Weekend in Switzerland!

This weekend I visited a friend of mine, Beni, who I had met at UGA. It was really nice to catch up with him and to have such an educated guide! I visited Zurich and Lucerne. Switzerland was all that I imagined and more! It was the land of chocolate, watches, drinking fountains, awesome playgrounds, breathtaking lakes, beautiful mountains, and nice people :)! I stayed from Thursday night to Monday afternoon, so let’s start from the beginning…

I arrived Thursday night after about a short 50 minute flight from Lyon. I flew with Swiss airlines, and I have nothing but good things to say about the experience. On the flight, I got my first taste of Swiss chocolate!

OJ and first chocolate in Switzerland!

Beni met me at the airport, and soon after, he advised me to buy a Zurich travel card (which cost me about 40 swiss francs). This card allowed me to travel on all of the public transport in the city for 3 days, which was perfect! It also gives you discounts on many attractions in the city! I definitely recommend you invest in one if you ever visit Zurich. You can even get a one day pass if you plan on staying just for a day. So then, we took a train back to his apartment.

On Friday, Beni showed me around Zurich. Unfortunately, it was rainy and overcast for most of the day, but I still enjoyed seeing the city. I got some swiss francs from the train station and I was ready for the day! First stop, the chocolate store!! :) It’s called Läderach and they have some really delicious chocolate!! I tried quite a few flavors including: white chocolate raspberry blackberry, milk chocolate honey, milk chocolate with hazenuts, and milk chocolate fudge. Mmmmmmmm. 

Swiss chocolate = heaven

Next we continued to walk around the city. We went into this really neat toy store! It had a slide inside and it was 4 stories of different toys. There was a floor for board games, a floor for girl toys, a floor for boys toys, and a floor with random toys (like stuffed animals). It was such a cute store!

Little girl paradise!

Then, we continued to walk around and went into an english book store, which made me feel like I was back in the US, lol. After that, we continued to walk around, and Beni showed me a place where we could see a nice view of the city. It was a bit overcast, but still pretty! 

One of my favorite views of Zurich

We walked around the older part of the city and I really liked all of the narrow, cobblestone streets. We also went inside three churches, a protestant one, the Great Minster (has a statue of Charlemagne), and the Women’s Minster (which has famous stained glass windows by the artist Marc Chagall). 

Women's Minster

After the church visits, we had quick lunch of salad and tarte flambé. I also had a really nice tea! I liked the cool tea mug with the tea infuser inside. I had a tea that was called crunchy apple and it was really nice! It tasted like apples, cinnamon, and vanilla. 

delicious tea

Then, Beni showed me his university (ETH Zurich) as well as The University of Zurich (which is right next door). 

Main Building of the ETH Zurich

View near Beni's school

After the university visit, we took a tram and then walked around some more. We ended up at a park which is part of the University of Zurich campus. It was a nice little park with a little pond and lots of ducks.

University of Zurich park

Then, we walked a bit by a river, and after that, we went to get a coffee/tea at this alternative-type cafe which is right near an arts school in Zurich. 

On Saturday, we explored Zurich some more and the weather was much nicer! We started off by going to this store called: Freitag. This store does not really look like a store, and it sells individualized bags, wallets, and cases, that are made from recycled materials (such as truck tarps, car seat belts, and bicycle inner tubes). It’s a pretty cool idea and many people in Switzerland really like these products. I got myself a little credit card holder from here. We also climbed to the top of the store, and got a nice view of the city. 

Freitag store

Some of their products. They mostly make messenger bags, but here are some tablet and phone cases

After the shop, we walked around an international street, and then stumbled upon a playground! I took the opportunity to relax and release my inner child, lol. 

chilling on a swiss swing

Next, we went to see lake Zurich. The lake was so nice! As we were enjoying the view on a dock, I heard a polish couple talking and walking towards us. I took this opportunity to ask them to take a photo for us in Polish, lol. 

Panorama of Lake Zurich

Beni and I by lake Zurich

Then, we took a tram to see the FIFA headquarters, which happens to be really close to the Zurich Zoo! Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside the headquarters, but we did end up going to visit the Zoo!

FIFA headquaters

At the zoo, Beni explained that they allow the penguins to walk around the zoo among the people at a certain time each day. Unfortunately, we came too late for that, but I still got a picture with a penguin! 

very realistic statue of a penguin

The zoo also had a really cool playground! Seriously, Swiss kids must be the happiest kids, because the playgrounds here are awesome! I even wanted to play on that playground!

Awesomeness

Such a cool playground!

We also visited this exhibit called the Masoala Forest, which is this huge enclosed space with lots of animals and plants. We walked along the path inside and searched for animals. It was hard to find the animals here, but we ended up seeing some chameleons, bats, birds, and tortoises. It was pretty warm inside this enclosure (25-28 C). 

Really felt like I was in the Jungle!

Then, we took a tram up to this mountain called: Uetliberg. There we walked up and climbed lots of stairs up the Uetliberg look out tower where we got a nice view of the city. It was very cold and windy up there though, so we didn’t stay too long. 

View from Uetliberg

After that, we got some groceries, and then had cheese fondue for dinner! It was my first time eating it, and I really liked it! It was a special cheese, garlic cloves, and white wine... and we dipped pieces of bread inside, mmmmmm.

stirring that bread like a pro lol

On Sunday, Beni and I started the day with some special bread called Zopf, which we ate with homemade strawberry rhubarb jam and honey. It was so delicious! We also watched a bit of the Winter Olympic games. 

tasted a lot like chałka (polish bread)

Then, we took a train to Lucerne. Some of the trains here even have little playgrounds inside for the kids! The swiss kids are so lucky! 

Little playground on the train

So, I have decided that I really love Lucerne! It is such a beautiful place, and the weather was perfect. Lake Lucerne is just so pretty! I loved just sitting by the lake and enjoying the view of the water and the gorgeous mountains in the distance. After enjoying the lake view, we walked around the rest of the city. We walked on and saw a famous bridge. 

Gorgeous lake

I love this lake and the mountains!

Later on, we went to see the famous Lion Monument (I swear I think every country so far in Europe has some sort of important lion statue/monument). Then we walked around some more and saw the old walls of the city and some of the towers. From there, we had a nice view!

With the lion Monument

Old city walls

Pretty view

After that, we continued walking around the city and I really enjoyed just marveling at the beauty of this place. There were people around enjoying the sunshine, and sitting outside. The bridge looked extra nice. 

Lovely Lucerne

There's the old famous bridge with the tower

After we saw the city, we got some hot dogs from a place called: Bretzelkönig (pretzel king). We ate our lunch by the beautiful lake.

Then we took a train back to Zurich. Once in Zurich, I took a bus to check out this neat park designed by Bruno Weber. It was a bit intimidating being on public transport in the city, because everything was all in german…. luckily, Beni told me beforehand what stop I needed to get off at, so it all worked out. It was a bit of an adventure to find this park though. There were not many signs leading toward it and it was a bit out the way in the middle of nowhere. I used my gut and the two random signs along the way to find the park. I passed a chicken farm, a apartment complex, the city hall, and eventually made it to this park! It was an interesting park, and it reminded me a bit of Park Guell in Barcelona. You can tell that this artist was inspired a bit by the work of Gaudi. There were some serpents and dragons that you could walk on, and I thought that it was pretty cool!

Bruno Weber Sculpture park

I found my way back to Beni’s place and in the evening we had a delicious specialty of Zurich called: Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (which is beef pieces with onion, cream, mushrooms, herbs, and a white wine sauce) with Rösti (kind of like hash browns). 

Monday morning, I woke up and took the train with Beni into the Zurich main station. There we went our separate ways, him to class, and I took a walk around the city. I made it to this one place where Beni had taken me Friday. This time, the sky was clear and it was super sunny. I sat outside and just enjoyed watching this city wake up. It was so peaceful and I stayed there for about an hour and a half. Then, a few people started appearing to enjoy the view as well. Some people were just walked their dogs, and some took pictures. I met this one girl from China who was studying in Sweden. She was taking a ten day trip around Europe because she had holidays right now. We had a nice chat and she wanted to take a picture with me. She didn’t stay long though, because she only had one afternoon to see Zurich. Shortly after she left, I left as well, and headed to another one of my favorite places, the chocolate store! There I got some yummy chocolate, and even a cute little chocolate fox :). 

Chocolate fox

After the chocolate store, I headed back to Zurich Main Station and waited for a train to take me to the airport. I was waiting by the correct platform, but a few minutes before the train was supposed to arrive, they canceled it somehow! It was a little stressful, but I tried following some people who seemed like they were headed for the airport as well. I eventually got to another platform and asked an employee if the train was headed to the airport. He told me that it was, so after that I felt good. The train got me to the airport in about 11 minutes, which was rather quick! At the airport, I got some lunch at the pretzel king! I got another yummy hotdog with a smoked sausage in a pretzel bun! Mmmmmmm.

yummy hotdog. I actually think they are more satisfying than regular American ones

Then, I headed to my terminal, and then onto a tiny Swiss plane. 

Once in Lyon, I took the RhoneExpress shuttle to the train station. A random girl sat next to me, and when she started talking french to the train conducted guy, I could tell that she was from an English speaking country. So, I started up a conversation with her, and found out she was from Canada and that she was studying abroad for the semester working on her masters in business. She told me that she had just spent a week in Russia, and that she got to see some olympic events! It was cool to meet someone who had gone there! She was telling me that she got to watch a hockey game (she was really into hockey… oh Canadians lol), but she had to pay about 600 dollars for the ticket! It was worth it for her though because it was a once in a lifetime experience. She was also in her late twenties, so she had told me that she has already saved up money from working for a few years. After the ride we said our goodbyes, and I went to the train station so that I could catch a train back to Roanne. Once back in Roanne, I did a little lesson planning, and relaxed. 

Overall, I had a great time in Switzerland, and I am so thankful to Beni for showing me around his country! I have been so lucky to have made such good friends at UGA, that I can now reconnect with while in Europe.

I really hope to reconnect with even more friends in the following months! :)

Magdalena