A country by any name is just as sweet

Perhaps it is the Australia syndrome of having lived for a while in a distant land that is disconnected from major cities and countries, but I have been maximizing my time back in Europe to travel around to other countries much more than my previous stints in the “old world.” Wherever I go I am always an advocate of first getting to know the city, then the country, and finally neighboring countries. Based on that assessment there would really be no reason to ever leave Paris each time I visit here because of the never-ending selection of things to do. Nevertheless, wanting to branch outside of Paris Paris, I’ve managed to get in some international weekends trips over the past month. A few weekends ago I visited friends in London (at least I think it was London cuz I really only saw the inside of pubs and clubs) and last weekend was my first foray into Switzerland.

Landlocked smack in the middle of the typical household name European countries – France, Germany, and Italy – ironically, Switzerland to me was always a country that I overlooked. It was precisely those three countries, plus Spain, England, and The Netherlands, that I would instinctively think to visit whenever planning travel anywhere from Paris. Yet the invitation of a former coworker who recently moved there and a strong recommendation from a friend who just visited, convinced me that a trip to Switzerland was well worth my time. It was. Best decision I’ve made in a while. That and ordering the beef tartare I had a few nights ago. But that’s another story.

Just as my objective when visiting London several weeks ago was to kick back, catch up with friends, and party, my goal for Switzerland was to see a friend AND to get a Class A, physically enduring, and scenically beautiful hike in through the Swiss Alps. All objectives were met, and then some!

A three hour train ride from Paris practically put me in another world. The busy, chaotic, sensory overload buzz of Paris was replaced by the serene, orderly, tranquil streets of Basel. The city is located right at the intersection of Switzerland, Germany, and France. You can actually walk just 15 minutes to France and 20 minutes to Germany. Despite its proximity to France, Basel is a Swiss German speaking city. The city is very quaint, very boutique. The Saturday market in the center of town is in the main square directly under the old town hall whose façade resembles as much a modest castle as it does a present day public administration building. The market, chock full of Swiss cheese (literally) and flowers plucked straight from the nearby mountains, gave way to cobblestone streets lined with chocolate shops, antique silverware, and the outdoor café reminding you that you are in Europe after all.

Admittedly, the scene was very similar to Germany where I lived for three months in 2009, but to another level. In a previous post several years back I hailed the Germans for their degree of urban organization and efficiency. The props still remain but I have to applaud the Swiss for more (and better?) of the same. Walking through the streets of Switzerland’s cities you can’t help but think that it’s what every city in the world strives for. Traffic is minimal; the noise pollution of honking horns and sirens is a non-issue; there’s a pleasant mix of bikers, buses, trams, and cars; clean air; wide streets with pretty architecture; a diverse, eclectic fusion of ethnicities; and the safety of being able to leave your biked locked up with merely a thin cord wrapping the frame to the back tire. Some things might have been a little too much, such as the taboo of crossing the street anywhere outside the designated walk zone, and the profundity of dirty looks if even a trace of your banana peel falls on the ground. It’s also quite an interesting sight to see a car noticeably slow down from 100 feet away the second you put your toe into the cross walk. But hey, it all makes for an orderly and organized atmosphere. When a bus pulls up to the bus stop to the exact, very same minute as the printed schedule says it would, and the ride lasts not a second longer than the 12 minute estimated travel time, you can’t help but be impressed. Coincidence? Maybe. Quintessentially Swiss? Most likely. With such timing it is befitting that this country mastered the trade of luxury watches.

Certain facets of Swiss culture have always fascinated me and were magnified with each step around the country. Let’s start with the basics. There is no single national language. The official languages are Swiss German, French, and Italian. A country like Spain has regional languages (Catalan, Basque, and Gallego) and the Philippines has hundreds of different dialects. But there is always a unifying language universally spoken by the commoner in the street at the very least and by the member of Parliament at the highest level – Castilian Spanish of course in the case of Spain, Tagalog in the Philippines. India, with a billion people and thousands of regional dialects, at least has the common unifier in English. But this isn’t the case in Switzerland where members of parliament show up to legislative meetings with earpieces and translators, and TV channels are sliced up between networks airing any one of the three main languages. The soccer team went to the World Cup last year and actually beat eventual world champs Spain in group play. What language is the coach shouting out from the touchline? By that token there is not even a common linguistic consensus on the name of the country! “Suisse” to someone in Geneva is “Schweiz” to a local in Zurich and “Svizerra” to a resident in Locarno. Perhaps one of the most basic social fabrics of a unified culture is a common language because of necessity of communication. From the base of communication and interaction spring music, art, religion, cuisine, sports, and all the things we typically we associate as forming the foundation of a shared culture and one of the pillars of the concept of country. Just think of how many calls for secession there are around the world on the basis of differing language and culture. Yet Switzerland discards that theory by proving that, regardless of linguistic fragmentation, it can not only harmoniously exist as a country, but thrive as one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Which got me to think that maybe the main element that forms the basis of a common Swiss culture is not a food, a religion, a language, or a political system of beliefs, but the notion of prosperity. Language and a shared history that shapes a common language might be different, but “what it means to be Swiss,” is probably defined by the right to a high class standard of living and, by any measure. When you think Switzerland you typically think luxury – chocolates, watches, bank accounts – and the high quality of their products trickles down to a quality life for the rest of the country. Who cares if the languages are different? Their orderly, organized, efficient, and respect for the rules system works, everyone lives a prosperous life, everyone is happy, and everyone is proud to call themselves Swiss in that regard.

Taking the language factor one step deeper, Swiss German is specifically given its dual name because of how different it is than “Germany German.” It is almost another language. I was constantly asking questions to friends while in Switzerland about the degree of difference between the two types of German. From what I understand it’s a bigger difference than British English and American English, or France French and French Canadian from Quebec. I think it would be similar to a farmer in Jamaica (the country, not Jamaica Queens) talking to a suburbanite from northern Glasgow. Both speak English, but very, very different. German friends admit they can’t understand some things Swiss Germans say. The drastic linguistic difference is fascinating considering that Germany and the German speaking part of Switzerland are next-door neighbors separated not by a mountain or canyon, but an imaginary line on a political map. The US and England, Canada and France, Spain and Argentina are all oceans apart. Language differences are expected. The Alps run east/west through a good portion of Switzerland cutting through its middle and thereby separating the northern and southern parts of the country. It naturally makes sense then for three languages to exist in Switzerland as the southern part is lumped together with Italy, the southwest with France, and the northern part with Germany. So the geographic cohesion of Germany with northern Switzerland should produce a similar language, or so you would think. After all, French Swiss is almost identical to France French and likewise for Italian in Switzerland and Italy. Not the case with Swiss German and Germany German. Moreover, Switzerland’s population is tiny; only about 8 million people. I don’t know the exact number of Swiss German speakers, but say we assume it’s 1/3 of the population then we get a little over 2 ½ million. Seems like a small number to command a language as different as Swiss German is from Germany German.

Three days in Switzerland and I found myself constantly pondering and amazing in the history that built up the social system to what it is today. And I haven’t even scratched the surface of my hiking trip through the Alps. Perhaps best to break this up into two posts with another one to come shortly. Til then….