I ❤️ Switzerland |
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27 May 2025
Why do I love Switzerland? I'm currently riding the SBB train home from work with my dog, Paula, who sits half under my seat unmuzzled and unleashed. She has received many strangers' pets on the journey so far. If there are some pretty young girls she gets especially excited. (They give their petting freely and copiously.) I'm surrounded by laptops as I read my Economist as usually, but across from me today is a young man composing sheets music by hand. Paula is laying partially on his shoes. If I need to go to the bathroom I can leave her and my bag to wait without worry. And if there is ever a delay of 5 minutes, the SBB apologizes profusely. For the long weekend we're going to Italy where she's legally supposed to wear a muzzle on the train but didn't have to our last trip. Never underestimate the power of being a dumb American. Gotten me out of many a European citation.
At every big train station and small town there is a grocer. I leash Paula outside and attach her to one of the clips by the door for dog leashes. For some reason she's allowed in every restaurant here but not a grocery store. Because I'm always passing a grocery store, I usually pick up whatever meat is half price and base my dinner around that. After dinner we will walk across the street to the lake. I've swum the past two nights, but next week I'll have been spoiled by the Adriatic. Fortunately two weeks after that I'll be in the fjords to reset my cold standard. We'll see if either of my kids there deign to see their father for father's day.That is colder than any snowfed lake or fjord.
