Previous to the night-on-the-town, we decided to go to Zurich in the morning (err afternoon). So I picked up Steve and Rafael and off we went. It was almost all Autobahn on the way, and I managed to get past the ECU controlled speed of 212 kph and hit 215 kph! About 2-3 km before the Swiss border they had a police stop. They questioned us and checked our passports and we were good to go. At the border, we were flagged again and asked to see our passports and car docs. After all that, we didn't even get a stamp in our passports. I was a little upset. I have bunch of stamps from different places and since Switzerland is not part of the EU, I thought for sure I would get one. I guess I will have to fly in through Switzerland one time to get my stamp!
Zurich is a really nice city. Relatively small, you can walk the main areas in an hour or two. I can definitely attest to the fact that Zurich is the most expensive city in Europe. Dinner cost about 30 CHF (Swiss Franks) = $26. That's a bit much for one beer, a sausage, and some traditional Swiss potatoes (called Rosti). We then went to a Irish pub we staked out earlier. Thinking the "scene" would get better later in the night, we decided to grab a table and a few beers. How wrong we were. Apparently women do not go out to drink in Zurich. We went to another bar that seemed to have potential. Again -- not much. We went back to the hotel and commented that it was the first time in awhile we went home drinking only 4 beers.
One of the clock towers in Zurich
Lake Zurich
(click on the picture and you can see the Alps)
Sunday was a day to take pictures. We strolled up this hill I saw the day before. From here, it overlooked the Altstadt (old city) and the river, leading to Lake Zurich. We then caught a train to a mountain town called Uetliberg. Here we hiked up a little ways. There was a large tower you could climb and the views of the city, lake, and the Alps were amazing. Unfortunately, I was careless and didn't check to see what settings my camera was on. Assuming it was set to the setting I wanted, I took a ton of pictures with the Alps in the background. When I got home and downloaded all of them, I could not see the Alps at all. Apparently the setting I was on caused over-exposure and the glare from the sun whitewashed the Alps. I'm a little angry at myself for being so careless. I've been to all of these places and have not once made that mistake. It was really a beautiful place. I guess that means I'll just have to go back some day.
Zurich is a really nice city. Relatively small, you can walk the main areas in an hour or two. I can definitely attest to the fact that Zurich is the most expensive city in Europe. Dinner cost about 30 CHF (Swiss Franks) = $26. That's a bit much for one beer, a sausage, and some traditional Swiss potatoes (called Rosti). We then went to a Irish pub we staked out earlier. Thinking the "scene" would get better later in the night, we decided to grab a table and a few beers. How wrong we were. Apparently women do not go out to drink in Zurich. We went to another bar that seemed to have potential. Again -- not much. We went back to the hotel and commented that it was the first time in awhile we went home drinking only 4 beers.
One of the clock towers in Zurich
Lake Zurich
(click on the picture and you can see the Alps)
Clock tower in Zurich (over-exposed)
On top of the tower in Uetliberg (w/0 Alps)
