Zurich was an amazing city; we already miss it. We arrived by train and immediately noticed how incredibly nice everything was. It came as no surprise to us that Zurich is one of the most expensive in the world to live in!
On day one we decided to beat the heat and swim in the river. While Switzerland may be pricey, there are a lot of free things to do! There is a portion of the river that runs through the city that is blocked off for swimming. They even put in a diving board! The fun part is that there is still a strong current from the river, so you can jump in and let the water whisk you from one end to the other. We also spent some time lounging in the sun and reading. It was a fun day! So fun in fact that we didn’t even remember to take a single picture.
We spent another wonderful day just exploring the city. Zurich has a great Old Town area with lots of shopping and restaurants. We had a great time window shopping and sightseeing. The buildings here are gorgeous, in every pastel shade and color. Stacked next to each other it looked like we were constantly walking by a giant painting. The alleys are gorgeous; it was difficult not to take a picture at every turn. There are also tons of statues and fountains everywhere. It felt like Disneyland!
In Zurich we started the search for a guitar for Marcus. He thought he could survive a year without playing, but quickly started going through some tough withdrawals. We went in several music stores, but unfortunately we were looking for a guitar in one of the most expensive cities in the world and we came up empty. But it was still fun, and he got to play a few guitars which appeased his addiction for a bit.
We moved down the river and found ourselves in the midst of a huge flea market! We perused some items and then moved to watch the water. There were a bunch of swans in the water, and we spent a few minutes just watching them. We laughed at how un-elegant they looked when they put their butts in the air and nipped at the seaweed below. We kept walking and watched the blue water as we went. We stopped in front of the opera house and I got (yet another) ice cream cone. The stroll continued through the cutest park. There was an Asian garden, huge green belts, and plenty of swimming spots. I even found some zen while we were there! After a very long day of walking we went back home and fell asleep very quickly.
Our next day out we took a hike in Uetliberg, which is the closest Zurich has to a mountain. It was a planetary hike, meaning we started at “The Sun” and walked along, passing each planet as we went. The planet models and all the distances were on a 1:1,000,000 scale. So we walked 1/1,000,000 of the way to the Sun, and wow it felt long. It was a gorgeous hike though, and we got an incredible view of the city. Along the way we met a giraffe that Marcus decided to pay his tributes to, beautiful wheat fields, and all 8 planets plus Pluto, which I’m glad they included.
Our last day we spent eating more incredible Swiss chocolate, some sushi, and just hanging out in the shopping center. We really liked Zurich, and kept saying how liveable it was. Absolutely 10/10 would live there. But on to new things, we left for yet another incredible place, Salzburg!
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