Hello! The weekend in Zurich was amazing and quite eventful. All four of us arrived back in London ready to crash into bed. Here are the details:
My friends Logan, Jordan, Lucas and I flew out on Thursday after our history class. Our plane was delayed a good hour and the airport was not very adequate at giving us information on where we should wait or why our plane was delayed. By 10 PM, we started worrying about whether we would be able to check into our hotel so late or not. After a phone call, we realized we had until 2AM to get to our hotel in Zurich. Flash forward two hours and one time zone to the Zurich Airport which was desolate. We planned on taking a train into the city and it did not occur to us that the trains would stop running at a certain time, which they did. After a stressful hour of trying to call a taxi service/find any sign of life, we finally found a cab and took a ride to Hotel Bristol. Cost = 50 francs. The beginning of an expensive adventure.
On Friday we decided to be adventurous which posed a detriment to both our leg muscles and egos. We got a city map from the hotel and took off from there. After about five seconds of looking at the map, my travel buddies spotted the FIFA headquarters (who knew) and established that as our first stop. An innocent bystander in the journey, I pointed out that the FIFA headquarters is probably just an office building to which I was laughed at. We decided that we would walk up the hill to FIFA and then cut across the hill to a point that looks out on the city from above. Well, the "hill" was more like a mountain and the journey turned into an hour-long, painful climb to the summit. Reaching the goal (haha get it? goal?) FIFA was indeed an office building with some flags. No cool soccer museum, no celebs, no fans. We felt defeated.
Onto lookout point... or so we thought. The point was amist a series of unmarked trails and roads. Needless to say, we walked around the mountain for a good 45 minutes before realizing the only view we could find was from a hotel (although it was still spectacular). We were tired, but satisfied. We then went back to the hotel room, resisted sleep and set out for an Italian restauraunt. After, we all wanted dessert but were unwilling to pay for it in the restauraunt. Instead, we raided a grocery store and bought out a good portion of their swiss chocolate and wine. What a good combo. Needless to say, we didn't make it out of the hotel room the rest of the night and were all asleep by midnight.
On Saturday, the group decided to split up temporarily. I took a train with Logan to Lucerne, a town in the alps. We spent the day exploring the town. Despite our best efforts, we actually had two meals in Lucerne (this was not the plan, but after walking around all day, you get hungry.) We first found a small, but weird, festival of grown men and women in fairy costumes. Here, Logan and I both bought wurst and bread. This was one of the best decisions of the weekend. The meat was so amazing and I even ordered it in German! The Swiss accent is so bad that people usually understood what I was saying, but I could not understand them. Oh well. On our way back to the train station, we saw a McDonalds. As the biggest impluse buy of the weekend, we got burgers and fries. Cost = 12 francs each. Ouch.
When we got back to Zurich, the boys headed to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep while I ran around the city center taking pictures. I couldn't get away from Lake Zurich. It is seriously one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. On a clear day, you can see the alps in the distance. It's perfect. When I got back, we asked the person at the reception desk for any restauraunt recommendations. He told us that the establishment next door had some sort of "world renowned" ravioli. Well, tell a group of college kids about some alleged world-famous ravioli and they won't forget about it. We treated ourselves to some amazing ravioli and didn't regret it (although the boys were a little down about the portion size but hey, it's Europe.)
Saturday night was... insane. Not only did we enter an authentic, Swiss pub full of 50-year-olds, but we befriended a group of Swiss accordion players who will coincidentally be on tour in Wisconsin this summer (pictured below). They gave us their tour schedule and we promised to see them in concert. They were beyond happy to talk to us and even took pictures of us on their cell phones. (Every member of this band is over 40 by the way. In case you were wondering. You can't make this stuff up.) In addition to the band, Logan and Jordan made friends with the female bartender who took us out on the town after the pub closed. Let me tell you, Zurich nightlife with an actual Swiss person is an adventure. I'll leave it at that. We got back to the hotel at an early 5 AM and slept until the last possible second before checking out of the hotel.
My favorite moment in Zurich was this morning. After walking around the city for a while, we found a bratwurst stand and sat at Lake Zurich with bratwurst and bread. Nothing can beat that. The weather was so clear today and we were able to see the alps in the distance. I got to walk up to the top of one of the churches and had a panoramic view of the city from above. We then caught our flight back to London. It's been an amazing weekend full of scenery, nature and fun. My next trip will be to Paris in a couple weeks with my mom :)
Have a good week everyone! I will check back in here in a couple of days.
-M
Sounds like a BLAST! Kelli Berg
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