GENEVA - There's nothing like a steaming pot of vegetable soup on a chilly winter night, especially when spiced with a dash of history.
It's something citizens of this Swiss city have been sharing with visitors since 1602, when the first hot serving was poured over the head of an unfortunate soldier. The trooper was part of the Duke of Savoy's invading army. He got in the way of an angry housewife bent on doing her bit to save Geneva with the only thing she had at hand. While residents were fighting off the assault on their city with artillery and rocks, a certain Mme. Royaume stepped into the picture, adding her cauldron of deadly soup to the city's arsenal.
Now, every December, the Swiss city-canton of Geneva celebrates L'Escalade, or "scaling," an event recalling the time when Savoy troops used ladders to storm the city's walls.
n honour of the formidable lady who helped defend the city, Geneva's citizens sip cups of soup during an annual torchlight parade celebrating the city's great victory. Visitors can join in the parade as it makes its way along a traditional path through the streets of the old city along both banks of the River Rhone. Thousands of enthusiasts, many geared out in military costumes from the period, pack Geneva's streets in an event of celebration and pageantry held over the mid-December weekend.
Prominent among the period-costumed marchers is old Madam Royaume, still carrying her marmite, or cooking pot as a reminder of the culinary armament that helped save Geneva. These days, her aggression has been replaced with hospitality, and the soup she serves in souvenir bowls comes with a smile. At stops along the parade, a messenger on horseback reads out the victory proclamation amidst great fanfare, before the whole procession eventually winds up at St. Peter's Cathedral about three hours later to sing patriotic songs. Nobody throws cauldrons of vegetable soup on anyone's head these days, even if they are from Savoy, but trust the Swiss to come up with a chocolate substitute for madam's hot soup weaponry.
These days, L'Escalade's cooking pots, or marmites, are made of chocolate and filled with marzipan "vegetables." On the night of big parade, the marmite is traditionally cracked open by the youngest and oldest person in Geneva's households, and the shattered pieces gleefully eaten by everyone. Throughout December, Geneva is adorned with lights, colour and music, but an important focus for residents of the city in southwest Switzerland is their annual Christmas market.
For about a month leading up to Christmas, Geneva, like many cities and towns across the country, opens its heart, and collective pocket book, to the commercialized delights offered up at these local festive markets. The tradition attracts thousands of visitors, not just from Switzerland, but, thanks to cheap discount airfares, from all across Europe. Weekend specials bring in shoppers from London to Moscow who want to get an early start on Christmas gift-hunting. Even if you're just into window shopping, watching buyers and sellers wheel and deal under the glitter of lights and good cheer is a great way to warm the spirit. It's worth a visit just to watch the joy in children's eyes as they build up excitement for the coming holidays. Handmade wooden toys, nativity figurines, Christmas ornaments and tasty gingerbread are some of the popular items on sale.
Held at Place de la Fusterie, Geneva's Christmas market provides lots of fun for locals and visitors alike, but it's not the biggest in Switzerland. Zurich, Montreux, Basel and Bern hold elaborate month-long Christmas markets, operating until Christmas Eve, while smaller towns often prefer holding weekend events. Wherever you find yourself in Switzerland in December, it seems crowds are gathered around the brightly lit Christmas market stalls, which are housed in little wooden huts nestled close together and decorated with garlands of spruce.
Basel, in Switzerland's north, hosts its Christmas market at the Markplatz, where toy stalls, hot mulled wine (gluhwein) and Christmas music help the crowd soak up the Advent atmosphere. It also gets them in the holiday mood to happily part with an abundance of Swiss francs.
Zurich's annual festive market runs Nov. 23 to Dec. 24, and if you're arriving by train you don't have to look far to catch the action. With all the aromas of freshly grilled bratwurst, savory roasting chestnuts and the heady fumes coming from the gluhwein stalls, you just have to follow your nose to track down the action. Called the Christkindli Markt, the event is held in the city's main railway station and it is the largest covered Christmas market in the country. Check out the traditional Christmas tree in the centre of the station concourse. Decked out with 5,000 crystal ornaments, the tree is an annual creation erected by the famous Austrian crystal maker, Swarovski.
When night falls, take a peek outside the station, where the 1.3-kilometre Bahnhofstrasse is a waving sea of light, thanks to the city's $2.5-million illumination project brightening Zurich's principal shopping road.
On the banks of Lake Geneva, the city of Montreux has a huge holiday market. Famous for its summer Jazz Festival, the city generates almost as much enthusiasm for its Christmas Market, with an expected 300,000 visitors expected to tour the 120 or so chalet-style stalls set up for this year's shopping extravaganza. If you're looking to Montreux's market for creative inspiration to help in your Christmas shopping, you will be stepping in some famous footsteps. The centre of the country's main wine production, Montreux and its neighbouring community, Vevey, have proven as big a magnet for artists and writers as the French Riviera. Personalities as diverse as Charlie Chaplin, Victor Hugo, Graham Greene and Igor Stravinsky have all lived, and no doubt shopped, in this beautiful region.
If You Go;
From late November to Christmas Eve, continental Europe is a hotbed for Christmas markets. In Switzerland, the traditional outdoor shopping spree has become as much a part of the festive season as Christmas trees, roast chestnuts and jolly old St. Nicholas.
Zurich, Switzerland's commercial and banking capital and its largest city, is also the nerve centre of the country's highly efficient rail system, making it a great base for visiting other regions of the country.
A Swiss transportation pass, which covers the country's extensive rail network, plus travel on urban trams, busses and trolley systems along with free entry into 400 of the country's museums and galleries, can save a lot of money and hassle.
source:http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/story.html?id=25ec22fc-1327-44e6-83b9-5c8018013822&k=2997
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