So, having been home for a few days, here are a few impression in retrospect. I am not normally one for bashing foreign countries or strange cities, but the contrast between Liverpool and Zürich seems quite strong. Z is way more sterile, and seemed to have a lot less character than one would imagine from a world-famous city. Mind you, my trip was only three busy days and in off-season; I heard that it can be a wonderful place once something is actually going on. Nevertheless, here is a small list of things that I found very strange:
(1) We went for dinner in one of the cheapest places for the first night. I ordered something that sounded quite nice and rich, and got some macaroni with meat, cheese, topped with pieces of roasted apples - served in a cake tin. I last had the student-equivalent of that meal well over 10 years ago as a second-year undergraduate student; before discovering that it is a better idea to cook real food. So, in the Swiss restaurant, they of course used very good real cheese and good meat, but the food was still essentially highly glorified Kraft Dinner. The interesting part is the price ... CHF 24.70 = £17.10 = €20.09 = CAD 27.85. Ouch. Particularly translated iton Canadian Dollars, this just sounds harsh!
(2) Waiting for a train, I leafed through the 'Who is Who in Zurich' magazine for this year. I came upon the entry of a professor, who was very much lauded for buying his assistant a Smart car. Great guy I thought, until I read on to learn that the assistant was forced to work such long hours that there was no public transport by the time he was finally allowed to leave. Huh???
(3) Apparently, if you are unlucky, you can get a parking ticket for CHF 635. That's a little steep, I think.
If nothing else, I learned how much I actually like Liverpool - now that I got used to the place ...
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