I fell in love with with Switzerland, so much so that we returned after getting the holes in Bertie fixed. Remember these are observations and may be totally wrong it’s what I think I see. I’m not sure of the politics, I know it is split into 26 cantons and each canton provides 2 people for the overarching government. I’ll let you read more on the internet if you are interested. Nor am I sure of where the Swiss stand on ethical things, how they treat genders, LBGT+, race, immigrants etc. I was aware of how middle class Caucasian everyone looked. I do know that one canton only gave women the vote in 1990, not a good sign. Switzerland comes across as a wealthy county. So what did I observe in random order

The scenery is stunning. We didn’t do the plateau so everywhere we walked or cycled you could guarentee that 48% of it would be steeply up hill, 48% of it steeply down hill and the other 4% was simply up or down

There are no crosses on hills, throughout Spain and Italy every hill had a cross or church on it, this is not the case in Switzerland

Bike lanes or bike routes are everywhere although the routes often just go along quiet roads

It’s expensive!

Lake side open, a lot like you would get in the UK, lakes are edged by grass and often a path. Very much not like we saw in Italy.

Yellow zebra crossings not white, and people stop at them.

Dogs – throughout Italy, France and Spain dogs are everywhere, walk past a house and a dog will start barking. We have walked past lots of farms on our walks and only occasionally saw dogs. It’s not that we didn’t see dogs, just no where near as many.

Gnomes, complete with fishing rod, these are a common sight in gardens

English feel, although I’m sure this is an English woman’s view, things like the supermarket layout, the look of the “pub”, generally it feels more like England than the other countries we have done.

T junctions have strange road markings

Roads in good condition

The country is clean and well organised, the fire brigade were removing fallen trees before the rain even stopped

Cyclist nod to each other and everyone makes eye contact and exchanges a greeting when out walking.

Language. What on earth do you use as you move around the cantons. Answer you look up what language the canton uses and then speak English as it’s all we know.

It’s very Swiss, typically wood houses with window boxes, men wearing dungarees shorts and coloured braces.

Farm house are huge and combine the barn and houses in one building.

Wood piles are everywhere.

Cows, goats and sheep have bells on . Often the only sounds you can hear are the red kite whistles and the clanging of bells.

Buskers play aplen horns (only they weren’t obviously collecting money).

They make silage on very steep hills, some they mow with large lawn mowers instead of tractors.

Weather variable, one minute sunny and high 20’s next, thunder and lighting, and awning destroying winds.

Toilets clean seat, soap, paper, working dryer

This is the one place I wish I’d not been on a budget with loads of nice looking boat rides, gondolas rides and restaurants.