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Neuchâtel — Thoughts and Observations #2

  • Switzerland does not have barbecue chips. In their place on the chip aisle are paprika chips, which are the same yet somehow slightly better.
  • After a few days of walking around, Martha and I never once saw a grill on anyone’s balcony. We took this to perhaps mean that people here don’t barbecue at all. When we later asked our relocation agent about this, she told us that outdoor grills are common in the country and the villages, but no one in the city has them since they take up too much room on the balcony. (At this point, I considered telling her that such a problem never stopped anyone in Chicago or Toronto, but thought the better of it.) Martha then asked how people in the city cook their steak. The relocation agent looked a little sad when she said, “In the oven.”
  • I had my first all-French interaction with a merchant today. It should not come as a surprise that this was with the local tobacconist. The selection of Cuban cigars rivals that of any cigar shop in Toronto, while the Central American selection is much more limited than what’s common in the States. However, they stock all the Davidoff cigars that aren’t available in either Canada or the U.S. Cigar prices for all types and sizes are about half of Toronto retail.
This was written by Quentin Blasingame. Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, at 03:43. Filed under Switzerland. Tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.