SO Not Swiss

While wandering the city, Gretchen suggested New York was the anti-Basel...I'd still go with a place like Bangkok or Cairo (even more pollution and chaos than New York), but I definitely take her point. After all, in Basel we were unlikely to ever:

--Encounter people from basically every continent except Antarctica in a typical city block;

--Have our afternoon nap interrupted by a random Lunar New Year parade of drums downstairs;

--Be kept awake by construction and honking horns at 2:00am;

--Hear a certain word (that begins with the letter "f") used as a noun, adjective and verb, sometimes in the same sentence;

--See masses of foreign tourists on shopping sprees because of the low prices (don't let the unwelcome feeling you get upon arrival in immigration fool you...we're more than happy to have the many European tourists we saw this weekend taking advantage of the weak dollar and keeping our economy on life support);

--Be able to get just about any food imaginable delivered to our door within an hour; or

--Take taxis as an occasional alternative to public transportation without breaking the bank.