So I was so close to saying something good about the Swiss culture for once. So close. See whenver I gripe about the Swiss, it's always the older Swiss I'm talking about. The younger Swiss are cool, nice, and easy to get along with. The older ones well thats a different story. The wiggle room for laws is zero. I saw two young swiss get a ticket for crossing an empty street while the signal was red. No cars in sight, yet they got a ticket and they didn't even argue.
Another example is mine. I hate riding trains here because basically you're just waiting to be fined for something ridiculous. I was going to Zurich with some friends and we bought our tickets from a small self service kiosk. Turns out I bought the wrong one. I somehow ended up buying a ticket from Winterthur to Winterthur, and not a round trip either. I didn't realize my mistake till the ticket checker informed me. I argued with him for about 10-15 minutes. He kept saying sir you bought the wrong ticket. I said I know but it was an honest mistake. Sir why would I buy a ticket from Winterthur to Winterthur that left in 3 minutes. I'm not from here I still bought a ticket it's not like I just hopped on the train with no ticket. He answer every time was youj bought the wrong ticket. Thanks for telling me man, appreciate the fact you are telling me something we both know and you cannot respond to any of my arguements as to why I bought the wrong one. See in any other country in the world if you hop on the train late, you can actually buy a ticket from the ticket checker. Oh sir I'm sorry but I was going to miss the train so I didn't have enought time to get a ticket. Ok sir no problem where are you going to. Zurich. Ok that will be 15 francs. Boom done. Not in Switzerland. So now I owe 80 francs to the Swiss transit. I thought about not paying it, but I don't want to get to the airport in Zuriich and have them tell me I can't leave because I owe Switzerland 80 francs.
The train also sucks because you buy tickets that are valid in zones. I would explain it 
but it makes no sense and I would just throw my computer out the window in anger. Also you have to buy a night pass if you are going to ride the train after midnight. It's 5 francs. So you have to buy your regular ticket, then you have to remember to also buy a night ticket. 2 seperate tickets. You don't buy the night pass. 80 francs. For a country that is so enviromentally conscious, they sure love to use paper at a sickening rate. It's because the people that check the tickets are from a private company and that is how they pay them. How bout you just raise the price of all tickets bought after say 8 pm or so by 5 francs? It would save you paper, ink, electricity, and frustration. The Swiss aren't concerned with logic, they are only worried about making things as expensive as they can. If you come to Switzerland do me a favor. Ride the train, buy your ticket from a kiosk, select the half price ticket option, then intentially buy the wrong ticket. Then when they check your ticket and tell you you have to pay 80 francs, laugh in their face and tell them sure you'll get your check when I arrive back in the States. USA#1 now fuck off. Whenever people tell you we should build a train system in the US, call me and I will refute every point they will ever make.
but it makes no sense and I would just throw my computer out the window in anger. Also you have to buy a night pass if you are going to ride the train after midnight. It's 5 francs. So you have to buy your regular ticket, then you have to remember to also buy a night ticket. 2 seperate tickets. You don't buy the night pass. 80 francs. For a country that is so enviromentally conscious, they sure love to use paper at a sickening rate. It's because the people that check the tickets are from a private company and that is how they pay them. How bout you just raise the price of all tickets bought after say 8 pm or so by 5 francs? It would save you paper, ink, electricity, and frustration. The Swiss aren't concerned with logic, they are only worried about making things as expensive as they can. If you come to Switzerland do me a favor. Ride the train, buy your ticket from a kiosk, select the half price ticket option, then intentially buy the wrong ticket. Then when they check your ticket and tell you you have to pay 80 francs, laugh in their face and tell them sure you'll get your check when I arrive back in the States. USA#1 now fuck off. Whenever people tell you we should build a train system in the US, call me and I will refute every point they will ever make.
So now that that rant is over, I actually got to go to Lugano. It's in the Italien part of Switzerland and it is insanely beautiful. Mountains everywhere, a huge lake, and the builldings are nice. We rode around the lake on a boat for awhile and then went to some small villages. We even walked into Italy for a short while. It's funny because you as soon as you cross the border into Italy, it changes so much. The drivers are worse, the people are louder, and it's dirtier. Great trip and I would reccomend anyone who comes to Switzerland to visit. The picture above with the dotted line is the border of Switzerland Itlay. Above the line is Italy and below is Switzerland. It's located on a bridge so acutally I guess the river is the border but you get the idea. They also had lots of paintings and murals like the one to the right.
My next post might take a while. All my projects are due in the next 3-4 weeks so I have to hunker down and write a million papers.
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