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The Swiss are a very tidy, clean people and a nice contrast to the passionate intensity of Italy. One of my favorite trips is Geneva, Switzerland followed by Zematt for the other half of the time.
You can take the "Glacier Express" between the two cities which is an 8hr ride through some of the most beautiful vistas of the Alps (and one of the highest rail bridges in the world).
Geneva is a city that's full of life, history and most importantly...FOOD. French (Lyon), Italian, African, because of the UN (which is a cool tour), you can get anything here. You can walk pretty much everywhere...and the public transport is very easy. Good shopping. Very Cosmo. French is spoken, but so is English and just about every other European language.
Zematt allows no automobiles. period. It is the total opposite of Geneva. It is quiet and caters to a more "rugged" crowd. If you're not there when it's snowing, it's some of the best hiking in the world (the Matterhorn can be seen from almost every street and you can get a train up the inside of a mountain to get get better views of it...My hotel room (which I got off expedia at about 100 bucks a night) had a full panoramic view. Not bad for 100 bucks a night.
If you go, take all your money as it is one of the most expensive places to be. However, you get a lot for your Swiss Franc and if you can shop at the grocery store for breakfast or lunch, and don't minde the odd picnic (which is what everyone who lives there is doing anyway) you'll do fine.
My ultimate goal in life is to move my family to Zematt during the summer when rent is cheap and my kids can run in the streets to their hearts content while learning German. Now if I can just figure out how to do that on a teacher's salary :)
I've done a few others (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Amsterdam, all of England (like 4 times)), but Switzerland is my favorite.
Santha
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