After a long day of travel and being dumb, we figured we
earned a day of sleeping in. I don’t think we even got out of bed until almost
10. We got ready and ate a little breakfast before setting out into town around
11:30.
Our AirBNB host had laid out a bunch of helpful Zurich guide
books for us, so that was nice. The books informed us that the best way of
getting around is by tram. Luckily, there was a tram stop pretty close to the
apartment, and that tram goes straight into the city center.
We got off the tram about a stop after the stop at the main
train station, and of course it started raining. We did have our umbrellas at
least, but it was coming down pretty hard. My nose was super runny, so we
popped into a McDonald’s so I could blow it. After that, we walked a little
ways, but then took refuge under an overpass thing for a bit. Most people were
hiding out as well, so we figured the rain would probably pass soon.
It died down a tiny bit, so we walked to a cute souvenir
shop (a nice one, not one of the crappy ones I like to frequent) and looked
around in there for a few minutes. Amazingly, the rain stopped! I guess
Switzerland’s weather at this time of year isn’t unlike Austria’s (except it’s
a little cooler—just what I wanted).
The only two things we knew we wanted to see and go into
were the two big, old churches in town: the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster.
They’re across from each other on opposite sides of the river, so we just kind
of headed down toward their general direction.
We started to feel pretty hungry, so after looking at a few
nearby restaurants, we decided to sit down at one. It was more or less along
the river, and seemed very high-class. The prices weren’t any higher or lower
than anywhere else, but the food sounded really good. And it was! Kayla had a
huge club sandwich, and I had some yummy Alpine cheese ravioli with pears. I
also decided to splurge and get a Bellini, which hit the spot as usual.
View from our seats at the restaurant
Before we left the restaurant, we asked the hostess for a
good chocolate shop recommendation. She told us to go to Sprungli, just across
the river. And so we went!
Actually, we first went into the Fraumünster, which was very
beautiful. No pictures were allowed, but I gotta tell ya, the stained glass was
really unique and pretty. After that, it took us a while to find Sprungli (even
went into another chocolate shop first), but at last, we did. It was so worth
looking for! They had so many wonderful-looking treats in there. Kayla got some
macaroons, and I went for the truffles. They were delicious, and very
reasonably-priced (although I would pay just about anything for chocolate that
good).
Next we just walked along the river on both sides and
explored. It was a good time to get some picture-taking in.
The Grossmünster Church was also very pretty, but very hot.
You can pay to climb one of its towers to get a nice view of the city, but we
were a little too hot and tired to really be down for that. Actually, I was
starting to feel a little dehydrated, so we hit a souvenir shop to get some
water. Zurich actually has some public drinking fountains (which are
great—fresh mountain water!), but it’s nice to have a bottle that you can drink
and then refill in the fountains.
We went to a home goods-type store to buy a lighter so that
we could actually cook at the AirBNB. It can be difficult to find things you
need sometimes in Europe, but fortunately we did find a lighter.
The last thing we did in the city was sit by the river for a
while and enjoy the sun. There were a ton of swans, ducks, and seagulls, which
was kind of nasty, but neat. Some kids sat by us and smoked, which was
hilarious. They were listening to EDM remixes of Green Day and other older
bands like that, so that was interesting.
Pre-teens with cigarettes!
We found a stop for our tram pretty close by, and then took
the tram back to Oerlikon. At the apartment, we successfully prepared a pizza
and some salad (even though the only dressing in the place was Thousand
Island—not our favorite) and had a cute little dinner. I had messaged our AirBNB
host earlier asking about the laundry situation, and she informed us that the
machines were in the cellar! No wonder we didn’t see them.
Laundry was kind of a struggle, too. I only needed to wash a
couple things, but Kayla had a lot she wanted to wash. We did two loads, which
washed fine, but the dryer was…another story. It works all right, it just takes
forever. We ended up hang-drying everything.
After finishing The
Lizzie McGuire Movie, we went to bed, excited to take a trip to another
part of Switzerland the next day.
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