The brand Switzerland

This post is for all those interested in country branding and to the ones who want to see nice videos about Romania...but mostly for the former reason :-)

Why write about this now?

1) The topic has been a hype in the last 3 years in Romania.2 totally different country images were developed for Ro.Although one of them had many good things inside, they've lacked a holistic communication, that one idea to leverage at different touchpoints: through TVC, Print, Internet banners,national tourism website,prints in each townhall, mobile phone apps, etc. Consequently,nothing was built around it and it faded away.

2) A few weeks back I've been to the Museum of Design in Zurich to visit "Paradise Switzerland" - the exhibition. It has been mind opening to see what and how long it took to create the Schwiitz brand. In this case, it took 50 years for the brand Switzerland to stand for:quality, mountains, and precision.




It all started in the 1920s, when the Swiss government advisertised Switzerland to Swiss as a winter holiday destination. The communication idea was: healthy kids thanks to fresh air and sports in the nature.
In parallel, Switzerland has promoted its agriculture: fresh mountain milk and cheese.

So, how did Swiss build their brand?
-Find 3 things that define your country,are different from the ones of neighboring countries and are deeply rooted in the
territory. In the Swiss case: spectacular mountain scenery, quality products, precision (clock industry).
-Think of a campaign idea that is general enough to include the 3 characteristcs to promote.The campaign idea needs to be easy understood so that it can be leveraged at multiple touchpoints. In the Swiss case: keep yourself fit and enjoy the quality Switzerland has to offer.
-Think of a logo and a slogan that reunites these 3 elements.This will be the common element in all advertising media. For CH, the flag was chosen as a logo. As for the slogan: Swiss Quality.
-Develop the Tvc to leverage one element at a time.If you can logically connect 2 elements, you can then include boh in
one Tvc.Do Not try to fit all the 3 elements in one Tvc b/c it will dillute your message.Use alternatively different
Tvc,having as a common element the slogan and the logo.
-Repeat,repeat,repeat the same ideas over and over again.The executions can be different,but the idea Must be the same.

And now, to the Switzerland example:
- for mountains they chose Matternhorn and they repeated the same image, though in a modern look,for 70 years;
- quality - the executions were always different,but same idea;
- clocks - he idea of precision was communicated.In some instances, quality and clocks were
connected in the same commercial by "precision".
-to this, they added a fourth element: chocolate.This was alternatively connected to mountains and the fresh milk of mountain cows or to quality.

So, what can be done in Romania's case?
1) elements:
- wild, virgin nature and the Danube Delta as an image for this;
- authentic villages - which is easily connected to nature;
- hospitality - fits with villages.

2) Slogan/logo - the use of the flag is not recommended b/c it is too disturbing in a print;
3) Tvc - below are 2 attempts to portray Ro. I prefer the former b/c it is captures some of the typical ro elem.

1st video- was done by Ogilvy 4-5 years ago. The campaign idea is: Romania - simply surprising. It is my favorite one due to the combination of music and image choice.


2nd video - the positive in there is the placement of known personalities, sport people like: Hagi, Nadia Comaneci, or Ilie Nastase. However, the slogan was less inspired, as well as the image selection, which doesn't really capture the most special things/places in Romania. To end with, this video tries to cover too many distinct aspects of Romania and it thus dillutes the message. At the end you cannot really tell what Romania is. This probably proofs that the creatives behind this video weren't briefed correctly and didn't really immerse in the topic. However, enjoy it! There are 2 versions for this video.
The first one is a teaser. It's funny and it serves its purpose.


The second version is the real TVC:



and finally...a teaser sponsored by SAB Miller to refresh/ learn more about Romania:

Swiss voted "yes"

Today has been a pretty important day for us, Romanians as we have finally been recognized as EU member country. This means that we are moved from the category "other countries" into the category "new EU member countries" when it comes to being granted a residence or a work permit. 

This is a good news, since it shows that Swiss acknowledge the fact that they are in need of work force. However, the result is to be seen in the light of an important specification: should the treaty have not been agreed on, all the other treaties regarding the free movement of persons between the EU and Switzerland would have been null. 

However, the the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung says: 

"Für manche Rumänen steht das anbrechende Zeitalter der Freizügigkeit innerhalb der EU und auch der Schweiz angesichts der akuten Image-Probleme ihres Landes unter einem schlechten Stern. Solche Überlegungen trüben ihre Freude über den Ausgang der Volksabstimmung in der Schweiz." (am 9. Februar 2009)

This paragraph draws attention to the importance of country brand. What is known today about Romania in the EU and in Switzerland can be summarized under the following statement: poor, third world country, where people have difficulties even to afford enough food, gipsy, dark skinned, and on the more positive side, lower salary demand in EU standards, hard working. 

However, very little or nothing is known about the country. Dividing on the EU citizen's imagination, Romania could be drawn as:

- a slavic land, having a language similar to Russian

- rich in natural beauty and virgin lands

But we know that Romania is more than this. So, we'd better not wait for a national branding campaign to be launched on CNN and use the word of mouth to advertise our country. 

Vals

As part of a Graubünden tour (the canton in Eastern Switzerland), I've visited a more remote location called Vals. Vals is a village of 800 inhabitants, situated in the mids of the Romansch speaking region, whose main income source (75%) comes from tourism. 

What is interesting though, is that for the first time visitors, the village seems to be at the end of the world, as one usually has to change trains two times and then take a bus for the rest 20 km in order to get there. For the "less initiated" with the Swiss small mountain roads, it is recommended to go by bus. As you will see from the images, the road is too narrow to allow two cars to take a turn. 

While walking through the village, the first idea that stoke me was: how does this village survive and why is it such a touristic attraction? As previously mentioned, it is a remoted place, with a typical Swiss mountain landscape. 

So how do they do it?

After a brief analysis from different information sources, the following important elements could be drawn, which contribute to Vals's success as touristic area:

- A very open local administration, that markets its region very well and which also took the role as a one time stop for everyone who is interested in visiting Vals. That is, they not only advertise the natural beauties of the region, but also already suggest possible touristic activities and active support the visitors in planing their trip, finding accommodation, offering insights about what is to be seen.

- The peasants which were mainly active in agriculture, saw and reapt the opportunity to diversify their income sources by enlarging their challet and accommodating a small number of tourists (aprox. 10-15). The provided food is advertised for originating from the area, as well as the served dishes.

- Vals has thermal water sources and posseses a hotel made of two eight storey buildings and the building which accommodates the baths. Although the two hotel buildings are architecturally typical for the seventies, the inspiration came when the most renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumtor was appointed to re-design the bath building. As in other examples such as the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, the new building became "the point of attraction" for the entire village. By using only local materials and taking its inspiration from the particularities of the region, Zumtor has designed a special place for relaxation and health, where the combination of light and shade, open and enclosed spaces and linear elements contribute to a sensation appealing pilgrimage through the Vals region.

 

If I were to compare this to a place in Romania, I would name Baile Herculane as being the most similar to this place. Briefly described, they are also situated in the mountains, being not very well connected, but still close enough to big cities such as Craiova or Timisoara. It benefits of a mild, sub-Mediterranean climate and vegetation, of thermal waters and fresh mountain air. So, why isn't it as known as Vals is, and what can be done about it?

I would recommend to compare the three elements mentioned and see where this resort lies in terms of competitiveness in comparison to Vals. Take the example of Vals and particularize it for Baile Herculane region.

A political view on Switzerland

On February, the 8th. 2009, the Swiss will decide through a referendum whether they agree or not to enlarging free movement of EU citizens to Romania and Bulgaria. Basically, this treaty facilitates the easiness of a Romanian or Bulgarian citizen to reside in Switzerland. Until now in order to reside in Switzerland for more than three months, a Romanian citizen needed to submit a visa application in his/her country of origin and after receiving this visa he/she was allowed to apply for a residence permit. Under the new law, the same citizen won't have to apply for a visa in his/her country of origin anymore. Thus, the process of receiving a residence permit is simplified.

Furthermore, the free movement law has provisions regarding the right to asylum and immigration policy. Without going into details, I will tackle each of SVP's (the Swiss People's Party) accusations.

1. More job losses - The Labour Ministry in Switzerland pointed several times to the fact that Switzerland needs more people on certain job areas and that EU and especially the new EU countries are a qualified source for such labor. Thus, the extension of this treaty facilitates job occupation and does not lead to job losses.



2. Lower wages - At least in the last two years since I have been living in Switzerland, the average wage is steadily increasing and not decreasing. Furthermore, there is high transparency regarding average levels of salaries depending on industry and qualification and a provision regarding minimum wage. Added to this, the Romanian and Bulgarian citizen that SVP is afraid of (aka the low qualified) do not compete for the same jobs as the Swiss. Thus, the extension of the free movement of persons positively affects the labor market and not negatively in the medium and long run.

3. Empty accounts of the Agency for Jobless - In line with the argumentation at point 2, the free movement of persons through more job occupation brings additional revenues to the Agency for Jobless. Furthermore, even if on short - term more persons from the two countries will be tempted to move to Switzerland, and thus the costs might increase short term, they will be out-weighted by the additional revenue from new occupied jobs.

4. Ruined social security - Even if theoretically more immigrants increases the need for social security, the pile of documents necessary for applying for this is so big and the process so complicated that few of the immigrants are able to make such requests. As will be discussed below, in order for everyone (EU and Switzerland) to win, what Switzerland should do is cooperate and not close itself. Remember the prisoner's dilemma.

5. Increased criminality - It is true that more persons will be tempted to go to Switzerland. However, even now it is possible to enter Switzerland without a visa if you stay less than three months. And I doubt that those categories of people that SVP is afraid of will ever state now that they want to stay longer. Consequently, it depends on the check control at the borders whether they allow those categories of people to enter Switzerland or if they submit them to a harsher control. Furthermore, through collaboration with the Romanian and Bulgarian authorities, the criminals could be tracked easier and their liberty of movement restricted. However, what I cannot agree with is for an entire nation to suffer because of some pick pocket criminals or beggars which are unrepresentative for the entire population.

6. Decreased democracy - On February the 8th, Swiss will have to vote for two things: to prolongs the existing free movement treaty with the EU and to extend it to Romania and Bulgaria, the two new EU countries. As the two countries are already EU members, it is actually one issue to be voted for, and that is the prolongement of the treaty. Thus, there are no two different issues to be discussed and thus one vote is enough.

7. Pressure from the EU and the Swiss Parliament - SVP suggests a separation of the voting in two issues: prolongement of the treaty as it is valid now, and as a different issue the extension of the treaty to Romania and Bulgaria. However, as argued above, to restrict the rights of two EU countries only because they are new is hazardous. Other solutions should be found to fight against the small criminality. In this, cooperation and not isolation is the solution.

All in all, the arguments brought about by the SVP are light hearted, to say at least. Their overall position is against EU and for a closed Switzerland, which is an undesired situation economically speaking. See my post on "Switzerland closes itself again" for additional arguments regarding this topic as well as the following links:

Ausländische Arbeitskräfte
Offene Stellen

Quality of Life vs. Quality of Living

While visiting the no.1. ranked city in the world on quality of living, I was thinking: Zurich is not even that special. Why should it be so high ranked?

Definitely, if I start looking at the factors which are taken into consideration for this classification, namely:

- internal stability, crime, law enforcement

- public services and transport

- banking services

- schools 

- recreation 

- housing 

- natural environment

...then it might be understandable the outcome. 

However, if a city is ranked number 1 in the quality of living does it mean that it has the same place when ranked to quality of life?

or in other words....

Would you prefer to live in a city with a high quality of living or in one with a high quality of life?

Had I been asked this question, I would definitely pick the second one, with the high quality of life. Why?

It's quite simple. Quality of life is a subjective measure and if I imagine been given the chance to live in a high ranked city on quality of living, but where I have no friends, I would feel miserable and I wouldn't care less that I can feel safe there, or that I have a high variety of recreation activities. What are they good for if I don't have anybody to go with to enjoy that high quality of living?

To sum up, I realized that I would prefer to be in a city where I have friends, even if it's dirtier, noisier, more dangerous and poorer in facilities than in a glamorous, safe, full fetched city all by myself.

That is, I'd rather stay in a 3* hotel which has a homey atmosphere than in a 5* all inclusive impersonal hotel. 

What would you choose?

Winter and the tourism industry

After a sad, rainy autumn, winter has finally come to Switzerland. And it's not only me who is happy that at least now I can clearly define what season it is...Happier than me are the hotel managers who, despite the financial crisis, have their hotels fully booked for the Christmas - New Year time frame.

So, how can this be explained?

I have two arguments for this:

1) Most of the bookings for the Christmas- New Year timeframe were made well in advance, that is in July - August, when the crisis didn't seem so grim. Added to this, I have a secondary cultural explanation for this behavior. As most of the tourists are Germanic, which have an increase need for planning in advance, they wanted to make sure that they have secured well in advance every detail of their winter holiday.

2) The impact of the crisis on the individual people comes with a delay of a few months - this means that the demand for vacations will decrease for spring and summer holidays which are to be booked now or until December.

How come this delay?

It is part of a vicious circle, which starts with the scarcity of money and loans, which negatively affect the growth needs of the businesses. What is more, as people decrease their spending and increase savings in the expectation of bad times, the demand for products and thus the industrial production decreases. This leads to a decrease in the business activity, in shrinking capacity and temporary layoffs.

To conclude, the tourism business will notice the effects of the crisis and recessionary period starting with the end of this year.

Regulations for bicycles in Switzerland

I have been waiting for a long time to happen and it finally did: the police stopped me while I was biking today. Strange, isn't it?

In Romania it would be strange because there bicycles are de facto not considered to exist on the streets although there are some cyclists on streets. Police is Romania is probably too concerned with managing the automobile traffic and does not get involved in how bicycles circulate.

So what does this mean for the cyclists?

Basically, they can go whatever, however they want on the streets as long as they don't get hit. Furthermore, they needn't have any lamps or other protection elements. They can even get drunk and still hop on the bike and cycle to get home. However, don't think that this has only advantages.

So what are the disadvantages?

First, you are in danger when you find yourself on the street between the cars because they see you only as an obstacle and not as an equal participant in the traffic.
Second, if there are no rules to follow, the cyclists can adventure in dangerous maneuvers that put their lives in danger.
Third, you don't have any special parking places for your bike. this means that it can easily be stolen or hit if somebody thinks it stands in his/her way while parked.

But how is it in Switzerland?
I'll mention only those facts that I usually come across.

1) Every bicycle that runs on the streets needs to hold a vignette, similar to the ones for the cars. In this case, this is an insurance, like a car insurance.

2) It is forbidden to cycle if you drank. Should the police stop you, you risk losing your driving licence. Yes, your driving license although all you drove was a bike.

3) The police can stop you like any traffic participant and ask you for your documents. The reason why they stopped me today was to check if I had all the lamps. If something misses, then you risk being fined.

4) Cars usually pay great attention to the cyclists and give them priority. It somehow makes you feel good when you make a Porsche stop in front of you to allow you to cross the street. :-)

Coming back to more serious reasons, all this attention given to cyclists as well as the special dedicated bike routes promote the use of bikes for within town circulation, making the air more breathable and reducing noise.
For the cyclists it brings some significant advantages: rapidity especially in traffic jams and use of bike both as a sport and as a utility vehicle.

Säntis Trip

After a month of daily raining and pale light the entire day, today we were lucky enough to have a sunny day with a clear, blue, autumn sky. Needless to say that I had to take advantage of this unique day I would say and go on a trip. And what can be a more appropriate activity than climbing up the Säntis on such a clear weather?

For the ones not yet initiated in the Appenzeller Region, Säntis is the highest peak in Eastern Switzerland, with an altitude of about 2500 m. As you can see from the pictures bellow, it has worth the effort to get there because the view was absolutely fantastic and left me breathless.

The Säntis peak is situated in the Region Appenzeller, which offers one of the most authentic Swiss landscapes and where you can still see how the inhabitants live according to the traditional, local customs.
Appenzeller is the land of the mauve Milka cows, of snow-white sheep, of crystal blue lakes and fresh green grass.

Enjoy the pictures!

Switzerland closes itself again

Do you remember my post about the the free movement of persons in Switzerland? If you don't, let me shortly remind you. Switzerland has signed several treaties with the EU which are aimed to enhance the businesses between the two parties. One of these treaties is related to the free movement of persons. Switzerland is supposed to prolong the treaty in December, when it will also include on their lists the two newest EU members: Romania and Bulgaria.

Today however, representatives from three parties have gathered enough signatures so that they can now propose in the Parliament a Referendum against this treaty. Probably the proposal won't pass through. Anyway, even the idea that members of three parties have considered taking this action is unbelievable.

In the world economy where Switzerland is one of the countries that benefits the most from the globalization (think of all the multinational companies headquartered in CH), it chooses to initiate such actions that makes it more difficult for the people to settle in the country. In the same line of reasoning, Switzerland needs to understand that it should keep itself open if it doesn't want to bear the consequences of companies leaving it because of its inflexible regulations.

Below you have the opinion of a tabloid newspaper about the free persons movement issue.
For the ones unfamiliar with this story, there is a long rivality between the Swiss and the Germans that is visible even at my university. Why? Germans are accused of coming to Switzerland for studies and then choosing not to leave the country anymore. Furthermore, due to the educational regulations, only 25% of the students may be of foreign citizenship at public universities. This makes to select only the best German students, who after graduation get the jobs of the Swiss. And so goes the story.

Let's talk about OLMA

For the ones who haven't been through St. Gallen, I will introduce you to a very popular event that marks the town two weeks long every October.
It's called Olma Messe/ Olma Exhibition. You're probably imagining now pictures hanging on the wall or Greek and Roman sculptures.
You'll be surprised to find out that Olma it's not at all about art in its classical sense.
OLMA stands for "Schweizer Messe für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung", that is Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture and Nutrition. The farmers come to exhibit their animals and present their products (usually cheese and wine).
When I found out about this exhibition, I was quite amazed. Why? I didn't expect to see in a country such as developed as Switzerland such an "animals show".

This event still puzzles me and I wonder how come the agriculture plays such an important role, even though it doesn't bring a great value added to the GDP. However, the same is valid for France, too, where the farmers benefit from a comprehensive protection from the government, being largely subsidized.


But in Switzerland, the country of banks and pharma, why is agriculture important?

I have three hypothesis for this question:
1) It's a matter of national pride to have your own products which you market internally and in the EU markets. It's not only a matter of country pride, but also the Swiss consumers attach a premium value to a product to which they personally know the region of provenience.
2) This subsidization can also be looked at as the result of the "distributive function" of the government. By this I mean the distribution of the funds from the "haves" to the "have not-s". In this case, the transfer of money from the banks' and other multinationals headquartered in Switzerland, to the farmers who live in harsher living conditions.
3) This support can also be considered as a reward for the fact that farmers, by taking care of their assigned properties, contribute to maintaining the beauty of the Swiss landscape.

So, how can this help? What are the learnings for other countries, and especially Romania, from the story?

Let's take three take-aways:

1) We (Romanians) should start and brand our national products with more pride. As lots of Romanian consumer goods products and especially food is still traditionally cultivated, we should promote this particularity. We should, furthermore, try to market our products outside our country with more pride and actively participate at exhibitions. The premium price will follow as the brand will progressively become established.

2) We should try and promote the farmers' traditional way of life in Romania in our country image strategy. There are only few countries left in the EU (only Bulgaria), where this customary way of living is still alive.

3) We should be nationalists like other countries are (France, Switzerland, Austria) and choose our national food products if they provide a similar quality. That's how each of us can support the farmers' way of life, which further has a direct positive impact on Romania as a touristic attraction. Furthermore, this also helps maintain our country's identity.

Parkstrasse vs. Spitalului Str.

While I was biking today through the museum quarter in St. Gallen, suddenly a question popped up in my mind: how was that street that I was just biking on different from a secondary street in an 70.000 inhabitants Romanian town. And so I started to compare and contrast two similar streets in different towns.

I mainly looked at the following elements:

1) Houses - in St.Gallen - built in the first half of the 20th century, height: usually P+2 or P+3. We have that in Romania, too. So what is so special? The special atmosphere that they diffuse comes from the fact that they don't show off in your way, they rise there like discrete strangers who don't want to interfere in your way. Usually, they are partly masked by trees or bushes, which separates them from the rushing pedestrian or cyclist. There's no flashy pink, crazy green, or dark blue house to hypnotize you with their color.

2) Streets - it is designed to limit your speed to theoretically 30 km/h. Practically, no one drives with more than 15 km/h. Why? The street provides in both direction parking spaces for the residents. Blue and white lines indicate the teritorry meant for parking. As everyone there is conscious enough to respect the regulations and the others around him, everyone respects those drawings and no cars don't come up in your way because they are wrongly parked.

Furthermore, in order to reduce speed, traffic circles have been built every now and then and they are also a green area with trees and flowers. What is even more interesting about the secondary streets in the living areas of St Gallen is that the road and the pedestrian road is not clearly defined in some areas. There are some fragments of let's call them "third spaces" which both cars and pedestrians use. This is again not a breakthrough concept one could say. That's true, but the beauty is in how they (the Swiss which I don't usually praise) have succeeded to combine all these ubiquitous elements into a relaxing atmosphere.

3) People - not too numerous are walking on the street quietly. If you look at them, they politely return your look, but you don't feel at any moment that they are interfering in your life or that they judge your appearance. This is something which is quite different from Romania, where people tend to compare and judge each other by their clothing. I see this only as a transition phase for Romanian, too, which is mainly caused by their "materialism orientation". This "orientation" makes them judge people in a superficial way according to their: phones, cars and clothes. In Switzerland, it is the character that matters most and you don't usually pay attention to the material aspects.

To sum up, what I tried to do was to compare two streets in middle class residential areas in two countries. I compared and contrasted houses, streets and people. My overall impression is that what distinguishes streets here is that they allow each one: driver, cyclist or pedestrian to circulate without interfering in each other's way.

------
I'm still looking for some pictures make it visually more clear what I mean.

Switzerland is getting ready for war

One of the informations that I've kept in my memory from the history classes is that Switzerland has always been a neutral country in times of war. That's one of the explanations for seeing wealthy people choose to invest their savings in the Swiss banks. Anyway, we're not going to talk about banks of finance today because we've already had too much of this topic in the last weeks. What we're going to discuss today is Switzerland's military politics.

Just as the title said, Switzerland is getting ready for war. "How come, when and with whom?" you might ask. Guess what, this is what I'm wondering, too. I've been living in Switzerland for a year now and one of the things which really stoke me when I got here is the emphasis they put on their military forces. Should you find yourself in the train station on Fridays evenings, you will be able to admire numerous young men dressed in military uniforms. What is more, for all the ones who pursue a military training, there a special places reserved at the university.

However, it's not only soldiers that you can see walking around all over Switzerland. If you choose to travel by car, you'll have a high chance to see some of their military transportation vehicles driving in rows.

But Swiss are still not happy enough with their military equipment, so they are deciding today in the Parliament the exact amount of money that they spend for buying new equipment.
What do they want to buy?
We're talking here about 220 transportation vehicles and the upgrading of 33 of their existing F/A18 combat planes. For all this, they've reserved 917 Mio. Francs from the budget.

All being said, it's no wonder that they make me think of war. But again, probably it's just me who finds this a bit odd, as Swiss people are already used to it and the ones who are not "lucky enough" to be accepted to llive in Switzerland, they don't really see what's happening.

No more mountain view from Swiss downtowns

Dear friends,

Today I've read an article about urban planning in Switzerland. Basically they worry because the local authorities are including unreasonable pieces of land for building purposes at the expense of agriculture or natural habitats.
Here are some paragraphs that have raised my attention, which I believe that also the Romanian authorities should read and be aware of:

"«Die aktuelle Raumplanung ist nicht nachhaltig.» So steht es im Raumentwicklungsbericht 2005 des zuständigen Bundesamtes für Raumentwicklung (ARE)."

"Diese Zunahme der besiedelten Fläche ist mit dem Bevölkerungswachstum allein nicht zu erklären. Hinzu kommen die Zunahme der beanspruchten Fläche je Person und der Umstand, dass das Siedlungswachstum über weite Strecken ungeordnet verläuft. Städte, Dörfer und Weiler explodieren in die Landschaft hinaus. Dazwischen bleiben viele Flächen übrig, die weder für eine vernünftige bauliche noch eine landwirtschaftliche Nutzung oder als Erholungsgebiet taugen."

For the ones who understand German, I've pasted these two paragraphs so that you can understand their approach. They are worried because the urban planning is unsustainable. Why is this? Because residences are being built on former agricultural terrains, which are not directly connected to the city. This leads to a fragmentation of the land used for agricultural purposes making agriculture unprofitable and also steadily decreases the possibility of using the land in the vicinity for leisure purposes.

According to the Swiss law for urban planning, only those terrains are meant for buildings which support multi-layered buildings and which are directly connected to a town.
will obturate the view
You might have enjoyed the beautiful mountain tops which can be seen even from the town centers (e.g. see the bellow picture from downtown Bern).


Swiss are now worried that some pieces of land which have recently received building allowance will obturate such nice views.

"Die spätgotische Kirche von Kirchberg, Wahrzeichen am Jurasüdfuss, wurde im 8./9. Jahrhundert erbaut. Sie steht auf einem Felssporn hoch über dem Aaretal. Bei guter Sicht vermittelt der Ort einen herrlichen Blick über das Mittelland und auf die Alpenkette vom Säntis bis zu den Berner Hochalpen. Ohne gebührenden Umgebungsschutz wurde der Kirchhügel zur Bauzone erklärt, und nun wird auch er mit Wohnbauten jeder Stilsorte zugebaut."

You can find the entire article under this link:

Freie Landschaft und zugebaute Schweiz

All in all, we should learn from how Swiss are protecting their natural beauty if we still want to praise with the natural beauty of our country.

Bodensee Tour Day 2

Dear friends,

I've decided today to go on a second tour around Lake Constance in order to know the region better. So, I embarked on my bike and followed the "Orchard bike route" from St.Gallen to Arbon. Here are some pics from the way.


Arbon is a beautiful, small, medieval town that is worth visiting. Because 15km aren't so much, I continued my tour around the lake towards Kreuzlingen (the border town with Germany) and arrived in Romanshorn. I've spend some time there lying on a bench and reading on the lake shore.
Here are some more pictures:


What can I say? My impression since yesterday didn't change too much. Here, too, were few people and most of the ones crossing the town were bikers.

Enjoy the pictures and let's find another topic for the next post. Any suggestions?

L.

3 countries, 3 means of transportation

Dear all,

To take advantage of the few sunny days that one can enjoy here in St.Gallen, I've been on a bike tour around the Constance Lake yesterday. Three things I would like to take with me to Romania from that tour:

1. Importance of infrastructure - it's because I knew that wherever I end up with my bike I will still find a train or a ship to take me back to Switzerland, I dared to further on this trip that I did alone.
It's incredible how important the infrastructure is. Imagine that in 4 hours I was able to go from Switzerland to Austria and then end up in Germany. On the way you have enough signs to confirm you that you're on the right track and a lot of places to rest.

2. Bike routes - As I mentioned already, not only are the bike routes very well signaled, but on the way if there's anything interesting that one needs to pay attention to, you find informative posters as the one you see below:






The bike routes each have their own names besides having numbers, that is: one is called "Around the lake", another one "Orchard Route" and so on.
When biking, one idea crossed my mind: when were these routes designed and what was their impact on the touristic attraction of the towns which cross this route? Furthermore, did more people choose to live there since they had these additional amenities?

3. Difference between Germany and Switzerland at the Constance Lake - When I arrived to Lindau I couldn't help notice the high number of tourists and residence relaxing in the sun on the terraces with the lake view and in the old city.
Until now you might say, nothing to wonder about because Lindau is known as being a very beautiful city and a main touristic attraction in the area.
However, when you get on the Swiss side of the lake, everything is quite, calm; you meet few people walking on the lake shore and even fewer terraces with lake view.
Except for the bike trekkers who are in transit in Switzerland in their journey around the lake, there's nothing much happening.

So I wondered why is it so: is it because of the price difference that tourists prefer to go to Austria or to Germany at the Constance Lake? Or is it because of the leisure attractions and other facilities (tennis fields, swimming baths, mini events) that are offered by the German and Austrian towns on the lake? Or is it because Switzerland has so many lakes that the people are distributed to each of them and then you don't see so many people at one lake?

All these are assumptions and I'm looking forward to your opinion on this matter.

Have a great weekend wherever you are, my friends!

L.

"It is non-swiss to create something that has no function"
"Swiss are the world champions when it comes to saving money "

These two affirmations belong to our guide who showed us the Confederation Parliament. What is more, they provoked me to reflect upon the reasons why Swiss are a wealthy nation.
The first explanation that comes to my mind comes from Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", in which he argues that capitalism and the pursuit of the economic gain is one of the by-products of the Protestant ethic. Even though this argumentation seems sound enough, I tend to be careful in attributing a result to a single phenomenon. That is, it rather seems to me that this Swiss wealth is the consequence of several determinant factors, bundled together, such as: industry progress and trade (with textiles, watches, cheese), neutrality, autonomy of the cantons in managing their territory (own constitution, tax laws, etc.) and nonetheless protestant religion in half of the Swiss territory.

Secondly, what it first stroke me when I came to St. Gallen and what it was confirmed to me various times is that Swiss don't have extravagant expectations concerning the standard of living, even though they would afford it. If you travel around Switzerland you will notice that the majority of people living in cities live in coupled houses, or in old, restored houses, which however, don't have an extraordinary standard. Coming from a culture where the material properties (house, car, clothes) are a proof of your social status and welfare, it still amazes me that Swiss citizens choose to live in decent (sometimes too decent for my taste), old, houses, which they share with other families. Nevertheless, this could be a good lessons for Romanians, which would also have a positive impact on the Romanian economy (not boosting the consume economy anymore).

Finally, here are some images from Bern:

SG in one word: Concrete

If I were to define St. Gallen in one word, I would definitely say: concrete. "Concrete" not in a figurative meaning or in slang (as Romanian teens used it), but in its basic meaning of "construction material".
Why?
Consider a day in the life of a student here: he/she has the rare and great opportunity to study in a university building made of CONCRETE.

If he/she chooses to do a sport, the sport halls are as well made of CONCRETE.

Furthermore, if one he/she feels the need for a cultural activity, then he/she will go to the theater, which is made of....you're guess is right......CONCRETE.


One doesn't need to be a specialist in architecture to figure out that these guys just love minimalism and CONCRETE buildings.
However, if I hadn't been here, I couldn't have noticed this "insight" about life in SG.