Today we drove around the outskirts of the town of Zug, Switzerland. It's very beautiful, the mountains are all green, which is generally a rarity in the world. Usually, the grass is dry and scorched by the sun. But here the landscapes really are like a fairytale. Although after Italy I've gotten used to it, and my mind isn't blown quite as much.
The standard of living here is so insanely high that it's very hard to imagine it's real. If you make 3,000 euros, you can barely scrape by. A normal salary is more like five or six, and quite a few people make even more. The cars are all new, and not in basic trims, but fully loaded. Just a single grilled sausage costs 8 euros. Here, even the bicycles for beer runs are Specialized, complete with carbon forks. It's nonsense, because back home only a wealthy person can afford a bike like that at all, but here it's for booze trips.
Today was like city day, or something like that. There were lots and lots of people, even though the town only has about twenty thousand. The rules are weird to us, which is the norm in Switzerland. For example, in one place you couldn't buy food if there was nowhere to sit. The Swiss love order and planning more than anything in the world, which is noticeable. For instance, a trash can comes right away with a separate compartment for compost, and the dishwasher — with a hose to dispense detergent. Trash sorting here is practically a religion — by glass color, type of plastic, and so on and so forth.
Houses are built in terraces, so that everywhere has a good view of the mountains or the lake. Pedestrians wave thank you when you let them pass, even though they are let through almost always.
It's very strange, but they smoke a lot here, cigarettes are sold openly everywhere, colorful and attractive, instead of being hidden with diseases on the packs like they are everywhere now.
I'm staying in a large apartment, with a huge balcony, a wonderful shower, and motorized blinds. If it weren't for my friends, I couldn't even come close to affording such beauty and luxury. A huge thank you to them for their hospitality.
Tomorrow we're paragliding down from the top of the mountain. It's a little scary, but it's too late to back out. There are six of us psychos, like bullets in a revolver's cylinder. I hope it doesn't turn into Russian roulette.
A few photos from Zurich and Zug
