Lutherans Live the Life of Luxury

Yes, we know: when you think high-end living, Lutherans aren't the religious community that jumps to mind. (Hello, Episcopalians). In the popular imagination, including our own, Lutherans are modest people living modest lives. Think of little old ladies in homes with pine panelling, pressed-glass candy bowls, and a collection of figurines that look almost like Hummel and are really just as good.

Oh yeah? Well, suck it, popular imagination. Because a study by the United Bank of Switzerland reveals that the most expensive cities in the world are Oslo and Copenhagen -- cities as full of Lutherans as any on earth. Second and third place in the expensive-city sweepstakes go to Zurich and Geneva, the historic bastions of Calvinism. Rome, for those who lean that way, was Number 17 -- after both Helsinki and Stockholm.

As for New York -- well, we were a bit miffed to see that old Gotham came in sixth. But then we looked at the top of the chart, and saw that each city was assigned a number greater or less than 100 -- which was New York. get it? We're the yardstick by which other expensive cities are measured.