Switzerland: The land of the rich?

Switzerland must be one of richest countries in Europe if not the world. Unlike Germany, France, America, and other first world nations, there doesn't seem to be any people that are destitute. Even Oslo, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world, had beggars in the streets. Zurich has been named the wealthiest city in Europe. It is not that Swiss live better than the average first world citizen, but they don't seem to have an underclass of citizens like in almost every other country. Even in poorest countries in Europe such as Romania or Ukraine, all the things that we have is also available there. But in these countries, you can see that there are many people living in poverty. Most of these people seem to be old women, children, or people with disabilities, drug, or alcohol problems.

Wandering around Zurich and a small town of Wil, 60 km east of Zurich, I did not see a single homeless person or someone begging. Even in the central train station, I did not see any beggars, homeless people, nor did anyone harass me for money. Everyone seemed like a normal person with all the basic necessities of life. The Swiss do complain that everything is expensive, but even in this economic crisis, unemployment is only around 4% (compared with 2% before crisis). The minimum salary seems to be around 3,500 Swiss Fracs per month for unskilled labor. That is not as much as it seems since everything seems to cost double what it does in Germany or the United States, but it does not seem hard to have a decent life on that salary either. A comparable job in America would pay less than $2,000 per month perhaps even less if you are one of the 20 million people in America illegally. I got a ride to Cologne from a German Polish living and working in Zurich. He said he was a custodian cleaning buildings. He said life was much better in Switzerland than in Germany. The pay was much higher and he did not have to work as hard.

Prices are very expensive in Switzerland. A kebab is 10 Swiss francs (US$9) compared with 2.50 Euro in Germany (US$3). A Big Mac meal at McDonalds is around 12 CHF (US$10). Eating out is VERY expensive. Expect to pay at least 25-30 CHF (US$22-26) or more for any sit down restaurant for an entree. But food in supermarkets does not seem to be more expensive than anywhere else. Still, there are ways to live relatively inexpensively and to save a large amount of money while working here. It seems a lot of Europeans, especially Germans do this since they do not have a language barrier.

The environment here is very clean. The air, the water, and the landscape are all very clean. Much of the tourism here seems to be centered around the nature, the Swiss Alps especially. Zurich is a very cosmopolitan city with a wide variety of people from around the world.

Romania: Bucharest and Braşov...

I flew into Bucharest from the Vienna airport after spending nearly a week in Bratislava, Slovakia while waiting for my ATM card to arrive. I caught a flight on Blue Air, the Romanian discount airline for €75. I caught a bus from Bratislava to the Vienna airport for €6 from Blaguss near the "New Bridge" or a.k.a. UFO Bridge.

Bucharest is one of those cities Eastern European cities that hasn't quite recovered from ravages of Communism, much like Warsaw, Poland, but even more so. There is tons of construction going on everywhere as the city and the country tries to recover from the influence of the Soviet Union. You will find old buildings in classical European style, next to Communist block buildings, next to a modern skyscraper. The old town is small, but under heavy renovation. There is a lively nightlife scene here with lots of bars, clubs, and restaurants open during the night. The city is a bit dirty, gritty, and there is quite a bit of poverty here. There are street children and old women begging for money and the hostel people warned us not to give money to them because we will be swarmed with them as word gets around. Also, there are lots of stray dogs running around. They don't seem dangerous, but we are told to stay away. There also seems to be pretty bad traffic jams during rush hour. We were also warned about the taxi drivers. I've heard so many bad things about taxi drivers, I now avoid them all the time unless I am with someone and/or a local arranges a ride for me. I did take a taxi from my hostel (arranged by the staff) to the train station and it was only 6 Lei (less than US$2).

Besides the old town, there is the Palace of Parliament that is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon. I suppose it must be the largest building the general public can get into since the Pentagon isn't open to the public. Supposedly, this was suppose to be Ceauşescu personal residence. The building and the grounds are absolutely massive. It seems to entire Romanian government is located there including all 3 branches of government. It costs 25 Lei (US$8) to get in or free if you are a student.

After 2 nights in Bucharest, I felt I had enough of the city and decided to get on a 4 hour train ride to Braşov. Here is a beautiful city located in the southern mountains of Transylvania (yes, home of Dracula). It is much cleaner and more beautiful than Bucharest in my opinion. Of course it is not nearly as big, but the dramatic landscape, cleaner conditions makes up for it. It also seems to be more heavily visited by tourists than Bucharest. If you can only visit one city in Romania, I would come here over Bucharest. The region is the Carpathian mountains and it's very beautiful here. Make sure you take a tram or hike up the Tampa mountain as the view is spectacular! Personally, I took the tram as my feet already hurt from walking around for nearly 2 months of travel. This is the mountain with the Hollywood style sign on it.

The people here definitely have a different look to them than the other places in Europe. They have a darker complexion and a more Mediterranean look to them. You definitely won't find too many natural blonds like you would in Scandinavia. I'd say the prices are about average for eastern European standards. It's about the same as Warsaw, a bit more expensive than the Baltic states and Ukraine.

I will take a train or a bus back to Bucharest this Saturday to catch a flight on German Wings back to Berlin to meet up with a friend.