Do you live in Switzerland? I have questions…

[Fallulah]

Came back recently from a holiday to the chocolate box/tourist/hiking parts of Switzerland. We were wondering about a few things as you do when you go to a different place. None of these questions are intended to offend!

The big wooden houses - are they more or less expensive to build than a ‘normal’ house? Does the wood have to be renewed after a certain amount of time, like thatch does?

The same wooden houses just sometimes seem to be in the middle of grassy landscapes - how do you know which land is yours as there don’t seem to be any boundaries? What if you have a dog? There are no fences?

Did Switzerland not have covid particularly badly? They pack people on to the cable cars and trains like sardines and there is nothing suggesting people might want to wear a mask even if it’s not mandatory - we were frequently the only people in them on the transport, which was packed with people from all over the world.

When you live in Switzerland, do you realise how expensive it is or are wages a lot higher to compensate for the fact, e.g. a small bottle of coke is 6CHF?

Are languages pushed a lot more in school than they are in the UK? Pretty much everyone in the tourist areas seems to speak Swiss, German, French and English!

Do you just feel really smug all the time that you live in such a beautiful, clean, well organised country?!

One of the things that I noticed was most swiss men have their ears pierced and wear earings. Unusual!

The other unusual fact was noticing in the mornings on all the swiss men in suits wore trainers and carried a rucksack (not a briefcase) - it was just a strange mix.

Men hung out together in the bars/pubs in the afternoons - like a mens only club.

I was told the 'swiss women' are very conservative and prudish and the men prefered to date foriegn women (told by a swiss man).

Also I noted they are very proud of their language - dont ever call it German because that's really insulting.

Oh and the pure swiss looked down on the Italians - there were always comments about them and how the Italians from Lucerne would come into Zurich.

The high wages make it difficult to get medical care across the border in nearby France because doctors, dentists etc just set up in Switzerland instead.

It sounds a bit like Gilead, and on that basis, like Duncan Bannatyne, I'm out.

I would say that a lot of countries have a poor track record of all sorts of dodgy things, not just Switzerland.

It isn't Gilead either (as a PP mentioned), in my experience - I just finished reading that book, actually, and no. I can't speak for others though.

Switzerland got rich on the back of stealing money from Jewish people.
Rich Jewish people put money in Swiss banks with the rise of Hitler thinking it would be safe there. After the war they refused to return money without the paper bank books. These were too people who had been in the concentration camps. They also illegally destroyed paper documents they help proving who a lot of the money they held belonged to.
I watched a documentary all about it. A total scandal. And Switzerland became far richer as a country as a result.

My favorite Swiss fact is that their airforfe only works 9-5 on weekdays. If ANYTHING happens outside that you have to call the french

Oh I’ve just googled. They stopped that policy because a plane was hijacker’s but it was out of office hours so they didn’t do anything 😁

Omg, I never knew that, that is so funny, they only changed it in 2020 to have 24h standby.

Switzerland was one of the richest countries prior to WW11. Before the War, Switzerland had the highest GDP per capita in Europe.

It was one of the first industrialised countries and it focused on high value specialised industries (watch making, machinery, etc) and the financial sector.

While European countries were trying to recover and rebuild after the war, Switzerland did not have that to contend with, so continued to prosper.

Because Switzerland was neutral, both Allies and Jewish used it as a safe harbour for their money and valuables. I do find it hard to believe that whatever was left behind after the war, is the reason for Switzerlands prosperity and wealth now..

I think it is a variety of circumstances that has made Switzerland one of the richest countries in Europe, but I am not an economist so it's not something I would be knowledgeable about.

I’m off to Switzerland next week so this thread is very useful and I’d getting me very excited!

Oh yes it was. Copyright and reproduction rights were definitely a thing in the RI, see early 19th c. Manchester.

can you reference this please?

Great thread!

need more like this

I've also heard from colleagues that racism is very overt in Switzerland. I remember reading reviews from a Euro camp site in the Swiss Alps that said if you aren't white you'll be told you can't enter 😕

IP was around in a limited way from the 1780s, about 30 years into the industrial revolution, but it's a stretch to claim it applied internationally at that point. Well into the 19th c, maybe.

The late 1780s (calico printers' act of 1787) that should say

An elderly British man was asked to show his passport upon his arrival in France.
He fumbled in his jacket to take it out.
”Have you ever been to France before?” the woman snapped.
”Yes,” the old man replied.
”Then you should know to have your passport ready,” she snapped again.
”Well, the last time I was in France, there weren’t any French on the beach at Normandy,” the old man replied calmly.

@IDreamOfTheMoors What an absolutely amazing answer that was!

I always fantasise that if I was rich, I could go to a clinic in Switzerland and they would dry me out, help me drop 15 pounds and raise my tits in ten days, and that's why I do the lottery.

Things that didn't happen no. 158.670.406.677.959

What utter tosh.

@boopdeflouff I wasn't there to witness it, so don't know if it is "utter tosh" or not. But when a Black person says they have been made so uncomfortable somewhere to the extent that they have to leave, I will believe them.

Which is wholly different to what you said in your first post.

I've also heard from colleagues that racism is very overt in Switzerland. I remember reading reviews from a Euro camp site in the Swiss Alps that said if you aren't white you'll be told you can't enter 😕

So let's look at this objectively. Eurocamp is a multinational company that rents pitches on campsites. At which point is entry to a person of colour denied? And by whom, the eurocamp reps or the campsite owners?

And which campsite? Lauterbrunnen (full of Bollywood tourists) or manor Park, just down the road, in the melting pot that is Interlaken.

The Jura (Val de Bonnal) and Annecy are French campsites.

As someone who has camped in all of these sites many, many times over the last 15 years, (with eurocamp and directly with the websites), I stand by my utter tosh comment.

I am shocked at people who have 'heard' of so many racist incidents in Switzerland, as I said , my husband grew up here and it is not something any of us or his family have ever encountered in any part of Switzerland.

I don't think Switzerland, like any European country, is exempt from racism . However, you only have to listen to chants at some UK football matches to understand how overt it can be in some countries, I have never heard anything like that in any sporting event in Switzerland.

If someone rocks up to a euro camp and does not comply with their admission rules, you would likely be turned away or asked to leave, no matter what colour or age you are. The colour of their skin won't be the reason they are turned away, that I am 100% sure of.

The person whose Swiss friend had an arab ex wife and prefers to bring his kids up elsewhere (I guess 'here' being the UK) I would love to understand what part of Switzerland he thinks is worse than the UK for prejudice against Arabs.