Our time away

One of my favourite books is The Art of Travel by British philosopher Alain de Botton. He describes what it’s really like to travel. So I thought I’d start off my GypsyCarnivale blog by telling you what it’s really been like for me to have lived in Switzerland for two years.

I think the thing I most can’t get over are the rules. It seems to me to be a country full of rules that I can’t understand. Here’s some of them:

1. It is illegal to take out your rubbish on a Sunday
2. It is illegal to mow on a Sunday.
3. It is illegal to wash your car on a Sunday.
4. No making any noise past 10pm at night. If you do, a neighbour has the right to phone the police and they will visit you and fine you. The neighbour does not come and tell you, they just phone the police.
5. No flushing the toilet (I am not kidding) after 10pm if you live in an apartment block.
6. It is illegal to lock your keys in your car.
7. It is illegal to run out of petrol.
8. It is illegal to hang any washing outside on a Sunday.
9. It is illegal to wear your flip flops (thongs in Australia) while driving.

These ‘rules’ have bamboozled me. I don’t get them but I think they speak of something deeper in a country that I’ve not been able to understand. Here’s some other behaviours I don’t get:

1. Why Switzerland has a 1 billion dollar tourism industry in cosmetic surgery
2. Why people go for walks beside the lake on a Sunday in their very best clothes, I’m talking full length fur coats here.
3. Why it seems so important that people have a Rolex watch, fur coats and expensive cars
4. Why Swiss people call anyone who wasn’t born here a ‘foreigner’ when I come from a country where we are all foreigners.
5. Why it’s difficult to get people to smile here.
6. Why people feel the need to work all of the time.

Now just before you start thinking I haven’t been loving my time here, think again. I can’t actually say I’ve enjoyed living in Switzerland, but I can tell you I’ve absolutely LOVED the travel that we’ve done. And just to make another list, here’s why - here’s all the places we’ve been able to see while we’ve been here:

1. Milan
2. Geneva
3. Rome
4. London
5. Wales
6. Barcelona
7. Paris
8. Ireland
9. Evian
10. Verbier
11. Thonon-les-Bains
12. Cinque Terra
13. Tuscany
14. Pisa
15. Strausbourg
16. Jura Mountains
17. Colmar
18. Alsace
19. Austria (Salzburg)
20. Munich
21. Provence
22. Arles
23. Avignon
24. Dijon
25. Flavigny
26. Annecy
27. Crans-Montana
28. Marrakech

By the time we come home in July, we would have also been to:

1. Athens
2. Kos
3. Santorini

and hopefully

1. Florence
2. Berlin

Well, that’s it for now. It’s back to work and I’ll keep you posted with any other crazy laws I remember! I love the freedom of being Australian! xxx