Switzerland

Today, Lesley, Kim and I drove about 175 km to the south to visit a town called Basel, in the country of Switzerland! We had a short wait to get into the country since Switzerland is committed to neutrality...and in doing so, is not a party of the EU. All EU countries can be entered and exited without having to go through passport control, it was somewhat strange to have to stop there and on the way back.

Basel was SO pretty! I will get some pictures up soon, but it is right on the Rhien River and everything is so OLD...and the food was so tasty! We walked around for a bit, then we headed back to Germany for the night.

Another rammification of not joining the EU for Switzerland is that it doe not use the Euro. It uses the CHF, or the Swiss Franc. Most places we went to accepted Euros, but it was weird running about the city with these shiny 5 franc coins. I had two hot dogs and some apple cider! I was impressed with my german skills here. There are a few official languages of Switzerland, email me (stephenmhodges@gmail.com) if you think you know what languages are official there. I ordered all my food and I even translated for Kim in germany! These events just stressed the importance to know a second or third language. Not only for local business transactions, but for world wide communication.

I now have 6 francs that I dont know what to do with since they are still they are not accepted anywhere. They are cool souvenirs! I had some chocolate, of course, and ate lots of other meats and cheeses.

The franc is about 2-3 ratio with the euro. It is not as strong, but is currently stronger than the dollar. I found it a pain to have to handle more than one currency while I was there. Maybe Switzerland will use the euro permanently someday? Who knows!

Guten Nacht,

Herr Hodges