Every country has its cultural quirks and legal oddities, and Switzerland is no different. With everything from animal lawyers to a centuries-old statue that no one’s quite sure about, the Swiss have far more than delicious chocolate up their sleeves. Some of these rules are as cuckoo as a Swiss clock. So what could possibly be peculiar about this affluent nation known for nature, neutrality and luxury? Let’s find out!
1. Be Quiet!
You know those neighbors whose lawnmowers are in full gear before the cock crows on a Sunday? That isn’t an issue in Switzerland as due to the loud noise, it’s considered an offense to mow lawns on Sunday. In keeping with the noise complaint vein, don’t even think about slamming a car door after 10 pm or you might just end up with more than scathing looks. Sundays are also not the right day to wash your car or hang clothes out to dry, both practices considered highly offensive and inconsiderate by Swiss standards.
2. Legally Speaking…
See those large, yellow vending machines in Zurich? They dispense clean, government-subsidized syringes to heroin junkies. As for the greener side of things—grow as much as you want, gift as much as you want, smell, smoke, eat, and whatever else you want to do with marijuana as often as you want, but don’t ever sell it. It’s illegal to sell hash and marijuana in Switzerland, but legal to use and grow it. This has resulted in approximately 100 tons of hash and marijuana used each year by around 600, 000 citizens—one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world. Thank goodness they’ve got all that great chocolate and cheese to deal with the munchies.
3. Table for Two?
The Swiss animal rights code is pretty strict, especially regarding social species. Forget about keeping just one guinea pig as a pet, if you’re going to have one of these sociable rodents in Switzerland, you must have two. Swiss law doesn’t allow owners to keep just one and, if you’re not sure where to find a partner for your furry friend, that’s made easy too. Say your guinea pig’s companion has died and you can’t bring yourself to get a new one, just call up Priska Küng, whose “rent-a-guinea pig” service pairs up grieving and lonely guinea pigs with ideal matches. You can find this animal lover and her multitude of pets in Hadlikon, a village not far from Zürich. By the way, it’s also illegal to flush a goldfish down the toilet in Switzerland, so if you need to dispose of your scaly friend, be discreet.
