Jose Rizal heard about the beauty of Switzerland when he was still in the Philippines as a boy. Then in May of 1887 in Germany, at the age of 25, when the opportunity came for him to travel around Europe with his compatriot-friend Maximo Viola, Rizal did not hesitate to include several weeks in Switzerland in their itinerary. Rizal took account of spending his 26th birthday (June 19) in that country. In fact, Rizal and Viola visited five Swiss cantons: Schaffhausen, Basel, Berne, Lausanne and Geneva in June of that year to learn more about the glorious history of the Swiss people, and find a way to ignite the passion of Filipinos against foreign domination and oppression.