Northern Switzerland is truly beautiful country. Basel, where we stayed, is hundreds of years old, yet amazingly well preserved. We stayed with fellow North Americans (albeit Canadians), Chris and Catherine and their Swiss-national offspring, Hanna and Anthony. We are very grateful for their warm room, hospitality and Chris's daily morning pancakes.

Oddly enough, almost everywhere we went in Europe, even Switzerland, was covered in American ghetto style graffiti; yet there wasn't a lick of litter anywhere in Switzerland. And where the taggers did put up their visual piss-markings, they were at least kind enough to only do it in "blank" wall space and not cover up any signs. How very Swiss of them—don't ever compromise readability.

One other quirk of the Swiss: they can't stand drafts—still believing that they will catch the flu from one. There was a humid heat wave while we were there, but the Swiss would rather change their shirts three times a day than to open a window on a moving train (or, God forbid, turn on some air conditioning).

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