we arrived in zurich on sunday morning, after a mild 3 hour delay on the runway at dulles. we were greeted in switzerland with torrential downpours of rain, and right away realized that our carefully crafted 14-page itinerary did not take into account external weather conditions or plane maintenance issues. probably serves us right. but, as it happens with traveling, we realized it was out of our hands, and made the best of it.
we checked into our hotel, the zurich marriott on the water, which is absolutely beautiful and has the nicest, swissy-est staff, who answered all our questions and gave us nice umbrellas. we were upgraded to an amazing room with this view out the window:
undeterred by the stormy skies, we grabbed our rain gear & set out to see the town.
zurich is still charming in the rain.
the rick steves walking tour is a great way to hit all the spots in a few hours.
we loved climbing to the top of the grossmunster for amazing views of the city and a surefire way to stairmaster off your morning croissant.
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| climbin |
we strolled through the cobblestone streets of the old town neighborhood, full of shops, cafes, restaurants and the famous cafe voltaire.
a cool thing to do from zurich (and i would imagine much more awesome in good weather) is to take the 20-minute train ride to uetliberg, zurich's mountaintop, which offers panoramic views of the city. there is a little hotel/restaurant at the top where you can have a drink... and, you know, write in your travel journal or something.
ww insisted that i wear tennis shoes for our rainy trip up the mountain. i refused (as i generally oppose the concept of jeans and tennis shoes), and thus my feet got soaked. sometimes he is right.
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| good thing one of us was prepared. and willing to share socks. |
we got lucky in the evening and the weather cleared up for us to take a pre-dinner stroll through the park and then enjoy some
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| seriously, that cheese is stink-y. |
post dinner, we stopped in the bierhalle wolf, zurich's best-known beer hall (apparently). since we couldn't speak german, we accidentally ordered two massive beersteins each, and thus were forced to finish them... while jamming out to a euro-band who favored tunes like 'hey jude' and all things bon jovi.
seriously, this band was so funny. and yes, we were one of about 10 people in the place. nonetheless, ww was immensely amused of my singing, and we somehow closed the place down.
this is all i will reveal of the video he secretly took of my sing along.
after two weeks, while recapping all the amazing nights we had on our trip, this first night in zurich was still at the top of our list. we are so lucky that we have so much fun together.
for any questions on specifics of what we
did in zurich, email bucketlistdc@gmail.com