George - 17 May 2012 06:10 PM

Yugoslavia was a bad idea. As usual, multiculturalism seems to cause more evil than good. I stayed in Yugoslavia once for two months and it was pretty evident they all hated—and I am not exaggerating—each other.

Were they hateful to you - as a Czech?  Maybe they hate everybody.

No, they were actually very nice to me. But then, the Czechs are kind of the “Switzerland of Eastern Europe.” We stay away from it all. I get occasionally laughed at by other Slavs for letting Hitler come in without a fight, but that’s about it.

No, they were actually very nice to me. But then, the Czechs are kind of the “Switzerland of Eastern Europe.” We stay away from it all. I get occasionally laughed at by other Slavs for letting Hitler come in without a fight, but that’s about it.

That’s only because the allies abandoned the Czechs and threw them to Hitler to appease him. Chamberlain eventually lost his job over that BTW. They didn’t have much choice without a back up. “peace in our time”: a piece of Czechoslovakia, a piece of Austria, a piece of France ......

Cap’t Jack

Yeah, I know, Jack.

Thevillageatheist - 18 May 2012 09:08 AM

Just out of curiosity, do any of your Swiss relatives speak Romansh?

No, no! Romansch is only spoken in a few mountainous areas, maybe only a few thousands speaking it, and every valley its own dialect. See the grey part of the map (‘Rätoromanisch’).

Thevillageatheist - 18 May 2012 09:08 AM

BTW I’ve lost in a previous post the list of punctuation marks you sent and how to post them. Could you post it again or do you remember where the original is? I’m having trouble with the umlauts!  Thanks in advance.

Depends on the characterset of your Windows computer. If it is ISO 8859-1 or ISO 8859-2 you can type them by <ALT>-<Decimal code here>. E.g. you want to type an ä: type <ALT>-<228> (the numbers to be typed on the numeric keypad!).

George, I assume you have ISO 8859-2, it supports Czech characters.

(BTW, I am living very close to the last ‘r’ of ‘Vierwaldstätter See’)

GdB - 19 May 2012 03:00 AM

(BTW, I am living very close to the last ‘r’ of ‘Vierwaldstätter See’)

Must be beautiful up there!

GdB - 19 May 2012 03:00 AM

Thevillageatheist - 18 May 2012 09:08 AM

Just out of curiosity, do any of your Swiss relatives speak Romansh?

No, no! Romansch is only spoken in a few mountainous areas, maybe only a few thousands speaking it, and every valley its own dialect. See the grey part of the map (‘Rätoromanisch’).

(BTW, I am living very close to the last ‘r’ of ‘Vierwaldstätter See’)

Gorgeous is right, Luzern was the most beautiful, and interesting ( and met some very cool locals there) towns I spent time in.  That long foot bridge, very beautiful.  I spent a summer up on Susten Pass {‘76}, near Altdorf, and a bunch more time (76-79) in the foothills around Mogelsberg, near St. Gallen.  And it’s starting to look like I just may be going back for a visit next year.

If it happens I’ll have to PM you, try to talk you into offering a tour of CERN
Hey, I had some in-laws that spoke Romansh, even got to listen to it once way back. 

It was a trip this little Ami trying to wrap my head around a country with four official languages.

citizenschallenge.pm - 19 May 2012 07:06 AM

Gorgeous is right, Luzern was the most beautiful, and interesting ( and met some very cool locals there) towns I spent time in. 

Funny, I don’t remember you… 

citizenschallenge.pm - 19 May 2012 07:06 AM

That long foot bridge, very beautiful.

You know the ‘Kappellbrücke’ burnt down in 1993? It was built up again, but of course, it is not quite the same bridge anymore… Youtube, from 2m:14s.

citizenschallenge.pm - 19 May 2012 07:06 AM

If it happens I’ll have to PM you, try to talk you into offering a tour of CERN

Then say it in time, one must reserve guided tours there.

Wow George! Damned impertinent of me to relate Czech history to a Czech! Mea Culpa and my bad! Gdb many thanks for the info on umlauts and I’ll look up your post again. It was inclusive of practically all punctuation. A friend married a Swiss national and she told me that Romansh was disappearing and that it sounds like Latin. She spoke fluent German and French. My brother visited Bern once as it is a sister city to New Bern, N.C. And brought back some breathtaking pictures of the area, and some chocolate. My God that stuff was drop dead delicious. I envy you. My friend’s wife also informed me that they won’t allow immigrants unless you are married to a Swiss national. Is this still true?

Cap’t Jack