Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Swiss hot chocolate and powdery ski slopes...these are a few of our favorite things. These are also a selection of heart-warming images that usually call to mind thoughts of traveling to Switzerland, and we'd never imagine having to add "assisted suicide" to the list. But alack and alas, it's true that Switzerland allows people to end their lives legally, so long as the decision is "not motivated by their own interests."

As a result of these liberal laws, Swiss towns that usually welcome tourists for things like good chocolate and yodeling have also become destinations for those who check in only to check out permanently. It's a depressing story—excuse us for dampening your Friday morning—but it's a large issue now in Switzerland and Britain as the Swiss seek to put further rules on who can get assisted suicide and CNN points out that many of suicide tourists are British, averaging two per month since 2002. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-30T09:19:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/5/2535/93872

For travelers who want to sit in a café without the health risk of passive smoking, we pointed out last year on our worldwide smoking ban map that most of Europe is smoke-free, but there was an odd exception: the beautiful Swiss city of Geneva.

A legal loophole meant that the attempt to ban smoking in public places failed and smokers were able to continue lighting up all over Geneva. But now that very opportunity has been, well, extinguished. Geneva held a referendum on Sunday and a whopping 81.77% of locals supported a ban on public smoking across the region. ]]> amandak 2009-10-07T14:33:55-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/28/1098/54336

What's surprising about Roman Polanski's arrest isn't that it happened 32 years late, it's that police waited for him to make an actual border crossing before they arrested him on that 32-year-old warrant.

The director of "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" was detained Saturday at Zürich Airport en route to the Zurich Film Festival, on a warrant given to Swiss authorities a few days earlier by the U.S. Justice Department by request of the Los Angeles county district attorney's office. Polanski fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and serving 42 days in prison, not returning even to accept his Best Director Oscar for "The Pianist" at the Academy Awards in 2003. ]]> egw 2009-09-28T12:14:34-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/3/175629/9541

In continuing our European Vacation series, (we've already gone to Rome, France, Berlin and Turkey), our newest correspondent, Kate Winick, is fresh off a trip to Geneva where she spent some time lakeside. Here's her guide to Lake Geneva.

A bright, shiny morning dawns, the radio chirps that it’s 26 degrees and going to be a beautiful day, and after a moment of puzzlement and then the requisite conversion to Fahrenheit (double it and add 27—accurate above 10 degrees for determining outdoor temperatures unless you’re much more perceptive than most) and it’s straight into bathing suits we go, to scooter down to explore the various sporting options.]]> kate winick 2009-06-04T16:09:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/3/11131/17389

In continuing our European Vacation series, (we've already gone to Rome, France, Berlin and Turkey), our newest correspondent, Kate Winick, is fresh off a trip to Geneva where she spent some time lakeside. Here's her guide to Lake Geneva.

Thirty kilometers of UNESCO World Heritage site stretch along the northern shore of Lake Geneva, from Montreux to Lausanne, and from the lake to the lower slopes of the mountains, comprised of snaking miles of stone walls, tightly nestled villages, and most importantly—vineyards. Called The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, the neat rows of vines upon vines have been growing from grapes into wine here since the 11th century.]]> kate winick 2009-06-03T16:53:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/2/155524/8378

In continuing our European Vacation series, (we've already gone to Rome, France, Berlin and Turkey), our newest correspondent, Kate Winick, is fresh off a trip to Geneva where she spent some time lakeside. Here's her guide to Lake Geneva.

Geneva has a unique, pleasingly bipolar feeling of a major international center with a small-town feel, but all the lakeside towns here have a lot of character, and are definitely worth exploring. There are plenty of trains, buses, and boats that will get you to other points of interest around the lake, but we took a car for maximum mobility—besides, nothing says vacation like a red convertible.]]> kate winick 2009-06-02T16:42:04-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/1/84758/80010

In continuing our European Vacation series, (we've already gone to Rome, France, Berlin and Turkey), our newest correspondent, Kate Winick, is fresh off a trip to Geneva where she spent some time lakeside. Here's her guide to Lake Geneva.

Stumbling off a red-eye to Geneva is as disorienting as any other—you went to sleep in New York, and suddenly woke up where everything is green and friendly people are offering you tiny coffees in four languages. This crossroads at the center of Europe is used to people just passing through, but we decided to stay a little while, and see what’s been drawing people here since the B.C. years.]]> kate winick 2009-06-01T14:41:56-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/