Swissinfo Editor Reto Gysi von Wartburg

Sometimes It Would Be Nice to Be Invisible

Reto Gysi von Wartburg is the deputy editor-in-chief for Swissinfo in Bern, Switzerland. He was previously an editor at the Swiss financial paper Finanz und Wirtschaft and holds a Master’s degree in New Media Journalism from the University of Leipzig. Before joining a Zócalo Public Square/Democracy International event at the City Hall in Donostia-San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque Country, he talked about the joys of mountains, Asian food, and being invisible.

Q:

Where would we be most likely to find you on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Bern?


A:

Outside in a playground with my kids.


Q:

What do you most like to eat for dinner?


A:

Something Asian.


Q:

What question do you most often get from non-Swiss about Switzerland?


A:

Is it true that we earn so much?


Q:

What does it take to get you on the dance floor?


A:

A couple of beers.


Q:

What is your favorite alp, your favorite mountain?


A:

It’s the mountain I can walk to: Faulhorn, which means “lazy peak.” I especially like it as there is a hut on top serving beautiful cheese and sausage platters and cider—and the view to look at the real mountains is even more spectacular than standing on top of them.


Q:

What place on earth where you haven’t been would you most like to go?


A:

On top of Mount Kilimanjaro.


Q:

What superpower would you most like to have?


A:

Sometimes it would be nice to be invisible.


Q:

What dessert do you find it impossible to resist?


A:

Crema Catalana.


Q:

What’s your biggest regret?


A:

Fortunately I don’t regret anything.


*Photo by by Estudio Pindar.