Inside Europe’s Most Expensive City

[mellow acoustic guitar plays]
[water flowing]
[Peter] Good morning, guys.
Here we are in beautiful Switzerland.
And last week’s video was about
the French-speaking side of the country.
This week’s video
is about the German-speaking side.
We’re gonna be in
the greater Zurich area today.
A man reached out to me,
a local Swiss man, and said,
“Peter, everyone thinks of
predictability and stability
when they think of Switzerland
but there are some things changing
and I’d like to show you.”
So today we’re gonna go
on a little adventure
with a local who understands
the culture very well,
and is gonna teach us about
what is currently going on in Switzerland.
Let’s do this.
[music continues]
[Peter] So this is outskirts of Zurich?
[Michael] This is industrial zone
already a bit.
Been factories as well
from the early days, production of cloth.
-So how do you speak English so well?
You almost have like an Aussie accent
or South African.
TV and friends.
-Really? You never lived abroad?
-No.
-Swiss-born, Swiss-made?
-Yeah.
-You love it?
-[coughs] I love my country definitely.
It is beautiful.
We do have more freedom
than other places still.
I believe so or I feel that way.
In Europe or the whole world
you’re thinking?
In Europe things are changing,
have changed a lot
during the last five years.
In Switzerland?
As well in Switzerland.
We do have the impact
and that is my opinion,
the biggest problem of Switzerland.
It’s a small country
in terms of space we have.
-And this is probably the worst looking
building I’ve seen in the whole country.
-Right there.
-That’s possible.
That’s about as bad as it gets, right?
-I can show you a worse one in Zurich.
We might go there actually when we see
the needle park or the ex-needle park.
-Ex-needle park?
-Yep.
So used to have an open-air drug market?
Was a huge area.
For 20 years there was an open drug scene.
Everybody saw that it is two minutes
or five minutes walking distance
to the luxury street
where all the luxury shops still are.
Really? In Switzerland?
Downtown.
Okay, that’s something
I would never think.
-Was it heroin or what was it?
-Yes.
It was mainly heroin
and also other drugs, coke I believe.
It’s crazy I remember
as a kid we drove through town.
Had to go to the motorway
to hit other parts of Switzerland.
Just seeing the people there hanging
and being completely gone
and that was weird.
-Have you been given the gift
of Fentanyl yet or…
-Not yet but there is
some articles lately.
It starts slowly coming here as well.
I don’t know if it is expensive or not
but it looks like it is not.
-It’s dirt cheap in Arizona right now.
It’s about $2.00 a pill.
It’s called a Fentanyl Blue.
Which is less than a bottle of water
at the mini-mart.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
-It’s wild.
-That is wrong.
Okay, so we’re gonna go
into this part of the city
where that existed
but I’m not gonna ask now,
but you can explain how it got cleaned up.
‘Cause that’s interesting. Maybe
something we can learn from as Americans
and another point of these videos,
these Swiss videos I’m doing is
as an outsider, and as someone
that lived in Switzerland,
I lived a winter in Switzerland
in 2002 in Verbier.
So I have a bit of a history
with the country.
I feel Switzerland
is one of those countries
everyone can learn something form.
It’s not a perfect place.
There’s pros and cons.
But as far as having it together
it’s better off than most I would say.
I do agree absolutely on that.
I would love to get into
some of that today too.
Like we can show the changes.
Actually we’ll show whatever you want.
This is your video.
You can see all the buildings being built
that’s not been here a couple years ago.
-Okay.
-That shows how it grows.
And people want to be close to a town,
Zurich, for work.
They don’t want to have cars anymore.
-Be able to walk, or go by bike, or bus.
-Yeah.
[Michael] Here we are
downtown almost already.
-You get a little taste of LA here
with the freeway system.
-[laughs] Exactly,
I always felt that as well.
As a kid I loved it.
It is different for Switzerland.
-Have you been to the US?
-Yes, I’ve been to Florida and California.
Which I both loved, the boats,
the whole water thing in Florida.
I’ve been to Hooters with my dad.
That was quite interesting
as a kid at a certain age.
-That was one of your first
American cultural experiences, Hooters?
Probably yes.
Okay, how old were you with pops?
I think I was 16.
Okay.
Awkward? Little bit awkward or…
No, I quite enjoyed it to be honest.
It was interesting to see and…
But one of the memories I had as well,
I had a broken leg.
Just had an operation actually before
we hit there and I was on… how you say?
The crutches?
Crutches, exactly.
Doesn’t matter where I was going,
shopping center, whatever,
there was great service
in terms of within seconds
somebody came with a wheelchair,
and helping,
and that was very special to me.
‘Cause we didn’t have that here
at the time.
All the size of everything of course.
I remember when we
went to a used car dealer,
my dad gave him some money and we
used to drive every day a different car.
Florida, that was awesome. Just loved it.
Highways, the distances.
The American way of life
which was big here in some way,
we’ve been quite influenced
through movies or games as well,
computer games at some point.
-Okay.
It was cool.
The American way of life,
for us as kids here was really cool.
-How ’bout now?
Is it still looked at the same way?
It changed a bit.
Still there is a free country
and you can go there.
Start as a dishwasher maybe
and become a millionaire.
I believe that has changed as well.
Like the whole world has changed
but for us growing up, my generation,
America was a free thing
where you can develop and have ideas.
-Yeah.
Yeah, opened a business basically.
[Michael] That’s the Jewish part
of Zurich.
You see quite often
Orthodox Jewish people walk around.
-Okay.
-Which is a normal thing.
It was always like that and that’s exactly
something which I love about Switzerland
or Zurich in particular.
Doesn’t matter what you are.
You can live here.
-It’s pretty mixed up?
-Absolutely.
It’s very international as well.
You have people from all over the world.
Especially my days growing up here
I lived quite many years in Zurich
and around Zurich.
Doesn’t matter what you are.
-You can be part of that, of the town.
-Okay.
We have sports guys, the music guys,
the religious thing,
we have mosques in Zurich.
We have Jewish churches.
Doesn’t matter what.
It was a way of living everybody together.
That is changing now a bit as well.
-That’s changing? How so?
Well as I said,
people feel like we are too small.
There’s too many people here
It’s not because they hated the people.
That’s not the point.
It gets overcrowded
and the problem is not enough apartments.
Streets are too small.
Traffic is jammed up all the time.
Kindergarten places,
there is problems with hospitals.
Not enough space for people.
A family moving away
from town more or less, many do.
-Rent prices have gone up?
-Absolutely, a lot.
[Peter] I mean who does
a parking garage like this?
The detail of the three
from the floor into the door.
-It looks cool though.
-It looks so cool.
If you wouldn’t say it I would not see it
because it’s just normal.
-I mean nobody does a parking garage
like the Swiss.
[Michael] Now we’re really
Downtown, Zurich.
I’ve been swimming quite often actually.
Jumping from the bridge you can see there.
-It’s that clean you can swim in here?
-Absolutely.
Would this be the New York of Switzerland?
Obviously it’s nothing like it
but would it be the financial capital?
-Yes, I’d say so.
-Okay, what would Geneva be?
Diplomatic capital.
-So that’s the DC?
-Yeah.
Yeah, you could say so in my opinion.
[Peter] And look how clean
your streets are.
This is… It’s what it’s known for.
[Michael] Absolutely.
That’s what Swiss people want
or people living in Switzerland,
not just the Swiss, everybody lives here.
We want to keep it that way,
clean, and open, and diplomatic,
and independent.
Many people coming to the country…
I do not want to say that’s bad people.
Not at all but it gets full.
-Okay.
-And you have different cultures.
Which are not maybe used to
the way of life of Switzerland.
They’ll have to adapt
or integrate if they want to.
Okay, so is that
a tense topic in the country?
Absolutely.
You feel good about people coming here
but adapting and integrating
into the ways
that have been established here
but if someone comes and they don’t
then there’s friction in that.
-Is that what you’re saying?
-Exactly.
Swiss people know the way Switzerland is.
Clean, everything is on time.
Everything works well.
-We want to keep it that way.
-Yeah.
So is there a problem right now
with people not adapting
or assimilating into the culture?
Yes, I’d say slowly, yes.
-Okay.
-But you know, it’s not that
these people in a bad spot.
If you’re not used to that,
how do you want to know?
You need to get to know
the lifestyle of Switzerland.
I feel like if you move to
someone else’s country,
and I’ve done it four times.
I’ve lived in Switzerland, short stint.
I lived in Spain for a short stint.
Thailand for a short stint,
and Ukraine for four years.
I’m sure some people will call me out
that saw me in these countries
but I feel like you are a guest.
It’s like you’re going
into someone’s home.
And how do you come in?
Do you take your shoes off?
Do you thank them for inviting you over?
Do you maybe even bring something?
You offer something, you add something?
Or do you walk in with muddy boots
and start demanding what you want?
And so there’s a different way
of looking at it, right?
And I think universally
it’s a very human thing
to be cool with anyone
that’s respectful of your place
and what exists there,
and what you offer,
and that usually works really well.
I’ve seen it all over the world.
But yeah, that friction comes
when the muddy boots come in the door
and they don’t care
about the place they’re coming to.
And of course you want to preserve.
You want to keep this obviously.
-Like this is something very special.
-And it works very well so far.
Been over many, many years
people coming from all
kinds of countries into Switzerland
and it worked fantastically.
The integration within the Swiss culture.
-Yeah.
-That’s what I’m seeing.
Okay, so it’s a really hard topic
because if you talk about it
you get called xenophobic or racist
right off the bat typically
and that’s why people shy away from it
but I think it is a
discussion worth having
because we do see a lot of migration
all over the Western World.
I’ve been noticing ’cause I travel
a lot especially in America right now
and America’s always been
such a great melting pot.
Everyone… To me it was always like
all the animals from the zoo in one cage
and they sort of get along pretty well.
It’s a cool experiment.
It’s not normal in human history.
Humans work as tribes traditionally,
and they stay with their tribes,
and anything that
looks different is a threat.
But America started off an idea,
invited all the people there.
Yeah, it’s got a bad history too.
We all know that
but I would say modern day 2024 America
if someone comes to the country,
no matter what their background
and if they’re cool and respectful
they’re gonna be treated really well.
It’s similar here absolutely.
Everybody’s welcome, come here
and you want to have a good life,
fine but you need to work
and have some rules.
As you say, when I’m going to
another country I do know where I’m going
and I want to respect their culture.
I want to get to know their culture
but that’s a normal thing for me.
For many Swiss as well
it’s respect somehow.
We want to have people coming here
adapting somehow to our culture.
Not telling them you can’t have
the religion or you can’t have that.
-That’s not the point.
-Yeah.
Work, have a good life.
You know Peter, doesn’t matter
where I’ve been on the planet,
one thing I’ve found everywhere,
that’s families and wanting
to have a normal life.
Raise your kids, have a job,
pay your bills, and have a good time.
Yeah.
-It’s a global thing in my opinion.
-Yeah, 100%.
[Michael] I think with these problems
we need to talk more about
why are people leaving their countries
and trying to find a better life?
Which is understandable.
[Peter] Oh, yeah.
[Michael] What I’m missing
globally as well is that
we grab the problem by its root.
It’s not a solution of having millions
of people going to other countries.
We need to solve the problems
where they are.
Yeah.
Sometimes I have the feeling, you know,
money is going the wrong direction.
Look at the wars going on
again on this planet.
With that money you could do
so many other good things.
There are people and organizations
doing that as well.
Yeah, that’s a big topic, fixing the world
so people don’t want to move.
The story of time
is the story of immigration, right?
And so there’ll always be a place
that’s better off and one that’s not
and if you’re ambitious you’re gonna go
for the one that’s better off usually
’cause you want a better life, right?
So my family did it three generations ago.
Left Italy because things were so bad.
At the age of 18, 19, got on a boat,
not a word of English,
and came over to the US
and ate sh*t for a long time basically.
They were looked down upon I’m sure.
There was a lot of beef between the Irish
but there was no free lunch.
There was no handouts, no,
“Hey American taxpayer,
I’m coming to your country,
you better pay my way.”
That didn’t exist back then.
I believe many people
in many countries around the planet,
if people coming to a country are being
treated better than your own people
that is of course a problem.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-People have a problem with that as well.
In Switzerland
not everybody’s rich either.
You do have the middle class,
the lower class.
-Yeah, we gotta get into that today
because we drive around,
I show you a parking garage
that looked like it was just
freshly polished and painted, right?
-Probably is.
-Probably was.
-[laughter]
-Polishing all night.
And you walk around this and
the viewer, and actually myself is like,
“Yeah, this place is loaded.
Everyone is just crushing it
but we’re gonna get into that today.
You gonna show me
some of this middle class reality?
-Absolutely.
[Peter] So growing up in Switzerland
when you get out in the world
do you just look at everything as,
“Oh, it’s not as nice as Switzerland.”?
I always love to
come back home definitely.
-So you guys have never had an issue
with safety in Switzerland really overall?
Of course things happen but…
It’s not as much as you would say
or expect from other countries.
Police is quite good in Switzerland.
All the safety is quite high.
-They’re pretty well respected
or depends who you’re talking to?
No, they are.
-It’s the way you talk to other people.
-Yeah.
They can see the Swiss mentality a bit.
How do you talk to others?
-That can help also in these situations.
-Yeah.
Here as well, there are problems
maybe a burglary happens here as well
but it’s a known police
that the Swiss train network does have.
-Okay, so that board is pretty much
all destinations in the country, right?
-Exactly.
We have connection with
Paris and German trains as well.
Although these days there’s
a bit of a problem with German trains
or Swiss trains going into Germany.
German rail is not what it used to be.
-Really?
-Yeah.
The interconnection going from
a Swiss train being on time,
they go into Germany, they have
a problem because they can’t keep up
being on time.
The Germans aren’t on time these days?
-Changes a bit.
-Oh, man.
That’s what people see a
bit and makes them think
we better not let it come to that point.
Okay, so I bet you guys
see what’s going on around you
in different countries in Europe and are
like, “Let’s not get to that point.”
Absolutely.
-Is that what that is?
-Absolutely.
Part of it will be be our
not politically in Europe.
Somehow not in the European community
but we are based in the heart of Europe.
So we can’t… don’t want to close off.
Yeah, but most of your lawmaking
comes out of Bern not Brussels.
Absolutely, we have
our own system, our own laws.
Although now there is big talks
about implementing
some of Swiss law into European law.
Of course some are for that,
some are against that.
Basically saying some European courts
might be over our court.
Centralized European power
having control over your domestic court?
If there is a problem, I don’t know,
companies economically or whatever.
Okay.
They can rule out
and we would have to accept
what this European court would rule out
and we can’t do anything against that.
[Peter] Okay, so we wanna go right there
but the Swiss thing is go way up
to that crosswalk and come back?
-Absolutely, I mean it is there for
so why should you not use it?
-I would say if there is nobody coming
either way I would go over here
but you’re saying
you’re gonna go to the crosswalk?
Of course some people do but it is there
for less chaotic traffic and all that.
-But so everything works–
-Because of that?
[Peter] Yeah.
Look, the older I get, Michael,
this order stuff becomes more attractive.
Like if I was…
Like when I actually lived here
when I was in my younger 20s
I was like this place
is too restricted and too tight for me.
Same for me.
Too many rules.
Now coming up on mid-forties
with let’s just say
all the instability in the world
it sort of feels nice.
I completely agree.
[Peter] There’s no right or wrong way.
Switzerland is the way it is
because of its habits, let’s say, right?
Yes.
But if I want a festive fun time
I’m not coming here.
As far as a spontaneous beach vibe
with anything sort of goes.
There’s also places like that definitely.
Especially mountains as well or around
the lake is more wild and more free.
But it wouldn’t be
the number one country you’d think of.
No.
Swiss are maybe not known
to be the most fun people
and spontaneous, all that.
-Can you hold that?
You can’t say all Swiss are the same
or all Americans are the same.
It doesn’t work like that
but we’re not famous for that. [chuckles]
-Actually Europe does a good job
of saying America is like this.
Creating an easy label.
Not all Europeans obviously
but I’d say the European media
loves to shat all over the US.
You notice that ever?
They never show anything
really great about the country.
They show…
To be fair
a lot of the bad stuff gets exported.
You’re getting Popeye’s, and McDonald’s,
and sh*tty political debates,
and stuff like that.
You’re not getting what’s cool
about America over here I would say.
Not only that.
No, no, it’s not completely true I’d say.
Of course it’s very political
at the moment because the whole world is.
But it’s worth seeing.
It’s a beautiful country.
You have everything, you have the sea,
you have the mountains, everything.
Doesn’t matter what you want to do,
you can do it in terms of nature.
You have space.
That’s one thing we don’t have.
We don’t have space.
-Yeah, there’s elbow room.
I mean imagine I want to have a farm
and having space to ride, I don’t know,
my bike there or I don’t know.
-Your dirt bike?
-Hunting on your ground.
It’s just not possible here.
-Okay, what’s going on here, Michael?
That’s the so-called ex-needle park
that was for 20 years,
an open drug scene here.
Most heroin, stuff like that.
It was full of these,
I’d say poor people, you know?
Nobody just does that for fun.
It is an addiction.
-So for 20 years that was going on
out here legally, then what happened?
Well they tried to change that.
I mean it got bigger, and bigger,
and crime as well got bigger of course.
These people need to organize
the money to finance their drug buying
and end of the day, after 20 years,
the town said we have to change that.
-Okay.
-We have to clear it up.
Also for different reasons,
tourism of course also.
One of the reasons.
But it’s just not okay
but nobody knew how to handle that.
Okay, give us some tips ’cause we need
this advice right now in the US.
The beginning was they pushed
them to another part of the town
a bit further down here than this.
There, a bit more away
from the center of town
but what happened then,
a lot of controlled.
In terms of hygiene.
They gave out needles, clean ones,
safe spaces to do their drug
and consume their drugs.
They even at some point handed out
clean drugs to these people.
So it was on a medical basis
to have a change, a hygienic,
but as well on a social one to help
these people get out of that misery.
Okay, so I just want to unpack this
as much as I can
because I was just in Kensington
like a month ago
and that’s a total disaster.
-It’s heartbreaking.
-I look at harm reduction…
Of course the name is a bit interesting
but let’s just call it harm reduction.
Giving out needles
to prevent the spread of HIV.
To make it safer to use let’s say, right?
-Hepatitis.
-Hepatitis, AIDS, that sort of thing.
But you’re enabling someone to continue
with something that’s destroying them.
So there’s an ideological difference
between those that say,
“Hey, you’re actually telling them
consciously and subconsciously
it’s okay to continue using.”
When in reality
the best thing for you would be
to be off of it
and that’s the hard part, right?
Absolutely, it’s not just
what I just told you about.
It’s also social workers
help these people to get out of the scene
and try to give them back a normal life.
-Yeah.
‘Cause I believe many of these people,
as long as they still realize
how their life looks
then in the meantime I don’t know if
all of them want to have that lifestyle
and I don’t believe so.
-Yeah, and nobody’s getting into that
because things are so great in life.
I’m gonna start using Fentanyl every day.
-Exactly.
-It’s a sad thing.
And so the US needs to do something
at a state and national level
’cause the problem’s getting really bad
in all of our cities right now.
Even in the countryside.
So there has to be certain rehab,
and carrots, and sticks,
where you can’t just,
you know, die out here on the streets
because they keep
giving you drugs and needles.
I don’t think that’s a solution
but if it’s in an environment where
there’s rehab and whatever other services,
maybe that is the way. I don’t know.
-It worked here for sure.
-It worked? Okay, okay.
It is gone and also the other place,
they shifted these people over there
and stayed them there
and it got even bigger.
It’s also behind here,
we don’t have to walk there
but it was a whole program.
It’s not just saying,
“It’s forbidden, go away from here,
you’re not welcome here.”
No, it doesn’t resolve the problem.
Of course you have to try
and cut off supplies, drug dealers.
That’s where they got the drugs from
then they’ve been shifting
to synthetic heroin.
-That happened at some point as well.
-Yeah.
But the program around it
to give these people,
as well again, a future,
will help you to have a normal life again.
And also thinking
why do people get into that situation?
Here has not just been people from Zurich.
-All of Europe coming here.
-Yeah.
You lose your job,
have a divorce, whatever.
-And that is the social problem.
-Yeah, you need escape.
Help them escape.
-Show them there is a future for them.
-Yeah, I agree.
-If there’s–
-Of course it’s more intense.
It’s not for free and people…
You need to find people
that are willing to do these jobs as well.
It’s not easy.
I think if the structure
was set up well enough,
I think a lot of people would do that work
if the pay is good enough,
you can live off of it.
As far as a nation,
I know this is a video about Switzerland,
I’m talking about the US a lot
but as far as a nation,
if you don’t take care of that problem
your nation is gonna suck down the road.
So like it might cost a lot
but you don’t really have an option
if you want to have
a nice country to live in.
I’ll say it that way, what happened here
with the needle park,
many countries around us
overtook that solution, system,
whatever you want to call it
and they did the same thing.
And then try to resolve
their drug problem.
It’s what works. So it was kind of
pioneer work that the Zurich town did here
and showed others it is doable.
If it was successful here
like you’re saying
then learn from someone that did it right.
You don’t reinvent the wheel, right?
Imagine being a politician, you have
a budget, a proposal on your hands
you can distribute that budget
the way you want to do it.
-Different people have different opinions.
-Yeah
But there are ways to do it.
You just have…
-You have to want to do it.
-Exactly.
And unfortunately the way things work
there’s no money to be made in it really.
Maybe a little, I don’t know
but the money
and interest from politicians
goes where the money
and interest is, right?
-I mean in Switzerland as well there’s
been many talks throughout the years
of banks going almost bankrupt
and being bailed out by the state.
Which worked at the end of the day
and the state
got the money back from these banks.
It’s not the point, but as I said,
we do have a middle class
and even a down lower class of people.
Which are struggling with
paying for food, rent.
We’re seeing the beautiful part now.
-Yeah.
-But Switzerland is so expensive.
It gets worse and worse.
A lot of people are struggling.
Of course you don’t see them,
it’s Downtown Zurich.
That’s why it’s clean
because there are many, many people
working for the town and cleaning.
You know, people,
staff working in the hotels
cleaning toilets and all these things.
Who wants to do these jobs?
But somebody will have to
do that job as well
but be assured they’re not living
Downtown Zurich. [chuckles]
[Peter] Ciao.
Okay, so–
Let’s grab a bottle of water.
That’s the thing he says
he doesn’t want to have it on video.
-So we respect that.
-Of course, yeah.
There was a guy
promoting religion basically, right?
Absolutely, from Jehovas.
Jehova’s Witnesses which
I don’t know much about to be honest.
I think it’s a pretty…
A very conservative form of Christianity
from my understanding.
-To be honest
I can’t tell you much about it.
-Are you a religious guy?
-No.
I do believe in higher power somehow.
There is something above us but…
-We’re not going to church this Sunday?
-No.
Rather go pick mushrooms
with my kids in the forest.
Same, I respect all beliefs tough.
I really do.
And I’ve become better at that
as I’ve met more people in this journey.
I respect religion more
and I can see how it’s a great framework
for many people.
It can be used in a negative way
but it can be used in a positive way too.
[Peter] Okay, so this is your
average supermarket would you say?
-It’s very nice.
-Yeah, well don’t check the prices.
[Peter] Okay, show me the prices.
That’s not too crazy, 2.50.
Yeah, let’s look at
some of the prices of things.
-Typical Swiss thing, right?
Biological, how you say in English again?
-Natural organic.
-Organic, exactly.
-Yeah.
-That’s now 11 francs
for 400 grams of cheese.
-Okay.
Well if I’m comparing to the US,
yeah, that’s about what it is these days.
Things went up a lot in the US.
That surprises me a lot when I’m going
to other countries at the moment.
-Switzerland is very expensive food-wise.
-Yeah.
But how other countries who do not have
the same income level as Swiss people
have similar prices in terms of food
is absolutely shocking.
-Yeah, like if you’re making
$20 an hour right now
I don’t know how people are doing it.
Not talking the younger 20-something
living at home
but you’re an adult in your 30s or 40s
making 20 an hour
and maybe you have kids,
it’s brutal.
-Exactly.
-It’s really rough.
One thing with the kids as well,
they grow.
They can’t keep their trousers
for 10 years.
-They need more raclette.
-So what do your eggs cost here?
-Here we go, eggs.
-This is…
-This is exactly, again…
Biological.
-Okay, these are 5.30.
-For six eggs.
So what’s that in dollars, $6.50?
-[scoffs] Yeah, maybe.
-You’re looking at $13 for 12 eggs,
that’s pretty spendy.
That’s really spendy
If we’re gonna compare to our good eggs
that would be $8 for a dozen.
-That’s very high as well.
-Very high.
You can get cheaper eggs though for sure.
-Compared again to the level of income.
-Yeah.
And for the chocolate lovers,
you take it quite seriously.
-Oh yes, definitely.
-You definitely win the gold medal.
Something that Switzerland’s known for.
-That’s four feet of Swiss chocolate?
-[laughs]
I mean what do you gravitate towards,
Michael? What do you like?
-Mixed chocolate.
Take for example, Toblerone.
Very famous for Switzerland.
-Which one?
-This one here.
Oh, Toblerone,
do you know why it’s shaped like that?
Well that’s a big story,
it’s about a mountain basically.
-I heard something different yesterday.
That’s the thing.
So many stories about that.
-These are the barricades
used to stop tanks coming in
from Germany in World War II.
That was the way you guys set up
your fortifications
and I saw those barricades
yesterday that looked just like that.
That might be true
because they look exactly like that
but I wanted to say
something else about that.
Everybody thinks it’s a Swiss thing.
It’s not.
-The factory is not in Switzerland.
-Oh no! Oh, you’re killing me.
-It’s not a Swiss product anymore.
-Who’s making it?
There’s a French company
doing it these days.
I don’t know where the factory is
I believe in Austria but I’m not sure
but it’s such a Swiss thing.
It was a Swiss thing, Toblerone.
-Yeah, is there… I mean isn’t that
gonna go into your direct democracy
and you’re gonna vote on that,
the company needs to come back
to the homeland?
Absolutely.
Wait, “Established in”.
So I’m not buying that anymore.
I love the chocolate
but why do they do that?
-They’re making more money.
People work in a factory in Switzerland
and to sell their product in Switzerland
for the price they need to have that,
it’s not possible anymore.
-What about the Lindt?
-Please tell me this is Swiss, right?
-This is Swiss, yeah.
I can’t tell you
whether it’s done in Switzerland.
I cannot tell you but we can check.
-It’s…
-It must be on it.
Where it is manufactured.
-Usually these days
if it’s made in a country
you want it to be made in like Switzerland
it will say it all over, right?
They want to show off that.
“Imported by Lindt & Sprüngli”.
It’s import product.
-Import product?
-But again, here we have interesting part.
That product can be different
in Germany than in Switzerland
because we have different laws
in terms of what’s allowed to be in there.
-Yes.
-Maybe they’re importing another Lindt
from another country
to be able to sell it cheaper here.
-Okay, so Lindt in the United States
is not nearly as good as it is here.
-I can’t tell you but it’s possible.
-I can tell you, yeah.
I know as a fact that many foods are sold
in the States, or Europe, or Switzerland.
Fanta, for example,
we have a different color Fanta.
Because it needs to be
natural real orange in it.
-You’re not using the food colorings?
Exactly. There are drinks with that
but for example, Fanta does not do it.
-Yeah, I think your FDA’s
a little bit better,
whatever it’s called here
than what we have.
I mean there’s all sorts of chemicals
in a lot of our foods, colorings, and BS.
In Europe many people say, “Why Americans,
so many of them are a bit bigger?”
and it has to do with food.
With the culture of food.
But I’m not saying it’s their fault
because first of all, it’s budget.
-What is your budget to buy food?
-Yeah.
It’s restricted by that.
-I mean to be fair, you could buy
all beans and eat beans that are cheap
but that’s tough, right?
You could eat beans all day long.
We’d have different problems then.
[laughs]
Different problems.
But I eat chocolate. I love chocolate.
But you’re right,
so what’s snuck in the ingredients?
And I’m not saying all of Europe.
There is this misconception
and I don’t know about Switzerland
but I’ll speak for Italy.
Everybody thinks grandma’s
growing every vegetable in her garden
with no pesticides. It’s not the truth.
You go to grocery stores in Italy or many
places, it’s just mass-produced food
and they’re getting it from Turkey
or wherever.
We come back to the story, how many people
can you feed in a country?
How much food
can you make your own country?
How much do you need to import
which is not on the same level of quality
as you want to have it?
All these things keep on changing.
Again, in Switzerland
we don’t have that much land, so…
-You have to import a lot?
-Exactly.
I always pay where people are working
’cause I want these people
to keep their jobs.
Of course I see the point of having
one person checking ten cashier machines.
End of the day, they’re replacing
human beings and this will not end well.
So I’m going here to pay
even if I have to wait longer.
Hold that. There ya go.
Cameraman Michael.
We have the Swiss…
We don’t know. Is it the Swiss chocolate?
Swiss brand but where is it made?
Let me tell you how it tastes.
Gotta love that. Soft in the middle.
A nougat, is that what you call it?
-Probably, yeah.
-Nougat filling?
Mmm.
-Nice?
-Velvety smooth.
-[Michael chuckling] Well said.
All right, see ya, Michael.
-I’m just gonna chill.
-Have a good one.
Catch you later, mate.
You want some?
That’s a big chunk.
Tastes like home. [chuckles]
[Swiss German]
[Michael] It’s a very famous coffee shop.
-So this is a nightlife zone, huh?
-Yeah, exactly.
Very nice place here actually.
It’s a bit hidden, you go in here and then
you find about 20 snooker tables
hidden somewhere in there.
But it’s mixed, you have
fitness studios here, shops, bars.
This place is actually Bellevue ’cause
we have a view of the lake afterwards.
But here we have
the Odeon specialty cafe behind.
Zurich was always very, very open
to gay community.
Gays and lesbians, nobody cared ever here.
It was just a normal part of our society.
You know, we’ve been at the point where
nobody cares anymore about that.
Right.
Now through some stuff which is going on
people getting a bit more scared
or skeptical again in a negative way.
-Oh, really?
-Yeah.
It’s again, stuff in media
and I don’t want to judge these things
but I just want to say Zurich
was always very liberal town.
-Okay.
-I just want to end that way.
Yeah, I feel like in our generation,
you’re Gen X.
-You’re what, 44?
-46 now.
Okay, so I’m 46, same age.
Those issues were behind us.
Yeah.
Like when we grew up
you had your gay friend,
you had your Black friend, nobody cared.
It wasn’t an issue. It wasn’t a thing
and then it’s like then brought back
into the forefront as this
big contentious issue.
I feel like it is an issue again somehow.
Right, right.
But we’ve been at the
point where nobody cared.
Right, and I don’t care
what your sexuality is.
Why should I?
We don’t need to make a thing out of it.
Nobody cares.
What do I care about
what other people do in their bedroom?
Yeah, and now it just feels like it’s
to some degree artificially pushed so hard
and a lot of the gay people are like,
“Stop it.”
“Stop drawing all this attention.
We just want to live our lives.”
Gay people I know, they don’t feel
comfortable with the situation nowadays
or less comfortable than with
the situation five or ten years ago.
Right, right. Yeah,
it’s like made it worse.
Yeah.
What for, end of the day?
We have accepted that here.
It was just normal.
Right.
So our parent’s generation,
that was a contentious issue I’m sure.
Yeah.
And some of that generation
paved the way for our generation.
Yeah.
Bit loud here.
-Okay, what are guys like this
making in Switzerland?
They’re working for the city.
-I have no idea.
-Can you ask them?
[Swiss German]
[Michael surprised] Eh? Eh?
[Swiss German]
Wow.
He said he’s touching about
9,000 Swiss francs a month.
Really?
Which I’m surprised.
Which is not little money though.
Yeah, that’s over 100K a year.
Let’s go over here, Peter.
-Yeah.
-So you can live a good life.
That’s the point again.
Depends, if he’s alone
he’ll have a good life.
If he has a wife who’s taking care of kids
because they choose that way of life
they have two kids,
you don’t have a good life
with nine grand in Switzerland.
-Nine grand you don’t have
a good life here.
With two kids and a wife
that’s taking care.
A bit more conservative
or old school way of life, no.
-You’re not making big moves.
-If his wife is working if he’s married?
If they both work full-time they’re having
a good life definitely, yes.
And you’re healthcare, which I learned
yesterday is not paid for by the state.
-You guys pay for it.
-We pay it.
-And it’s not cheap?
-No, it’s gone up.
It goes up between five and ten percent
a year at the moment.
-[surprised] Five and ten a year? Brutal.
-Let’s go over there. Yes.
Geez.
By the way, the opera of Zurich.
-Okay, what’s a price
for health insurance?
-Depends, you have different levels.
If you want to be in a room with ten other
people or a room with four other people
or want to have a room on your own.
-I like 30 personally.
-30 people.
-[Michael chuckles]
Well I’d say for family,
mom, dad, two kids,
it’s easy 1,200, 1,300 a month.
-Okay.
-But there’s big dispute
what shall they pay?
For example, there’s this thing for people
with lots of weight they can take.
I don’t want to name the product.
There’s some health insurance companies
do pay that here
but other things they won’t maybe pay.
So people aren’t okay with that.
Others might spend money to go
do sports, or live healthy, all that.
Why shall I pay for others
which are not doing that?
-You know what’s interesting
about Switzerland is you have this stuff
and literally a couple miles that way
you have a farmer with his cows.
Yeah, that’s the beauty.
-Making cheese.
-Yeah.
[Michael] You take your bike here,
20 minutes you’re out in the green.
[Michael] We’re going to a place
called Zugerberg.
It’s a hillside part of Zurich
where a lot of wealthy people live.
We are just here now
at the University of Zurich.
-Your education’s pretty good, right?
There is one university called ETH.
It’s a technological high school.
It belongs I think to the best top ten
universities in the world.
Then we have soldier. Just quite normal.
He’s probably going home
from his army service
and that’s quite interesting
about Switzerland, the Swiss Army.
Every member of the Swiss Army
has his own gun at home.
Yeah, yeah, I learned that yesterday.
It’s always discussed,
yeah, Switzerland is very well-armed.
If you see it that way, yes, that’s true.
Since a couple of years though
you’re allowed to give your gun
back when you’re not in service.
But until then you had to take it home.
So on a weekend you’re sitting in a train,
suddenly you have ten guys
in their uniform with their guns.
Just total normal picture.
But you never have any shootings?
No, not in the amount like States
or anything like that.
Does it ever happen?
There was a big one
but that’s many, many years ago.
In Parliament in the Canton of Zug
there was a farmer going in there
and shot half of the parliament.
-Okay.
-That was a big story.
Otherwise we don’t have shootings
on the street or anything like that.
That doesn’t happen.
Not that people going out
and have gang wars or anything.
That just does not exist here.
-Already here you can see nice houses.
-Oh, yeah.
-Old homes, huh?
-Yeah.
-These are the old mansions?
-Absolutely.
[Peter] So what do you think
the US could learn from Switzerland?
-Hmm.
-I feel like every country
can teach another country something.
Well being liberal in a good way.
Which means accepting different views.
Be it political or…
So you guys are good at that?
I do believe so, yes…
[Michael] We still think or believe
America’s a free country
but we can see it’s a boiling point
and politics are quite… yeah.
-Tense?
-Done an extreme way both ways.
Right.
That is a Swiss thing, the middle way.
Finding the middle way.
Doesn’t mean everybody’s okay with it
but it somehow works…
-…for the total of people.
-Okay.
So the US could take a note on that?
I mean liberal,
it’s maybe the wrong word for it
but just accepting other ways of living.
But again, my thinking
that was possible in the States.
The US is built from immigrants,
from Europe, a lot of it.
So it is their history as well
somehow, isn’t it?
For sure.
I would say I’m all over the country
doing videomaking, right?
I would say the divide,
when you’re on the ground,
I don’t see it at all.
Nobody cares that you vote
this person or that person, right?
Now when you look at the media
it looks like, you know, you hear
things like, “Civil war is gonna happen.”
Okay, anything can happen
but the tension is definitely drummed up
and accelerated through the political
discourse and through our media.
And everything has become
so black and white.
You’re on this team or that team
that if this team is doing this thing then
you have to do the opposite at all costs.
So there is the tension
but I would say every day Americans,
you go over there
and you’re going into a shop or something,
people are gonna say hi and there’s none
of that tension I would say.
[Michael] We need to listen
to each other more.
[Peter] Yeah, for sure.
[Michael] Finding common grounds
is exactly what’s missing.
[Peter] Yeah, I think you’re right.
Okay, this is one of
the wealthier neighborhoods?
-Yes.
You still have normal houses here as well
with normal apartments
-That’s interesting.
Next to it there is…
-That’s in the multi-millions obviously?
-Exactly.
[Peter] Yeah, this is nice up here.
[Michael] Of course Gold Coast,
there are huge villas as well
but you won’t see them from outside
-They’re all behind walls?
-Not necessarily walls but green stuff.
So you just can’t see it.
They want to have their privacy
which I completely understand.
It’s something we don’t have here at all
is gated communities.
We just don’t know that.
-You don’t do that at all?
-That doesn’t exist.
[Peter] But I’ve noticed there’s a lot of
cameras on the roads her in Switzerland.
-Yeah, that’s part of the new world.
-Like speed trap cameras.
Speed trap but as well
checking number plates and all of that.
I’m glad we have that
in terms of criminal activities
can be monitored better.
On the other hand I like my privacy
and I don’t want to have the state know
when I’m doing what I’m doing.
Do you feel like the state has
a strong grip on things here
or you said earlier
you have a lot of freedom?
That’s what you feel.
It feels like having a lot of freedom.
We know we are monitored here
as well of course.
But it’s not so obvious and not so brutal
maybe as in other countries.
It’s just, again, it’s accepted
and it is the way it is and…
[Peter] You have tall buildings down here.
I didn’t know that.
That’s the more modern part of Zurich,
also business.
This is more working-class people
having normal jobs
and not living the fancy life
of Downtown Zurich.
Which is a big part
of this country as well.
[Peter] If someone is really low
on the financial pay scale
the government helps? How does that work?
-As long as you work they don’t help.
Once you lose your job, first of all
they’ll help you find a new job.
-Okay.
-And they’ll pay you
a certain amount of money
to keep your standard of living.
You might need to change the flat.
Another town or a smaller flat or so.
That’s possible
but you will get help
as long as you’ve been employed
and paid into the system.
-Okay, so this is
the rougher side of Zurich? Fair to say?
-Yeah, you could say so.
It’s not rough, rough, but…
-Yeah, obviously.
-Doesn’t exist but it’s different.
It’s loud more and houses
are not as luxurious, not as big.
Still nice places.
-Okay, but this is
about as rough as it gets?
-I would say yeah.
-That’s something to be proud of.
Fair to say?
-Yeah, you can see that way
for Switzerland it’s quite normal.
Doesn’t mean people not happy here.
In my younger days I used to
live in these places as well
which is totally fine.
There’s maybe more life even,
more diversity of life in these places.
-Right, more activity.
-Yeah, in a different way
we are spending a lot of money
and people maybe are
a bit closer to each other.
This is your little bit
of Eastern Europe you were saying?
-There’s more blocks, you know, and…
-And only in Switzerland
would you have a cornfield right here
outside of the city, right?
That is such expensive real estate,
this field.
-Everything.
-This farmer is sitting on
a gold mine if it could be developed.
-Yeah.
[mellow acoustic guitar plays]
[Peter] When you see a house
like this one right here to the left…
-Yeah.
-Many families
or a couple families living there
or how’s the whole
housing thing work here?
Well often they get it from their parents.
-Parents die, they take over the house.
-Okay.
Because if you have your average job here
there’s no way you’re buying a house.
No. Well if two work,
have a good job both, yes.
70% rent here, right? 30% own?
I woulds say so, yeah.
It’s quite normal.
Always used to be like that.
Of course less and less
young families can afford to buy a house
’cause real estate price
is still going up.
I think much more people would like
to buy a house than actually can do it.
-So that place over there?
-That’s typical farm family
living in there.
Having the fields, the farm.
-And they can make a living
off their fields and farm?
-Yes.
Because they already own their house?
Exactly, most probably might be
owned part by the bank through loans.
Switzerland is quite special.
If you have a loan for your house,
you call it a mortgage as well…
-Yeah.
-You don’t have to pay it back
during your life. You can keep it.
[Peter] Interesting.
So what do you get, like a 50 year loan?
[Michael] You just always redo it.
Have a 10 year, 15, 20, whatever.
Redo it, redo it, redo it.
Of course many people start to pay off
and bring it to a level
where it is not too much loan
but not killing it completely,
not paying it back completely
because yeah, in a tax way
it is clever to have
a bit of debt or loans.
-Okay, so there’s a lot of that going on?
-Yeah.
Someone dies, they still owe
a lot of money on their home?
Yeah, say my dad would have
a home, 4 million Swiss francs,
he dies, he hasn’t paid back the loans,
I just take it over
and do the same as he did.
Go on paying the loan.
Little interest on it
and keep it that way
and that can go on from generation
to next generation.
-So you guys still have
a lot of small farms here?
-Yes.
-Is that being threatened at all
or is it going okay?
-No, it does change as well a bit.
Bigger farms or companies
are taking them over
but the state helps a lot with the farmers
so they can compete with other farmers
maybe from other countries
and we want to produce our own food.
Which is not possible in Switzerland
for the whole population
but we try to do as much as we can.
-And then this land in here, is this
state land, or is this private land,
or what is this?
-No, that’s state land
that belongs to maybe
a little town down there or the next one.
-Okay, yeah.
-And that’s public.
So anybody’s allowed to go into the woods.
You might have a farmer
like in front of us
who’s taking care of the woods,
and do some maintenance
on their own parts of it
but mostly it is public land.
[Peter] Okay, so it’s sort of a formula of
small town where everything’s condensed.
Right next to each other.
A church, few stores, houses,
farmer homes with fields outside.
-Yeah.
-And then areas like this, and then back
to fields, farmers, back to small town.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.
That’s what it looks like pretty much.
-Yep.
-And all the towns from what I’ve seen…
…pretty much look like
in the same condition.
-For the most part.
-Yeah.
There is going to be differences
if you go towards the mountains.
Maybe little towns, more off-grid.
It won’t be as clean
or as good infrastructure as here.
[Michael] Typical Swiss thing, on a Sunday
I’m not allowed to cut the grass
in my garden because that’s too noisy.
That’s too loud, doesn’t work.
It’s very important to
have your recreation time
and Sunday is family,
or church, or both,
but no work if possible.
This is Lake Hallwil, gorgeous place.
On a Sunday you won’t find a parking space
because everybody’s going to the lake.
[Peter] God, it’s so beautiful out here.
[Michael] It is gorgeous.
I mean that’s the main thing.
Switzerland is
such a beautiful country. Definitely.
[Peter] What were you saying
about the beauty of direct democracy?
[Michael] That we are very proud on that.
It’s a good thing.
Which means everybody
can come up with an idea
and collect enough people’s signatures
who are willing to sign their petition,
however you want to call it.
Have the same idea
and then there will be a vote.
Be it in just the part where we are
or even for the whole of Switzerland.
-Yeah.
-And everybody can do that.
Was a guy many years ago,
he thought he wants to have
all the cows keep their horns
because he believed
that’s more healthy for the animal.
So he did that and it worked.
And the town voted on it?
I think the whole of Switzerland
voted for that.
-I’m not quite sure who did.
-Okay
But he was able to do that.
Okay, and what were you saying
about digital ID?
Yeah, that’s a topic
I’m a bit not happy actually
in Switzerland
where that’s a direct democracy.
So the point is we had a vote
of about do we want to have
an electronic ID for everybody?
And so the whole country was voting
and saying, “No, we don’t want that.”
Now the government still wants to do it.
-So what do you mean, like digital
driver’s license, ID for everything?
Everything, access internet.
It’s not quite clear what you need it for.
Of course there are pros like safety
for children in the internet and all that.
-Yeah.
-Other countries will require that
but the point is
the people of Switzerland said no to it
and the state or the government
still wants to do it
and that’s the first time
I see something like that.
Huge impact where the government
wants to do something
which the whole population said no.
End of the day, you know, people pay
with their tax money, the government,
and the government in my view,
yeah, it’s employees of the people.
[Peter] So have they
pushed through that policy yet?
[Michael] No, it’s in talks.
So that’s a big issue
in Switzerland right now?
Yeah, lots of talks about.
Were you guys locked down hard
during the pandemic like Italy and France?
Compared to other countries, no.
There was a very short time
we had lockdowns.
Not in the same way as other countries.
Schools been just closed
very quickly, month, two.
-Okay, that’s it?
-Yeah, that’s it.
[Peter] You can see the snow
in the alps near the clouds.
What a beautiful view.
[Michael] This is my country.
This is what I love.
This is Switzerland.
-It’s cool.
-Lakes, forests, nature, a lot of it.
And farmers.
150 years ago there was nothing.
There was just farmers, farmers, farmers.
It has developed obviously.
-And you were saying kids
go to school in this town here?
-Yeah.
-One town up is another school district.
-Yep.
Over here is another one.
-Exactly.
-Up on the hill is another one.
Down there another one.
-And each one of these little places
have their own school.
-That’s wild.
-And church.
And then the alps in the backdrop there.
-Exactly, on a nice day you see the alps.
-[Peter exhale] Wow.
You know, I always used to say
to the kids we live in a place
where other people do holidays.
The the hotel we’re just standing here.
It is a hotel where people come and do,
yeah, their vacation.
-Anything else you want to add?
Go on Peter with your videos.
-I really love them.
-Thank you.
-The world needs people like you.
-You’re part of ’em now.
Appreciate it.
Yeah, thanks for giving us
the cultural nuances, the deeper dive.
Because as an outsider you never really
know what’s going on somewhere.
Of course I’ve been showing you
my Switzerland a bit.
-Which doesn’t mean it’s the only truth.
-Of course.
It’s a beautiful country
and we do have, as well, problems here.
So that’s maybe what people
do not see or read in the newspapers.
We’re facing problems as well
and fighting like other countries as well
and yeah.
-Awesome.
-Thanks very much.
-All right.
All right guys,
thanks for coming along on that journey.
Thank you, Michael.
Until the next one.
[mellow acoustic guitar plays]