Further (fun) facts you may not yet know about Zurich - or Switzerland for that matter
Zurich
- Albert Einstein studied at ETH Zurich from 1896 to 1900 and later became a professor at both the
University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
- Google’s largest European office is in Zurich, in fact, Zurich is Google’s most important research
and
development location outside the United States (e.g. Google staff in Zurich have been involved in
major
developments such as Google Maps)
- Haus Hiltl in Zurich holds the title of the world's first vegetarian restaurant, still serving
meat-free
dishes since 1898 for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians
- Muesli was invented in Zurich
- The largest church clock in Europe resides in Zurich (St. Peter’s Church)
- Zurich is home to over 1200 drinking fountains
- Zurich used to have one of the highest nightclub densities in Europe
Switzerland
- Switzerland was founded 1848 and has 26 cantons
- Switzerland’s size (41.285 km²) is similar to the Netherland’s and its population is similar to
Austria’s (close to 9 mio)
- Switzerland has 4 official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh)
- Bern is the capital of Switzerland and not Zurich (but Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city)
- Switzerland is not part of the EU (Switzerland’s currency is the Swiss Franc) but part of Schengen
(since 2008)
- Switzerland has a direct democracy and 7 PM’s (men/women mixed)
- Switzerland’s the richest country worldwide (thanks to research, development, quality and
reliability
among other factors)
- Switzerland’s country code “CH” stands for “Confoederatio Helvetica"
- Switzerland is considered a very liberal country
- Swiss people are recycling champions, i.e. more than 94% of used glass is recycled (recycling waste
is
mandatory in Switzerland)
- Typical Swiss dishes are Raclette, Fondue or Züri Gschnätzlets in Zurich
- Weather forecast and traffic reports play a minor role in TV’s news updates (as opposed to other
countries)
