On my way to Switzerland I stopped in Koblenz (Germany). When I was there I stayed with some friends that I met on a boat in Australia. Though I only knew Ranja and Domenic for a few days, they welcomed me into their home. This is the speed of travel in full force. That is, the speed that you build trust and friendship. Koblenz is a small city that is famous for it’s castles by the river. It is also the place where two major rivers of Germany combine. In the summertime, this town is littered with dozens of touring buses. From Frankfurt to Koblenz is a surprisingly beautiful train ride. I lost count of castles on the hillsides that overlook the rushing river. The other major unique feature of the land are the vineyards. With German precision, the stocks of the vines are proped up on hillsides that are nearly vertical. I never knew that grapes could be grown this way.
When I met Ranja and Domenic at the train station, I was surprised with a distinctive Australian accent. They just came back from living in Australia for the better part of a year, but when I had seen them last, Ranja had a mid western American accent and Domenic had a German accent. Ranja’s accent was so perfect that I would have pegged her American (half a year ago). Now I would peg both of them Australian. This was a shock.
They lived just outside of town and had to use the autobahn. They said “What do you want to do while you are here? Wanna go 240 on the autobahn?” Without hesitation I said “YALETSDOTHATRIGHTNOW” all in one decisive word. They told me that we would break some speed records tomorrow morning, on the way to breakfast, when it was light out ( a good idea).
Since Ranja just got back from traveling, she was temporarily living with her parents (as many of us travelers tend to do). Her parent’s house was something out of a modern art museum, complete with life sized raven stature in the front window, looking out at prospective visitors.
The next morning, we screamed down the autobahn going nearly 240Km/hour in a small BMW. A very German event indeed. While on the road, we spoke about the state of healthcare in Germany. They mentioned how many Turkish people live in Germany and how much of a strain it is on the social systems. “Like the Mexicans in America.” Ranja said. It turns out that my friends from abroad are not all liberal as I had previously presumed. “Uggghhhh, they are everywhere. One of them comes in and then just brings their huge family over with them.”-Ranja was not happy.
I kept my thoughts to myself about the difference between America and Germany. And for the record, America gets ALL of it’s greatness from it’s immigrants. Thats a safe statement. Considering that we are all from somewhere else if you just look back a few generations. I am am not going to even get into the mess of how we treated and still treat Native Americans. That I could go on for days about.
Next I was off to Switzerland. I got to Bern (the capital) to stay with Selina, another friend who I had met in Australia. Selina didn’t let me pay for one thing during the entire 4 days I spent in Switzerland. She told me that I was the first person who actually came to see her in all her travels.
This is a common occurrence. People tend to make plans to meet back up and never really follow up on them. So, when people actually come to visit, it tends to be a celebrated event for many people.
Selina works in Immigration for Switzerland. She told me “God, there are so many Germans here. It’s like everywhere you look. I see how many visas we give to them everyday and it is like a plague. They all come here to make higher wages than they can in Germany.”
Wow. Apparently it’s all relative in Europe. There is always a richer fish and there is always someone who wants the chance to live in their pond. The pot calls the kettle black and then complains about the heat.
What’s next? Is there some place that the Swiss wish they could work? Actually yes. Lichtenstein is a place with even higher wages and better quality of living. The Swiss try and work there all the time. It seems that the name of the game is “the smaller the western European nation, the more desirable.
I spent my days in Switzerland in Bern, Zurich, and Interlaken (which is a beautiful town that is situated between two huge mountains and two beautiful lakes. While in Interlaken, we spent the majority of the day foraging for wild berries. Growing wildly in plain sight, black berries, raspberries, blue berries, and strawberries. The most interesting of the 4 where the strawberries which grew to the size of capers. With such small size, these things packed a perfect punch of sweetness. They were never sour and very tender.
When we got back to Selina’s apartment, we she cooked me some traditional Swiss food including something that was similar to fondue. She used spices that I had never heard of. One of which is apparently only available in Switzerland. “Aromat” is, as far as I can tell, crack. The powder doesn’t actually taste like anything when you eat it directly, but when sprinkled on something it is said to “bring out the other existing flavors and amplify them.” The Swiss use Aromat like Americans use Salt or Pepper. She said that it contains something that is used a lot in asian food that is said to be bad for you (I presume MSG). But it doesn’t taste salty at all and MSG (as far as I remember) is a form of salt.
Anyway, Selina gave me three large packets of the stuff to take home that don’t expire till 2011. Everyone can come on over to my house and try it out. I know what is going to happen though. I am going to get stopped and searched in an airport. I can see the headline on yahoo news now….
“Man gets detained for illegal Swiss seasoning possession. The American was in possession of enough of the substance that it is implied he had intent to distribute. When interpol agents conducted a deeper investigation, it was confirmed on his website that he intended to distribute the substance.”
More about the history and current situation in Switzerland. Swiss speak 4 major languages based on the region you are in. Since they are so central, they have Swiss versions of each of the languages in their bordering countries. There is Swiss German, Swiss French, Swiss Italian and a native language from many years ago. They are kind of on the shit end of the stick in a sense because the neighboring countries consider the Swiss version of each language a gross bastardisation.
I consider Swiss German to be a more melodic version of German. They seem to be singing a song when they are speaking. Their tones go up and down (as the Norwegians where supposed to). I asked Selina about getting a Swiss Bank account (for the novel value) and she said how most everyone in her family are in banking.
She said that there are current pressures from the EU to join. I asked her if they ever would and she said “We won’t have a choice soon. They are claiming that they will essentially boycott us from all trade if we don’t join. We are not self sustaining in that sense, so we will have to join soon. I hate it. Our quality of life will go down. All of our assets will be spread across the poor nations like Poland and Bulgaria.” She went on to say “As soon as a nation Joins the EU, the price of everything goes up for them and the wages don’t follow.” This claim has been made by everyone who I have met in the EU.
The water in Switzerland is said to be some of the best in the world. So much so that they have fountains in the middle of the street that are drinkable. They are just extensions from the river without treatment. Bern has a small town feel for a capital city.
Tomorrow I shoot all the way up to Amsterdam to meet up with some more friends. Then after 4 days, I shoot down to Italy. I should really keep count of how expensive the trains would have been without the rail pass. I think I would definitely be more than my around the world ticket.
What up Alex. Glad to see you’re having a good time! Hope Parisians treated you good. Take it e c
PS: Ranja is racist