Willkommen in Zurich

Wanting to travel before school started, Alicia, Urvi, and I took about a 3 hour train ride to Zurich for the weekend. On Friday we arrived at the train station in Zurich, and I realized quickly that I was not in French Switzerland anymore. Swiss German is only spoken, not written. In Geneva, I feel fairly comfortable getting around using my French. Only a 3 hour train ride led us into unknown territory where I don't know how to say a thing except Danka!

Swiss German???

Luckily, Alicia has a friend who lives in Zurich, Flavio, who graciously allowed all three of us to stay at his apartment and showed us around the town.  He also introduced to us a Swiss breakfast! It includes bread, croissants, coffee/tea, cheese, jam, and this interesting yogurt with fruit and muesli in it. 

I was so grateful to be taken around town by someone who knew the area! We walked down through a park near his house in northern Zurich, where there is a wall where it is legal to spray paint! After the confused Americans asked the Swiss gents out in the middle of the day spray painting about the legal logistics, the Swiss spray painter replied that there are no rules except that it is has to be better than the painting before it.

Then we took a boat (that is of course included with in the public transportation tickets you have to buy for the trams/buses) down the river through the Old City of Zurich into the lake. We then walked up through the Chinese Gardens in the South of Zurich until we reached a cool spot to eat dinner near the Opernhaus (Opera House).

On a bridge in downtown Zurich!

View from the Chinese Gardens

On the way back to Flavio's apartment, we saw a sushi restaurant that is on a tram that goes around town while you eat dinner! Zurich definitely is a bit more hip than Geneva! On Sunday, we sadly left Zurich, but were excited to start school. School started today, so I will update shortly on the adventures of attending school in Switzerland!