"Oh Walesee" - Walensee / Lake Walen, Switzerland - Immortalized in Lyrics on Waymarking.com

Walensee is a lake in Eastern Switzerland with a surface area of about 24 square kilometers. It is located in a narrow valley with steep mountain slopes on both sides what makes it look like a fjord. The valley is the most important connection between the Zürich area and Grisons, but the traffic situation has been a challenge since Roman times, because there is very little plain area along the shores. With the uprising of motorized traffic the Walensee route became notorious for the constant traffic jams on the two-lane road through the villages. Especially on weekends people had two calculate one or two hours for this 20 kilometer part.

This situation was immortalized by the very popular Swiss band Trio Eugster in 1973. Especially the refrain "Oh Walesee, du Qualesee (Lake Walen, you Lake of Pain)" is known by almost every Swiss, although the motorway with many tunnels opened in 1987 and the old road became quiet. The only thing that reminds of the old days are the many roadside restaurants with parkings that are highly over-sized for today's use.

Trio Eugster was an extremely successful Swiss band of the 1970s. Their style was popular folk music with a touch of comedy. Many of their hits have become standards and are still known to many not even born then. They sold over two million records, which is a huge number if you consider that they sung in a language that only about 4.5 million people understand; for the same reason they did never make it outside of the Alemannic part of Switzerland.

Musician: Trio Eugster Name of Song: Oh Walesee Relevant Verse: Oh Walesee, du Qualesee Location website: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/20/2014 Rikitan visited it