All right. After I left beautiful Munich, as I mentioned earlier, I had a job lined up in Switzerland. This was my first experience working in a foreign country. Switzerland is a fascinating country with four different languages and cultures that coexist harmoniously. When people think of Switzerland, they often think of chocolate, watches, the Nestlé company, and mountains. Yes, those are there, but there’s much more to it. The country runs as efficiently as one of its clocks. Getting around couldn’t be easier; everything works seamlessly. It is almost too civilized, with unemployment and poverty virtually nonexistent.

A retired Swiss friend told me that I could get Social Security from Switzerland since I worked there. I wrote a few letters, made some phone calls, and they found my work documents in no time. I got my pension directly deposited into my account. When I called my homeland, Germany, where I was born, they told me they had no information on me whatsoever.

Like my brother explained during my last visit, Germany is going down the drain. He might be right. In Switzerland, work visas were straightforward: find a job, get hired, go to the police station the next day to get your identity card, and start working. When your job is finished, you leave the country or get a transfer if needed. If you change jobs and move to another town, it’s simple and straightforward. Maybe the rest of the world should adopt this concept. If you misbehave, you get a one-way ticket home and are never allowed to return.

I love the country. It is stunningly beautiful with endless vistas, mountains, forests, and lakes. When you see the incredible stupidity of the United States, which was my second homeland since I lived there for close to 40 years, and their inability to solve the immigration problem because they really don’t want to, it is frustrating. It is a political issue where they blame each other. And Donald Trump, who is now running again for President, is the most stupid, arrogant, narcissistic person I have ever met in my life. I hope people wake up before it’s too late. Just seeing 2025 looks to me like the time of Adolf Hitler, and they think they can control him. What fools.

But anyway, let’s go back to civilization—the beautiful country of Switzerland. A fact about the country’s history: the first inhabitants of the region were a Celtic tribe, the Helvetii. The Romans came in 107 BC via the Great St. Bernard Pass, but because of the terrain, the conquest of the area was never decisive. They were driven back by Germanic tribes who settled there in the 5th century. Burgundians and Franks also settled in the area, and Christianity was gradually introduced. This territory was united under the Holy Roman Empire in 1032, but central control was never very tight, allowing neighboring nobles to contest each other for local influence.

This changed with the Habsburg family of Aargau to the east of Zurich, who gradually extended their power throughout central Europe. In 1291, local leaders saw a chance to gain independence. The communities of Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden formed an alliance on August 1, 1291. This treaty is seen as the origin of the Swiss Confederation. Thanks to exploits of people such as the legendary William Tell, they undermined the influence of the Habsburgs. Even though the Habsburgs sent powerful armies to defeat the independence movement, they usually got defeated. Other communities joined, like Lucerne in 1332, Zurich in 1351, Glarus and Zug in 1352, and Bern in 1353.

Switzerland kept expanding but met their match against the Venetians and French at Marignano in 1515 and lost badly. They decided to become neutral and stayed out of European conquests. However, Swiss mercenaries continued to fight all over Europe and actually became the force to protect the Vatican and the Pope. The Reformation of the 17th century caused upheaval all over Europe. Many Swiss urban areas succumbed to the Protestant teachings of Luther and Calvin, while the rural cantons remained Catholic. This caused local unrest, but the Swiss managed to avoid international disputes. After the Thirty Years’ War, Switzerland was recognized as a neutral state in the Treaty of Westphalia.

During his quest to dominate Europe, Napoleon invaded Switzerland in 1798 and established the Helvetic Republic. The Swiss did not like this and pressured Napoleon to restore the former Confederation of Cantons in 1803, though France retained overall jurisdiction. Other parts joined the Confederation, like Aargau, St. Gallen, Graubünden, Thurgau, and Ticino. After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna established Switzerland as a federation in 1850, guaranteeing its independence and permanent neutrality, as well as adding the cantons of Valais, Geneva, and Neuchâtel.

A civil war followed in 1847 when the Protestant army, led by General Dufour, quickly crushed the Catholic cantons who had formed a separatist league. So it became one nation, but the cantons are fiercely independent. They lost some of their power in 1848 when a new federal constitution was agreed upon, which is basically still the same today. Switzerland finally had peace and was able to concentrate on the economy and social matters. Relatively poor in mineral resources, it developed industry and depended on highly skilled labor. A network of railways and roads was built, opening up previously inaccessible Alpine regions and helping the development of tourism. The Red Cross was founded in Geneva in 1863. Free education was introduced, and today, Switzerland is a powerhouse in banking, pharmaceuticals, watchmaking, the Nestlé food empire, and high-end tourism, which brought me to this beautiful country.

I want to talk to you a little bit about my work in this country and what I did. The town of Interlaken, flanked by Lake Thun and Lake Brienz and within striking distance of the mighty peaks of the Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger, is an ideal center from which to explore the surrounding delights of Wengen, Grindelwald, and the Bernese Oberland, where the scenic wonders of Switzerland come into their own. People from all around the world come to visit. Meeting them will open your mind, which is so important for a young person to grow, to learn about food and culture, which one day will make you a great chef.

After a short visit and break with my parents, I went to Switzerland. During my time at home, my parents received a letter from the German army for me to complete a physical and register for mandatory military service. My father received such letters frequently but always sent them back, coming up with excuses such as, “I don’t know where he is. My son and I are estranged. He’s living somewhere else in Germany.” He was totally against the military and felt that Germany should never have been rearmed. Having gone through two world wars, he had enough. Right after the war, all of the German armed forces were considered war criminals, except by General Patton and Winston Churchill. They knew that Stalin was a brutal dictator, and the theory was simple: “We are here. Let’s throw them out of Europe.” All of this in Europe would have been free, and the Cold War would have been prevented. So the story goes.

I will always be thankful to the United States for the help and support they gave Europe after the war. Without them, I don’t think I would have had all the opportunities available to me. My family in the East never had the same playing field as I was given. So having the opportunity to work in Switzerland was a significant step. I was able to avoid serving in the German army by leaving Germany for the first time.

Being in Switzerland was every cook’s dream during this time. The hotels in Switzerland were regarded as the best in the world, and the pay was about 50% better than in Germany. The train trip was very exciting, looking out the window and seeing the incredibly beautiful landscape passing by the villages nestled near crystal-clear streams and meadows. I arrived in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, in the early afternoon. I had to change trains towards my final destination, Interlaken. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, nestled in the Bernese Oberland, surrounded by the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau mountains. The North Face of the Eiger is one of the most loved and dangerous climbs in the world, and I saw many climbers trying to reach the top. My only experience in mountain climbing was the train ride up to the Jungfrau mountain.

I will talk more later about the beauty of Switzerland. First, I needed to settle in. Upon my arrival, I met the chef and some of my new coworkers, some of whom were familiar faces since we worked together in Munich. I was assigned a room with an Austrian waiter. The hotel had employee housing to accommodate us. It would have been impossible to find your own housing during the season. The locals had their extra rooms rented out to tourists, which was much more profitable than renting to employees. Living in employee housing had great adventures. Something was always going on, and the word “rest” was not in anyone’s vocabulary. How we worked long hours and went out every single night, I have no idea. It must have been the afternoon breaks lying around the pool and taking naps because every morning, I told myself, “Tonight, I will stay in and get a good night’s sleep,” but it seldom happened. When you’re young, you think, “What am I going to miss?”

On our first morning, we all went to the police station to register. We filled out documents, stating where we worked and lived, and were told to come back at the end of the season. At this time, we had two choices: either leave the country or, if we obtained another job in Switzerland, ask for a transfer. We paid our taxes like any other Swiss national. If we had broken the law, they would have put us on the next train out of the country. The Swiss hotel industry could never have survived without guest workers. If the whole world used such a system, there would be no immigration problems. The motto was simple: work, behave, or leave.

After registration, we went to work to get the hotel ready to open for business. My chef informed me that the person hired to work in the pastry shop was not coming, so it would be my job. I had never worked in a pastry shop before, not even during my apprenticeship years. So here I was, very, very nervous. Thank God the chef was a real nice guy, understanding and very helpful. Together, we made it through the season.

To explain the job of a pastry chef, I again consulted Larousse Gastronomique, the Bible for food and food history. The story goes: patisserie, or sweets, or savory cakes are generally baked in the oven. The term also applies to the art of the pastry cook as well as the place where pastries are made and sold. The pastry cook usually makes sweet things, hot or cold, in the form of all types of cakes, gateaux, petit fours, and the highly decorated sweet creations that were the traditional centerpiece, known as “pièce montée” in French. Quiches, vol-au-vents, savory tarts, and savory crêpes are also included. Patisserie is closely linked with the manufacturing of ice creams and confectionery, which includes working with chocolate, crystallized fruit, almond paste, nougatine, and decoration, and uses sweet creams and sweet sauces.

Sweets go back to historic times. Ancient man used maple or birch syrup, wild honey, fruits, and seeds. Cooking cereal paste on a stone in the sun to make pancakes began as far back as the Neolithic period. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans prepared pancakes with cornmeal or barley mixed with poppy seeds, honey, and seeds such as fennel or coriander. Gingerbread and puddings date back to this time. During this period, baking pastry began to overlap. However, The Crusaders gave a decisive input to patisserie by discovering sugar cane and puff pastry in the East. In the early 19th century, many new recipes were developed by Carême, who added traditional attributes like nougat, meringue, and vol-au-vent, and perfected puff pastry. Skilled pastry chefs enriched the patisserie repertoire with mille-feuille, Saint-Honoré, Napolitain, Genoa cake, mocha cake, savarin, babas, and many other creations.

By no means did I master all of this during my six months in the pastry shop, but I got a good basic knowledge so I could continue to learn. Later in my career, I was able to watch great pastry chefs work with pulled sugar, creating lifelike sculptures of anything you can possibly dream of, working with chocolate, and making incredible cakes. My knowledge was minimal compared to such masters. During the early years of my professional career, cooking was not my all-consuming priority. My passion was to see and experience the world. Every possible moment of free time, I tried to explore my new surroundings and chase the opposite sex.

Talking about girls, having my roommate being a waiter and an Austrian made him a smooth operator. Most guests in the hotel stayed for three to four days, and he made sure, with the help of the maître d’hôtel, that the single women were always seated in his section of the restaurant. It was easy for him to tell them he would be delighted to show them around town after dinner if they would like to. Since most tourists travel in pairs, I was always included. It was heaven. I met people from around the world. Not knowing any other language was quite a challenge, but with a dictionary in hand, we got through it. With the sexual revolution in Europe in full swing, everything worked out just fine. Everyone on vacation was a lot more footloose and fancy-free. Being 19 years of age, it was paradise.

Interlaken had great things to offer when it came to nightlife. There were lots of great bars, discos, and a fantastic casino. There were great parks and a beautiful promenade. A great outdoor swimming pool where I spent many afternoons sleeping in, preparing to get ready for the evening shift. The nightlife was much more important to any of us working at the hotel than the actual work. But mind you, we worked very, very hard six days a week, double shifts. I would never be able to do that today. Neither do I have the energy nor the desire. My days off were spent visiting the surrounding towns and cities by bus or train. The connections were excellent, and I visited Wengen, Grindelwald, Lucerne, Bern, and many, many more small hamlets which were easy to take in on a day trip.

During this time, I was always reminded how clean and organized Switzerland was. The Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss German) was hard to understand at the beginning, but after a month, I had no problems getting it all. Having as much fun as I had, I was sad to leave Switzerland. Not really preparing myself for another position, I took the easy way out and went back to Munich, working at the same hotel, the Bayerischer Hof, for a little while. Then I returned again for another season to Interlaken.

So that’s the beginning of my little stories about Interlaken. There will be many, many more stories down the road. I just wanted to add to my blog, first telling you about the places I worked and lived, and then later on, I will go into more detail about the different places I saw and provide more explanations about this wonderful country. Thank you.