Wander In My Time

I left Paris in the afternoon and caught a train for Zürich, Switzerland. I arrived after the sun had set and it began to rain. My hostel was the "Zurich Youth Hostel," but this was a misleading title. It did not have the shaggy atmosphere most hostels have. Instead it glistened with straight lines, long tables, and a few middle-aged people in suits on their laptops. I was no longer in the city of love. I had entered the epicenter of wealth and utilitarianism, knives and watches. In Switzerland, even the cows get 90 days of vacation. They are taken to the alps to enjoy fresh air, great views, and a change of grass. I learned this because they were missing from their fields on our bus tour of the countryside. The guide explained other remarkable things about Switzerland to our caravan of snoozing business men and gassy tourists -- namely the strict land use policies: 1/3 of the land is natural reserves, 1/3 is for farming, the remaining third is divided into 10% housing and ...