Seeking Swissness in America

January 19, 2016, 4 Comments

Look a little bit carefully, and Swissness is surprisingly easy to find in the United States. Travelling around America last summer I cam across some places that were almost as Swiss as their originals, such as Berne, Indiana with its giant tree of cantonal arms, including the USA, and a replica Zytglogge.

Or New Glarus in Wisconsin, home to the Swiss Center of North America and a place so unbelievably Swiss that I made a short film about it:

Then there are little things that pop up along the way, like a Swiss note pinned to a shop wall on Route 66. An American left a dollar but the Swiss tourist left ten francs (about $10).

So here’s a picture essay in American Swissness, including Emmi the cheese-makers of Wisconsin.

I’m not sure Swiss hot chocolate ever has marshmallows in it. Except in America.

Someone from Bern lost their number plate along Route 66.

Celebrating Swiss National Day with alphorns and bratwurst in Kansas City.

Now is it the chocolate that is Swiss Style or the milk? Spotted in a Chicago supermarket.

Lake Geneva is a town – and a lake – in Wisconsin but with not so many people as the original.

Albert Gallatin emigrated to America from Geneva in 1780 and now has his own statue in Washington DC.

A logo for a motorhome rental company, seen in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

This restaurant place-setting in Wisconsin definitely has a Swiss thing going on.

Maybe you fancy some ‘Swiss’ food, at this drive-in in Missouri or a bakery in Santa Fe.