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Why Belarus is a strange country

Why Belarus is a strange country

If you look at a map, you can see that Belarus is like an island. Blue is when Google Street took photos. Belarus is white. You cannot visit Belarus with Google Street View. I like to visit a country walking in a street city clicking on Google Street but in Belarus it is not possible.  You have only few pictures. And I notice that very few cars are on the streets. Where are cars ? You have only your dream and your imagination.

Belarus is an unknown country. Most of people have never heard about just the name or at least they think it is a part of Russia. Belarus is a strange country. It is situated in Europe just near Poland but very few people speak englich.

Belarus has no foreigner. Gomel a city of 500 000 inhabitants has only 12 foreign students only.

There is no unemployment. Wow hard to believe. If you loose your job, you get 12 $ not per hour, not per day but 12 $ per month. You can get a ticket for 1 month of transportation with that price. During that period you have to work 4 days per month with general interest work like cleaning the street. After that period if you have no job, you have to pay tax of 250$. You have to work at least 182 days per year otherwise you pay the taxe.

If you are unemployed you have to pay a tax of 250$.

When you are retired you get … 50$ per month. If you work you get 100$ per month. Even if the prices are not hight, it is hard to live with that amount. Hard to imagine.

If you buy a mobile phone, you get a service with it.

If you want to visit Belarus you don’t need a visa if you go by plane and stay less than 5 days. If you enter with the train or by car you need a visa.

How belarusian see western countries ?

« In my country exist poor working people. In your country are poor people if they take drugs or alcohol »

Here diesel fuel in a cars does not work at the winter. 1 l of petrol cost 0.65 and 1l or diesel 0.75$. They think that Switzerland was in European Union and there is no border. The knowledge is not exact.

In Belarus people speaks russian and Belarusian is less and less used and spoken.

Some people say that Belarus is the last dictatorship in Europe. It is definitively different.

I have never been in Belarus but that would be a nice country to discover. I imagine it should be more than a travel in space but maybe a travel in time and mentality. Forget all you know and learn new things. I can imagine people with less material value but much more time and inside value.

If you even want to explore a new country where no migrant can go and tourists are welcome but hard to attract. Read why do so few tourist visit Belarus ?

Have you ever been in Belarus ? Have you ever talk or been in contact with belarusian ? What is your experience ?

 

The longest bridge of Europe and Russia open

The longest bridge of Europe and Russia open

After 3 years of work, The bridge between Russia and Crimean has been opened. It is the longest bridge in Europe with 19 km.

This “project of the century” completes what Mr Putin has framed as Russia’s historic reunification with Crimea four years after it was seized from Ukraine in the wake of a pro-Western revolution there.

The bridge may offer some relief for residents of the peninsula, who largely supported annexation but have suffered high prices for food and goods after deliveries from Ukraine were stopped. Sanctions have cut off trade with the rest of the world.

Before the commissioning of the bridge in the transport blockade imposed by Ukraine, the main routes to and from the Crimea were Kerch-Taman ferry line and air transport. However, the capacity of the ferry line is limited, which led to long delays on crossing during the peak of the tourist season, as well as during storms in the Kerch Strait


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Swiss median monthly salary is CHF6,500

Swiss median monthly salary is CHF6,500

In Switzerland half of the employee earn more than 6500 Fr and half less.

The gross salary of CHF6,502 is what a full-time employee in Switzerland would earn on the assumption that half of his or her colleagues earn more, and the other half earn less. That represents a CHF313 pay rise relative to 2014, when the last statistical office survey was conducted.

However, this median value masks significant disparities between different economic sectors and the various regions of the country.

Remuneration levels are significantly higher than the median salary in high value-added activities such as the pharmaceutical industry (CHF9,835) or financial services (CHF9,742). At the bottom of the pay scale are retail trade (CHF4,798), hotels and restaurants (CHF4,337), and personal services (CHF4,076).

To claim a larger fortune at the end of the month, it would appear better to live in canton Zurich (CHF6,869) than in Ticino (CHF5,563). But this doesn’t factor in cost of living: much higher, for example, on Zurich’s « Gold Coast » than south of the Alps.

Morges

Morges

 

Morges is situated in the western part of Switzerland between Lausanne and Geneva. The city was build by Louis de Savoie in 1286.

The castle in the south of the town square was built with a square floor plan and four round corner towers. It resembles the castle of Yverdon, which may have served as a model for Morges Castle.

 

On of the beautiful place to walk is the lake promenade. You can see the Mont Blanc

The city’s annual Tulip Festival celebrates the return of spring with 100,000 tulips in beds remarkable for their colour, in the 30,000m2 of the Parc de l’Indépendance.

 

 

Basel

Basel

Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs France and Germany. The Basel agglomeration was the third largest in Switzerland with a population of 537 000

The city is known for its many internationally renowned museums, ranging from the Art Museam Kunstmuseaum. Basel has often been the site of peace negotiations and other international meetings. The name of Basel is derived from the Roman-era toponym Basilia. The Old French form Basle was adopted into English, and developed into the modern French Bâle. The language spoken in Basel is german first or specificaly swiss german. The second language is Italian and franch.

 

Bicylce parking near the train station. Basel is bicycle friendly.

 

Headquater of Panalpina

As german is the main language we can read sometimes multilinguage information. This one is interesting with the font. The german choose the german gothic. The french font is quite interesting and uncommom. Itilian writing is more standard.

 

Basler Rathaus

 

 

 

 

 

Mulhouse

Mulhouse

Mulhouse is situated at the corner near Germany and Switzerland. You can read Germany by car in 30 mn and Switzerland (Basel) for the same period of time. This city count 112 000 inhabitants and the metropolitan area if you add suburb you have 280 000 people.

Mulhouse is famous for its museums particularly the automobile museum (Musée national de l’automobile) and the train museum (Musée du chemin de fer). The largest automobile and railway museum in the world.

Mulhouse is also an industrial city from the 19s century. Today you have automobile industry Peugeot who is still in activity.

The city center is interesting with colorfull houses.

This is the city house (hotel de ville) it is written that Mulhouse was attached to France in 1798. Before that date it was part of Switzerland. You still can see flag of swiss canton as decoration

Place Saint Etienne in the city Center

 

 

Vevey

Vevey

Situated at the east of Geneva lake, Vevey should be visited. You have all. A beautiful lake, huge mountain and so many things to discover. Vevey and Montreux is really near each other.

 

Vevey is the place of headquater of Nestlé. the largest food company in the world and the largest company in Switzerland.

The symbol of Vevey is that big fork. On this place you have Alimentarium the food museum

Montreux is a city where Nicolas Gogol a famous russian and ukrainian writer, From 1836 to 1848 Gogol lived abroad, travelling through Germany and Switzerland (here in Vevey).

Vevey was the home of Charlie Chaplin where he choose to reside as refugee. In this town you can visite Charlie Chaplin museum.

Vevey is an international city. You can hear many languages in the streets and in Café. English, Portuguese, German, French of cource, Italian, Russian etc…

 

Colmar

Colmar

Colmar is a medieval city in the central Alsace at the east of France near Germany. It is a very touristic city. You can walk in the city center who has large zone of pedestrian street only. Traditionaly alsacian houses were white but recently they start to color them in green, dark red and flashy color.

Timber-framed houses, generally characterized by flat clay tiles and half-timbered building fronts, are found in both the cities and the countryside. Elegant bourgeois homes, their façades divided by ornamental banding, have many bay windows. Alsace, a region long accustomed to working with stone and wrought iron, also features fine examples of Romanesque, Gothic and Vaubanesque architecture. Villages typically feature a central square with a water fountain or a defensive wall and gate.

Do you know that the Statue of Liberty was offered by Bartoldy who was from Colmar to the United States ? You can see a little copy of this statue in rememberance of this gift.

 

 

 

 

Is the cold war back

Is the cold war back

The cold war was the  nuclear war that never happend between USA and Soviet Union. It ends in 1990 with the end of Soviet Union.  But today it seems to come back.

A friend send me a link and ask for my opinion.

How the US Establishment Lies Through Its Teeth, for War Against Russia

I started to read that article. It looks like kind of russian propagande. A quick whois at the owner of the domain name strategic-culture.org show me that it belong to someone in Russia.

This article was kind of fearing. For example on the second paragraph we can read “Hillary Clinton clearly hated Russians and wanted to start a war against Russia ”

My first reaction reading this long text is that I should check if it is real or exagerated or not but I am not really journalist. Why sundently we are talking about war. When I was a child the world was divided in 2 zones. West and East (UDRSS) and the enemy was soviet. When I was in army our instructor always explain as example the enemy was soviet. Then few yeat later the wall of Berlin fall down and the world changed. No fear to receive a bomb from the east. (btw I never believe that it could happend) It was possible to go to east Germany, Slovakia etc…
I thought that the cold war was behind and reading your text apparently it is coming back. I think that Russians see americans as a danger but I never see as a real danger. I don’t believe.

It is interesting to see the perspective on the russian media and the western media talk about. On the russian media they fear that NATO attack russia.  On the western media, they fear that Russia attack ex sovietic countries like baltic counties or even Ukraine.

On the russian mediy the news communicate a real fear of war. On the western media that fear is not as height.

snow

snow

This year we have not had lot of snow. This only now end of february and begining of march that we have few days of cold and snow. Today a lot of snow has fallen. When I came home after the working day, I stoped and took that photo. The sun decided to shine. Snow with sun has something brilliant.

 

 

The next photo is the first Alps from Fribourg Canton.

Near Lausanne road condition was terrible