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Zürich gets a dull reputation, but it's got a lot more going on than San Jose. Plus it's nice.
Have to disagree there. San Jose area has far more to do than the Zurich area. You have a world-class city just to the north and some of the best scenery and outdoors activities anywhere. Granted, the city itself is sprawly and boring, but Zurich is compact and boring, what's the difference?
Zurich is basically in the dullest corner of Switzerland, and there's nothing really of note in Zurich except for banking jobs and FIFA. You can't even flush your toilet late at night or do laundry on Sundays. They'll give you 1,000 Franc fine if you forget to recycle correctly. A hamburger can cost $40 USD.
Have to disagree there. San Jose area has far more to do than the Zurich area. You have a world-class city just to the north and some of the best scenery and outdoors activities anywhere. Granted, the city itself is sprawly and boring, but Zurich is compact and boring, what's the difference?
Zurich is basically in the dullest corner of Switzerland, and there's nothing really of note in Zurich except for banking jobs and FIFA. You can't even flush your toilet late at night or do laundry on Sundays. They'll give you 1,000 Franc fine if you forget to recycle correctly. A hamburger can cost $40 USD.
Sure, I liked the bay area. After 10 years in silicon valley I had enough. Well, after 2 years I had had enough, but stayed another 8. Personally I like the Zurich area, as well as the boring parts of France and Germany that are nearby. There's the Bodensee, Black Forest, Alsace, etc. It seems much more integrated with the environment, whereas San Jose seems imposed upon whatever was there before.
I don't really care about the Swiss expense, as I don't eat hamburgers anyway. I make quite a bit more than I made in Silicon Valley (large firms colluded to depress engineering wages for the same decade I lived there). I receive a bonus in cash, rather than stock options that I have limited control over.
My home outside of Zurich is larger and costs less. My employer provides me with a car and treats me like a valued professional rather than a replaceable resource. My job I suppose many would consider boring, but I think it's interesting. I am usually out of the office at 5pm, something that never happened in Silicon Valley.
Anyway I think all these things I mention are why Zurich is considered having a high quality of life. This is orthogonal to if a place is interesting, or exciting, or home to a booming industry.
Last edited by Hosken Powell; 02-23-2016 at 06:56 PM..
Have to disagree there. San Jose area has far more to do than the Zurich area. You have a world-class city just to the north and some of the best scenery and outdoors activities anywhere. Granted, the city itself is sprawly and boring, but Zurich is compact and boring, what's the difference?
Zurich is basically in the dullest corner of Switzerland, and there's nothing really of note in Zurich except for banking jobs and FIFA. You can't even flush your toilet late at night or do laundry on Sundays. They'll give you 1,000 Franc fine if you forget to recycle correctly. A hamburger can cost $40 USD.
Well, the thing about flushing your toilet and doing laundry on Sunday isn't generally true.
The story was based on a newspaper article a while ago, where a guy was told to stop flushing his toilet at night. That was based on a law that prohibits unusual emissions (sound, water, light, ...) from neighbouring apartments and is decided on a case by case basis.
It's the same law that prohibits you from playing the piano at 2am. It exists in pretty much every jurisdiction.
Not more than an Italian city. Certainly Naples has far more graffiti than Vienna.
I haven't been to Naples, but I would imagine it to be a little more unkempt than Vienna, which I expected to be immaculate, but wasn't.
Frankly, I think the UK has the least graffiti of anywhere - or at least, we clean the most off (except Banksy, of course!!). I traveled from London to Bucharest by train a couple of years ago and it's relentless once across the channel.
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