It's 1 August again, Switzerland's bank holidays. Chocolate, cheese, watches and banks - the clichés about the Alpine nation in the heart of Europe are well known. But did you know ...
2.... that around 70% of Switzerland consists of mountains? 208 of them are over 3,000 metres high, 24 over 4,000 metres. And the highest peak, the Dufourspitze (canton of Valais), is 4,634 metres above sea level, while Switzerland's lowest point is on the shores of Lake Maggiore (canton of Ticino) and is just 195 metres above sea level. This point is only 70 kilometres from the highest Swiss mountain, named after a former Swiss general, Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
3.... that it is illegal in Switzerland to keep guinea pigs individually? You have to own at least two of them. On the other hand, Swiss men and women devote themselves to eternal togetherness relatively late. On average, men marry at the age of 31.8, women at 29.6. Whether the marriage will last forever is another question. The divorce rate is 41.3%.
4.... that Switzerland is one of the top countries in the world for cannabis consumption? It is estimated that around 600,000 potheads consume around 100 tonnes of hashish and marijuana every year. It is no different with alcohol. In 2012, Mr and Mrs Swiss drank around 56 litres of beer and 36 litres of wine per capita. Most of this was produced and consumed in Switzerland, leaving only about 2% of Swiss wine for export.
5.... that in the same year 18 Swiss chocolate manufacturers produced about 172,376 tonnes of chocolate? Apparently, the average Swiss eats around 10 kilos of chocolate per year, while the average American eats only around half that, at 5.3 kilos.
6. ... that women in Switzerland, despite the progressive social system, only received the right to vote at federal level in 1971? In the canton of Appenzell, women have only been allowed to go to the polls since 1990. But we have four official national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
7. ... that Switzerland is the recycling world champion? In Switzerland, bottles are taken to glass collection points for recycling, where you can also get rid of your aluminium and can waste. PET bottles and empty batteries are collected and recycled separately. Paper and cardboard is neatly bundled, placed at the roadside and collected weekly. Household waste is placed in chargeable sacks and also collected. Garden waste is either handed over in the in-house compost or put in a green container, which is emptied once every fortnight. It is understood that these collection services take place on different days and this may vary depending on where you live - if you are moving house, please take this complex waste calendar into account.
8. ... that the herb butter mixture "Café de Paris" does not actually come from Paris, but is named after the Geneva restaurant Café de Paris, where it was invented in the 1930s. You can buy it in any supermarket with the 1000 Swiss franc banknote, the paper with the highest banknote value in the world.
9. ... that Switzerland currently has around 8.57 million inhabitants - slightly more than New York City with around 8.4 million? The area of Switzerland is also only 41,285 square kilometers, which is less than a third of the area of New York State (141,299 square kilometers). One person who also lived in Switzerland was none other than one of the most important physicists in world history. Albert Einstein graduated from the Alte Kantonsschule in Aarau (not far from Lenzburg) and was working at the Bern Patent Office when he published his theory of relativity.
10. ... that one of the most popular fonts in the world was invented in Switzerland? The name suggests it - Helvetica - was developed by the graphic designer Max Miedinger in Basel in 1957.
And now we wish everyone a happy August 1st, celebrating one of the only two square national flags (besides the Vatican) in the world. The ground and forests are dry - which is why our beautiful Switzerland can be celebrated without fireworks; we don't want the Swiss Air Force to be called out, as they are only available during office hours ;-)
