Once I stepped outdoors, it seemed like Switzerland, however it did not really feel prefer it. Within the distance, the white-capped Alps stood, majestic, mirrored within the turquoise waters of Lake Lucerne as I strolled alongside the waterfront.
However the air was not the crisp, cool mountain air I used to be accustomed to each time I got here right here to cowl a narrative.
As a substitute, throughout this go to late final week, it was scorching and thick with humidity, and strolling via it was like wading via cotton dipped in boiling water. In entrance of me was stunning Lucerne, however the air felt like I used to be in Luzon (Philippines).
Alongside the waterfront, red-and-white-clad soccer followers clustered collectively to look at jumbo TV screens displaying a FIFA World Cup match performed an ocean away within the U.S.; Switzerland versus Bosnia-Herzegovina. Every time the Swiss staff scored, a deafening roar minimize via the thick tropical air.
The situations jogged my memory of a reporting journey I had taken to the nation a yr earlier, once I hiked the Rhône Glacier with a Swiss glaciologist who defined how his nation was some of the susceptible to a altering local weather, the place temperature extremes are extra frequent, leading to among the world’s quickest receding glaciers.
On the finish of the night, Switzerland received its World Cup match, however it continues to lose its battle in opposition to a warming local weather.
For extra Far-Flung Postcards, click on right here.
