Switzerland is expensive.  Crazy costly.  Where €2 in Portugal could practically buy me lunch, it wouldn’t even buy a coffee in Switzerland.  The coffee is decent, but the Swiss are not obsessed with the stuff like the Portuguese.  Nothing to write home about.

Chocolate, on the other hand, is a food group to the Swiss.  In my opinion, the best food group.  I was told kids have a bar of chocolate a day at lunch.  Not bad.  My priest was in heaven.  He wanted to try every kind, every flavor…twice.

Everything they say about the Swiss being organized is insanely true.  The trains and buses are perfectly on time.  The drivers are polite.  The grocery stores are pristine.  The workers seem happy.  Why are people happy?  Maybe because the Swiss get paid well.  They tried to pass a law where every worker gets paid a minimum of 4,000 CHF ($4300 USD) per month.  It didn’t pass, but most people get paid a minimum of $3,500 per month.   Everything is expensive, but I guess the cost is relative considering their high wages.

We were temporarily lost in Bern.  We couldn’t find the tram stop and we must have looked  confused.  Three people approached us to offer help.  Unsolicited.  Where does that happen?

Every image you may have seen of stunning landscapes and picturesque villages are all true.  It is breathtaking.    Go visit.