Flags? Of course Switzerland has flags. We might only have a population of approximately eight million, but we make up for it with our many flags. We have 26 Kantons (states) and each of them have their own flag. Two of the Kantons are “only” half Kantons, but they still have their own flag. On top of this colourful mixture do not forget the villages and towns, and there are many. Of course they also have their own flag.
The photo above is from part of London, now called the Swiss Court, bordering on Leicester Square, where the Swiss Centre used to be. I never really got the hang of that Swiss Centre. It was a tall imposing building in the middle of London’s West End and contained the offices of the Swiss Air and a restaurant in the basement. I visited the restaurant with my parents on a visit to London some years ago when in still existed and was not impressed. The black forest cake that I ate was english style, not so genuine Swiss and the cream was mock. It was an international serving team in the restaurant and I did not hear or see one Swiss person except for a couple of disillusioned tourists who asked whether they were in the right place. Eventually The Swiss Centre faded out, I found this entry in Wikipedia which just about sums it up. Swiss Centre.
1st August is the Swiss National Day, and already the week before that flags are displayed. This display is from our village. In the middle is the one everyone knows, the square Swiss flag. Why it is a square I do not know, but everyone else seems to have an oblong. This did cause a problem for various international organisations displaying the flags outside because the Swiss flag was the odd one out. Perhaps we did not have enough material. The flag on the left is our Kanton flag of Solothurn in red and white and the one on the right is not from a Micky Mouse cartoon, but our village flag. The village is called Feldbrunnen, which literally translated means field fountain, so you have a nice green background and and Micky Mouse fountain.
Having double nationality and being a Brit, I could also display the Union Jack of Great Britain, composed of the cross of St. Andrew, cross of St. Patrick and also the cross of St. George. This covers Scotland, Ireland and England. Somewhere Wales got lost it seems. In Switzerland private flags of other countries are not allowed in your garden, only the Swiss flag.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 