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Snowy, milky, cheesy Fribourg of Switzerland

By Sindy Chan (People's Daily Online)    13:19, January 09, 2014
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Fribourg in a snowy night. (Photo/Nam Nai Choi)

Anyone being a fan of Swiss chocolate and cheese has to visit Fribourg, the pre-Alpine region of Switzerland. This is where the best chocolate and cheese come from.

Our Swiss Pass immediately put in use as we arrive at Zurich. The 8-day first class Pass offers unlimited travel on train, tram, bus, boat and 470 museums all over Switzerland.

At Zurich Hauptbahnhof, a double-decker train is awaiting. It takes hour and a half to reach Fribourg - a city of beautiful scenery and rich culture, founded by Duke Berthold IV of Zähringen in 1157.

Alicia Daguet from Argentina is the lady who does our city walking tour. She starts with a little introduction of modern Fribourg, how industrialization of the city brought about by the opening of the midland railway line in 1862 which led to development of a "railway station quarter" of the city. The city centre shifted from the old city to the new train station quarter. Inauguration of the University in 1889 was also an important event in Fribourg.

Our walking tour begins with the fun and serious “Espace Jean Tinguely – Niki de Saint Phalle” - a joint exhibition of Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely (1925 – 1991) and his wife Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 – 2002), another celebrated modern artist.

I have seen the Tinguely’s fountain in Basel. Tinguely’s meta-mechanism or kinetic form of art might not be to everyone’s like, but the spinning wheels and fountains satirizing the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society is not difficult to understand.

Tinguely’s kinetic art is interactive. Feel free pushing a button to put the mechanics work or the lights flash. It is a different dimension of modern art.

Feather-like snow falls as we leave the museum. We must quickly walk up to the hill to see the old town and the river before dusk.

Fribourg is built on both sides of River Sarine, sits on a small rocky hill above the valley and protected by steep cliffs on three sides. The most ancient part of the city forms the most beautiful part of it.

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(Editor:ChenLidan、Yao Chun)

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