Confoederatio Helvetica

CH is Switzerland’s country abbreviation because of its full Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica, which means the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss are famous for many things, further adding to their diversity. Switzerland has 4 national languages: French, Italian, German, and Romansh. Sadly, we know none of these languages, so the increased number of communication options did not help. However, as with many places in Europe, nearly everyone we encountered spoke English.

The Swiss people are staunchly neutral and have not been involved in an international war since 1815. Somehow, they even managed to avoid invasion during both world wars. In adherence to this neutral policy, Switzerland is not actually part of the European Union. It does participate in many of the economic measures adapted by the EU and allows for fluid border crossings, but the country maintains its independence, and its own currency: The Swiss Franc.

To enter Switzerland by car, as we did, you need a special sticker, called a vignette. As handy as our GPS is, it is not stellar at telling us where one country ends and another begins. The international borders are very faintly drawn and not labeled, so they appear as roads. As such, we were taken by surprise when a Zoll (customs) booth appeared seemingly out of nowhere. We did not have the sticker, and had to stop so a customs officer could examine the vehicle. The customs agent seemed especially puzzled by the box of Cheerios in the back until I explained that we bought it on an army base. Shortly after, he realized Joe worked with the military, and stopped searching the car. This may have been because he was finished, or because he felt that he did not need to continue. Stopping actually worked out in our favor, as we were able to buy the sticker and change our Euros into Swiss Francs. Unfortunately, they did not have any stamps so they could not stamp our passports, though I like to think they would have if the stampers were there.