Miss Jemima’s Swiss Journey & Slow Train to Switzerland

“In 1863, an English lady called Miss Jemima joined Thomas Cook’s very first tour of Switzerland and wrote about it in her journal. Nearly 150 years later, Diccon Bewes followed in her footsteps, and his book, Slow Train to Switzerland, tells the story not only of Miss Jemima hiking across glaciers in uncomfortable crinoline but of the evolution of Swiss tourism. We learn how the pioneers of Miss Jemima’s generation provided the impetus for the Swiss railway system we know and love today, and how the Swiss countryside has remained a constant between these two stories – it’s still spectacular: the Alps, the lakes, the pastures that make you want to run barefoot and hug a cow – only now we don’t have to explore it wearing crinolines.”