"The way you've written it, you make the Swiss sound a bit rigid, if not an outright drag to be around."

Well I wouldn't say a drag to be around LucieV but 'rigid' is not far off the mark.

If you mow your lawn on a Sunday there is a good chance a neighbour will call and report you for 'breaking the Sabbath'. It is not allowed to do that on a Sunday. No where I know of are there as many laws and rules as in Swiss society. Read about some here if you think I am exaggerating:
http://www.newlyswissed.com/11-weird-swiss-laws/

I always remember a Swiss friend talking about bears in N. America and my asking if there were any bears in the mountains in Switzerland. The answer was, 'oh no, bears are not allowed.' That was a perfectly serious statement. As if they stop them at the border.

If you let your dog run off the leash, anyone can shoot it. The thinking is that no responsible dog owner would allow a dog to run off the leash and only responsible owners are allowed to have dogs. Therefore, this dog must be wild or gone wild and may well be rabid. Rabid dogs should be shot. End of dog.

Some more here:
http://www.onebigyodel.com/2011/09/d...nge-swiss.html

Sojourntraveller,

Those rules are pretty much the same in Germany.

There are quiet times when people are not allowed to mow the lawn, run a vacuum, run a washing machine, or wash their cars -- it's anytime between 22.00 - 08.30 and on Sundays.

And folks must have their dogs on a leash -- there are signs everywhere. I don't think the dog would be shot, but the owner may well get a lecture. And folks must also pick up the dog doo and put it in a plastic bag and drop it into a garbage bin . . . yes, even on a hiking trail.

s

I lke the "don't hang your duvet out on Saturdays rule" I can just see Jesus saying....

oh for crying out loud. You can find dogs off leash all over the place in Switzerland. The difference is the dogs are well-trained. And the owners do pick up after them.

Until Raisin went blind, she enjoyed many off-leash walks in Switzerland and met plenty of polite, well-trained dogs also off leash. The trails and open green space at the edge of Ettingen is a popular off-leash spot.

If you look in the comments on that post many people claim these as untrue myths. Some they said were true, but are for different reasons than implied. Also the comments from the original poster themselves doesn't even seem to be very legit.

Anybody ever been to Gimmelwald? Saw on a Rick Steeves travel post that people say...."if heaven isn't what its cracked up to be, then send me back to Gimmelwald." Is this true? Thoughts? Opinions?

Gimmelwald is as boring as watching paint dry.

You have to leave, take the gondola or walk out, to do anything so why stay there?

I suppose you could take the gondola down to Murren to buy cheese and chocolate at Coop.

Yes, I have been to Gimmelwald. Once was enough to last a lifetime.

Thin

And just so you know, public transport in the BO is $$$$$$.

Thin

http://www.gimmelwald.com/

Funny how some people can love a place and another not like it at all isn't it.

Your reaction Pepper is based on YOUR interests of course but your opinion is not universally shared obviously. My idea of hell for example would be having to stay in Interlaken. You may disagree with me and those differences are what make us all individuals.

Watching paint dry may be boring but if we were all clones who liked and disliked the same things, THAT would be REALLY boring.

Clone=tourist walking around Europe clutching a Rick Steves' travel guide.

Where in my above post do I mention Interlaken?

Oh, that's right, I didn't!

And anyone who would consider Interlaken "Hell" lives in a fantasy world.

I have travelled all over India and Cambodia and I can assure you there a many places worse than Interlaken with its Hooters and casino.

I doubt Hell has the Hotel Victoria.

Daft as a box of frogs.

Thin

we like Spiez. Right on the Thun. Within ferry boat and cable car distance to the high mountains and the boat ride is spectacular. Beautiful....

Sojourntraveler, you've confirmed what I already suspected: I would not be happy living in Switzerland.
Or to put it more accurately, Switzerland would not be happy to have me living there.

Good grief.. many of these "laws" apply only to apartment buildings. If you were living in your own house, you can shower for 2 hours at 2am or do your laundry at 4am. But even in the apartment buildings you can obviously flush your toilet after 10pm or take a shower at 4am if you need to get up early. The cited by-law means (and this reflects the importance to know the language when you're an ex-pat and not just rely on daft websites) that taking "long showers" was not accepted.
Dogs don't get shot if you let them off the leash in the city park. They may get shot by the forest ranger if you let them roam unattended in a forest. Or by some farmer if they chase his sheep or cows.
And I would also not want you to dump your empty bottles in the recycling dumpster at 1am where I live.

The point Cowboy is that the Swiss tend to be quite conformist and have a lot of rules to conform to. Try mowing your lawn on a Sunday around your detached house and see what happens. Not all the rules are only about apartments.

Or how about having to turn off your engine when you stop at a red light in your car. That's also the law. No idling at all. There are numerous rules and laws in Switzerland that many people would find quite constraining or excessive.

I happen to love Switzerland and simply accept these things as local quirkyness but for many people they can be quite annoying.

> the Swiss tend to be quite conformist

Sure, that comes from the four major nationalities resp. cultures in Switzerland plus the many foreigners who live there <irony off>

> Try mowing your lawn on a Sunday

Not allowed in Germany, either.

> having to turn off your engine when you stop at a red light in your car.

Sounds funny, but saves gas. Ever heard of ecology? Btw, this law is not really enforced. And it applies to railroad crossings also.

That's exactly the point: You have no right to make noise when your noise will disturb others - except during working hours. You should not drill holes in your walls, use mowers with combustion engines on Sundays, and so on. The principle is that you share a much smaller space with many other people and the rest of the neighborhood wants to sun bathe on the balcony or terrace on a Sunday and not listen to your DIY activities.

It gets even more absurd as for me it gets even more absurd when I see the myriad of laws and by-laws in the US. Last time I went to the beach in San Francisco, I took a picture of the "verboten" signs at the entrance to the beach - no alcohol, no smoking, no campfires, no loitering, no solicitating, no unattended kids under x years, no nude bathing, no this, no that - it was in fact some 10 or 12 signs.
On another thread there have been long discussions about apartment complex rules somewhere on the East Coast - to get someone kicked out whose dog was barking..

It's always entertaining to see how a post swerves from the original question into uncharted territory.

I plead guilty that I take the bait too easily. And I know I shouldn't have the moment I hit submit.
Then I see the answer, and I take the bait again.. wash, rinse, repeat...

And, by the way, you do NOT have to turn off your engine's car at every red light in Switzerland!
Though modern cars do this anyway each time you stop.
There are some railroad crossings and a few lights which stay red for such a long time that an extra sign will tell you to turn off the engine.
You are not allowed to idle (why would you anyway? do you also light your cigars with a €5 bill?) like let the motor run while you wait for your passenger to return from shopping.

Dang.. what did I write in para 1..

"Sounds funny, but saves gas. Ever heard of ecology? Btw, this law is not really enforced. And it applies to railroad crossings also."

Well then, the obviously ecological solution is to remove all STOP signs.

Instead, we get this kind of ideological nonsense. It is simply part of the anti-car ideology that is popular is certain circles. Stopping your car doesn't save gas, unless the stop is fairly long. When you start it up again, it uses much more than when on idle.