Geneva vs. Elsewhere

A few of my observations about what's different about Geneva, Switzerland compared with the places in the U.S. I've lived:

- There are stinging nettles instead of poison ivy.
- More people walk and bike more places.
- There are horse water troughs scattered around.
- Lots of buttercups, stone walls with moss, beech trees, laundry hanging on the line.
- You can walk across the border from Switzerland into France.
- There are Middle-Eastern looking people on the public transportation vehicles speaking a mixture of American English and Genevan French, both with perfect accents appropriate to each language.
- Interesting and delicious yogurt flavors such as hazelnut, plum, pear, or muesli.
- Many old stone buildings, fountains, benches, walls.
- Of course they have the Lac Leman, the Jet d'Eau (huge water fountain emerging from the lake), and the flower clock.
- Cloth rolls of towels in public bathrooms, toilet flushes in different places (such as a big, round, black foot pedal on the floor, or a very high plastic toggle on a tank up at standing eye-level), fun light switches (squares that push straight in or ones that roll up and down).
- They have thicker, stronger toilet paper (sometimes pink). The public bathrooms are all completely private: the doors go floor to ceiling and wall to wall, with no gaps that people can see through. Imagine. Makes sense to me.
- Bathtubs are deep and narrow tub (often no shower but a nice low sprayer)
- It is common for people to be fluent in several languages.
- Traffic lights go red, then red AND orange, then green: possibly so all the stick shift cars have a chance to get into gear?
- Speeders are caught not by a chase but by police camera boxes sprinkled around the town.
- In grocery stores, the customer inserts a refundable coin to get a shopping cart, cashiers sit instead of standing, & it is the customer's responsibility to bag the groceries (and pay for any needed bags).
- More leisure, vacation, a slower pace, enjoying life.
- No window screens, windows open wide horizontally - you can lean out easily.
- Real keys at hotels, made out of metal, they actually turn in the lock, and so big you have to give them i at the hotel desk when going out.
- Hot chocolate is made the way it's supposed to be: with hot frothy milk, and high quality chocolate powder which you can add yourself so it's just the right amount, not too dark or light.