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Neuchâtel — Thoughts and Observations #5

Apologies for no post yesterday. Sammy’s been having a hard time over the past few days.

  • Every parking complex in which we’ve been thus far has had electric signage at the entrance and at every level telling you how many empty parking spots are left on each level. What’s more, the parking complex in the big mall down the road actually has red & green LEDs above each individual parking space to you can see if that particular spot is empty from any part of that level.
  • Today we went to the closest IKEA to Neuchâtel (about 70km away, outside of Bern). It was comforting that, in the face of so much that’s different, IKEA is the same everywhere.
  • There are very few traffic lights here. Most of the intersections are controlled by roundabouts. This makes for quick driving when there’s no traffic volume, but everything grinds to a halt once there’s any traffic whatsoever.
  • We have yet to do any cliché Swiss stuff like go out for fondue or raclette. This may be our big project for tomorrow, however, since there’s nothing else to do. All retail commerce in Neuchâtel besides the restaurants and bars closes at 17:00 Saturday afternoon and doesn’t re-open until 13:00 Monday afternoon. The sole exception is the train station, which effectively has its own mall and food court contained therein and is open continuously.