After hundreds of trips into Zurich, it finally dawned on me: I am fed up with the place (I moved out into the countryside long ago). After finally finding a ridiculously expensive parking spot, paying exorbitant prices for mediocre food and lousy service, browsing overpriced shops (why would anybody actually buy something on Bahnhofstr.?) walking through the same sterile streets over and over again, then coming back home a couple hundred francs poorer with little to show for it, I ask myself: why did I even bother? Anyone else ever feel like that?

In a nutshell, no i dont feel like that. In fact quite the opposite, but if i did have those feelings i would leave.

I agree with you (except the sterile streets part as the city sems to have become a dump). Either way, you are right but let's not forget, that for many people Zurich is the liveliest place in this country and if you are looking for some sort of entertainent, then you have to go to Zurich. However, for me, it is still a lame city and internationally speaking not comparable to similar sized towns, let along larger cities.
The thing that gets me, they started naming the outskirts (agglomeration) of Zurich the GZA - Greater Zurich Area likes it's some friggin metropolis!!

When a man is tired of Zurich he is tired of life.

Probably explains the high suicide rate....

Cheers,
Nick

Hi Karl,

There was a warning yesterday with reference to the Föhn winds.


"These winds are often associated with illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis. The first clinical review of these effects was published by the Austrian physician, Anton Czermak in the 19th century.[2] A study by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe.[citation needed] The causation of Föhnkrankheit (English: Föhn-sickness) is yet unproven. Labeling for preparations of aspirin combined with caffeine, codeine and the like will sometimes include Föhnkrankheit amongst the indications".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind


Perhaps this has something to do with how you feel about Zurich at the moment.

Not exactly, since I have an apartment there where I usually spend most of the week. But if I didn't I wouldn't bother coming. Maybe for going out or the opera or the theater once in a while but certainly not for shopping.

And hey, the Zürchers don't want you coming by car anyway. So better spend your money elsewhere.

So you, like lots of others on here, complain about everything being overpriced but I am sure you like the rest are happy to accept the 'overpriced' salary at the end of the month.
If you don't like the prices move to another country and accept another countries salary.

It's not so much the prices that bother me, but what you get for what you pay. I don't mind paying for high quality served with promptness and a smile. Just doesn't happen here.

I don't know, a little self-catering at the Coop then grabbing my book and going to sit by the lake with my lunch and my drink and my book, i find that rather inexpensive and fun for a daily excursion into Zurich. 10 francs? Maybe 15 if I get the expensive sandwich?

But I'm with you on the living out of town part. Couldn't pay me to live downtown when I am only 15 minutes out. I also don't particularly like going into town on the weekends since I am there all week.

I had to get a doxycycline prescription from the local pharmacy and the woman who served me was really nice and asking me about the tick bite that caused me to need those pills.

Just depends where you go.

Cheers,
Nick

C'mon, now, Karl just had a lightbulb moment and told us what it was and why he had it, asking if anyone else felt that way. No need to trot out the "If you don't like it, then leave" line, which I think we have all read in "Complaints Corner" so many times that it has become cliché.

Karl's realization now means that he can avoid Zurich in the future and spend his money where he feels he is getting a better value, which leaves more room for others who enjoy Zurich to park, eat, and shop. Everyone's a winner!

Its not bad service if you are Swiss. Its only us expats that complain about that. Why, because that's the way it is here, it's like the Swiss staring or pushing to the front of the queue, it's not rude it's just how the Swiss are, it's the way things work here.

It's Switzerland, things are not the same here as our homeland wherever that may be.
To live the life we have here, some small annoyances need to be accepted.

Zurich is one of the loviest towns I know - and I've been around. I love Zurich, I love the lake, to go swimming in the lake, to travel on its reliable trams, buses and boats, and to walk on and look down from the Uetliberg is one of my greatest pleasures. I find the people in Zurich pleasant, attractive, straightforward, friendly and helpful. I agree about the Bahnhofstrasse - the good shops have mostly gone, since the invasion of foreign chains the street is just another Oxford street, just more expensive without quality. But, I've never (or of course) rarely, had mediocre food, bad or miserable service, I know of no sterile street (thank god there are seldom open windows blaring out "music" as in London streets) and can't actually think of a definition of sterile for a street in Zurich - although the word does bring to mind those terrible streets in British towns where everything is falling to pieces. The town is well-planned, the traffic moves relatively fast in comparison to other places and last week I parked behind the Opera House for 50 Rappen per hour. In addition, I say, if we can all afford to buy cars at around 60K and upwards we can also afford a few franks to park - whereby there are so many empty spaces in parkhouses that a parking problem is really rare.

Things change, we now are 8million people, we have rush hours, traffic jams, overloaded transport, crowded pavements, fast-food, drinks in cardboard or plastic mugs, people in vests, litter, sport hooligans and all the rest. But for me, and in spite of everything its still the best place in the world.

I love going into the city on weekends - we park just the other side of the Landiwiese (5CHF will cover all the parking you could ever need), grab a couple Feldschloessli and Rivellas with some sausages on the Limmat and walk for hours. that way we can make fun of the charter buses full of Asian tourists who generally just get in the way taking pictures of every blade of grass, the American retirees who never seem to understand that a yellow painting of a bicycle on the sidewalk means that a bicycle may actually be coming at you at a high rate of speed, the Brits and Irish who invariably think that because they sell beer at the outdoor stands along the lake it means you have to drink a beer at every single one of them, and the Eastern European teenagers in their chick jeans, brand new Air Jordans and polystyrene hoodies who catch the train in to wander around aimlessly looking for trouble.

we're hopeful that spending our weekends this way improves our chances of "integration".



P.S. on the serious tip, we do actually like spending Sundays in the city, and the parking is no more expensive than anywhere else if you know where to look. some people like wandering the mountains, I'd much rather walk along the Limmat and spend some time in Old Town. it's also a pleasant way to stumble across some of my native language being spoken without an accent, and if I don't feel like reciprocating I can always simply mutter entschuldi, entschuldi, kein englisch.

I'm with Karl on this one.

I go into Zürich once a month. I'm not a city kind of gal, could never live in Zürich - but I used to very much enjoy these outings into 'civilization'. But lately something about Zürich just feels off. Perhaps it's the over-crowded trains, the over-crowded streets, the over-crowded shops... The trip is now more of a chore than a treat these days.

But then, my little 2-cow town (in the Heart Of Darkness) has now grown into a 4-cow town, and it too is starting to feel uncomfortably overcrowded.

I think I'm turning into a hermit in my old age.

Yeah I feel you, I lived there for a year and the best decision I ever made was to leave Zurich and Switzerland for good. It's the most horrible place on earth ( I have lived in many countries and never went to a place where the locals think to humiliate you every day and only smile when they see your money is normal behavior) Besides the ugly 50s look of design, architecture, the lack of style, the east European communist architecture (Schweizer Qualität) and basically the total lack of a free market and transparant economy. I am still celebrating the fact that I left

Hello, this is the complaints corner

I am sure Zurich misses you.

Yes but how can you complain about high prices when I am sure a high salary goes into the bank every month.

I don't see many salary complaints in here.

It's true that service downtown Zurich tends to be lousy and not particularly friendly. IMO it reflects today's consumers attitude : many are arrogant, pedantic, with an affected style, hardly say thank you or sorry, behave like kings and princess in the stores.

I wouldn't like to be a sale assistant working on Bahnhofstrasse....