This country may be in the grip of World Cup fever, but if so you wouldn't really know it. In about 1.5hr the Swiss national team will play against Honduras in a match that will determine their WC fate (although, interestingly, they could very well win and still not advance). Yet my recent wander around the main part of the city didn't reveal much in the way of support. Sure, there were occasional folks in team jerseys, and a couple places selling ersatz flags and whatnot, but no general sense of mania brewing as I imagine there would be in Argie or England. Of course, I'm about as out of the loop as one could be, so if there were something brewing, I'd be the last to know. Still, it's somewhat telling that Credit Suisse's current ad campaign has Swiss national team players with the logo "One Team, One Country" prominently featured below. Is it really necessary to remind people of these things?
It's wonderfully sunny here in Zuerich (as opposed to the very unsunny and glum weather that prevailed in Munich). Only downside of the weather: Europe is not so great on the air conditioning front. It's likely just a reflection of how little A/C is really needed in this country, and to be fair, I'm not really sweltering indoors, but I kinda miss the way the icy cold air hits you when you walk into an American building on a hot summer day. Another contrast: the Swiss aren't really that into sunglasses. In SoCal, going outside without shades makes me feel naked. Here, I feel a little weird wearing them all the time (but I still do, natch).
I said earlier that Switzerland feels civilized compared to the U.S. Here's a small illusration: when you go to the men's room, there is classical music playing. I have never noticed this in a U.S. men's room. This could just mean that I frequent lower-end pissers.
Someone finally said "Gruetzi" to me today. This is supposedly the local greeting in Zuerich, but I haven't heard it until now. I had almost convinced myself that it was a plot to convince tourists to say something foolish and/or obscene when greeting Zuerchers so that they could snicker at us secretly. I was "Gruetzi-ed" in a snack shop, btw, where I had stopped for a lite dinner. On offer were the standard complement of wursts, but with this exception: rather than being served in a bun, as always happened in Germany, the wurst was wrapped in a kind of flaky pastry. I like the variation, and I enjoyed eating the brat outside in a classic Euro square setting, replete with fountain, ancient buildings, and a lurid porno theater.
*I've become fond of using this term for Switzerland, because Switzerland is a mouthful and a keyboardful. Other alternatives include "die Schweitz" and "Svizzera", but "Suisse" is briefest and therefore best for my purposes.
