Forget about Zurich. Take the train here.

By Chantal Panozzo

Ah, the great Swiss cities. High standards of living. Clean streets. Safe for children. In the 2010 Mercer Quality of Living survey, three Swiss cities made the top 10.  And I’ve got three words for that: Blah. Blah. Blah.

Yes, this is all true. Yes, Switzerland is wonderful. But we’ve heard it all before and all of these facts about perfection are starting to bore me.

It’s time to have fun. Fun in Switzerland? Yes. It is possible. So in this post we will not be talking Zurich, Geneva, or Bern. We will be talking about Bitsch. And Bubikon. And Locarno FART. These are all proper Swiss cities. Cities so great, they make you get out your camera before you even leave the train station.

And there’s more: Buttikon. Wankdorf. Weggis. Wow. You have to admit, we expats in Switzerland live in a great country.

My little Swiss town even celebrates a thing called Badenfahrt where you can buy a shirt that says “Baden” on the front and “Fahrt” on the back. Yes. They wear them proudly. And no, I am not above bathroom humor.

But it makes me wonder—what English words do German and French speakers find hilarious? One of my Swiss friends likes the word “saliva.” He thinks it sounds like the name of a transvestite. Another Swiss friend cringes at the word “pickle” because it sounds like the German word for “pimple.”

Oh, and to sum it all up, I have had multiple opportunities to shop at Anis in Wunderland in Zurich, but if you live far away, never fear, you can just visit their website: www.anismodel.ch. Oh, and I live on the Badstrasse. Which, in German, is quite pleasant, but auf Englisch, it is probably not such a good thing.

What’s your favorite Swiss city?

Tags: Bern, expat in switzerland, geneva, swiss cities, Switzerland, Zurich

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This is hilarious! I actually lol at anismodel (and the Italians sitting in the room with me looked at me strangely … hmmm … .)

The whole anismodel thing reminds me of one of my worst lingual mistakes here in Italy. I’d just met my husband’s friend and he asked me how old I was. “Io ho 29 ani,” I told him proudly, meaning to say I have 29 years-the correct grammatical structure in Italian. Sweetheart that he is, he never even grinned, but I later learned I’d actually said, “I have 29 anuses.”

EEEEK!

August 16, 2010    Rate Comment

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