I only really know more about Switzerland when I was 15 years of age. That was like, six years ago (psst...that was also the same year I really know more of Germany in History classes). Back then in my Social Studies textbook, it was being divided into various themes. 'Harmony and Discord' is one of those themes. A chapter on Sri Lanka, another on Northern Ireland (but that was until before last year I was heartened when I read of the news that the leaders of both Catholic-backed Sinn Fein and Northern Ireland's Protestants come together as one, in which the peace in Northern Ireland became former Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair's probably most enduring legacy as he did played a part in bringing troubled NI together when he was still in office) and the last in that theme was about Switzerland. No prizes for guessing Switzerland comes under which in the theme.
In my naive frame of mind at that time reading the chapter about Switzerland before my Secondary Three days began in 2002, I did wondered if I should consider a move to Switzerland in the future. Serious (I used 'in my naive frame of mind' in my first sentence of this paragraph...that is already a hint). That is before I realised that the standard of living in the landlocked country can be high. My most closest Swiss connections before I used to read that Singapore (yes, here, where yours truly is from) is the 'Switzerland of Asia' and our national goalkeeper had been offered a trial at Grasshoppers Zurich, was what I learned six years ago. Now thanks to Euro 2008, my interest of the country has rekindled...kind of.
Ahh...Switzerland. That is the Swiss national flag to your left. As according to Wikipedia, it is a landlocked country of 7.5 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal government and de facto capital, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world. It's landlocked for a reason. Given...the country is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality – it has not been at war since 1815 – and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the WTO and one of the U.N.'s two European offices.Two words - Roger Federer. One of Basel's most famous known personality at the moment. The current world number one in men's tennis is from there. To admit, I don't even know anything about Basel until the 'Federer Express' came exploding into the world of tennis (*red-faced*). Okay, so Basel is more than just Federer. Female tennis player Patty Schnyder is from there too. See, I do follow other sporting events with some interest as well, apart from football. From Wikipedia - Located in north-west Switzerland on the river Rhine, Basel functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The city borders both Germany and France. The Basel region, culturally extending into German Baden and French Alsace, reflects the heritage of its three states in the modern Latin name: "Regio TriRhena". It has the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation (1460). As of December 2006, population - 165,529.
A little of Basel's history which I find it interesting. Don't worry, I retrieve it from its Wikipedia page (and so I don't hold any responsibility for any changes in the link, same goes for those which are in italics here). Throughout history, Basel has been the host to numerous accords. In 1499 Treaty of Basel was signed to conclude the Swabian War, in effect allowing Basel to join the Swiss Confederation. In 1795, the Peace of Basel allowed the cessation of fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars against the First Coalition. In more recent times, on September 3, 1897, the World Zionist Organization held its first congress in Basel under the leadership of Theodor Herzl; this umbrella organization would later play an instrumental role in the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. In 1989, the Basel Convention was opened for signature with the aim of preventing the export of hazardous waste from wealthy to developing nations for disposal. Now other than knowing Roger Federer is from there, Art Basel is another of those which I learned recently. Usually held in June (hint hint to art freaks) and also since 2002, it has its own sister show call Art Basel Miami Beach (held at Miami Beach, Florida). According on its own Wikipedia page (not the sister show), it has been called "the Olympics of the art world".
On the sporting side of things, other than a certain Roger Federer, this could probably provide an insight as to why it's a successful sporting city (as according to the Wikipedia entry under 'Sport'). The football club FC Basel continues to be successful and in recognition of this the city will be one of the venues for the 2008 European Championships, as well as Geneva, Zürich and Bern. In 2002, the World Judo Championships took place in Basel. Basel features a large soccer stadium, a modern ice hockey hall and an admitted sports hall. The largest indoor tennis event in Europe occurs in Basel every October. The best ATP-Professionals play every year at the "Swiss Indoors". And speaking of Euro 2008, St. Jakob-Park (interestingly, it's being translated to St. James Park in English...and that is England's Newcastle home ground!) will play host to these matches (listen up, if your team is here) - Switzerland v Czech Republic, Switzerland v Turkey, Switzerland v Portugal, two quarter-finals, semi-final.
Berne. It's the capital of Switzerland (population as of 2007 - 128,041). Older Germans will probably remember this is the place where the 'Mannschaft' first scored their World Cup triumph in the 1954 World Cup final against the huge favourites of the time, Hungary (the Mighty Magyars as the national team is being nicknamed then, represents a golden generation in Hungarian football which somehow never really recovered to its former glory since....because of that match). It was actually during the 2006 World Cup where I first learned of this - The Miracle of Bern (or its German original Das Wunder von Bern). If whatever I had read about the legacy of that final in Bern in 1954 as being viewed in Germany are true, it's contary to popular thinking of how Germans actually commerate it. A 'brief' history of what I know (this is going to bring in a little of what I learned in History as well, and a little 'cheating' from Wikipedia)...
Like what I had said earlier, Hungary was among the best in those days. Yes, not even Germany can claim that (*is looking around anxiously*). The third-placed finish in the 1934 World Cup was their best achievement until the World Cup final in the Swiss capital. Hungary was the first national team to beat England at the home of football, the Wembley. In the 1930 version, Germany did not send a team because of economic reasons (that was what it said on Wikipedia). Prior to the 1938 version, as a result of the Anschluss, Austrian players were being ordered to join the German national team (for more reading, from my past entry which I did mentioned the impact of Anschluss to the once mighty Austrian national team - Whatever happened to das Wunderteam?). After WWII ended, the then-West Germany is not allowed to enter the 1950 version (then-East Germany had not founded a football association yet). So the 1954 World Cup was the first time the then-West Germany took part an international football tournament since the war ended. I will spare you all the details of what happened along the way to the final (you can read more in the link in the previous paragraph), but the results of the final became a turning point in post-war German history and sparked off the economic miracle back in Germany (also known as wirtschaftwunder in German) which is still recovering from the after-effects of the war. But to the Hungarians, it was a shock. One of those major consequences as a result of losing to the Germans on that fateful day in Bern was this - the families of Hungarian players, losing jobs. The loss had often being said, indirectly led to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Sad and...tragic (*suddenly feeling embarrassed of supporting the 'Mannschaft'*). But then as they say, one man's meat is another man's poison (and as someone who has learned to always see more than one side of the story since those past History classes, yours truly is torn on the issue at times).
One interesting trivia before I talk about the stadium for Euro 2008. I found this over here - Berne is actually the birthplace of the Toblerone. According to the website which I found, Jean Tobler opened his first store on Mittelstrasse in the Längassquartier in 1908, combining his name with the Italian phrase 'torrone' used for the mixture of honey, almonds and nougat. My word, my father did bought some Tolerone home when he was in Sweden in November for a working trip! Anyhow, Stade de Suisse Wankdorf will be used for these matches in Euro 2008 (listen up, given half of the 'Group of Death' group matches are going to play here) - Netherlands v Italy, Netherlands v France, Netherlands v Romania.
Geneva. I will let Wikipedia do the basic introduction. It is situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) and is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. In 2004, the population of the canton was 441,000, that of the commune within the traditional city limits 185,526, and that of the metropolitan area — which extends into neighboring France and the Swiss Canton of Vaud — about 960,000. Geneva is widely regarded as a global city, mainly due to the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations. A 2007 survey found Geneva to have the second highest quality of living in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich).
Like what it said in the previous paragraph, numerous international organisations...much to the extent that I will probably run out of breath if I want to mention them all. Really. But for me all along, Geneva is famous for some of the world's famous watch brands (like Baume et Mercier, Franck Muller, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Raymond Weil, Omega...etc.). I had not heard of the first one which is being listed on the Wikipedia page of Geneva but for the rest...Franck Muller and Patek Philippe are being mentioned on TV (and my former lecturer used to briefly mentioned the latter in class...though back then I had forgotten what led him to say that) before and the last three, whenever I look at some of the expensive watches in shops here, it will always state either 'Geneve' (its original French variant) or 'Geneva' in terms of where it's being manufactured. My father do own those watches (though I'm not sure if he still have those now) and so that was how I first came to know, though vaguely then.
On the sporting side of things...Servette FC (which is a football club) is based there. The first time I heard of this club is when back then I was just looking at photos of the German national team's preparations ahead of the 2006 World Cup (this only happened after the tournament ended given I wanted to kind of trace my other favourite national team's road to the tournament itself) and when the 'Mannschaft' was training in Geneva, the national side did played a test match against the club. During Euro 2008, Stade de Genève will play host to these matches (you know the drill if you want to check out the matches) - Portugal v Turkey, Czech Republic v Portugal, Turkey v Czech Republic.
Zurich will be the last host city being featured. As according to Wikipedia - Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 371,767 in 2007; population of urban area is some 1,007,972) and capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre (the political capital of Switzerland being Bern), and is widely considered to be one of the world's global cities. According to several surveys in 2006 and 2007, Zürich was named the city with the "best quality of life" in the world. For the record, I did a check on the 'global cities' part and...Singapore is among the ones mentioned (it did also explained the usual main characteristics of being call a global city)! On a personal note - Oh. my. word. We are almost on the same par as...Zurich?! Make no mistake about it, given what I always know of Zurich is good and I definitely admire the things it's known for (being the financial hub of the country for example...now is that why Singapore is being unofficially known as the 'Switzerland of Asia'?). *is stunned*
Ah yes. I did mentioned about Zurich being the financial hub of Switzerland. Some of the world's famous financial institutions like UBS, Credit Suisse, Swiss Re have their headquarters there. And, (from Wikipedia) Zürich is the world's primary centre for offshore banking, mainly due to Swiss bank secrecy. The financial sector accounts for about one quarter of the city's economic activities. I had often head of the 'Swiss bank account' thing and when back then in Secondary Three in my Social Studies textbook, it became all so clear to me. The bank secrecy law. And you wonder why some of the most richest in the world are based in Switzerland. But the bank secrecy law had also come under flak in many instances like especially in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in the US. For more reading on the issue, Terrorist Finance Tracking Program will be the place to go.
On the sporting side of things now. Hear, hear! FIFA's headquarters is located there. Also staying on the football theme (ahem, it's one of Euro 2008 host cities), Grasshopper-Club Zürich and FC Zürich (thanks to current Hertha Berlin coach Lucien Favre, I do know that he used to be the coach there before coming to Hertha). FC Winterthur (it's based in Winterthur, a city in the canton of Zurich) is also in Zurich (just look what's in the bracket)...and how I know? Look...here! If you click on 'FC Winterthur', look at who is first on the 'Famous players' category (the man who has often being called Jogi in his native Germany). *grin* In Euro 2008, Letzigrund Stadion will be setting of more 'Group of Death' group matches (do I sense fireworks time especially for the last one?) - Romania v France, Italy v Romania, France v Italy.
I had tried. Trying to dispel those cliches of Switzerland. Danke, merci and grazie (actually...all meant the same thing - 'thank you' in German, French and Italian respectively given those three are among the national languages of Switzerland) to these links (even if I may not have use it, it may be of enriched reading for you) - Basel, Berne, Geneva, Zürich, Switzerland, Useful German phrases, Useful Italian phrases. From me to you in German, French and Italian respectively - Auf wiedersehen, adieu and arrivederci!
