I'm Dreaming of a Swiss Christmas

Christmas is only eighteen days, eleven hours, six minutes, and eighteen seconds away as I write this, and even though I am not really a religion person at all, Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. I love all the fluffy snow, and the christmas lights, and the christmas-y smell, and the hot cocoa! What better place to celebrate all this than the country home to the most adorable ski towns in the world, Switzerland?!

Switzerland on a map of Europe. (I know this because I
have my Europe map test in two weeks.)
Image Courtesy of: Wikipedia

I have wanted to go to Switzerland since I was like five. I mean, what's not to love about tacky Christmas sweaters, cuckoo clocks, and armed neutrality? One place in Switzerland I really want to visit is Zermatt, a teeny little town at the foot of the Matterhorn (the real thing, not the ride at Disney). My friend Alyssa told me about this little town today in English, and I thought it sounded really neat. They don't allow any cars into the town, so to get around, you have to take these little electric cars or walk, which is good, because I would work off all the fondue I would eat there!

A view of Zermatt and the Matterhorn in the summer.
Image Courtesy of: Tourist Destinations

Another Christmas thing I want to do in Switzerland is go sledding in Arosa. Here you can take a train up a giant mountain and sled down the whole freaking thing on a toboggan. I gotta say, though, it sounds a little bit dangerous, considering my sledding skills; I have lackluster balance and coordination and tend to fall off sleds a lot, and I don't imagine I would enjoy tumbling down an entire mountain. But whatever! The train ride there is supposed to be gorgeous (according to my friend Siena, who wants me to mention in this post that her dad is from Switzerland).

Train through the mountains in Arosa.
Image Courtesy of: TripAdvisor

Not too far from Arosa is a city called Zürich, which is the largest city in Switzerland. Looking at pictures of Zürich, it pretty much just looks like a giant ski town; it doesn't have all the concrete skyscrapers and taxis like New York or Tokyo. This is probably the biggest reason I want to visit Zürich: you get the killer people-watching of a city but the cozy feeling of a ski town all in one place.

Is that not the most adorable, North Pole-esque
little big city you ever did see?
Image Courtesy of: Hello! Magazine

One other thing I think is really cool about Switzerland (and this isn't really an activity, per se) is the fact that they have four commonly spoken languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansh, which makes sense if you look at the countries Switzerland is nestled between. You could go to one part of the country and hear everyone speaking German, and then drive for an hour so and hear Italian. I love listening to different languages, so I think this aspect of visiting Switzerland would be another one of my favorites.

Different language regions of Switzerland.
Image courtesy of: WHKMLA Historical Atlas

Switzerland is a gorgeous country with adorable ski towns (and cities), amusing activities, and a fascinating linguistic landscape. I would die to get to experience a hot chocolate-drinking, tacky sweater-wearing, and fondue-eating Christmas in Switzerland.