In Miami Beach on Monday I met a Swiss woman who lives in a town of 6,000 people and no automobiles. Zermatt. She was in the U.S., along with representatives from other Swiss regions, to promote tourism to her country.
The woman from Basel showed a picture of herself swimming in the Rhine, which cuts her town in two. She held up a bag and explained that you put your clothes in it and then use it as a kind of floatation device as you drift down the river. I tried to picture Roger Federer floating through town with a bag full of clothes.
Federer, the woman had told me earlier, is on the city’s Walk of Fame. I asked who else is there.
“Herzog and de Meuron,” she said, then added, “they’re architects.”
“They designed our most famous parking garage,” I said. “It’s about five blocks from here.”
A commission they would not have gotten in Zermatt.
