity and put to use. That was about 7,000 years ago. Many people assumed that the domestication of cattle took place for economic reasons, as a source of milk and meat. But that was not the only reason. It looks like the first cattle to be domesticated were important because of their symbolic value in the rituals of the moon goddess cults. Keeping large beasts in captivity, and then getting them to reproduce in captivity, insured a supply of animals for cultic purposes. 

The amazing variety of cow art in Switzerland may be more about respecting ancient cultic values than anything else. Bernard Bard lives in Leysin. And like many of the town’s inhabitants, started out in the cheese business. But health problems forced him to change careers. Not wanting to go too far from his beloved cows, he started making wooden cow sculptures. And they’ve become a major example of the local folk art. They’re made from linden wood, and take about 15 hours to produce. The primary shape is cut out with an electric saw. The details are carved by hand. And finally the figure is painted. 

It looks like people have been living in Leysin with their cows, both real and sculptured, for at least 1500 years. But just down the road, in the valley below Leysin is an even older settlement. The town of Aigle where people have been living for over 4000 years. Many in the same rent-controlled apartments. A good example would be the castle at Aigle. 

The present structure was put up in the 1200s and still exhibits the architectural features that were so popular at the time. Twelve-foot thick walls that could repel cannonballs. Conveniently placed beveled slots for shooting arrows at your enemies. A pleasantly situated overhang for pouring boiling oil on unwanted guests. A 100-foot high tower for those months when you just want to be alone. And like all castles, it has always come with a complete selection of local peasants. Peasants who were trained to take care of those bothersome household chores. These days the castle is a museum with a series of displays commemorating Aigle’s long history as an area for the production of fine wines. The first vineyards were put in place by the ancient Romans. There’s an exhibition that illustrates the evolution of wine bottles, and explains that it was impossible to conduct business without a uniform system of measurement. 

If you were buying wine from a distant vineyard, and you expected the big bottle, because that’s what people used in your neighborhood, and you ended up with a little one, because that’s what they used two valleys over, you had a problem. 

In the late 1700’s, France introduced the metric system, based on the meter, which is one ten millionth of a quarter of the world’s equator. The French clearly understood how much more convenient one ten millionth of a quarter of the equator was than a foot.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The people of Vaud where I am standing did not want to give up the foot and so they standardized it at three tenths of a ten millionth part of the equator. They also introduced the hand, which they standardized at four hundredth of a millionth part of the equator.  Of course at the time people were not totally convinced as to the proper length of the equator, and so often there was a 2.0115 correction one way or the other. Are you getting this down? 

BURT WOLF: The unit of measurement for wine became the liter, which is a volume measurement based on the meter. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Attempts to understand this system, led to an outburst of heavy drinking, which in turn resulted in Aigle producing some of the finest wines in Switzerland. 

BURT WOLF: They have a light bouquet, a nice balance of fruit and acidity, and the more you drink, the more you think you understand the metric system. The Chateau has a charming little restaurant called the Pint of Paradise, where you can have an excellent lunch and test your comprehension of the metric system. 

It will however take more than a bottle of Aigle to get me to go paragliding, but I’m beginning to understand why it’s attractive to many people, and why they come to the Lake Geneva region to learn to paraglide, or just take a ride with an instructor. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Interesting but not quite for me. So let me introduce you to Sarah Perlman, my senior producer.

SARAH PERLMAN ON CAMERA: Hi.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: who is committed to do this. And I made her get a letter from her mother and she’s all set. And this is Andy Cope who has been my cameraman for years! And he knows a lot about cameras, but nothing about paragliding, and has volunteered to do this. And he has a note from his psychiatrist. 

BURT WOLF: Jean-Francois Blaser is a licensed instructor, and will teach you the necessary skills, or just give you a ride. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And this is Emily Aronson. She is the executive producer and the boss, and we’re going for hot chocolate and to write a few postcards to our family. 

BURT WOLF: Basically what you’re doing is flying a parachute shaped like a wing. There’s no rigid frame. Just a series of fabric tubes with openings at the front edge. 

JEAN-FRANCOIS BLASER ON CAMERA: Okay, now we start to run.

BURT WOLF: The wing is launched like a kite. The pilot runs down from the top of a mountain, until he reaches a speed of about 12 miles an hour, at which point the wing is inflated, and takes off. The pilot is suspended in a harness, and controls the wing with a series of ropes connected to the front edge. The sport got started in the mountainous parts of the United States, France and Switzerland. At first mountain climbers saw paragliding as just an easy way to get down. But it soon became a sport on its own. Skilled pilots can use rising air currents to carry them over considerable distances. Flights of 100 miles are not uncommon. The world record for straight distance is over 200 miles. 

ANDY COPE ON CAMERA: Whoa! Haha! This is great. There’s nothing but the sound of wind in your ears. We’re at 3000 feet up. It is so great. 

BURT WOLF: One of the most skilled pilots is Marino Frei. 

MARINO FREI ON CAMERA: You are free like a bird, you fly, you enjoy flying, you enjoy to see the scenery. It’s so nice to fly. You have to do it to understand what is flying. 

SARAH PERLMAN ON CAMERA: Amazing!

EMILY ARONSON ON CAMERA: There they are. See the both of them?

BURT WOLF: That’s winter in the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Boston, Massachusetts - #401

BURT WOLF: Boston is the second largest port of entry in the United States, right behind Ellis Island. Over 56 million immigrants came into the U.S. through Boston and today, almost one out of every six Americans can trace an ancestor who came here through this town.

The first residents of Boston arrived in 1630, which gave the city an early start in our nation’s history. Accordingly, Boston has been responsible for many firsts. Boston is the site of Harvard University—the first university in America.

Boston designed the country’s first public garden—24 acres of green in the middle of downtown. It opened in 1859. One of its main attractions are the Swan Boats. They paddle their way around a tree-shaded pond. The same family has been operating these foot-propelled boats since they went into service during the 1870s.

Boston is the home of the first church in America built by free blacks. It opened in 1806 and was originally called the African Meeting House. When Massachusetts declared slavery illegal in 1783, the town became a haven for hundreds of slaves that had escaped from the south. 

Boston built the first public library. It opened in 1895 and along with its books it has an interesting collection of paintings, including some by John Singer Sargent who is considered to be the greatest portrait painter of the late 1800s. 

Boston is also home to the world’s oldest annual foot race—the Boston Marathon. It’s been held every year since 1897. Next to winning an Olympic event, winning the Boston Marathon is one of the most important honors in marathon racing.

Boston is also the town where a new form of American music was created. In 1885 the Boston Symphony Orchestra tried to re-create the summer concerts that were being held in the gardens of Vienna. They presented a strait-laced Boston public with a light and humorous program, and the public loved it. Within a century it became a unique American musical institution known as the Boston Pops and it is the most recorded orchestra in the world.

And perhaps in a somewhat less significant category but still important to many people, including me, it has the first Dunkin' Donuts shop.

It opened in 1950 in the town of Quincy, just outside of Boston. The donut is not only my favorite pastry but the most popular pastry in the United States. And as opposed to bagels, which are eaten primarily in restaurants, donuts are eaten primarily in automobiles. Dunkin' has 64 different donuts and they sell over 2 billion of them each year. And if you took 2 billion donuts and placed them end-to-end they would circle the earth five times and if you actually did that you would be put in a mental hospital. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: But my favorite Dunkin' Donut at Dunkin' Donuts is the Dunkin' Donut. It’s an old-fashioned donut, but at the side there’s this piece that comes out so you can hold that, dip it into your coffee and not get your fingers wet. Mmm. Good. Want a bite? Does the word “sharing” mean anything to you?

BURT WOLF: Ah, but life in Boston wasn’t always this much fun. During the early 1600s a group of strict Calvinists known as Puritans were living in England and being persecuted by the Anglican Church. In 1630 a fleet of 11 ships set sail from England. They were carrying 750 Puritans bound for Salem, Massachusetts. The King of England had sold them the right to form the Massachusetts Bay Company and to occupy a strip of land.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Old King James I was a great land salesman. His specialty was getting rid of land in America to people in England that he also wanted to get rid of. He was thrilled to lease a little property to the Puritans, or the Pilgrims or the Quakers or anybody else who didn’t see the world exactly the way he did. I’m sure you know people like that.

BURT WOLF: At one point, the Puritans received an invitation from an eccentric minister named William Blackstone. Blackstone invited them to join him on a hill on the Charles River.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: A hundred and fifty Puritans accepted Blackstone’s offer and named their new town Boston, which was also the name of their old town in England. So they weren’t the most creative group but they were respectful of their English heritage. On the other hand, nothing lasts forever and a hundred and fifty years later they had lost all respect for England and they wanted to be independent.

BURT WOLF: At the heart of the trouble was a group of agitators known as the Sons of Liberty, which included among its members Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They were totally committed to the idea that they should not be taxed without being honestly represented in government. Their cry was “No taxation without representation”. Now I think that’s a totally valid idea and worthy of being reconsidered today.

BURT WOLF: King George III started announcing new taxes and the colonists started telling him what he could do with his new taxes. Bostonians and British soldiers clashed and the American Revolution got started right here in Boston.

It’s a very important point to the people of Boston and still very much part of the city’s life. Guides dressed in 18th century clothing lead tourists along a 2.5 mile ribbon of red bricks or painted red lines. It leads from Boston Common to Bunker Hill. They visit 16 historic sites where America’s independent spirit was forged and the Revolution was born.

Today Don Watson is playing James Otis, a lawyer of the period. He appears through the courtesy of the Freedom Trail Foundation.

JAMES OTIS (PERFORMED BY DON WATSON) ON CAMERA: Look, Paul Revere house. We’ve come upon it. Now this is the oldest house in Boston. The oldest standing structure in Boston. Paul bought this house in 1770. At that time, it was about 90 years old. Paul Revere, a wealthy man, he was a merchant. In 1770 when he bought it, he lived here with Sarah and it was here at this house that he began in 1775 his midnight ride. Paul Revere lived to be 83 years old, unheard of in the day. He was a merchant, of course, a bell ringer, bell caster, silversmith, coppersmith, goldsmith, dentist, political cartoonist and the father of sixteen children.

BURT WOLF: Revere became famous not so much for what he actually did but for the poem about him —The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: “If the British march by land or sea from the town to-night, hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch of the North Church tower, as a signal light, --One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be.”

JAMES OTIS (PERFORMED BY DON WATSON) ON CAMERA: Well, not exactly.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Not exactly.

JAMES OTIS (PERFORMED BY DON WATSON) ON CAMERA: One if by land, two if by sea. What sea? It was the Charles River. On the opposite shore will I be. He was not on the opposite shore. Paul was here. Paul asked a friend of his, Robert Newman, to hang those lanterns. Paul then got into a rowboat, got rode over to Charlestown. So that signal wasn’t to Paul Revere. In a sense it was from Paul Revere. That signal went over to Charlestown to the militia.

BURT WOLF: Another example of American resistance to the British is the USS Constitution. It’s the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat and one of the first ships built for the U.S. Navy. It was launched in Boston in 1797 and its overall length is 204 feet. Most of its 44 guns had a range of 1,200 yards and it carried a crew of 450 men. The bolts fastening its timbers and the copper sheathing on the bottom were made by Paul Revere. Since 1934 it has been based at the Charlestown Navy Yard.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Request permission to come aboard.

SEAMAN ON CAMERA: Aye aye, sir.

BURT WOLF: Seaman Jack Seleb took me on a tour.

JACK SELEB ON CAMERA: All right Burt. The nickname of the ship is Old Ironsides, but interesting thing about it, there’s no iron in the construction at all. The ship is made of good old Yankee oak. Live oak and white oak. The live oak and the white oak for the original construction was harvested all the way from the Northern coast of Maine down to the Southern part of Georgia where we got our little national secret, our live oak. The British and the French didn’t have it. It’s so dense of a wood that if you put it in water, it sinks like a stone, but when we made an oak sandwich from twenty-two to twenty-seven inches thick on our hull, it repelled canon balls. It bounced off the sides and sent her to victory every time.

Watch your head. It gets low. Nice. Welcome to the gun deck, Burt. Named the gun deck for obvious reasons. This is where we have our main armament. These are our long guns. The ship’s bad boys if you will. They each weigh about three tons and they fire a 24-pound shot accurate to about 1200 yards.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Impressive.

JACK SELEB ON CAMERA: They take about fifteen men per gun to operate under very crowded conditions. The most interesting thing about these cannons I think is the seal on them. That’s the crest of King George III of Britain whom we acquired our original guns from. After the English had abandoned Fort Independence in Boston after the Revolutionary War they had left some of their armament behind. Well as we had spent the majority of our money building the ships, we didn’t have a lot to outfit them so we scrounged up what we could, which happened to be some British guns.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Waste not. Want not.

JACK SELEB ON CAMERA: Roger that. Now it’s time for a little personal grooming. Why don’t you have a seat in our very own salon here, Burt.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Thank you.

JACK SELEB ON CAMERA: This is the barber’s chair. Now when you think of haircuts in the military, you don’t think of men having ponytails. Sailors aboard the Constitution would. And it was practical and fashionable. You had a status symbol. The longer your ponytail was the longer you’d been out to sea, but also it secured your hat when you were working aloft and the wind was blowing. You’d braid your tail of your hat into your ponytail. However, once a month the crew would have to get their bangs cut. To keep it from blowing in their face when they were working aloft. So once a month in this chair the entire crew would line up for a haircut. Hence the word crew cut that we have in the military. The entire crew would line up fore to aft and the cook would come over and chop their bangs off.

All these cannons down here fired more than just the traditional round cannon balls that we think of and here’s a display of a lot of different ones. You had a star shot which would break up in to four bars twirling oblong through the air, tear through sails, masts, and sailors. You had a canister shot which was filled with shrapnel. You got to remember that these guys didn’t have enough money to afford shoes so they were barefoot. When this would hit the deck and all that glass and metal shrapnel would shred everywhere, it would tear their feet up and make each person’s life on the deck difficult.

Your traditional round shot and then my favorite, double-headed shot which one end would be inserted into the galley where the glowing red fire was and it would make that end hot red, almost thousands of degrees if you will and as it twirled through the air, it would tear through sails or deck or sailors igniting everything in its path. A real hot shot.

BURT WOLF: And the USS Constitution is not the only old man-of-war still on duty.

TOURISTS ON CAMERA: Quack, Quack!

BURT WOLF: As you move around Boston you will notice a fleet of amphibious vehicles that were built during the Second World War. Today they are used to give visitors a unique tour of the city and the Charles River.

SALTY MAGOO ON CAMERA: Okay you guys, have yourself a good trip here. Right. Okay. Oh! Man!

BURT WOLF: Salty Magoo was my “conducktor”.

SALTY MAGOO ON CAMERA: You’d think I’d know where those stairs were after all this time driving. That was pretty scary. Is this seat taken? Oh there it is. Just a little jumpstart gets things going in the morning.

These are not the type of vessels you see in the World War II movies with the soldiers under fire trying to secure a beachfront. That wasn’t the mission of these things though they weren’t in combat with the other guys. Basically what they did with these boats were supply vessels. They brought the ships into the shoreline as close as they could and they off-loaded everything onto ducks: ammunition, food, medical supplies, doctors and nurses, everything was off-loaded on these trucks.

You guys look at the statue over here on the right hand side. There’s a statue of five men on horseback. It’s called the Partisans. It’s dedicated to freedom fighters throughout the world today and if you look at those five men they’re badly beaten up but they’re not defeated. We in Boston renamed those five guys this year the Boston Bruins management team.

You guys look out the left hand side of the Duck. This first red brick building you should be able to see some purple or lavender panes of glass in the windows. That glass was installed prior to 1825. Made with a different kind of sand and once the sunrays hit it turned lavender in color.

Now if you look at the gold dome above the windows right up at the tip pity top, that little tiny piece up at the top everybody assumes that’s a pineapple for hospitality. It’s a pinecone. And the reason it’s up there at one point in history the commonwealth of Massachusetts also included the state of Maine. The pine tree state.

This big tall light blue reflective building on the left hand side is the new John Hancock tower. It stands sixty-three stories high. It’s the tallest building in New England.

Today you saw many ports of call from Trinity Church to Faneuil Hall. Your experience and adventure not just a tour. By land and by water you couldn’t have asked for more. Had the ride of your life aboard a Boston Duck. Taken a trip aboard a half boat half truck. Hope you had fun and learned some things. You see Boston’s a city of firsts where freedom rings. Boston Duck tours and I thank all. Just be a little careful coming down the stairs. There might be moisture, but other than that we can disembark. Glad to have you on board sir. Enjoy Boston while you’re here.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Thanks, Salty.

SALTY MAGOO ON CAMERA: Pleasure.

BURT WOLF: While I was in Boston I stayed at The Four Seasons Hotel. It’s right in the heart of the city but it overlooks the Public Gardens, which gives it a nice balance — a quiet oasis in the middle of a busy town and the interior reflects the Victorian residential character of the neighborhood. There’s a grand staircase that leads up to the hotel’s main restaurant, which is where Executive Chef Ed Gannon presents some of Boston’s finest food.

EXECUTIVE CHEF ED GANNON ON CAMERA: Put a little bit of the celery puree in the center of the plate. It’s going to support the diver scallops. Before we put the scallops on we’re going to put on a little bit of the parsley coulis on. Now we’re going to make a little salad. We’re just going to use this as a little light refreshing garnish on top. Right in between the scallops and then to finish it off we’re gonna drizzle a little lemon infused oil around the dish.

BURT WOLF: The restaurant has received a number of awards for both its cooking and its wine list. On Friday and Saturday nights the hotel caters to the after-theater crowd with a buffet of Viennese sweets.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I think I can say, without fear of contradiction that just about everybody who has stayed at a Four Seasons Hotel realizes how extraordinarily comfortable these beds are. What they don’t realize is you can purchase this bed and the bedding and have it sent to your home. Quite a memento of your trip. 

BURT WOLF: And not to be excluded from Boston’s historic aspects, the spot where Four Seasons guests get out of their cars is the very same spot where on the night of April 18th, 1775, the British troops got into their boats and headed across the Charles River to attack Concord.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: If the British had only known that Paul Revere had already begun his ride and was warning everyone of their approach, they wouldn’t have checked out so early.

BURT WOLF: When the first settlers showed up on the coast of Massachusetts, the shores were covered with lobster—so many lobsters that they were despised as too common a food. Prisoners in the public jail would riot at the prospect of yet another meal with lobster. Indentured servants would stipulate in their contracts of employment that they were only to be served lobster twice a week.

Today, however Boston is famous for its lobsters—In Cambridge you will find Jasper White’s Summer Shack, which in defiance of its name is open all year round. Jasper is considered to be the dean of American fish cookery.

In the year 2000, he took over a huge space and filled it with wooden picnic tables, banquettes from the 60s, and dangling strings of lights.

In the center of the restaurant is a 1,500-gallon lobster tank and cooking apparatus that is so unique, it was given a patent by the federal government. There’s the patent on the wall and there’s the cooker.

Live lobsters are held in a giant tank. At the proper moment they are lifted into two huge steam kettles where they’re boiled. Each basket can hold about 100 lobsters which is helpful since Jasper has a couple of nights each week when he runs through more than 1,000.

In addition to lobster, Jasper is well known for his fried clams, old-fashioned cod cakes with beans and his home made pies.

BURT WOLF: When you’re in town, you might also enjoy checking out the East Coast Grill in Cambridge. It belongs to Chris Schlesinger who has a national reputation based on his three books: The Thrill of the Grill, License To Grill and Let The Flames Begin. He also has a pronounced sense of humor. He put a dish on the menu called “The Jerk Duck Leg From Hell”.

WOMAN SERVER ON CAMERA: The duck leg from hell is the hottest thing you’re ever going to taste.

MALE SERVER ON CAMERA: The duck from hell is so hot that I warn people not even to get it.

FEMALE EATER ON CAMERA: It’s hot. It’s hot but it’s great.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The duck is spicy but quite edible. The yellow sauce however is definitely satanic. If you ever eat something where the chili is too hot and it’s burning your mouth, you don’t want to try rinsing it out with water. The stuff’s that burning you will not dissolve in water. It just spreads it around. It will however dissolve in alcohol so get yourself a glass of vodka, rinse your mouth out with it, spit it out and you should be better. Though some people just hate to waste a glass of good vodka.

BURT WOLF: And finally there is finale. A restaurant that started out as a business school project at Harvard and ended up as a local favorite. It’s famous for its desserts.

And speaking of receiving your just desserts this is Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Fenway opened in 1912 and still has the feel of an old-fashioned ballpark. It has a real grass-playing surface and the scoreboard is manually operated.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Nice touch. The Red Sox are very hospitable but that was not always the case. In 1919 they traded a young man named George Herman Ruth to the New York Yankees because he wasn’t exactly what they had in mind. Bad move. It was Babe Ruth, the greatest ballplayer in the history of the game. Since then the Red Sox have not won a single World Series. The Yanks have turned out to win more World Series than any team in the game. The situation is known as the curse of the Bambino.

BURT WOLF: But you never know when the curse will be lifted and the Sox are practicing in anticipation of that moment.

Boston is also home to the largest and most complex highway construction project ever undertaken in the United States. Officially, its objective is the reconstruction of a confusing elevated highway system that cuts the city off from its historic waterfront. In reality, it is taking the highways and putting them underground, creating high technology tunnels and bridges, reclaiming wasteland, building 200 acres of parks to cover the roads and completing the last piece of the U.S. Interstate Highway System. And at a cost of only 15 billion dollars, hey it’s a deal.

Dan McNichol has written the definitive book on the Big Dig. And on behalf of the Boston Center for Adult Education he takes people on walking or bicycle tours of the Dig.

DAN McNICHOL ON CAMERA: The Big Dig puts Boston back on the map. Boston’s had a long history of some of the largest projects of this type in the world. The very first subway for example was here in Boston. But more importantly, I think the Big Dig proves that to cities around the world you can replace all of your infrastructure and still keep the city moving. Businesses still can operate. Conventions can still take place. People can live in their neighborhoods and live a good life and the city goes on even though the largest project ever in this country’s history is taking place.

The people of Boston have a love-hate relationship with the Big Dig. They love it when things are going well and it’s understandable, kind of like the Red Sox, when things aren’t going well, it’s tough to endure. That crane operator on the large gantry crane, he’s been in the business for thirty-five years and he said, “I’ll probably never see anything like this again in my life. No one probably will. Not in this country. This is probably the last of the great big projects.”

BURT WOLF: Well that’s a brief look at Boston and the surrounding area. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I hope you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I’m Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Graubuenden, Switzerland - #315

BURT WOLF: The Swiss call their states cantons, and Graubuenden is the largest. It's located in the southeast corner of the country, and includes many of the most famous mountain passes that connect central Europe to Italy. These were the trade routes that controlled commerce for thousands of years. Mountain passes may no longer be the keys to Europe's commerce, but they are still at the center of Graubuenden culture, and very important to tourists. The base for my visit was the town of Davos, and my first trip out of town was the high road to the Sertig valley. From the center of Davos, I took a cable car to the top of Jakobshorn Mountain. The first leg takes you to the station at 6300 feet. A quick change to the second car, and up to the top at 8500 feet. 

I bid farewell to my loyal Sherpas, and began the descent to the valley floor below. Actually, it's just a very pleasant three-hour hike through a dramatic, beautiful and romantic landscape. And like so many of the dramatic, beautiful and romantic relationships of my life, it's all down hill.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That’s the top of the mountain where I started about two and a half hours ago, and that is the village of Sertig Dorfli, where I'm heading. 

BURT WOLF: It's a little isolated mountain village, situated at the top of a valley. A valley surrounded by three remarkable peaks--Mittaghorn, Plattenhorn and Ducan. The reason I was heading to Sertig Dorfli was the food, and the view from the Walserhuus Restaurant. This is the perfect place to taste the traditional specialties of Graubuenden. Start with a plate of dried meats, including Bundnerfleisch, which is air-dried beef. Pieces of meat that have been marinated in herbs are pressed between two wooden planks, to give them a brick like shape, dried in the open mountain air, and then shaved into thin, translucent slices that are almost fat free. 

Then a bowl of thick Gerstensuppe, made from barley and vegetables that’s studded with slices of sausage. The main courses to try are Maluns--grated potatoes, sauteed in butter, until they form crisp nuggets, and served with whipped cream and farmer’s cheese. Capuns--ground meat, mixed with cheese, wrapped in leaves of Swiss chard, and served with a light cheese sauce. And Pizzokel--sauteed buckwheat dumplings, topped with cheese and fried onions. These foods were clearly designed to meet the nutritional needs of an Alpine farmer, burning about two million calories a day. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Considering my age and occupation, I should have the discipline to climb back up that mountain, and burn off some of those calories. But while I was in the States I bought something called a Swiss pass, and it gives me free travel on buses, and trains, and boats all over Switzerland, and you know, I’ve really got to use it.

BURT WOLF: My next post bus ride took me to one of the north-south passes that have been in use since the time of the ancient Romans. It's a stretch of road that was once so bad, that it became known as the Via Mala. The bad road. 

But the word bad is not nearly strong enough to describe this place. You can see the old path running along the side of the mountain. Posts were stuck into the sheer rock face, and a narrow balcony hung out over the gorge. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: If you look scared, the guides would give you a couple of stiff drinks and tie you to a sled, and uh, drag you along. You know, the path was off the wall. I think the people who used it were too. 

BURT WOLF: Nine hundred feet below, the water rushes between giant rocks that have fallen from the face of the gorge. Women were carried in sedan chairs with covered windows, so they couldn't see what was going on. Today there's a staircase running from the road to an observation deck, and visitors can descend to the base, and look at the water as it heads for the Rhine River. Above is the Via Mala Bridge, built in 1739. 

In 1849, the Swiss government set up the original Swiss postal service. It was a highly efficient network, based on horse drawn carriages that carried the mail throughout the nation. But in addition to the mail, the post service also carried passengers. By 1913, thousands of horses were pulling thousands of coaches, from one end of Switzerland to the other. And when the winter snows arrived, they switched to horse drawn sleighs. Almost two million passengers came to consider the postal carriages an essential form of travel.

At the end of the First World War, the postal service purchased the trucks that had belonged to the military, and expanded their service for goods and passengers. They also developed the first post bus routes, which were designed to take tourists through the most beautiful parts of the Alps.

To make sure that other traffic on the road knew they were about to encounter a post bus on a tight curve, they introduced a distinct three-note horn that is still used today. A C sharp, an E, and an A major. The tune comes from the overture to the opera “William Tell”, by Rossini. Only fitting. William Tell is Switzerland's national folk hero. Today the post bus system has over 700 routes that will take travelers through the most beautiful parts of the country. 

Many of the trips have been designed for tourists, and offer specific themes. I took three different trips through the Alpine passes, one through the mountain lakes, and one through the romantic villages of the central plateau. Which leaves me about 30 other post bus trips for next year.

BURT WOLF: Another way to see an Alpine pass is on the Bernina Express. The train makes one of the steepest climbs of any non-cog railway. The National Geographic picked it as one of the ten best train rides in the world. If you board the train in the city of Chur, which is the capital of Graubuenden, and get off four hours later, in the Poschiavo Valley, you will have traveled through all of Europe's climatic zones. I used my Swiss pass, got on at Pontresina, and reserved a seat in one of the panoramic cars. The windows run up into the roof, and give you a great view of the surrounding mountains. You might also get a look at the local herd of Ibex. The Ibex is the official mascot of Graubuenden, and if you don't see one on the pass, you can always see one on the cantonal flag. 

On the other side of the valley is the Piz Bernina, the canton's highest peak--13,280 feet above sea level. The highest point on the rail line is the Bernina Pass, 7,381 feet. The waters that melt down from the glacier flow in two different directions. On the south side they run down into Italy's Po River, and out into the Adriatic Sea. Waters on the north side flow into the Danube, and then into the Black Sea.

VOICE-RECORDING ON TRAIN: We are approaching the viewing point at Alp Grum, 2,091 meters above sea level. On the right is the Palu glacier, and the peak of Piz Palu. 

BURT WOLF: At this point, the train begins a slow decent to the valley of Poschiavo, which is in the part of Switzerland that speaks Italian. The climate and the culture are clearly Mediterranean. When the train leaves Poschiavo, it travels along the local street, and stops at the little town of Le Prese, which is where I got off to have a drink at the Hotel Le Prese. 

The terrace looks out on Lake Poschiavo. Not bad. Lunch was just next door at the Ristorante Giardino. Local specialties, trout from the lake, buckwheat pasta with potatoes, garlic and onions, topped with cheese. Local wine, from the Nebbiolo grape. After lunch, a walk through the Poschiavo town square, an espresso, and back up into the mountains. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Switzerland has a very sophisticated communication system. Even here, at the top of the Alps, I can whip out my Tri-band cell phone, and use its voice activated technology to call my grandson in the United States. But Alpine communication wasn't always based on voice activated cell phones. For many years it was just voice activated, and it came in two forms, local and long distance. 

BURT WOLF: The technology for the long distance system is the Alphorn. It's a straight twelve-foot piece of carved or bored wood, that's over wound with birch bark. For hundreds of years, Alpine herdsmen and villagers have used the Alphorn to send messages. It has a natural tone range of 13 notes. It can carry for a distance of over five miles. And each combination of notes has a special meaning. The melodies they are playing now ask, how are things on your Alp, are all the cows back, and is everyone healthy? The second group is answering, things are fine, the cows are all back, everyone is feeling good. Did the Mets win? 

These seven gentlemen make up the Alphorn group known as Untervaz. They give public concerts that present old favorites, as well as new music, which they are writing especially for this instrument. 

BURT WOLF: The Alphorn was used for long distance communication. But if you wanted to make a local call, you just yodeled. Yodeling is a type of singing in which you quickly alternate falsetto and low chest notes. No one is sure how it got started, but there are a number of interesting theories. This group was formed in Davos in 1956. Their youngest member is 25, and their oldest is 75. They compete with other yodeling groups throughout the country, and often have something at the top of the charts.

BURT WOLF: If you like that sound, and would like to learn how to yodel, believe it or not, there is a yodeling course on the Internet, at yodelcourse dot com. When you have successfully completed the ten-lesson course, you get a certificate of yodeling. The certificate is suitable for framing. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And remember, yodeling is not just something you will use in Switzerland. Yodeling is part of the musical culture of Austria, China, the Pygmy villages of Africa, and the American west. Yes siree, cowboys do yodel, and you'll get a lot more use out of your yodeling skills than you might imagine.

BURT WOLF: But maybe you don't want to think about yodeling. Then how about St. Moritz? Most people who think about St. Moritz think it's the ultimate winter resort for the rich and famous. And that's probably true. It was built on the south side of an Alpine mountain. It gets 322 days of sun each year. 

As a matter of fact, it's the sunniest city in Switzerland. Its fame as a resort goes back over a thousand years. During the middle ages, people came here to sit in the healing waters of the mineral springs. And in 1519, Pope Leo X promised full absolution to every Christian who came to the spa, under the theory that cleanliness is next to godliness. 

During the middle of the 1800s, St. Moritz was a summer resort, and very popular with English tourists. But the man who owned the Kulm Hotel thought that his guests were missing half the fun by not being there during the winter. So he made a bet with some of his English visitors, inviting them for the winter season, and promising to cover all their costs if they didn't love it. St. Moritz has never been the same. Take a look.

BURT WOLF: And the summer is still pretty good too.

BURT WOLF: St. Moritz may hold the record for fun in the sun, but that's just one of its records. In 1998, the Guinness Book of Records stopped into the Hotel Waldhaus, and decided that it contained the world's largest whiskey bar. Clearly they were not talking about the physical size of the place. If you wanted to get more than 25 people in here, you'd have to start layering. What they must have had in mind was the selection. The walls of the bar are lined with roughly 2,500 different whiskeys that have been methodically arranged by nationality and distillery using the Dewey dram system. A dram, by the way, is not a precise unit of measurement, like an ounce or a cup. It's whatever the pourer wants to pour. So a wee dram is only wee in the eyes of the beholder. 

And there's much to behold here. They have 160 different Macallans, ranging from 1878 to the present, 52 Springbanks, and 36 Bowmores. And if you don't see what you like on the shelf, there's a back up stock in the cellar. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And should you be wondering why the bar with the largest selection of whiskeys is in St. Moritz, allow me to remind you that the British were the first tourists to Switzerland, and they enjoyed a wee dram of whiskey to remind them of home. Or perhaps, not so wee dram, to help them forget about home. 

BURT WOLF: St. Moritz is in a part of Switzerland known as the upper Engadine. Its culture is modern, chic and international. But a 15-minute drive from St. Moritz will take you to the lower Engadine, and the town of Zuos. Zuos is a center of Romansch culture, which dates back to the year 15 BC, when Roman troops marched into the area, and started keeping house, so they could keep out any invaders, who might want to keep house in Rome. 

They also speak the fourth official language of Switzerland, called Romansch, which is based on ancient Latin. The town itself is filled with buildings that are a perfect example of Engadine architecture. Big wooden entryways, a bench out front, which acts as an extension of the family room, and brings all the families of the town together. Bay windows, so you can see what's going on in the street, without leaving the comfort of your home, and Scraffito, which are decorative designs etched into the external walls of the house.

During the second half of the 1800s, the most popular way to treat any form of upper respiratory illness, was to head up into the Swiss Alps and cure yourself by resting. You sat out in the sun, breathed the fresh air, and sometimes you got well. And sometimes you didn't.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The most famous Swiss town for the rest cure was Davos, the ultimate resort for the unhealthy wealthy. For over 70 years, helping people get well, or helping them think they were getting well, was the local industry. And in the 1930s, doctors developed a more effective cure, and Davos had to refocus. 

BURT WOLF: Surely the clean environment, fresh air, and natural beauty could be used for more than sanitoriums. And within a decade, Davos turned itself into a center for mountain sports. The dry, dust free air, with its low pollen content, still helps thousands of allergy and asthma sufferers, but these days Davos is about skiing, and sledding in the winter, and hiking in the summer. 

While I was in Davos, I stayed at the Steigenberger Belvedere, which is the only five star hotel in town. It opened in 1875 and was the first hotel that was not built as a sanitorium for people trying to recover from an illness. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Belvedere was put up for people who wanted to have a good time, and that's still pretty much the theme around here. The building has all the charm of a building that's been up for over a hundred years. It also has all the things that a modern traveler would want. In 1980, the Steigenberger Group bought the hotel, and spent a small fortune bringing it into the 21st century. 

BURT WOLF: There's an indoor swimming pool, with whirlpool, sauna and steam rooms, and the wall painting around the pool gives you the feeling that you were off in the tropics. The cocktail lounge, just off the lobby, is the main hangout for the after ski crowd. The bistro has a sun terrace that faces the mountains. Romeo and Julia is the name of their top restaurant, which specializes in Italian food. I particularly like the giant breakfast buffet. The best way to start the day. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Each year, the world economic forum is held here in Davos, and the Belvedere fills up with big names from the world of business and finance. Often a corporate group will show up, and try to build a sense of team spirit. 

BURT WOLF: To help, the Belvedere will organize a team rope climb from the roof. We considered it, but decided we could achieve almost the same results by sharing the fondue. And the place we shared it was the Restaurant Gentiana. It's small and informal, and the food is excellent. They have a selection of different fondues but we thought a cooperative team sense would best be engendered by the classic cheese. 

The Swiss have a great respect for the classic and traditional aspects of their culture, and spend a great deal of time and effort preserving them. A perfect example is the Swiss National Park. For centuries, the mountain ranges of Graubuenden were subject to constant mining, deforestation, over grazing, and over hunting. 

In 1914, the Swiss federal government established the Swiss National Park, to put an end to those abuses, and to save the land for future generations. 

The park's founding fathers were mostly scientists, who wanted the area to run its natural course and to study its evolution. Today its 65 square miles are tightly controlled and protected. Twenty-three lakes, rare plants and animals, and untouched forests offer visitors a look at Switzerland's most natural natural beauty. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That's a look at Graubuenden, Switzerland. I hope you've enjoyed it. And I hope you will join us next time, on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The Matterhorn Region, Switzerland - #314

BURT WOLF: This is the Valais, the most mountainous region in Switzerland, with a chain of 50 summits that top out over 13,000 feet.  These are some of the highest peaks in the Alps.  The melting snow at the top of these mountains sends millions of gallons of water into the valley below.  As the waters collect, they form the source of the Rhone river, which runs for 500 miles through Switzerland and France, and finally empties out into the Mediterranean sea.  But in spite of this extraordinary alpine geography, the name of the region, Valais, comes from the Latin word for valley, which in the end makes sense because between these mountaintops lies a valley that runs for 80 miles.

The lower Valais, which is in the western part of the district, speaks French.  In the upper Valais to the east, the people speak Swiss-German and call the area Wallis.  During the sixth century, Germanic tribes invaded the area and established small communities.  Then they slowly worked their way through the southern alpine valleys, establishing permanent Germanic settlements in what had been French-speaking areas. 

I started my trip through the Valais in the town of Saas Fee.  It's a car-free village that has been a mountain resort for over 100 years with people coming up to ski the surrounding slopes in the winter and the glacier in the summer.  Glaciers are an important subject in Saas Fee.  They form on the top of mountains where the air is so cold that the snow never melts.  Each new layer of snow sits on top of the older layers and packs them down until you have a single layer of compact snow and ice that can be hundreds of feet deep.  The continual arrival of new snow pushes the sheets of ice off the top of the mountain and into the valley below.  That's a glacier.

For centuries, Saas Fee has been famous for its glaciology.  But during the last century, it's also become famous for its gastronomy.  This is the Hotel Fletschhorn, which sits on top of a hill in a secluded forest just beyond Saas Fee.  It's owned and run by Irma and Jorg Dutsch.  Its restaurant is one of the finest in Europe. 

The cooking takes place under the direction of Irma who is considered to be one of the finest chefs in Switzerland.  Jorg is in charge of the wines and encourages his guests to drink the local wines of the Valais.  His 17,000-bottle cellar holds hundreds of examples of the excellent vintages that this region can produce. 

The menu Irma produced for me started with a seafood soup flavored with saffron.  Saffron is our most expensive spice and must be harvested by hand.  At least 250,000 flowers are needed to produce a single pound.  As part of its desire to remain independent, Switzerland grows its own saffron.  All the bread is home made and so is the butter. 

There were two main courses and everybody shared a little of each.  The first was hen, surrounded by hay and steamed in a casserole.  The second was a roast lamb shank with saffron mashed potatoes; an unusual way to present lamb, but very good.  A meal like that, a good night's sleep and I'm ready to take on the Matterhorn, or more accurately, the Matterhorn is ready to take on me.

This is a special moment.  You see, the Matterhorn is not only just any mountain.  It reaches a height of 14,692 feet.  The first attempt to scale it in the mid-1800s was a total failure and it ended up being the last of the great alpine peaks to be conquered. 

The town at the base of the Matterhorn is Zermatt, and this is Zermatt's old quarter.  During the 1600s, a group of families purchased their freedom from the landowners in the Rhone valley and came up here to start their own community, and it looks much as it did then.  This type of structure is called a matzot.  It's used to store and foods and grains during the winter, and it's held off the ground by stones that look like giant mushrooms.  The stone tower and cap were designed to make it impossible for small animals to get into the food.  Simple idea, but it works.

The newer part of town centers along the main street; everybody strolling up and back checking out the shops and each other.  Pubs and restaurants, a few spots that specialize in the traditional foods and drinks of the Valais, lots of shops with stuff, just in case you don't have enough stuff already.  Some of the stores specialize in alpine sporting equipment.  This shoe store has been in town for over a century.  I was here in 1975 and bought a pair of hiking boots that are still in good condition.

Just off the main street is the Alpine Museum, which documents the history of mountaineering in Zermatt.  Paintings, old photographs and some interesting letters. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: This one is from Winston Churchill.  He says that he was planning to go up the Matterhorn, but he changed his mind and went up Monte Rosa instead.  And even though Monte Rosa is a harder mountain to climb, the guides only charged half the price and that's why he changed his mind.  Now, I know people like that, but I wouldn't travel with them.

This one's from Teddy Roosevelt to his sister and it's dated 1881.  And he tells her that the only reason he climbed the Matterhorn was to show two English guys who were staying at his hotel that a Yank could climb as well as they could.  Same attitude he had when he was President.  Bully for him. 

BURT WOLF: And now it's time to begin my ascent.  The first part is fairly easy.  You take out a Swiss pass, which gives you either free passage on trains, buses and boats, or a discount on mountain excursions like this one.  The Gornergrat is the highest cogwheel train in Europe.  It will take you up to the Riffelberg at 8,469 feet.  Great views of the Matterhorn and the surrounding mountains. 

My guide for the climb was Martin Lehner.  He's a master climber who has made hundreds of ascents up the Matterhorn. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: This photograph will give you a good idea of Martin's plan.  The green route here, you don't want to know about it.  The red route, even worse.  His best shot is right up through the center.  Number 1 marks his base camp; number 2 is an emergency hut just below the summit.  I am going to be over here at Harry's Bar having some chocolate fondue.

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: No, no, Burt.  You asked me to learn you climbing.  Now we go climbing.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ah, yes.  That's what I was afraid of.

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: So, this is a harness.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That fits perfectly.

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: That I don't ... that I don't lose you.  Okay. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Where do the Pampers go?  It's great.  One size fits all.  Tell the children I always loved them.  It's because Martin doesn't want me to get lost.  I tend to wander away.

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: Tight enough, heh.  Okay, come on, Burt.  Let's go.  Hey, come on.  You are on my rope.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Sorry, sorry.  Bad sense of direction.

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: You are on my rope, heh.

BURT WOLF: The original climbs were made by religious groups who wanted to build altars closer to God or by military expeditions who wanted a good view of the surrounding terrain.  During the middle of the 1700s, scientists began climbing up Europe's mountains so they could study the glaciers.  Mountaineering as a sport got started about the same time. 

MARTIN LEHNER ON CAMERA: Don't use your arms too much, heh.  Come on.  Stand up, stand up.  Come on, Burt. 

BURT WOLF: Chocolate fondue now?  The St. Bernard Pass is the oldest and most famous of the great alpine crossings.  It's been in use for at least 2,800 years.  You can get to it on the St. Bernard Express, which teams up with a bus and a special train.  Today, a monastery stands on the spot where the ancient Romans had a temple honoring the god of thunder. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the Middle Ages, the pass was taken over by a gang of pagan thieves, and it became too dangerous for travelers.  But Bernard de Menton, a local bishop, decided to clear 'em out.  The story says that in 1030, he climbed up to the top of the pass, took off his cloak and threw it over the pagan temple and the power in his vestments destroyed the temple and made it easy for them to defeat the pagans. 

BURT WOLF: Travelers and pilgrims have been stopping at the hospice ever since Bernard built it.  The monks who live here act as guides and ski instructors.  They also offer inexpensive lodging for travelers.  Sort of an Aspen for ascetics.  The hospice has a church that dates to the late 1600s and is a good example of the kind of baroque architecture that was popular in northern Italy.  The frescoes on the arched ceiling are quite extraordinary.  And remember, all the materials for these works had to be hauled up to 8,000 feet above sea level.

For the last 250 years, passages through the St. Bernard have been made safer by the great St. Bernard guide dogs who’ve been credited with saving over 2,000 lives.  This film was made in the 1920s and tells the story of how the dogs were used.  A call would come into the monks who would call out the dogs and head into the storm.  They have a great sense of direction.  Their strength and broad build help them force a path through the snow, and the shape of their paws hold them steady on the ice.  The story that the dogs would go out with a barrel of brandy tied under their necks is pure fiction.  It was made up by a novelist named Meissner who put it into a story in 1816.  However, there are rumors that the dogs are interested in making a deal with SwissMiss.

The St. Bernards are still bred at the St. Bernard Pass, but they’re bred as pets.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: All right guys, I'm going into the pass, but if I'm not back by five o'clock, don’t worry. I might stop at Movenpick for ice cream.  But if you're nervous, you can call me on my cell phone, okay? I’ll see ya. Bye bye baby.

BURT WOLF: These days the dogs that are trained to find people who are lost in the mountains or buried under an avalanche are Belgian and German Shepards.  They have a sense of smell that is 30,000 times more sensitive than humans.  The dogs have a natural tendency to dig for the victims and then lie on top to keep them warm. Victims found within 15 minutes of an avalanche have a 90 percent chance of surviving. 

Switzerland's mountains are a pleasure for modern tourists, but for thousands of years they presented a difficult and frightening environment for residents and travelers.  People believe that powerful and evil spirits lived on these peaks, and when the spirits were moody, which was often the case, they'd come down into the villages and terrify everyone.  Dreadful and gruesome they were!  Demonic creatures cursed with one bad hair day after another! 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: One of the oldest methods we have for dealing with moody creatures from another world is to put on a mask.  The mask places the wearer in a space that's between the supernatural world and our world and gives him some control over whatever it is that's scaring him.  He also ends up being a communicator between the supernatural world and his community.  It's a good job, with some unusual benefits.

BURT WOLF: Each year, on the third of February, a select group of residents in the town of Wiler put on their masks, burlap sacks, furs and cowbells and set off to scare the hell out of everyone else.  In theory, they are warding off evil spirits and making the town safe for the arrival of spring.  The origins of the ritual go back to pagan times, and most of the young children in town think that the whole thing should go back and stay there.  In addition to wearing masks in order to ward off evil spirits, the residents of Wiler hang masks on their homes.  You know, when it comes to grim and evil-minded creatures or certain members of recent administrations, you just can't be too careful.

The most famous mask makers in town are members of the Rieder family.  Mamma Rieder takes pinewood that has been aged for two years and shapes the face.  All of the work uses traditional forms and it takes about 40 hours to make a mask and they only make about ten a year.  They're priced at between $150 and $300, and they’ve been part of the local culture for centuries.  But in recent years, tourists have begun to collect them.  Papa Rieder paints the masks with colors that are mixed by hand.  The hair comes from sheep and goats and the teeth from cows and goats.  Goats have a tough time in this town. 

At the back of the shop, there's a collection of old masks.  The oldest, which date back over 100 years, have a simpler design than the newer works.  Each member of the family has a different style.  Mamma Rieder makes the scariest faces and the Rieder boys have been influenced by animated cartoons.  Each mask is designed to ward off different dangers. 

This is the Chateau de Villa in the town of Sierre. It's been here since the early 1500s, and its name can be loosely translated as the Big House in Town.  Inside is a restaurant that specializes in the traditional foods of the region.  The first course is viande sechees--meats that have been cured, air dried and thinly sliced.  You grind a little pepper on top and eat the slices with your fingers.  There's a basket with two rye breads.  One is flavored with cumin seeds, the other with walnuts.

This is big cheese country.  Cheeses that are matured over several months and are processed, where they are scrubbed, turned and brushed with white wine and salt.  Today, the chef is using Simplon, Turtmann and St. Martin.  The main course is raclette.  A half wheel of cheese is placed in front of a heat source.  The heat can come from a fireplace or an electric raclette maker.  As the cheese melts, it's scraped off the wheel and onto a plate.  Not a big portion; a disc about three inches in diameter and about a quarter of an inch thick.  The chef works at the edge of the dining room and the raclette comes to your table as soon as the cheese melts.

There's a wooden bucket on the table filled with boiled fingerling potatoes.  You take out a potato, place it next to the cheese, cut off a small slice, cover it with the warm, soft cheese and pop it into your mouth.  Alongside the raclette is a bowl of gherkins and pickled onions.  The chef keeps an eye on each table.  As you finish off the first dish, he starts melting your second, using a different cheese. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: You can order from 3 to 12 rounds of raclette, each with a different cheese.  For me, the three were perfect.  But if you pace yourself on the potatoes, you can probably go to five easily.  I think the 12 rounds are offered to intimidate out of towners and the occasional traveling cardiologist. 

BURT WOLF: Dessert is a sorbet made from pears and a local brandy called Poire Willem. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: From time to time, you will find a bottle of Poire Willem with a pear in the inside.  They do this by actually hanging the bottle on the pear bud and letting the pear grow inside.  But if you are interested in flavor, the bottle without the pear will always taste superior.  Like so many of the things in life, that's better to look at than to actually experience. 

BURT WOLF: Along with pears, the Valais is famous for growing grapes.  As a matter of fact, the Valais is the largest grape growing district in Switzerland.  But these are not just any grapes.  These grapes are used for making some of the best tasting `s in Europe.  There's a great diversity of soil types and microclimates, and the mountains on both sides of the valley protect the vineyards.  They grow Gamay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and about 40 other grape varieties, which they use to make wine.  The only problem is the quantities they make are so small that unless you're in the neighborhood, they can be difficult to get. 

The Chateau restaurant has 500 local wines on their menu, and right next door, they've set up a wine tasting room with the same 500 wines for sale.  Each week, they have a different selection available for tasting in both the restaurant and the tasting room, and all 500 are available for sale at the same price you would pay at the vineyard. 

Very often, where you find an ancient vineyard, you also find an ancient church.  The church needed the wine from the vineyard to conduct the sacraments and the vineyard needed someone to make the wine.  A very successful relationship.  The Valais is the largest wine producing area in Switzerland and also the birthplace of Swiss Christianity.  It never participated in the Reformation and is still very Catholic. 

In the center of Valais is the town of Sion, which is over 2,000 years old, and at the center of Sion, on a hill overlooking the town, is the bishopric of Sion, which was founded in the fourth century.  It's a fortified church with walls, battlement towers and internal walkways.  The bishop was not only the local head of the church, but also a sovereign prince with all the rights and privileges that came with being the royal boss over everything.  And those rights and privileges needed to be protected.

The church itself, Notre Dame de Valere was put up in the eleventh century. It's a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles.  And it was built without flying buttress support on the outside.  Yet, it's quite high.  So, the builder arched the internal columns to keep it from falling down.  Later, cables were installed for the same reason.  The artists who produced the carved choir stalls lived here with the canons for two years.  The canons who worked for the bishop were a constant source of irritation to the craftsmen, and the craftsmen retaliated by carving caricatures of the canons into the armrests of the stalls.  During the twelfth century, it was fashionable to divide the interior of a church between the area used by the canons and that used by the public.  A rood screen was used to make the separation. 

The most interesting element in the church is the organ.  It was installed during the fifteenth century and the painted panels that enclose it depict scenes from the Annunciation.  It's the oldest playable organ in the world, and every Saturday afternoon from July through the end of August, it is used for a public concert.  Maurice Wenger is the curator and the organist. 

The Valais is always celebrating its relationship to agriculture--nuts, fruits, vegetables, and especially cows.  Each spring, all the cows in the district are led up from the valley into the high mountain pastures, where they spend the summer munching away on the new grass.  They're led up by the lead cow, who wears a bell that is larger and louder than all the rest.  The leather strap identifies her owner and her place of honor in the herd.  How do you get to be the lead cow, the dairy queen?  It's not easy.  You must compete against all the other cows who want to be queen.  It's an ancient tradition in the Canton of Valais and the competitions take place every spring and fall. 

Cows that have been bred for their aggressiveness are brought together to challenge each other.  The veterans use the old “what me fight” trick.  They walk off to the side pretending not to be interested.  Then suddenly they turn and engage the adversary.  They battle until one turns away.  The objective is for one cow to cow the other.  But it's not just being the queen of mean that counts.  You're also judged on agility, form and endurance, and it helps if you want to go to college.  The entire community takes a passionate interest in the sport.  It's regularly televised and each cow has its own cheering section, and that's no bull. 

And that's TRAVELS & TRADITIONS from the Matterhorn region of Switzerland.  I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you will join me next time.  I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The Swiss Mitteland - #313

MAN: The problem is not about his interesting points.

MAN: But you can't blame me for jumping to the conclusions I did. He looks like ...

BURT WOLF: He was the greatest detective who never lived, and for over a hundred years, millions of fans have followed his adventures in magazines, books and some of the most successful mystery films ever made.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: This is Sherlock Holmes. I want to speak to Sir Reginald Bailey, please.

MAN: Reginald Bailey?

SHERLOCK HOLMES: Elementary, my dear Watson. In the first place, he couldn’t put handcuffs on Colonel Moran, so I had to do it myself. And in the second place, Inspector McDonald during a fight was more a hindrance than help, which is not characteristic of a real policeman.

WATSON: Amazing, Holmes. Uncovering such a fiendish plot with so little evidence.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Sherlock Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1880s. Conan Doyle was a doctor, but his early practice was so small that he had lots of time to write, and eventually became one of England's greatest authors. In over 60 books, Sherlock Holmes battled evil, which often appeared in the form of Professor James Moriarty, the greatest of the master criminals. And it was here in Switzerland, at the Reichenbach Falls, where Professor Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes met their end.

BURT WOLF: Conan Doyle described the Falls as a torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunging into a tremendous abyss from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house. That star marks the spot where the two men wrestled, slipped and fell to their deaths.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: There are a number of theories as to why Conan Doyle killed off his most successful character. Conan Doyle loved Switzerland, and he came here on a hiking tour with his wife. In the middle of the tour she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The first theory holds that he killed off Holmes so he could stop writing and would have more time to take care of his wife. The second theory is that he killed off Holmes to punish himself for not having made the diagnosis before they left England.

BURT WOLF: The Falls have become a shrine for Sherlock Holmes’ fans. Each year, thousands of visitors ride the restored rack railway that travels along the same path that was used by Holmes and Moriarty, at least on the way up. At the base of the Falls is the town of Meiringen, which has made Sherlock Holmes into an industry. The place is packed with signs commemorating his exploits. There are 250 societies devoted to the study of Sherlock Holmes, with over 80 thousand registered members, and almost all of them feel the need to come here as often as they can. In the basement of what was once the town's English Church is the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

BURT WOLF: It contains a precise replica of the living room that Holmes and Dr. Watson shared. The audiotape does a good job of explaining what it is you're looking at.

ANNOUNCER: The wallpaper, which was Mrs. Hudson’s choice, and can not be construed from either text or original illustrations, was available in 1895 from Willems & Company Shop, just around the corner in Marylebone High Street. It's a sensible choice for the room of two notoriously heavy smokers. Holmes ponderous common place books, in which he kept his index cuttings and case notes, which many a criminal would have been glad to destroy, line the shelves above. Between the windows, the trophy of arms displays mementoes brought back by Watson from his ill-fated service in the Second Afghan War. Two jezails, the Afghan form of muzzle-loading musket, which caused his wounds at the Battle of Maiwand, and premature retirement from the Army, the Khyber knives at the top, and the other weapons all return from that campaign in British soldiers’ kit bags.

The mantle piece over the fireplace follows the Victorian practice of putting a cheap softwood board on the mantle shelf, and decorating it with the remnants left over from the window curtains and trimmings. So Holmes apparently barbaric act of spiking a jack knife into the very center of it, and skewering his unanswered correspondence to it caused no lasting damage. On the right hand side of the fireplace is the Persian slipper where Holmes kept his tobacco. On the hearth lies the slightly bent poker of the speckled band, and in front of it the bear skin hearth rug, upon which Thornycroft Huxtable collapsed dramatically during the Case of the Priory School.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Sherlock Holmes spent his life and met his death fighting against evil, a subject of particular interest to the Swiss. Their own national hero, William Tell, was right up there with Holmes when it came to fighting the bad guys. Now Holmes specialized in the individual criminal, whereas Tell dealt primarily with agents of non-democratic governments.

BURT WOLF: The Swiss love majority rule, and they've made it a part of their culture for over 500 years. Democracy in Switzerland starts in the smallest town and works its way up or down, depending on your view, to the federal level. This is the district of Appenzell. Election day begins with the regions' representatives marching through the streets. They move along slowly so everyone can get a good look at the government and see in which direction it's going.

BURT WOLF: When the officials and the citizens reach the town square, the issue at hand is read to the public. People have been talking about the vote for months, and just to make sure that it's understood there is one last explanation of the points in question.

BURT WOLF: Then a vote is called for. If the number of hands going up clearly indicates the community's preference, the result is announced and they move to the next item on the agenda. If things are not obvious, they will make a person by person count.

BURT WOLF: Switzerland's Parliament building was put up in 1896, built exclusively with Swiss materials, and presents the work of Swiss artists and craftsmen. Parliament elects a federal council of seven members, and each year a different member becomes federal president.

BURT WOLF: Officially the post has no special powers or privileges, but it sure looks great on your resume. For me, the most interesting aspect of Swiss democracy is a rule that allows the citizens to propose legislation of their own, or block legislation already approved by Parliament. Anyone who gathers a hundred thousand signatures to support a particular initiative gets a nationwide vote on the issue. In recent years, voters have rejected a cap on military spending, but accepted the protection of marshlands. It only takes 50 thousand signatures to challenge a piece of legislation that has been passed, but you've got to make that challenge within a hundred days of the official publication of the law. Great stuff, power to the people.

BURT WOLF: Tours of Parliament are given to the public, and I took mine with Elizabeth Thurlemann.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That’s quite a painting.

ELIZABETH THURLEMANN ON CAMERA: Yes, that's where Switzerland was founded.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: There’s the Swiss Army Knife factory.

ELIZABETH THURLEMANN ON CAMERA: That's right. That's Brunen Schwyz, the little town on the back there, which gave the name to Switzerland. The angel, that's the proof that all ladies are angels.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Aha. It sits in the cloud, you wouldn't even notice it if you didn't point it out ...

ELIZABETH THURLEMANN ON CAMERA: In the clouds, That’s right. Yes. Can you see that fish? The painter was Charles Giron, and he finished the painting on the first of April.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: April Fool's Day.

ELIZABETH THURLEMANN ON CAMERA: April Fool's Day. And in French, you call an April joke, you call it an April fish. Un poisson d’avril. That's why he made that fish on that rock over there.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Some joke.

ELIZABETH THURLEMANN ON CAMERA: Yes.

BURT WOLF: In addition to their government responsibilities, the members of Parliament have a busy schedule of extracurricular activities. There's a cooking club, a group of singing senators, and a sky diving team.

BURT WOLF: This part of Switzerland is a center for traditional Swiss sports, and this sport is called hornussen. It grew out of an ancient Roman war game where soldiers practiced their skill at hitting hot missiles at the enemy. During the 1500s, Swiss farmers turned it into a game, it's played on a field, or flat meadow. First thing you do is get the cows out of the way. Then you take a piece of clay and place it at the end of a curved metal track, called a bock. A disc, a little smaller than a hockey puck, called a hornuss, is stuck on top of the clay. The traf, which is a ten foot long flexible rod, with a cork handle and a compressed wooden cylinder at the end, is swung back and then forward in a golf-like motion. The objective being to hit the disc as hard and as far as you can.

BURT WOLF: Of course, the force of the traf coming off the bock and impacting on your hornuss is important, but it's not everything.

BURT WOLF: Out in the field, which was recently filled with cows, are members of the opposing team, who while being very careful where they step, use paddles known as schindelen, to stop your hornuss before it hits the ground. If it does hit the ground, it's a nummer, ahh, and the fielding team gets a penalty point.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ready out there?

MAN: Yo!

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Oh, wow. Back...Back ... no, you're going the wrong way.

BURT WOLF: Each player gets two strokes per round, and the lowest number of points wins. The game takes about three and a half hours, but my lawyer says I can get time off for good behavior. And I think I'll use that time to make a little cheese. Professional Swiss cheese makers produce hundreds of different cheeses, and much of their finest work is done in the region known as Emmental. Emmental is also the name that the Swiss use for what most Americans call Swiss cheese.

BURT WOLF: If you'd like to see what Swiss cheese making was like in the past, you can stop into the Affoltern Dairy in Emmental and take a look.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: You can even make your own cheese. You have to make a reservation in advance, and you'll pay about 25 dollars to join a group of ten cheese makers. Of course, you could have your own group, assuming you know nine other people who want to make cheese.

BURT WOLF: A professional cheese maker guides you through the process. Fresh milk is heated in a copper vat. An enzyme called rennet, which comes from a cow's stomach, is stirred in. The original equipment for stirring was a small pine tree, with its branches turned back. The rennet makes the milk separate into solid curds and liquid whey. The solid curd is broken up into small pieces, which helps the whey separate. Cheesecloth, attached to a flexible frame, is lowered into the vat and drawn along the bottom to scoop out the curds. The curds go into a mold where more of the whey drains away.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And now you have come to the critical moment for the amateur cheese maker. Are you going to leave the cheese you made with the cheese master, who will keep it in a brine solution for two days, and then age it for two or three months, and eventually mail it to you, or are you going to forget about the cheese that you made, and take home a piece of the real Emmental. You know I'm not getting any younger, and I have questions about the mail. So I'm taking the real cheese.

BURT WOLF: The Swiss work hard at protecting and honoring their rural history. The Ballenberg Open Air Museum is a good example. A small valley is being used to preserve about a hundred classic buildings that have been brought here from all over the country. Farm animals, historical gardens and fields surround the buildings. In many cases, the animals and plants are considered endangered species, and can only be found here in Ballenberg. Where else could you see a grazing woolen-coated pig?

BURT WOLF: This is a typical farmhouse from the area around Bern. The district that it comes from is famous for its high quality sandstone, and farmers use as much of it as they can afford. The guy who built this house used sandstone for the cellar vaulting and the back of the first floor. The rest of the house, however, was made of wood and painted gray to look like sandstone. The top floor windows are also just paint, there are no rooms behind them. Specific realities were not important, it was the overall impression that counted. The inside is also set up to give the feeling of dignified prosperity. Three parlors leading into each other--totally impractical for daily use. The plan for this house was determined more by the desire to create an impression than by any rational considerations.

Across from the main house is the treasure house. This was the place where the farmer kept the reserves that would ensure his survival if the main house was destroyed by fire. It was always built up from the prevailing wind, and it had to be visible from the main house. If you're lucky enough to have a treasure, you’d better keep an eye on it.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And when the youngest son was old enough to take over the farm, the father gave it to him. The reason the youngest son was chosen is that it gave the father the greatest number of years to stay in control before he had to give it up. And when the mother and father moved out of the big house, they didn't move very far. About 20 yards seemed far enough.

BURT WOLF: The house they moved to was called a stockli, and it was just far enough across the yard to give the son's family a sense of privacy, but well within nagging distance.

BURT WOLF: In addition to teaching the history of Switzerland through its buildings, Ballenberg’s staff demonstrate more than 25 different period crafts. A classic pottery, the potter spins his wheel by foot, draws the clay into a vessel by hand, and keeps the kids away with his elbows.

BURT WOLF: The blacksmith shop works the way it has for centuries.

BURT WOLF: Ballenberg also has three restaurants that serve traditional dishes from each of the regions of Switzerland. It’s like eating my way through the history of Swiss cooking.

BURT WOLF: This area is one of the most beautiful parts of Europe. And I think the best way to see it is on one of the post buses that run through the country.

BURT WOLF: If you're coming from the United States, you can buy a Swiss pass that will give you unlimited travel on the most important buses, trains and boats, and discounts on many others.

BURT WOLF: Post bus also has a series of organized routes that take you through the most beautiful parts of the country. You don't have to worry about which roads to take, or keep a tight schedule. Just relax and enjoy the scenery.

BURT WOLF: While I was in Bern, I stayed at the Bellevue Palace, which is right in the center of the city, and just down the block from Parliament. It's the best place in town, and it should be, it's owned by the Swiss federal government. It's the home away from home for the nations' top officials and ministers. When Parliament is in session, 50 members of the government live here. It's also the place where visiting dignitaries stay. Presidents and prime ministers coming to Switzerland's capital stay at the Palace, and it's the unofficial ballroom for major receptions. Throughout the day there are gatherings where representatives of other nations and members of major corporations meet with Swiss officials.

BURT WOLF: The original Bellevue Palace was put up in 1913, on a site which had been the federal mint. The owners liked the idea that the land already had a history of attracting money. The building is made of local sandstone which in Bern is a symbol of wealth and power, and it was designed to look like the federal buildings that surround it.

BURT WOLF: But the Bellevue Palace isn't just for people in the government or for people who have come here to do business. The management has set up three excursions that are designed for tourists. The first is based on Bern's unusual museums. The Swiss Alpine Museum has a collection of highly detailed maps and models of the Alps. Histories of mountain rescues, and material about famous summit ascents.

BURT WOLF: The Museum of Art has an important collection of Swiss art, including the world's largest collection of works by Paul Klee. The Communications Museum explains the history of the Swiss postal service, and its national bus program that will take you to every corner of the country. They also have the world's largest collection of stamps.

BURT WOLF: Including my favorite that was issued in the spring of 2001.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It looks like a piece of chocolate, and it smells like one too.

BURT WOLF: The hotel's second tour takes you out into the Emmental region. Packed with beautiful villages, surrounded by rich farmland, this is the place to see and hike through the type of rural Switzerland that has become famous in stories like "Heidi" and "William Tell".

BURT WOLF: The third program sends you up into the mountains to see the most dramatic scenery in Europe. Remember the Bellevue Palace is owned by the federal government, and when they set up these trips for you, it's like being booked by the president's personal concierge.

BURT WOLF: The concierge at the hotel can also book you into the restaurants in and around town, that serve the traditional dishes of the region. A 20-minute ride from Bern to the town of Worb, will deposit you in front of the guest house Lowen. The building has the traditional architecture of the Emmental.

BURT WOLF: The restaurant inside is about as down home as you can get. It's been run by the same family for over 600 years. The present generation is represented by Hans Peter Bernhard, who does the cooking, and his wife Ursula who runs the front of the house. I tasted two of the house specialties. One was a brisket of beef that was marinated in a mixture of vinegar and wine and then slowly braised. It's served with mashed potatoes. The second was a veal steak, sauteed and served with a mushroom sauce and noodles. A few years ago Ursula gave her husband an antique corkscrew and a book on the history of corkscrews. It appears to have been an ideal gift.

BURT WOLF: Today Hans Peter has a collection of over 650 corkscrews that are on display in a cave beneath the restaurant.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: Oh, the favorite is in here, that's the small tiny one, that's a patent from America, you can put it together, you can put it in your pocket, and then you open like this, and so you can open the bottle. That's from 1891. English ones, they are round, they put this key inside, in the bottle and then with this one, they pull it out, oh, it's a bit tricky.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Oh, I see. Must have been invented by a dentist. I saw some very funny ones as we were walking in.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: Some naughty ones I think.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: No, the naughty ones we're not going to show you. We're going to show you the funny ones.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: Yes, yes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Funny’s allowed, naughty is not.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: Some funny ones.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Come on, let's take a look at the funny ones.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: Yes. Look at them, there are ... that's a Alka-Seltzer. You know, Alka ... that's for bad wine.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Alka-Seltzer's right in there.

HANS PETER BERNHARD ON CAMERA: You open that, get your headache and you can eat that thing.

BURT WOLF: Ahh, enough corkscrewing around. I need to know what time it is, and Switzerland is the place to find out.

BURT WOLF: About six thousand years ago, humans became interested in knowing what time it was, and with every generation that followed, the desire for greater precision and greater availability became more pronounced.

BURT WOLF: We've discovered tools for measuring time that go back to 3500 B.C. The sun dial goes back to 1500 B.C. and was probably the first clock to measure in hours.

BURT WOLF: The word clock originally meant bell, and was a reference to the bells that announced the hour from bell towers during the Middle Ages. The first clocks showed up during the 1300s, but they weren't very accurate.

BURT WOLF: They got a lot better during the 1600s, when the pendulum was introduced. The first watch showed up around 1500, and for over 500 years they were based on an expanding spring that you wound up to keep the mechanism going.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the 1500s, King Louis forced the Protestants out of France. Many of them were skilled metallurgists and watchmakers, and thousands of them came to Switzerland. They started an industry which eventually made Switzerland the watchmaking center of the world.

BURT WOLF: These are the watchmakers rooms at the Rado Company just outside of Bern. Along with the traditional Swiss respect for the watches' internal technology, they've taken a modern approach to design. They wanted to have a look that was easily recognizable. Their first claim to fame came from the development of the original scratch-proof watch, called the DiaStar, which was introduced in 1962. Since then Rado has become the most popular watch in Switzerland. Instead of the conventional metals used by most watchmakers, like gold and silver, Rado works in hard metals, high-tech ceramics and sapphire crystal. Nice way to have time on your hands. Because we are in the watchmaking capital of the world, I am very much aware of time, and we're out of it. I hope you have enjoyed this visit to the Swiss Mittelland, and if you've got time next time I hope you will take time to join me. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Northwestern Switzerland - #312

BURT WOLF: Basel in the Northwest corner of Switzerland is the nation's third largest city. Its citizens are polite, organized and efficient. They speak German, have a deep respect for their history and tend to lead lives that are financially conservative. But that's only half the story. On the Monday morning after Ash Wednesday, tens of thousands of people gather in the streets. At exactly four AM, the lights of the city go out.

And huge lanterns go on. Basel's annual Fasnacht Festival has begun. Each lantern belongs to a group who built it in order to express their thoughts on a specific subject. Both positive and negative feelings are presented. The festival continues for three days. Like all European festivals that mark the beginning of Lent, Basel's Fasnacht has its roots in ancient celebrations that gave people with less power the opportunity to comment on people with more power. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Fasnacht is actually a perfect symbol for Basel, because along with its somewhat conservative Swiss German structure, it also has a long history of being liberal, intellectual and creative.

BURT WOLF: About eight miles north of Basel are the ruins of an ancient Roman city of Augusta Raurica. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar asked an old friend to move into the neighborhood and set up a town. One of the reasons he picked this area was that it was midway on the trade route between Rome and London, and at the time London was part of an important Roman colony. In the 1800s, serious excavation began at the site, and today about 20 percent of the ancient city has been uncovered. There's a museum with 700,000 artifacts from the area, including a silver table service, a gilded candelabra, and hundreds of silver coins that were buried in the middle of the fourth century to hide them from invading German tribes.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: At the time, a spoon had a bowl at one end and a pick at the other. But it was hundreds of years before the introduction of the fork, so if you wanted to pick up a small piece of food, you picked at it with the pick end, which may be where the phrase "picky eater" came from. 

BURT WOLF: The museum also has a reconstructed private home from the period. This is what a kitchen looked like 2000 years ago. Pots and pans are almost the same, the dish for cooking snails looks very similar to the ones we use today. The grill is exactly the same, and that bowl would have been perfect for Caesar salad. The ancient Roman system for heating a house was very cool. The servants working outside the house made a fire, boiled water and sent the steam under the floor. The walls were filled with a series of pipes that let the steam escape as it heated the floors and the walls. They've also uncovered an ancient Roman mosaic depicting gladiators in battle all dressed just like Russell Crowe.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: One of the most interesting finds took place in 1998 when the staff discovered a well with five bodies inside that dated back to these ancient Romans. 

BURT WOLF: Scars on the bones and skulls indicate that they had been killed and the bodies hidden under a huge stone. But why? Under the stone and under the bodies the archeologists found 6,000 molds for making counterfeit money. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They were criminals who were secretly executed by the government and buried with their counterfeiting tools. Basel has a long history of appreciating creativity in craft work, but at some point you just got to draw the line. 

BURT WOLF: And one of the lines drawn in Basel is between big Basel and little Basel. Actually it's not a line, it's the Rhine River. Basel's got the ancient history, but both have attitude. This is the head of the Tongue King statue, whose image is often reproduced around town. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: For many years the Tongue King sat on the big Basel side of the bridge expressing his opinion of little Basel. But each year, little Basel has its own festival during which the participants express their opinion of big Basel. And they do that by directing their back sides to the city. Now I didn't think you really had to see that, but take my word for it. It happens. 

BURT WOLF: Directly across the river from the Tongue King is a statue that depicts Helvetia who represents the spirit of Switzerland. You can see her in her official stance on the two franc coin. As a statue, she is presented as having left home with her suitcase, and she's sitting by the river contemplating her future, which of course is the future of the nation. 

During the early seventies, Dr. Hans Jakob Nydegger as part of his medical research was studying the properties of yeast, and the more he studied them, the more he thought about beer, because without yeast, you can't make beer. Eventually his thirst for knowledge just turned into thirst, and he opened the Fischerstube Brewery. They brew four different types of beer and offer them in a tasting. There's a light, a special, which is their standard, one made from wheat and one flavored with ginger. A tree of salted pretzels sits in the middle of the table just in case your thirst begins to falter. When you know which beer you like, you can get a glass or a stein full, and if you are a regular, you can have your own stein with your name on the top. Gives you a sense of community, and for some people it helps them remember their name. If you're a serious beer lover but you do most of your drinking at home, you can get the Fischerstube official take home jug, which contains two liters.

The most interesting way to cross the Rhine from little Basel to big Basel is on a ferry. The idea of having a ferry service came from the chairman of the Art Society who thought it would be a good way to raise money for the group's exhibition space. His first ferry went into operation in the middle of the 1800s and was an immediate success, both in terms of public use and as a money maker for the society. Today there are four ferries crossing up and back, and they utilize the river itself as a source of power. The front of the boat has a rod that is connected to a cable. The cable runs across the river from one bank to the other. A lever can position the cable on one side of the boat or the other. The ferry will move in the direction where the cable is positioned. The force of the current pushes the boat in the direction its pointing, but the lines of the cable keeps the boat from going downstream and redirects the force so the boat just goes across to the other side. It uses the natural energy of the river, which is perpetually available and free. When one of the large barges comes down the Rhine, the ferryman directs the boat into the current, which keeps it in one place or he can turn it back towards the other side. Jacques Thurneysen is the ferryman who works the boat that goes up and back from the cathedral.

JACQUES ON CAMERA: Good morning, good morning.

BURT WOLF: The ferryman has a role in the mythology of almost every society. He takes you from where you are to where you must go, both physically and mentally. 

JACQUES ON CAMERA: The most interesting part of my job is that ... the whole world is passing by you. I get to know all kinds of people from all over the world, and everybody carries his history, his story with him and sometimes they let me have a little bit of their story.

BURT WOLF: It was a ferryman that took the ancient Greeks between life in this world and death in the underworld. It was a ferryman that took Buddha to a place of greater understanding. Ferrymen often give travelers important advice.

JACQUES ON CAMERA: Eat at the Safran House. You will like it.

BURT ON CAMERA: Eat at the Safran House ... huh. 

BURT WOLF: I wonder what he meant by that? Was he using Saffron as a symbol for self indulgence? It ... it's expensive stuff. Or was he telling me to work harder? Saffron's very difficult to harvest. Or was he just telling me to have lunch at Safran House on Gerbergasse Street? You never know with ferrymen.

The Safran House belongs to a guild that dates back to the Middle Ages. The guild was an association of people who practiced the same trade. Each guild had a coat of arms. There were wig makers, pharmacists, glove makers and plumbers. At one time there were 20 guilds in Basel. Safran House was and still is the home of the spice dealers. The building was originally put up in 1423, and though it has gone through a number of reconstructions, it still has a medieval look. The guild leases space to a restaurant so they can have a good place to eat, and they're kind enough to open it to the public. The menu is primarily Swiss. They have a typical Basel specialty of sautéed salmon on a bed of red cabbage with boiled potatoes. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: A hundred years ago there was so much salmon in the Rhine that it was the cheapest food in the neighborhood. People tried to feed it to their servants everyday. Eventually things got so bad or good, depending on your viewpoint, that the government had to pass a law stating that you could only feed salmon to your servants three times a week. 

BURT WOLF: Their house specialty is fondue Bacchus. A bowl of vegetable broth with red wine is kept hot in the center of the table. Wooden skewers with thin slices of veal are dipped into the broth. Two minutes of cooking and the veal is dipped into one of the sauces.

Safran House is right across the street from Basel's marketplace, which is open every morning of the week except Sunday. Farmers and craftsmen come in from the surrounding Swiss countryside, but so do farmers and craftsmen from nearby villages in France and Germany. The market takes place right in front of the Town Hall, which was built in the early 1500s in a style that is known as late Burgundian Gothic. You can tell it's Gothic, because the arches are pointed at the top rather than round. You can tell it's Burgundian because it's like the buildings in the Burgundy region of France. They're brightly colored and covered with painted decoration. It's late, because the guys who built it didn't get here until the Burgundian period was almost over. Inside there is a courtyard with a statue of Munatius Plancus, a Roman general who got here early. He arrived in 44 BC and is given credit for founding the city. Next to Plancus is a fresco that shows Basel's acceptance into the Swiss Confederation.

The stained glass windows in the council chamber represent the states that were part of Switzerland in 1501, which was the year that Basel joined the Confederation. Basel's window shows King Henry II who is always presented with the cathedral in his left hand because he put up the money for it. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the 1500s, this was the door to Basel's divorce court. If you had a problem with your spouse, you came here and registered your accusation with the authorities.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What's your problem?

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: My wife and I have irreconcilable differences! Ahhh!

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Not valid for another 500 years.

BURT WOLF: The carvings on the walls were put there to remind everyone that people are not perfect, as if anyone needed reminding. Ahhh!

Just up the hill is Basel's cathedral. The oldest part of the building dates to the 900s, but most of it was put up during the middle of the 14th century. It's made of red sandstone and has two gothic towers. Near the entrance, there are two statues designed to send a warning. One is the worldly prince, charming up front, but look behind and you will see that he is covered with evil serpents and symbols of corruption. Standing beside the worldly prince is the foolish virgin, unable to see the danger or resist the seducer, as valid a message today as it was 500 years ago.

Basel took part in the Protestant Reformation but with a moderate approach, which helped the city develop its reputation for being tolerant. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When the Protestants of France were forced out by Louis XIV, thousands of them came to Basel. It was a safe city for them and many of them were master weavers and dyers. Their knowledge of the chemistry of weaving and dying formed the basis of the huge chemical companies which are stationed here today. 

BURT WOLF: The cathedral was built on a site that was once a Roman fort. Today it's an elegant 18th century square known as Munsterplatz. 

Basel has the only international tram line in Switzerland. It goes all the way to the Alsace region of France, but I'm only taking it for one stop. Because a favorite stop for me on any tour of Basel is Laeckerli House. Laeckerli is a cookie made with honey, nuts, citrus zest, spices, especially ginger, and a Swiss cherry based liquor called kirsch. It's sweet and chewy and the official cookie of Basel. People have been making Laeckerli since the Middle Ages, and it was brought to Basel by German bakers in the early 1400s. You can buy Laeckerli in a paper cone or in a simple box, but Laeckerli House is famous for its packaging, especially their tins. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: During the middle of the 1800s, the middle class fell in love with shopping, and packaging became an important way of attracting new customers. Cookie manufacturers with tins became an essential marketing tool. Many of the images were drawn from upper class life. If you couldn't afford the actual object, well, at least you could afford a sense of control. Vroom, vroom, vroom!

BURT WOLF: Some of the cookie tins were also sold through early vending machines. The most popular were the tins shaped as cars, trains, planes and boats, because they made perfect Christmas presents for children. The tins were often manufactured for toy companies who sold them in upscale toy stores during the first season, and during the next year in an after market with cookie makers. Today these are considered to be valuable antiques with collectors paying between 15 and 25,000 dollars for important examples. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Each year, Laeckerli introduces five new models. This year one of them is the traditional Swiss Lake Steamer. The super structure comes off and it's filled with cookies. If I could just hang on to it for about a 100 years, it's going to be worth a fortune. 

BURT WOLF: Along with the tradition of eating Laeckerli cookies, Basel has adopted the custom of a coffee and cake break in the afternoon. One place to observe the practice is the Schiesser Cafe which opened in 1870, and they've got the photographs to prove it. They also have coffee, espresso and cappuccino, teas from England, China and Japan, pastries, apple strudel. They also have Peach Melba.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Peach Melba comes with a great story. It was developed by August Escoffier who at the beginning of the 20th century was Europe's most famous chef, and he developed Peach Melba for Lady Melba who was at the time Europe's most famous singer. Now August loved Lily, and Lily loved Peach Melba. The problem is she loved it so often that she began to put on a little extra weight. To try and repair some of the damage he had done, Escoffier developed Melba Toast. Very thin, small pieces of dried bread, and Lily used them to some advantage in her weight loss program. 

BURT WOLF: There is, however, no Melba Toast on Schiesser’s menu.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The event that turned Basel into a center of creativity and learning got started in 1431. It was a gathering of princes and bishops who had come here to discuss the possibility of reforming the church, and this was a very serious subject and people spoke rather slowly about it. So they ended up staying in Basel and debating the issue for 17 years. 

BURT WOLF: Their need for intellectual support during that period helped establish Switzerland's first university, which in turn helped the development of Basel's paper making and printing industries. All of which helped Basel develop as a center of free thinking. The paper making tradition in Basel goes back to the 1400s when monks started making paper for their illuminated manuscripts. If you'd like to see what the process looked like in the middle of the 1400s, stop into Basel's historic paper mill. Craftsmen have been making paper here for over 500 years. Everything is run off a water-powered mill. Small pieces of rag are mixed with water and pounded into a pulp. 

A form is dipped into a tub filled with the pulp and the water and shaken to produce a thin sheet of pulp. The sheet is removed and placed on to a pile of previously made sheets. The pile of sheets is placed into a press. 25 tons of pressure press out the water. The fibers in the rag intertwine and become a single sheet. Finally each sheet is hung up to dry. Each piece has a watermark that was made by sewing brass wire into the form. The wires thin out the layer of fibers. The thin areas show up as lines when the paper is held against the light. During the Middle Ages, the design in the watermark told you who made the paper. Now that you have paper, you need printing presses. The mill has a few dozen presses, all are classics and some of them date back for hundreds of years. If you want to print a book using some of the earliest methods, this shop can do it for you. And as you would expect, they have a complete binding department. 

When Gutenberg introduced Europe to movable type in the 1400s, information could be reproduced and distributed at a rate that was previously unimaginable. But the ancient art of the scribe continued to flourish right alongside the press.

The sign in front of the tiny shop reads "Scriptorium." Inside, Andreas Schenk practices the craft of calligraphy. He drafts family trees, historic documents and social invitations. He also makes his own inks and cuts his own quills. His work requires over 600 different nibs. Even with the arrival of printing, calligraphers were still in great demand for private letters and formal correspondence. One reason that calligraphy has survived the printing press and the computer is that the calligrapher understands the spirit of the text. He knows why the author chose the words and presents them with an awareness and grace that can never be captured by a machine. On the other hand, there's no spell check.

In terms of awareness and grace, however, the machines of Jean Tinguely are an exception. Tinguely was born in Switzerland and lived from 1925 to 1991. He became a leading member of a group of artists who created sculptures that moved. Tinguely's works were designed to counter the traditional concept of art that just stood still. And he poked fun at modern society by using unconventional materials. One of the best examples of his inventive spirit is the fountain in front of the Municipal Theater of Basel. Nine metallic sculptures in perpetual motion. In 1996, a museum completely devoted to his work was designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta and built alongside the Rhine River. He also believed that the onlookers should take part in the art. Many of his works need to be turned on by the viewer before they start moving.

And once he got his sculptures to move, he decided that they should also make sounds. The exhibition rooms are laid out according to the stages of the artist's life. On the ground floor in a huge room is the Grosse Meta Maxi-Maxi Utopia, a larger than life sculpture that represents a walk-in dream world. Tinguely wanted to create a sculpture that people could travel through where there were things to play with. He wanted them to forget that they were in a sculpture and just move about in a happy space, and that's just the feeling you get from being inside it.

Before we get out of this Tinguely sculpture or leave Basel, I'd like to take another look at the Fasnacht Festival. Clearly this is the local version of carnival--critical, artistic and challenging. But it's also polite and tame and structured, just like Tinguely's sculpture, and that's how you can tell they're Swiss. For TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: Ticino, Switzerland - #311

BURT WOLF: At the very center of Europe, surrounded by France, Germany, Austria and Italy, sits a confederation of 26 democratic states known as Switzerland. The states are called cantons, and the most southerly is Ticino. Just north of the Italian border it is one of the most beautiful parts of Europe. Snow-capped, alpine peaks ease down into mountains covered with thick forests of laurel and chestnut trees. Thousands of waterfalls flow into lakes that twist their way through the mountains. Mountains that are the key to Ticino's history. Ticino is the only Swiss canton that is located entirely on the southern side of the Alps. And through much of the year, it has a mild and sunny climate. It is one of the cantons in Switzerland where the official language is Italian. And right there is Ticino's most fascinating aspect ... a blend of the warmth of Italy with the efficiency of Switzerland. Passionate people ... and their phones work. 

The capital city of Ticino is Bellinzona. It's been inhabited since prehistoric times and with good reason. Let's say you were looking for a nice place to live during the Neolithic period ... about 7,000 years ago. You'd want a spot on a high hill so you could get a good look at any conquering hordes that might be coming into the neighborhood. You'd also want your hill to have a dependable source of fresh water, just in case you were stuck up there during a long battle. And if you could get the landlord to paint every two years, you were golden. 

A citadel with a deep well. That's what you were looking for and that's precisely what you have in Bellinzona's Castelgrande. The ancient Romans started building the present structure because they wanted to control this valley. It was the most important gateway on the trade route between Italy and the rest of Europe. To be the ruling power in this valley was worth a fortune. And during the 1200s the two great families of Milano, the Visconti and the Sforzas, constantly battled for control.

The Dukes of Milano took what the Romans started and built it into a chain of three fortresses that extend across the valley floor. The highest is Castello di Sasso Corbaro. Midway up is Castello Montebello. The lowest fortress is Castelgrande. All three are connected by a wall. Not a great wall but not bad. And all three are UNESCO world heritage sites.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In the end, however, the castles were unable to stand up to repeated sieges and by the early 1500s had been conquered by the Swiss Confederation, which at the time was made up of the three original states of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. And each of those states took one of the castles for themselves.

BURT WOLF: The highest castle is also the home of an excellent restaurant, which is only fitting since the castle once belonged to both the Visconti and Sforzas families of Milano. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The Viscontis and the Sforzas were serious eaters and kept written copies of their family recipes. The guy from Ticino, named Martino di Rossi, collected those recipes and used them to publish the most important cookbook of the 1400s. He got rid of the heavy oriental spices that were being used and replaced them with local herbs. He also set up the idea of a pasta course. The man was a genius!

BURT WOLF: And Athos Luzzi, the owner and chef of the castle restaurant, has a genius for the traditional dishes of the region. 

CHEF LUZZI ON CAMERA: So we have a risotto with mushrooms and chanterelles.

BURT WOLF: Oh, yummy.

CHEF LUZZI: Enjoy It!

BURT WOLF: Thank you. Below the castle, Bellinzona looks very much as it did during the Renaissance. On Saturday mornings, there's an open-air market.

And if you're lucky, you will have hit town on one of those days when Ticino's answer to the Mamas and the Papas is giving one of their informal concerts. 

By the middle of the 15th century, the Swiss dominated the northern part of Ticino. But the Dukes of Milano still held the town of Bellinzona. The Milanese felt threatened by the growing influence of the Swiss and decided it was time to fight. On December 28th, 1478, their soldiers marched into the small town of Giornico, just up the valley from Bellinzona.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: On a hill high above Giornico, 200 Swiss troops and 400 local partisans watched the Milanese arrive. And then, without the slightest warning, sent down hundreds of huge boulders that crashed into their encampment. The Milanese were crushed ... and at the same time, defeated. The encounter became known as The Battle of the Stones. It was the first major success for the Swiss and eventually led to their control of the entire Ticino.

BURT WOLF: A stone’s throw from the center of Giornico is San Nicolao. Built there in the early 1100s, it is the best preserved Romanesque church in Ticino. My guide was Marina Guzman-Metzger and she started by explaining the unusual sculptures that are at the front of the building.

MARINA GUZMAN-METZGER: These animals here, the statues that we see outside, are really strange if you want because this is not a situation that you would find in nature. First of all, we have two lions that protect the church. We have here a rabbit and there a lamb that are looking at the guests arriving. And moreover, you have very near the lions two lying rabbits that are not scared. 

BURT WOLF: The rabbits are just sitting next to the lions.

MARINA GUZMAN-METZGER: Exactly. They are just sitting there and not being scared of the lions. So this is not normal but this means probably that this a safe place to anybody.

In here we have frescoes coming from the 1478. Very beautiful but amazing ... especially is the center of them. Look at the three heads that have been designed there, representing the trinity. One is the Father, the second, the Son and the other, the Holy Ghost. If you look at them, you will see that they have only two pairs of eyes. Incredible ... but this is a symbol. It's the technique of the pagan to show the bond of mysticism. And this is also a fresco that you will never see again, as they have been all destroyed after the Council of Trento as declared, in fact, not acceptable by Catholicism.

BURT WOLF: Too mystical.

MARINA GUZMAN-METZGER: It's too mystical, exactly. It's something that represents the ... uh, encountering between the paganism and the Catholicism.

BURT WOLF: The force field in the Church of San Nicolao may be hidden. But the energy of the town of Locarno is right up front. Locarno has been a resort since the time of the ancient Romans. Historians tell me that if you had been gladiating day after day, during the busy season, or marching along with the Roman legions and needed a break, Locarno was the perfect spot. These days, the thing to do is sit at one of the cafes that face out on Lake Maggiore, have an espresso and then take a ride on the Centovalli Railroad. If you purchase a Swiss pass in the United States, you can use it on the Centovalli trains, which run through the day and take you from town to town in one of Ticino's most beautiful valleys. Dirk Meyer is the director of the company. 

DIRK MEYER: This is a train we are taking. You see, we have low floor entrance, which is very comfortable for elderly people. We go from Locarno to Domodossola. That is from Switzerland to Italy. With this train you can discover nice little villages with a lot of art in their churches. Every village has its own character. The train takes you to many places. For example, in this place, Ponte Brolla, we have a rock-climbing school up on these steep slopes. And in Intragna we’ve got the tall railway bridge 75 meters over ground. And there we installed bungy jump center and outdoor center. 

DIRK MEYER: In the meantime, we do as well in this location ... free climbing at the end of the bridge.

BURT WOLF: At one point we got off the train, and took a cable car to Rasa.

DIRK MEYER: This village, Rasa was built in the 700s. It is a 900 meter altitude and you can arrive only by cable car and/or two and a half hours by foot walking. People of this village before 1700 ... they were working almost over the whole year as tallymen unloading ships in Livorno and be custom officers. With this activity, they own so much money that they decided to give up their village and they built between 1680 and 1720 ... they built up this village, you see here and it was systematically planned and built. And which is very seldom for that time, so far away, and you see the people must have been very wealthy because the houses look very nice and they're very big. And they are not attached one to the other but they have space in between themselves.

BURT WOLF: A sign in the center of town directs you to a series of footpaths. But instead of giving you the distance, they give you an estimate of the time it will take you to get there based on a speed of two miles per hour. Just across the river from Locarno, and tucked into a sunny bay, is the town of Ascona. Its history as an artistic and cultural community goes back to the time of the Renaissance. During the early 1900s, a hill above the town known as Monte Verita, became home base for a society interested in alternative lifestyles.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The place attracted philosophers, artists, writers, nudists, anarchists, and vegetarians. It was kind of like Woodstock, only everybody stayed.

BURT WOLF: The Locarno and Ascona area is also the perfect place to begin a visit to the Valley of Verzasca. Verzasca is a deep narrow gorge being cut even deeper by rushing streams of emerald green water. 

And the way to get there is by postbus, which in Switzerland, is an extremely efficient form of transportation. In 1849, Switzerland established a national postal service carrying mail by horse, carriage and sleigh. It was a cross between Santa Claus and the Pony Express. In 1906, they extended their service to include passengers. These yellow buses are a familiar sight all over the nation and they haven't changed their look since 1921 when the first bus started navigating through Switzerland's mountain passes. 

One of the villages we passed through was Corripo. Welcome to the 1500s. Small granite stone buildings and a 400-year-old church hang from the canyon walls. Every stone is protected by the government as a national treasure. 

My first stop was a small bridge built by the ancient Romans that’s still standing. Over 2,000 years old. In perfect shape. And it’s never had a toll-booth. The valley is a popular hangout for swimming, hiking and biking. The buses run every hour so you can hike for a while and then pick up another bus when you're tired.

The rural roadsides of Ticino are peppered with small open chapels that are dedicated to minor saints, or local folk heroes who hope to be sainted. Like Lorenzo di Lago, who was venerated for his abstinence. He never ordered dessert though it was usually included in the price of his meals. 

While I was in Ticino, I stayed at The Villa Principe Leopoldo, a five-star hotel and member of The Relais and Chateaux Group. It's named after Prince Frederic Leopoldo, a descendant of one of the great families that ruled the German empire when it was first formed in 1871.

The house was built in the late 1800s as a summer residence for Prince Leopoldo's father and the prince lived here until he died in 1931. The villa remained a private home for European aristocracy until 1986 when it was turned into a hotel. Fortunately, the villa has lost none of its royal charm. 

The villa is located on top of a hill with a fantastic view of Lake Lugano, the nearby mountains, and the Alps, a view which you can take from poolside. Under the direction of General Manager, Maurice Urech, who was named European Hotel Manager of the Year, it's become one of the most respected properties in Europe.

Executive Chef is Dario Ranza. The kitchen specializes in traditional Mediterranean recipes like octopus salad with potatoes, and steamed sea bass with tomato and parsley oil. The wines come from the villa's excellent and extensive cellar. In the evening, the Collina d’Oro Bar has live music and serves its signature drink, which is Campari and ice, shaken not stirred, and quickly poured into a martini glass. The villa has 37 spacious and elegant rooms with private terraces overlooking Lake Lugano. Across the street is a building known as the Residence. Forty-one more rooms with restful views of the garden and the park, and a second pool. The city of Lugano was built on the edge of a bay facing two mountains that rise out of a lake. The warmth of the sun and the restful beauty of the surrounding Alps have made it a health resort and tourist attraction for hundreds of years. People call it "the Rio of the Old World." 

The best time to walk Lugano is first thing in the morning. Start along on the lakefront promenade and watch the sun rise over the mountains. Then turn into the old city, a pedestrian area, with many small shops. 

At the end of the street is the Church of Santa Maria, a former Franciscan monastery, it was built on the lakefront in 1499. Inside is the most famous Renaissance fresco in Switzerland ... a majestic and expressive presentation of the Passion of Christ. Just down the block is the Piazza della Riforma. The Piazza is a large square lined with cafes. And on one side, the town hall, which was built on a slightly shifting foundation.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: And like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it leans a little more each year. And like most political institutions, depending on where you stand, it leans a little bit to the right ... and at the same time, a little bit to the left.

And while you're in the neighborhood, stop into Gabbani. In 1937, Domenico and Juliet Gabbani opened a small delicatessen and butcher shop. In the seventies, their son Lino took over the business and started adding additional shops. Today there are six stores. Gabbani is a good place to taste Ticino. Through most of their history, the Ticinese were mountain people and their cooking resembles that of the Piedmont in Italy. 

BURT WOLF: Across the street is a shop with the cheeses of Ticino. They're often named after the villages in which they are made. They're served with a pinch of salt, a twist of pepper, and drizzle of olive oil. At the edge of the old town, is a dock where boats leave for the little villages that line the shores of Lake Lugano. They navigate through a landscape that really looks like it came off a postcard. Get off at Gandria ... a fishing village with a history that goes back to the ancient Romans. 

The small houses that line the narrow streets date from the Middle Ages. A headcount in 1590 indicated that 330 people lived in Gandria. A census in 2001 turned up only 215 people. An ominous trend. If it keeps up, in 900 years, Gandria will be empty! Get here as soon as you can! I came here to eat at a restaurant called Locanda Gandriese. It's in a house that was built during the 1500s as an inn. There's a small bar, six tables inside. And five tables on the balcony that hangs out over the lake. Most of the town's fishermen have left for better-paying jobs in the cities. But fortunately, the fish stayed behind. The catch of the day was a filet of salmon trout with boiled potatoes and seasonal vegetables. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They also make just about every local specialty you can imagine. They make veal shanks with polenta ... rabbit with polenta ... mushrooms with polenta ... sausages with polenta. And, as a special, but you have to order a day in advance ... polenta with polenta!

BURT WOLF: The peaceful sail back to Lugano takes only 30 minutes. Upon returning to Lugano, there was one more thing I wanted to do. And that was take a ride up to the top of Monte San Salvatore. A cable-car leaves every 15 minutes and the trip to the top takes only 12. Monte San Salvatore runs up 2,992 feet from its base. At the top, there's a 360-degree view of the Alps ... Lake Lugano, and the Lombardic Italy. 

As I pointed out earlier, Switzerland has four official languages, Swiss German, French, Italian, and Romansch, and many people have a working knowledge of English. Translating from one language to another is a daily part of Swiss life.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: To make things easier in Switzerland and around the rest of the world a company in Ticino called Simultanphone is developing a real time translation service. You pick up your phone, call them up, tell them what language you want to work in, who you want to talk to, they make the call for you, and they stay on the line doing the translation. They’re also working on a face to face system. You take your cell phone, plug this contraption into it, call Simultanphone, tell them the language you want, put this speaker and earphone into your ear and give this end, which is a speaker and an earphone to the person you want to talk to, they stay on the line and do the translation. It’s going to change my life. I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit to Switzerland and I hope you will join us next time for TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I’m BURT WOLF.

Travels & Traditions: Geneva, Switzerland - #310

BURT WOLF: Geneva is the most westerly region in Switzerland. It is famous for its role in the Protestant Reformation, as a center for watch making, as a home for The United Nations, and for the many humanitarian organizations that are headquartered here. For thousands of years, it's been a major commercial center. But if there is one element that stands behind almost every aspect of Geneva's past as well as its present, it's the desire for its citizens to be free and independent, and to exercise their freedom on behalf of those less fortunate.

The first freedom seekers arrived in 500 B.C., they were a migrating tribe that came over from Eastern Europe and settled on the high ground, which is now Geneva's Old City. Good spot.

It was just above the junction of the Rhone and Arve Rivers. And right in front were two islands that they used as the base for a bridge, which made it the only spot for hundreds of miles where traders could cross the river on foot and stay dry. A century before the birth of Christ, Roman soldiers saw the strategic value of this site, and turned it into one of their most prosperous colonies. Even then Geneva understood bridge financing.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: By the middle of the 400s, Rome began to lose its power, and Geneva came under the control of the Dukes of Burgundy. The Dukes spent the next thousand years or so duking it out with assorted princes, until 1536, when Geneva declared itself an independent republic, under the protection of the Swiss states to the northeast.

The Swiss loved this. Geneva became independent but it also became a buffer between the Swiss and the Dukes. The Swiss not only offered the people of Geneva military protection, but they offered them the opportunity to become Protestant and join the Reformation.

BURT WOLF: The offer was made most dramatically by John Calvin, and it was an offer you couldn't refuse. In 313, the Emperor Constantine proclaimed the Edict of Toleration, which allowed Christianity to spread throughout the Roman Empire. And by 350 there was a place of worship and a baptistery on the Hill of Geneva. Today the Cathedral of Saint Peter stands on that hill. It's been around since the 1100s, and it's present pastor is William McComish.

WILLIAM McCOMISH ON CAMERA: Well, the bubonic plague was the greatest disaster that ever hit the continent of Europe. It starts in China, it is spread by fleas that live on black rats, and it kills between a third and a half of the population, but of course, nobody was counting. Society totally broke down, suddenly there weren't nearly enough people to do all the ... the work, and the balance of power shifts from a rural society with the lord in his castle and the serfs working in the fields, to an urban society which begins to use mechanical devices to replace all the hands that were not there, and you get a new middle class of literate lay people, who were the merchants, the bankers, the industrialists, the manufacturers, and the middlemen and the entrepreneur of their time.

I think it led to the Reformation in the sense that for the first time for over a thousand years you had an educated middle class. You had people that could read and write, and with the invention of printing, the first books that were printed were Bibles and Biblical commentaries, and in reading these they began to become uneasy about what they had been taught about religion up to that time.

People have an unease about the medieval church, which was coming to an end, they could read and write, they had their own ideas, but these kind of middle class, bourgeois people, in a city like Geneva, there were many cities up and down Europe where this was the case, but Geneva is very typical, they wanted control. They were no longer prepared to be run, by a prince-bishop, who was nominated by the House of Hapsburg, they wanted to take control of their own city, and because the ruler of the city was a prince-bishop, when they threw out the civil government, they also threw out the religious one.

BURT WOLF: The Cathedral of Saint Peter is at the center of Geneva's Old City. Its cobblestone streets wind down from the hill top and are lined with elegant shops.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The main street is called Grande Rue, and during the Sixties I lived here. This was my neighborhood. And it hasn't changed very much, which makes perfectly good sense, it's been here for 1500 years. What did I think was going to change in 30?

BURT WOLF: There's the old Arsenal. The building was put up in the 1400s, and there are five original cannons. My kids used them to play blow up the Duke of Savoy. Down the block is the Place du Bourge-de-Four, the oldest public square in Geneva. To the ancient Romans this place was a center for the affairs of commerce. It's still a center of activity, but these days the affairs are mostly of the heart. A little bar down the street from my house is still here. The sweet yeasty smells of the bakery still drift into the road, and it's still impossible to find a parking place.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The only thing that seems to have disappeared is my youth.

BURT WOLF: Geneva has a very efficient system of trams and buses that cross-cross the city, and make it easy to get around on public transportation. If you purchase a Swiss pass in North America before you come to Switzerland, you can use it on trams and buses and trains and lake steamers. And in Switzerland, lake steamers are particularly important. One of the things that has always attracted people to this area is the lake. Lake Geneva is the largest body of fresh water in Europe, 45 miles long, eight miles wide, and one of the cleanest. In 1986, Switzerland banned the use of phosphates in washing powder, which helped save many of the rare fish.

Since 1823, a local company has been sailing paddle wheel boats around Lake Geneva. They claim to have the largest fleet of classic old boats in western Europe, with the possible exception of Liechtenstein's Navy. Luc-Antoine Baehini is the Director of the company.

LUC-ANTOINE BAEHINI ON CAMERA: Well, you can charter a boat, for example for not only a wedding, an anniversary, a business party, a party, a love boat party, we do all kinds of wild stuff on our boats.

LUC-ANTOINE BAEHINI: What's interesting about this boat is the actually the largest fleet ... steam boat fleet in Switzerland. We have eight of them, and this one, the Italie, was built in 1908, it's one of the oldest still navigating in Switzerland.

BURT WOLF: So nice. The boats dock on a street that runs along the lake from one side of the city to the other. It's one of the most fashionable streets, both for residential apartments, and hotels. As an internationally famous city for over a thousand years, Geneva long ago mastered the hotel business. And there are outstanding examples throughout the town.

While I was in Geneva, I stayed at the Beau Rivage, it's where I lived when I first arrived here in 1968, and started looking for an apartment. I thought it would be nice to come back after all these years, and see what it was like now that I'm old enough to appreciate it. The Beau Rivage is the oldest building in Geneva still privately owned, and the only five star hotel that has remained in the family of its original owners. It was built as a hotel in 1865 by Jean-Jacques Mayer and his wife Albertine. And it passed to their son Charles, and then to their grandson, Fred. Today it's owned by their great-grandson, Jacques Mayer, whose primary interest is in maintaining the physical beauty of the hotel. The day to day activities are under the direction of general manager, Snuggi Lendi.

ALDO GIACOMELLO ON CAMERA: Good morning

BURT WOLF: The chief concierge, Aldo Giacomello, has been with the hotel since 1964, and he's the President of the “Clefs d’Or”, the worldwide trade association for his profession. He assists guests with reservations to the theater, concerts, sporting events, and just about anything else that interests you. The Beau Rivage has an authenticity and sense of belonging that is rarely found in a hotel. There are only 91 rooms and 6 suites, all of which were built around an internal atrium that runs up five floors to a glass roof. During the day the entrance area at the base of the atrium is flooded with natural light. Just off the lobby is the Atrium Bar, which serves a light lunch at mid-day, English tea in the afternoon, and has live music during the evening. Most of the time our crew stays in a suite, one big room that we work in, and in a bunch of nearby rooms for all of us to sleep in. I had the feeling that a seventeenth century king checked out just before we checked in. And clearly in the old days, it was good to be king. Amazing stuff. And look at the view. And as the father of King Louis the 16th once said, some day, my son, none of this will be yours.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In 1886, Geneva set up a hydroelectric station to supply power to the craftsmen working in the city, but every evening when the workers would turn off their machines, there was a dangerous overcharge. Engineers would rush to the pumps to turn them off, but they never knew exactly when that surge was going to hit.

BURT WOLF: Eventually somebody had the bright idea to install a safety valve that released the excess water in the form of a jet, which eventually became the symbol of the city. It’s called the jet d’eau and it’s produced by an amazing piece of machinery. Charles Drapel is the Chief Engineer. This is the pump room. Every minute two pumps suck eight thousand gallons of water out of the lake, mix it with air, and place it under tremendous pressure. The key design element is the nozzle, sends up a column of water filled with millions of air bubbles, which gives the jet its white color. Without the air bubbles, it would be practically invisible from the shore. Charles is going to let me turn it on, but I must do it at exactly nine a.m., because that is the official starting time and tourists are hanging out of their hotel windows ready to take a photograph. Five, four, three, two, one. We have ignition. We have lift off.

The jet d’eau is an important symbol of Geneva but so is the Escalade.

Each year on December 11th, the city commemorates an event that took place in 1602. The Duke of Savoy, who controlled the land around Geneva, teamed up with Philip the Second, the Catholic King of Spain, and decided to crush the Protestant Reformation that had taken place here.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The troops were in the middle of a sneak attack when a woman heard their approach. Stationing herself at her kitchen window, she poured a pot of hot soup down on the Savoyards. With their chances for a surprise attack seriously dampened, they pulled back, giving the Guards of Geneva time to counter-attack and defeat the Duke's men, thereby saving Geneva's freedom to produce vegetable soup anywhere they wanted.

BURT WOLF: Not to be left out of the celebration, each year the chocolate makers of Geneva produce chocolate soup pots filled with vegetables made of marzipan. And they also shape chocolate in other forms, each designed to mark an event. At The Du Rhone Chocolate Shop, a two foot high beehive, with bees, signals the beginning of spring. An antique car announces the opening of the annual Auto Show, and the perfect pocketbook celebrates a particularly successful bit of shopping. And shopping is definitely a major part of what Geneva is all about. For over a thousand years, Geneva has been an important commercial center, but for the past 300 years its most famous commercial product has been the watch. Calvin, as part of his desire to simplify life, limited the use of gold and precious stones in jewelry. So many of the jewelry makers turned to make watches and clocks. Throughout the city there are public displays of the craft.

In 1955, a flower clock was constructed in a small park at the edge of the lake. It's about five years wide, has the largest second hand in the world, and over six thousand plants are used to produce its face.

About a block away in the center of a covered shopping street, is the clock of the Passage-de-Malbuisson. Built in the twentieth century, it marks each hour with 16 bells, a parade of 13 chariots, and 42 bronze figures.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The biggest impetus to watch making in Geneva came in 1685, when King Louis the XIV of France decided to kill off all the French Protestants. French Protestants were known as Huguenots and thousands of them fled to Geneva. They were master craftsmen and many were great watchmakers. They made an immediate and valuable financial contribution to the city, and what was France's loss became Geneva's gain.

BURT WOLF: Calvin demanded an almost monk-like asceticism in the city, which made watch making a perfect occupation. The monk’s cell was replaced by the watchmaker’s cabinet, and Geneva became one of the most productive and creative cities in the world. No other country were so many watches made and sold. Today the watchmakers’ craft is commemorated in Geneva’s Clock and Watch Museum. Fabienne Sturm is the Curator.

FABIENNE STURM ON CAMERA: You ask me to talk about pieces I prefer.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Yes.

FABIENNE STURM: So it's a personal choice. This one, without hands, and with a ... some holes in the dial, is one of my favorite piece in the Museum, for me its very interesting piece, because it's very calm, and I like when the time is going with calm. What is really impressed with this piece and ... is that there are painted in enamel on gold, but we have today the same colors as we had in the seventeenth century. On this one you have a link between the theme of time and the theme of love. And inside you have a landscape, with a river, and a man walking along the river. And this means that time is flowing...flowing as a river. And man is just walking during life.

What is interesting also in this pieces, is that you have something to do to know the time, you have to press something, you have to ... to take it in your hand.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The watch making industry was a source of income, but it was also a source of conflict. It brought in lots of money, but it clearly violated the city's sumptuary laws, that said that no jewelry was to be worn, with the exception of a wedding ring and a watch, and the watch was to be worn in a way that was not ostentatious.

BURT WOLF: Clearly, to flaunt it while you got it was not in. This little number made by the Veigneur Brothers in 1775, was something you only wore on an out of town trip.

And it was an out of town trip for Jean-Henri Dunant, a Geneva business man, that led to one of the most important humanitarian organizations in the world.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: In the summer of 1859, Dunant arrived in Italy during the Battle of Solferino, and saw 40 thousand men dying because, after the battle ended, there was no form of medical attention. When he got back to Geneva, he pleaded for the formation of a permanent relief society.

BURT WOLF: His idea led to the formation of The International Committee for the Relief of the Wounded, which eventually became The International Red Cross. Headquartered in Geneva, where it was founded ... it is the world's largest humanitarian organization with staff in 58 countries, and an annual budget of over 500 million dollars. A large portion of that budget comes from the Swiss government. The organization maintains a Museum in Geneva which will give you an amazing insight into what The International Red Cross has done in the past, and what it is still doing. Engraved above the entrance hall of the building is their guiding principle. “Everyone is responsible to everyone for everything”.

The Museum Director is Roger Mayou.

ROGER MAYOU ON CAMERA: well, you know in 1994, after the genocide in Rwanda, The Red Cross had a huge problem with thousands of children who couldn't speak, and so how find their families again if they couldn't speak? So they created this photo tracing program, which was consisting in taking pictures of all the children, then publishing these pictures in booklets. These booklets were disseminated throughout the country and, then like Sherlock Holmes work, if I may say, they could find who the children were and where the families were, and then could ... today, when I'm speaking, could reunite 90 percent of the children with their families.

The organizations activities on behalf of the prisoners goes back to World War I, when they collected the names of the wounded, forwarded 20 million messages a day, and sent prisoners relief parcels. Thanks to their efforts, 2 million prisoners in camps were reunited with their families.

ROGER MAYOU ON CAMERA: The Red Cross of course is independent, this is the only way to work on both sides of a conflict.

BURT WOLF: When the First World War ended, President Woodrow Wilson proposed an international organization to maintain world peace. It was called The League of Nations. The organization was made up of 32 countries and 13 neutral states. The site for The League headquarters became a park at the edge of Geneva. The complex is known as The Palais des Nations, and in 1946 it became the European hub of The United Nations.

Today it’s the busiest conference center in the world, over seven thousand meetings take place here each year. It is home to 14 inter-governmental groups, and 108 non-governmental organizations, including The YMCA and The Boy Scouts. There are year round guided tours of the buildings and the grounds. The largest and most famous room, The Assembly Hall, seats two thousand people. The Library occupies an entire wing of the building, and has a collection of original treaties and documents in its League of Nations Museum. Switzerland's history as an independent and neutral nation makes it an ideal location for this type of organization.

Geneva's long history as a convention and business city, coupled with its love of good food, has turned it into a town with more restaurants per person than any other city in Europe. Here are a few that turned out excellent examples of some of Geneva's most traditional dishes.

The Grande Theatre is Geneva's opera, and right across the street is Le Lyrique. On one side, it's a simple brasserie, and on the other a formal restaurant. It opened in 1981, but the decor is late nineteenth century.

The Café de Soleil, which means the Cafe of the Sun, was the first restaurant to be built outside the city walls. It went into business in 1680, and for a while it was a cabaret. At the time Geneva was a very conservative city, which may explain why it opened up outside the city walls. Today it's a down home neighborhood brasserie that's famous for its cheese fondue.

The Café de Soleil makes their fondue using only gruyere cheese. Swiss have been making gruyere since the 1100s, and for over 500 years, chefs have considered it one of the great cheeses for cooking. A wheel of gruyere weighs between 77 and 88 pounds, has a diameter of 20 inches, and has been aged for at least a year. It has a slightly nutty flavor that's perfect for fondue.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Swiss fondue eating etiquette requires that all diners prevent their bread from dropping into the cheese, and if you fail, there are severe penalties. You may be required to, A, buy wine for everybody at the table. B, kiss everybody at the table, and C, keep a slice of hard boiled egg in your wallet throughout the month of July.

BURT WOLF: One place I kept coming back to was The Bistro du Boeuf Rouge. The walls are covered with hats, beer mugs, old posters, cloudy glass, and undistinguished prints, and none of the plates match, which make me feel very much at home. Thought of as a steakhouse, they also make great fried fish, in this case, filet of lake perch, which is a specialty of the town.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: That's Geneva, Switzerland. A city that has spent the last 2500 years fighting for its freedom, so it could try to lead the good life, while, uh, trying to lead the good life. And that's TRAVELS & TRADITIONS, I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The Lake Geneva Region, Switzerland - #309

BURT WOLF: The Lake Geneva Region of Switzerland consists of a district known as the Canton of Vaud. Its Southern border is made up of villages, small towns and a few mid-sized cities that spread out along the shore of Lake Geneva. Its western and northern frontiers run through farm communities and small villages in the Jura Mountains that share a border with France. And much of its Eastern edge rises into the Alps.

Of all the natural wonders in Switzerland, a snow covered alpine peak is probably the most amazing. And one of the best places to get a look at what's happening up here is Glacier 3,000. 

To get here I took a train from Lausanne to the edge of the mountains, and then I worked my way in with a Post bus. The Post buses are part of the Swiss travel system

and they will take you all around the country. My destination is the town of Col du Pillon. Now the serious ascent begins. George Carlin had a good question. If mountain climbers go up Mount Everest because it's so hard to climb, why do they always go up the easy side? Makes you think.

The top of Glacier 3,000 gets snow during 11 months of the year, so even in summer it's winter. Confusing, but interesting. It's June and people are marching around on snow shoes, snowboarding, snow scooting and sliding around on inter tubes. On the way back from the glacier I stopped into the teeny town of Rougemont. It has a beautiful Romanesque church that was built by monks in 1080.

The classic round arches tell you that it's in the Romanesque style. When the Reformation arrived in 1555 the protestants covered the painted walls with white plaster. But in 1919 the paintings were rediscovered and restored to their original beauty. Rougemont's main street is lined with shops that are filled with local antiques. But the main reason I came to Rougemont is to take a look at a craft called decoupage. The word means to cut out. The objective is to cut out a design, paste it on a surface, cover it with varnish and end up with a decorated object.

Collette Rossier is a master of decoupage. She learned about the craft during the 1960's but didn't take it seriously until her four children went off to college and she began using it as therapy for her empty nest syndrome. Decoupage has been a European folk art since the 1100's but it got big in Venice during the 1600's. At the time there was a great demand for lacquered furniture imported from China and Japan, but few people could afford the real stuff. The Venetians started using decoupage to produce imitations that ended up being extraordinarily successful. Today almost every European country has its own style of decoupage, with the exception of Transylvania where sharp instruments are not allowed.

I've been traveling around the Lake Geneva Region on a Post bus. But for centuries the best way to get around the neighborhood was to hop on one of the Lake Geneva sailboats. It was an informal service that was already in existence when the ancient Romans arrived. But it took on considerably more structure when the Lake Geneva shipping company went into business in 1823. Their boats carried local residents from town to town along the lake shore.

My fellow passengers taught me how to play jassen, the national card game of Switzerland. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I'm getting killed here.

BURT WOLF: By the middle of the of the 1800's tourists began coming aboard, and they still do. Taking a ride on a lake steamer is still the best way to see the beauty of the Lake Geneva shore, the small towns and the surrounding mountains.

For thousands of years the north shore of Lake Geneva connected northern Europe with Italy and the eastern part of France. It was an extremely important commercial route. At one point the mountains press up against the shore leaving a very narrow passage for the road. This strip was known as Chillon and has been inhabited for over 5,000 years.

During the 800's a fort was built on a small island just offshore. In the 1100's it developed into a castle controlled by the Dukes of Savoy. The castle was able to control all movement on the narrow road. It was the ideal point for the collection of tolls which made a major contribution to the Duke's wealth. Lorenzo Stoll was my guide.

LORENZO STOLL: We are here now in the main living room of the castle, that's where I would say the social events of the count family, the Savoy family, would happen. And the room has some very specific characteristics, like for example, an Italian Renaissance style wooden ceiling. The oak pillars that are supporting the roof are original. They're more than 700 year old ... a Swiss oak tree.

BURT WOLF: Wow.

LORENZO STOLL: And if you look at the big windows facing the lake you might ask but why in a castle of the Middle Ages would have such big windows, because on this side there was no defense needed as of the lake was a natural defense enough and also because on the other side it was still Savoy. Switzerland was basically a farming country, so the soldiers did not have much money. So they were building very basic weapons, such as this one which is a piece of wood with some nails on it. And if you would slam it on somebody's head it would be efficient enough for what it was built for. This one was used by Fantasens to get down the knights from the horse by cutting the horse’s Achilles tendon with this. And once the knight was lying on the ground stuck in his 200 pounds heavy armor you would stick this part of the weapon into the knight's throat. 

LORENZO STOLL ON CAMERA: Burt, this is maybe the castle's most intimate room, as it used to be the count's bedroom. And what is surprising about this room is the size of the bed.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Small.

LORENZO STOLL ON CAMERA: Small ... it's not because the people were smaller at those times, but because they were sleeping seated in the bed.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: They'd sit up and sleep?

LORENZO STOLL ON CAMERA: They'd sit up and sleep and a lot of pillows, for one main reason, was that it was said that only dead people were lying in the bed. So they were thinking that if they would lie to sleep it might attract the bad eye on them and they would die earlier.

BURT WOLF: In 1817 the British poet Lord Byron used this castle as the setting for his poem "The Prisoner of Chillon."

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: It tells the story of a clergyman who was chained to these pillars for five years because he advocated a more representative form of government than the Dukes of Savoy appreciated. Lord Byron, who was into bondage, loved the story and even carved his name into one of the pillars. 

BURT WOLF: The boats that sail on Lake Geneva make regular stops at most of the towns on the shore. And you can get on and off and back on wherever you like. One place you might like to get off is the town of Vevey which is just to the east of Lausanne. Vevey is the cradle of the Swiss milk and chocolate business, and accordingly the headquarters of Nestle, the world's largest food company and the largest company in Switzerland. Vevey is also a popular resort that faces out on Lake Geneva and the Alps. 

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: But for me Vevey is most famous as the town where Charlie Chaplin came to live in 1953. Chaplin was born in London in 1889. His family were vaudeville performers and he followed in their footsteps, eventually becoming the superstar of the silent screen.

BURT WOLF: During a tour of the United States in 1912 he was noted by the Keystone Film Company who introduced him to film audiences around the world.

His most famous screen character, the little tramp, was so widely appreciated that Chaplin came to be regarded as the greatest comic artist of his time and one of the most important figures in the history of motion pictures. When he passed away in 1977, Blaise Poyet, his favorite chocolate maker, called Chaplin's son and asked if he could honor Charlie's memory with a special chocolate. Together, they worked on a recipe that would reflect the character of the little tramp. It was very much like the real Chaplin, a little bitter, a little sweet and always filled with surprises.

They came up with a mixture of bitter and sweet chocolates that they formed into miniature copies of the shoes that Chaplin wore in his films. The shoes are set into a box with their heels together and toes apart, just the way Chaplin walked in his movies. The box itself is actually a movie film canister. It's tied with a ribbon that's printed with a movie film pattern. A bittersweet memory of a man with an amazing talent that was always surprising.

I decided to leave Vevey on the wine train which runs along the north shore of Lake Geneva. The north shore of Lake Geneva is one of the most important wine growing regions in Switzerland. Between Lausanne and Montreux is the Lavaux district. The grapes grow on steep terraces that have been cut into the mountains. The hills face south and get lots of direct sunlight, but the lake also acts like a mirror and bounces even more warmth into the vines.

I got off at the town of Chexbres and started to walk the wine trail. There are about 20 miles of road that wind through the vineyards. The map says that the winemakers have an open door policy, but they also have an open bottle policy. When you see an open door you can walk in, introduce yourself to the winemaker and he'll open a bottle so you can have a taste of his work. He'll also tell you how it's produced, the history of his family and his opinion of the present administration.

These are the Bovy vineyards in Saint-Saphorin. Eric, who runs the vineyard with his brother Vincent, is the fourth generation of his family to make wine from these vines. The wine is less than a year old, fruity with a slight bubbly texture, and ideal for the local specialties.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Have I mentioned how much I love my work. 

BURT WOLF: And the place where I enjoyed many of the local specialties was Le Table de Palace Restaurant in The Lausanne Palace Hotel and Spa. The dining room is elegant and has a great view of Lake Geneva and the Alps. It's been awarded a star by The Michelin Guide and the food that I was served by Chef Eric Redolat was excellent. He has a five course tasting menu that must be pre-ordered and can only be prepared for a maximum of six people. 

We started with smoked trout with a cucumber sauce that a hit of caviar on top. Then an espresso cup of morel mushrooms in a creamy froth. The saucer held a small piece of sautéed foie gras and a teeny slice of toasted homemade bread. Then a slice of pan fried sea bass with Mediterranean vegetables. Perfect lamb over a thick puree of potatoes, a selection of Swiss cheeses from an outstanding cheese cart. And for dessert, sautéed apricots with a scoop of almond ice cream. 

The wine steward, Christophe Mantau, selected a different Swiss wine to go with each course. Swiss wines are not easy to get outside of Switzerland, but they're very good. In addition to La Table du Palace the hotel has a Parisian style bistro, a garden restaurant with a health conscious menu, and a couple of comfortable bars, including the Bar de Palace which displays a series of works by the painter Leroy Nieman.

The hotel itself is just what the name implies. It looks and feels like a palace and the guests are treated like royalty. Royalty often comes to Lausanne. BB King, Prince, Duke Ellington, Count Bassey ... royals that became royal the hard way: they earned it. The hotel is a member of the leading hotels of the world, and its general manager, Jean-Jacques Gauer is the chairman of the organization. The Palace also has an outstanding spa, indoor heated swimming pool, serious exercise equipment, a Jacuzzi that reduces the tension in your muscles, a relaxation terrace, and of course, massage and body care treatments. I like the one where they make believe you're sushi and wrap you in seaweed.

The towns and cities in the Lake Geneva region have been attracting tourists for over 300 years, which has given them sufficient time to develop an outstanding range of hotels and inns. They range from the great, internationally famous properties like The Lausanne Palace, to smaller facilities in towns like Montreux, and on to the 24 room hotel de Commune in the little village of Rougemont. 

The hill of Lausanne was once capped with a Roman fort. Today it is the base for the largest gothic cathedral in Switzerland. Gothic architecture got started in France during the mid-1100's and is marked by a pointed arch instead of the older, round Roman arch, and flying buttresses supporting the outside of the building that allowed the structures to be higher and wider. Critics in Italy disliked the style and called it "gothic" as a derogatory reference to the gothic barbarians who destroyed Rome in the 400's.

Inside, pointed arches and ribbed vaults made it possible to have more open space and bigger windows. The cathedral had been under construction for over 100 years when it finally opened in 1275. It was a catholic church until 1536 when Lausanne joined the Reformation and became a protestant city, at which point the interior decorations of the building were covered or removed in keeping with the protestant concept of simplicity. 

Much of that move to simplify took the form of smashing the art to smithereens. The works were considered graven images and in need of immediate destruction. It would appear as that images of women were more graven than images of men. The Queen of Sheba lost her head, but Solomon remained almost intact. The only important element to remain from the period before the Reformation is the stained glass rose window which was installed during the 1200's, presents the story of creation. The Lausanne Cathedral is the only one in Switzerland that still has a night watchman. Every evening he mounts the ancient staircase into the bell tower, and there, from ten o'clock until two, he faces the four corners of the earth and calls out the hour.

WATCHMAN: (French)

BURT WOLF: "I am the watchman and ten o'clock has rung."

WATCHMAN: (French) le dix ... C'est la ... (Coughs)

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: Ricola?

WATCHMAN ON CAMERA: Oh, merci beaucoup.

BURT WOLF: (In French) It’s nothing.

The automated bells of the Cathedral reminded me that Switzerland is a focal point for mechanical music makers and I decided to spend the next day taking a look at what they were doing.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: The world epicenter for music box manufacturing is the village of Sainte-Croix and a good way to get there is on the fast train from Lausanne. There's one leaving just about every hour. While I was still in the states I purchased something called a Swiss pass, it allows me to ride around Switzerland on buses, boats and trains.

BURT WOLF: The train will take you through one of the most picturesque valleys of the Canton of Vaud and up into the foothills of the Jura Mountains. Sainte-Croix is the hometown of Rouge. A company that produces music boxes, musical pocket watches and singing birds. You can visit the factory and see how the boxes, watches and birds are made. At the end of the Second World War it looked like the business was coming to an end. But American troops passing through Europe found the boxes fascinating and brought thousands of them home as souvenirs. In the process, they saved the industry. In the center of Sainte-Croix is the CIMA Museum, which is dedicated to the history of mechanical arts. They have a large collection of music boxes and animated figures. Christine Combes is one of the curators. 

CHRISTINE COMBES: This is one big piece we have here in the museum, it’s a Decap, it comes from Belgium. This one was made in 1950. You can see loads of instruments, they all play together except the saxophone there.

BURT WOLF: The music is controlled by sheets of paper with holes that indicate where and which notes should be played. These are really early computers. They also have even more animated couples.

CHRISTINE COMBES: This is something special in Europe. She is Columbine and she has a lover, Perrot is just beside her she's going to write a letter and she will send it to Perrot and write, "a Perrot," and it comes back to put the point on the i and the accent on the a. And also when she's finished her message she will wink ... give a little wink at you. Look at her, she's beautiful. Now Columbine has finished her letter, the postman brought it and delivered it to Perrot and there Perrot is very happy. Here we see the love letter and he's going to prepare his reply. He's going to write very quickly because he skipped school several times, but he has a lot to say. Listen ... look at it. 

Oh la-la, he's falling asleep ... look, look, look ... hey, Perrot, Columbine is waiting ... wake up. Perrot ... ah he is ...

BURT WOLF: For a less automated approach to music there is the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1967, Claude Nobs, a former restaurant chef, founded the festival which has become the world's biggest and most famous annual jazz event. For 16 days there is virtually non-stop music. It’s run by a non-profit foundation and each year over 200,000 people show up. There are concerts you pay for and off-site events that are free. 

That's a brief look at the Lake Geneva Region of Switzerland. I hope that you have enjoyed it and that you will join me next time on TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I'm Burt Wolf.

Travels & Traditions: The U.S. Virgin Islands - #308

BURT WOLF: During his second voyage in 1493, Columbus was sailing in the waters east of Puerto Rico when he saw a group of hills above the horizon. Based on his experience in the Bahamas, he thought that as he approached the separate highlands would pull together into one big island. But that was not the case. The closer he got, the more islands appeared. Columbus claimed that they reminded him of the 11,000 virgins of Saint Ursula, and he called them the Virgin Islands. Today, they're known as the U.S. Virgin Islands and there are only about 50.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: But that's okay, because Ursula only had 11 virgins not 11,000. The original story tells of Ursula and her 11 virgins being martyred in Germany during the Forth Century. But when the manuscript was being recopied, the guy who was doing the copying misread the "11 M" for martyrs as "11 M" for thousands. And in the 1200s, when the story became popular again, she had become Saint Ursula, a princess, sailing to Rome with 11,000 virgins. As a result of this new nautical aspect of the story, sailors of the time would often pray to Saint Ursula and her 11,000 seagoing virgins.

BURT WOLF: The three largest islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands are Saint Thomas, Saint Croix and Saint John. But before they belonged to the U.S., they were Danish. In 1671, the king of Denmark issued a charter to a company that wanted to do business on the island of Saint Thomas, which soon became the hot spot in the neighborhood. During the 16- and 1700s, when the wars in Europe were spilling over into the Caribbean, Denmark remained neutral. Saint Thomas, with its deep, safe, and neutral harbor turned into a major free port for international trade. It developed an urban class, businessmen, bankers and traders with a cosmopolitan view. The free port aspect is still very much in evidence. The main downtown streets are lined with duty free shops.

MAN IN STREET: All right, you millionaires, let's save some money right in here. Cheap souvenirs for relatives you don't like but you got to get them something anyway.

BURT WOLF: After the Danish government abolished slavery in 1848, contract laborers were brought in from India and the Middle East and their descendants run many of the local shops. If you are a resident of the United States, Saint Thomas is a particularly free free port. Normally, U.S. Customs allows you to return to the United States with a duty free allowance of $400 per person. But from the U.S. Virgin Islands, the allowance is $1200 per person.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: As you may recall, Saint Thomas was the doubting saint, so while I was on Saint Thomas, I began to doubt some of the duty free pricing and thought I would call the United States to check on it. I found a 1.7 ounce bottle of Guerlain Shalimar eau de toilette spray, $60 in New York, $44 here. A liter of Tanqueray Gin, 27 bucks in Chicago, $11 here. Not bad.

BURT WOLF: At the edge of town, but on top of my shopping list was Zora's. Zora's a sandal maker, and for over 40 years, she has been fitting the local feet, which is no mean feat. And recently, she's been cutting her custom made sandals for tourists. Here's how it works. You pick out the style you like, the leather you want, the height of the heel and buckle, or no buckle, and Zora or one of her daughters traces an outline of your feet on a piece of paper. A master leather worker cuts out the leather and builds the heel. You come back for a fitting. Adjustments are made. The sandal is finished, a towering feat. I no longer have any doubts about the duty free pricing. But I also have no doubt that you should take a look at the historic aspects of the island.

Saint Thomas' main town is Charlotte Amalie, which in 1691 was named after the Queen of Denmark. It's one of the few towns in the Caribbean with step streets, long pedestrian sidewalks built as short cuts through the hills. Charlotte Amalie has 43 of them. The strip called, "99 Steps", was built out of yellow ballast bricks that were taken off Danish ships in the 1700s. There are actually 103 steps on 99 Step Street, and two explanations for the situation. The first claims that the four additional steps were added after the street sign went up and no additional funding was available to make a change. The second explanation tells of a brief period in which the new math was being taught. At the top of the 103 steps on 99 Step Street, is Haagensen House. It's being restored by The Virgin Island Inns and gives you a good idea of what the home of a Danish colonist was like in the 1860s. Most of the furniture was built out of mahogany. Not only was mahogany a local wood, but it was the only wood that would stand up, year after year, to the local weather.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: I am sitting in what is known as a planter's chair. Guys who owned the plantation would spend the day riding around on horseback inspecting their land and wearing big boots. When they got home, their legs were so swollen; they couldn't get the boots off. So they would sit down in their planter's chair, swing out the leg supports, put up their feet, and wait until the swelling went down and they could take their boots off. They'd often have a cup of tea, which came with a little cover on top to keep out the bugs,

BURT WOLF: and sometimes some peanuts.

Just down the street is the synagogue of Saint Thomas. Jewish settlers from London and Amsterdam arrived here in the mid 1600s. In 1796, they built the second oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. The floor is covered with sand in memory of the Jews who fled into the desert to escape their enslavement by the Egyptians. Because Saint Thomas was a neutral harbor,

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: it became the ideal home port for pirates. Now, pirates were not criminals the way we use that term today. They were independent contractors working on commission for a specific king or queen with instructions to pillage the enemies of that royal family. Saint Thomas became home to two of the most famous, Blue Beard and Black Beard. Now, Black Beard actually had a black beard. But Blue Beard's beard was white, just like mine, except he kept using his grandmother's rinse. Big problem.

BURT WOLF: Black Beard's castle is a medieval style stone tower, built in 1679. It's a good example of 17th Century Danish military architecture. The walls are nearly five feet thick at the base and taper up to a height of over 30 feet. It was put up to protect the town from any attack that might come from the upper hills or from ships that could anchor outside the firing range of Saint Thomas' guns. At the time, the spot where cruise ships dock today was the town's most vulnerable point, and it still might be, which brings me to my most vulnerable point, lunch.

One of the spots in town that's an old favorite with me is Gladys'. It has a down home feeling and good local food. It was built into an old Danish warehouse just off the waterfront. Most of the dishes are based on traditional Caribbean recipes, lobster fritters, stewed chicken with rice and beans, and Gladys’ favorite, hot chicken salad. Her signature drink is fresh mango colada.

While I was on Saint Thomas, I stayed at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef, which was built on a point at the entrance to the Charlotte Amalie harbor. It's an excellent location with great views of the water and the surrounding islands, and all the facilities you would need for a traditional Caribbean vacation.

Right next door is Marriott's Morning Star Resort. The Resort's Tavern on the Beach has some of the best food on the island. Kevin Goodchild is the chef. Dean Simon is the pastry chef and an ice carver. You've got to admire a guy who carves ice outdoors in the Caribbean, a real chip off the old block. The Morning Star Resort is considered to be on the intimate side, which is very much in keeping with Frenchman's standing as a major location for weddings. Norma Kennedy is the property’s wedding and honeymoon planner, and she has over 2,000 weddings under her belt.

NORMA KENNEDY: We get the bouquet, the minister, the cake, the champagne, we do the whole nine yards, even if it’s for two people.

MINISTER ON CAMERA: We’ve got a beautiful day. The sun is shining. We have a breeze, fresh Caribbean Ocean, air, surrounded by flowers on one of the prettiest places on earth. You’re going to remember this day for the rest of your lives.

NORMA KENNEDY ON CAMERA: And, of course, of all the beautiful venues we have here at Frenchman's Reef, the pictures are phenomenal.

NORMA KENNEDY: The virtual wedding is something very new.

NORMA KENNEDY ON CAMERA: If you come down here and you don't have maybe your best friends, your family don't have the money to come down with you, or maybe you just want to come down and be on your own, we can still surprise

NORMA KENNEDY: them by sending them an e-mail invitation and in 24 hours, the wedding is up on the Internet and that’s beautiful. They see it from the beginning to the end.

MINISTER ON CAMERA: Barbara, you may kiss your husband. Scott, you may kiss your wife.

NORMA KENNEDY: The Internet is really a big help to me because it shows pictures and brides love to see pictures of other brides. Weddings in paradise.

BURT WOLF: When I was a Boy Scout, I taught a class in knot tying. But she appears to have made it a profession.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: When it comes to getting married, most people are a little bit at sea to begin with. So they tend to take their honeymoon on land. But if you're already gotten your sea legs, a great alternative to a land based vacation is a yacht charter.

BURT WOLF: And Saint Thomas it the perfect place to find out what it's like. The U.S. Virgin Islands has the largest charter fleet in the Western Hemisphere. And the place to start finding out about it is The Virgin Islands Charter Yacht League, and non-profit association that has helped the industry get organized. They put me in touch with Greg and Laura Lewis. Greg was an airline captain for a major US airline. Today he's a licensed sea captain and certified dive master. His dream was to go sea.

GREG LEWIS ON CAMERA: These are the old fort fortifications during the pirate back about 1650. And they actually had cannons and stuff mounted in here to help protect the harbor.

BURT WOLF: His wife Laura's dream was to own a little bed and breakfast. A 50-foot catamaran called, "The Sea Chateau", became the perfect compromise. He sails and she cooks. Laura was born into a restaurant family and produces three meals a day for their guests. She's also the first mate, which is only fitting for the captain's wife. Cabins on the lower level are equipped with queen-sized beds, private bathrooms, and air conditioning. The main cabin upstairs holds the kitchen, the dining table, and an entertainment area with TV, VCR and a library of movies. Greg will help you design your ideal voyage.

GREG LEWIS: The unique thing with yacht chartering, particularly down here in the Caribbean, we have such a vast array of areas that we can attend and go to. There's so many activities that you can participate in. We have a kayak. We have a wind glider. We specifically do a lot of scuba diving. We have a full rig of all the diving equipment, snorkeling. We make this the ultimate vacation you've ever had.

BURT WOLF: And for those of us who are into extreme sports, there's off shore sun bathing and rum punching. The Sea Chateau's homeport is Charlotte Amalie. A 20 minute drive from downtown will bring you to The Coral World Marine Park.

For me, the most interesting thing about Coral World is that in addition to viewing the creatures of the deep, Coral World will arrange for you to join them. It's called, "sea trekking." And it's a guided underwater tour around the coral banks of Coki Bay. All you need is a bathing suit. They supply the foot and hand wear, as well as a helmet the supplies the oxygen.

SEA WORLD INSTRUCTOR: Up on top, there's about 60 to 80 psi being pumped into the helmet, a lot more air than you can breathe. Basically the reason for that is that the helmet is sealed tightly onto the body. Basically the air that's being pumped in there makes the water stay down.

BURT WOLF: The helmet weighs 70 pounds, but underwater it feels quite light. Weight is important because it provides stability. It's about 16 feet to the sea bottom. And a Coral World diver and safety guide are there to show you what's going on. There's a chain fence that acts as a road guide. You move along the chain and the diver points out the sights. The first thing to come along was a creature that had the same hairdo as Don King. The diver points to his eyes to indicate that he's going to show you something interesting. When you wave at this sea plume worm, it closes up. When you snap at this Christmas tree worn, it disappears. The second diver is also the executive chef and feeds the local school including a friendly barracuda. Clearly, I missed my big chance with Costeau.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: What an amazing experience.

BURT WOLF: Historically, the primary commercial activities on the islands were divided between the main port and the plantations. And each developed a different culture, which has continued into the present. In 1717, the Danish inhabitants of Saint Thomas sailed across the two-mile wide Pillsbury Sound and occupied Saint John, which at the time was a plantation island. These days you can take a 20 minute ferry ride from Saint Thomas to Saint John. Most people come over for a day and take a local taxi for a two-hour tour of the island, about two thirds of which is a national park. Beach after beach covered with soft while sand, sailboats hiding out in small bays. This is Trunk Bay, and it's famous for its underwater trail. There's a series of markers beneath the surface that tells you what you're looking at. Just put on your snorkel gear and head out on your self-guided tour. Down the road from Trunk Bay is the remains of the Annaberg Sugar Plantation. Denise George is a park ranger at Annaberg.

DENISE GEORGE: Annaberg was an old sugar plantation. And it was really the mecca of the north side for being one of the largest estates and one with a windmill plus a horse mill, producing a large yield of sugar, rum and molasses year round.

BURT WOLF: African slaves worked the fields, but they were also allowed to work small plots of land so they could provide food for themselves and to sell some to the plantation owner. They established an exchange economy among themselves and some managed to save enough money to buy their freedom. A pattern of mutual support evolved among the enslaved workers on the plantation. But freemen tended to associate with the planter society and often moved to the ports.

Cruise Bay is the main port of Saint John, and home to Hercules Pate Stand. He opens at six am, at which time he serves a typical West Indian breakfast of salt fish and Johnnycakes. Hercules was a cook at the Caneel Bay Resort, but he wanted to cook for his neighbors. So he took over this little shop and learned how to make what is called, "pate." But it's really a dough pocket or a turnover filled with shrimp, fish, conch, chicken or beef. Good t'ing.

The third big island in The U.S. Virgin Island Group is Saint Croix, and it's the biggest island in the chain. In 1733, the Danes purchased it from the French. And in 1917, the United States purchased it along with the rest of the U.S. Virgin Islands from the Danes. The US purchased the islands because they were concerned that the Germans might use them as a submarine base during the First World War.

The way to get from Saint Thomas to Saint Croix is by seaplane. The largest town on the island of Saint Croix is Christiansted and it's one of the most unspoiled towns in the Caribbean. During the 1700s, it was a major port in the sugar trade, and many of the buildings that were constructed during the period are still standing. It's the kind of town that lends itself to an easy walking tour.

This is the scale house, built in 1856. It's the spot where the Danish weigh masters would weigh and inspect the sugar and molasses that were the island's major source of income. Today it's the information center for tourists, who are the present major source of income. The fort at Christensted was built in the 1740s as part of a defensive plan for the port. But it was never used to defend the town. Just as well, it has a long history of falling down during strong winds. Great views though.

Saint Croix is also famous for a piece of jewelry. A bracelet that was designed by Sonya Hough. Sonya moved from San Diego, California to Saint Croix in 1964 and opened a shop on the corner, called, "The Corner Shop." Sometimes stating the obvious can be helpful. Then she began hooking people into the shop with her hook bracelet. It's one of the most sought after piece of jewelry in the Virgin Islands, and it's comes with its own folklore. If you wear the hook with the open part facing down, you're looking for love. If you wear the hook with the open part up, you're not looking for love. If you're not wearing the bracelet, you're looking for love in all the wrong places.

SONYA HOUGH ON CAMERA: It happened in the middle '60s, when unisex first came in to use, or whatever. And I came up with one that I was sort of like the elephant hair bracelet. It had the wrap and I made one bracelet. And it sold. And then I made another one. And it sold. And 37 years later, we're the hookers on the island…I couldn’t resist it!

BURT WOLF: That’s okay, we’ll leave it in.

Nearly 40 years later, she's still selling them along with 30 other bracelet designs, necklaces and earrings. The shop is still here on the corner. But now it's called, "Sonya Limited." It's the oldest store on Saint Croix with its original ownership.

BURT WOLF ON CAMERA: From the U.S. Virgin Islands, that's TRAVELS & TRADITIONS. I hope you've enjoyed it. And I hope you will join us next time. I’m Burt Wolf.