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What's new in Switzerland

Rick Steves

The Matterhorn provides a dramatic backdrop for the Riffelberg hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland. (AP File Photo/Rene Ritler)

In June, several Swiss and Austrian cities, including Zurich and Bern, will host the Euro 2008 soccer championships (see schedule at www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html). Expect crowds.

Zermatt's former Alpine Museum, now renamed the Matterhorn Museum, has been rebuilt as a glass-dome-covered quasi-archaeological dig, featuring old buildings of Zermatt's past. (If you ever need to say "glass-dome-covered quasi-archaeological dig" in German, that's "Glaskuppelverdecktquasiarchaologischeausschachtung.") Lausanne's funicular, connecting the lakefront with the upper part of town, should be finished by the end of 2008 (until that time, a bus covers the route).