Switzerland, march 2014!

Earlier this year in march 2014 myself and two other colleagues went on a trip to The Alps for a 9 day holiday. We had planned the trip many months in advance and were really looking forwards to this trip. Geneva Auto Show, alp villages, chocolate, mountains, skiing (actually we didn’t ski), parties and a nice Road trip. As we all now Switzerland is the land of watchmaking, mountains, chocolate, ice-cream, banks, wealth, pharmaceutical companies and the St Bernard dog so there were lots to see. Cities we visited while doing this trip was Geneva, Chamonix (France), Courmayeur (Italy), Verbier, Zermatt, Martigny, Luzern and Montreaux. I have been to Switzerland a few times before and I can say this is one of my favorite countries in the world. I’ve actually now visited all 26 cantons in Switzerland.

Officially the Swiss confederation is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities called a federal city.The country is situated in Western and Central Europe where it is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss plateau and the Jura. While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centers of Zurich and Geneva.

The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to 1 August 1291, which is celebrated annually as the Swiss National Day. It has a long history of armed neutrality and it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815. They did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to numerous international organizations, including the second largest UN office. Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and the Romansh speaking valleys.

Switzerland has the highest nominal wealth per adult in the world according to Credit Suisse. Switzerland is also the most expensive country in the world to live in. Swiss citizens have the second highest life expectancy in the world. For the last five years the country has been ranked first in economic and tourist competitiveness according to the Global Competitiveness report and the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report respectively, both developed by the World Economic Forum. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities with the highest quality of life in the world