My job, by accident and choice, brought me from Wermelskirchen, a quiet, boring little town north of Cologne, Germany to Zurich in Switzerland. Some data to compare:
- Wermelskirchen, 35.000 People, speaking one language. Zurich 417.000 with 135.000 of them being foreigners.
- Wermelskirchen is in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation and the questionable benefit of being close to Cologne, resulting in endless traffic jams on the highways as the local government seems to be unable to get their act together. The collapsing bridge over the river Rhine is planned to be repaired in 2022 and is a constant source of pleasure for everyone.
- Zurich has, hands down, the best public transportation system I have ever seen. The Tram I am taking to get to work goes every 7 minutes, from early morning until late night.
- Wermelskirchen, one cute little Cinema. No theater. No clubs. We did have a McDonalds though, which is the pride of the town.
- Zurich has countless movie theatres, an Oper, theatres, and museums etc… It is a town that gives you something new to do every weekend if you are so inclined. It is a big city, but not so big that the country boy I have become feel overwhelmed.
I left around Christmas 2016l. Now it is May 2017, and I do not miss the place I lived in for 17 years one bit. That Zurich is such a nice town, and Switzerland so beautiful is making it easy.