Zurich, Switzerland: Pretty As A Picture

For all of the time I have spent in Germany – literally years of my life – it always bothered me that I hadn't been to Switzerland. But since we were already heading to Bavaria for Spring break it made sense to finally fix this. Zurich, only four hours from Munich, lies at the end of one of the prettiest drives and ferry rides imaginable. So, destination Zurich!

We were in Munich because first of all I LOVE that city. Bavaria has the nicest people – much friendlier than the dour faces of Leipzig. After seven months living here, how many local friends do you suppose have been made? If you guessed exactly one you would be correct. Also, it has great historic buildings and more of that 'fairy tale' aesthetic associated with Germany. But the main reason was for a concert by the band Germans love to hate more than anything. I swear total innocence as to how I inadvertently opened the biggest can of musical worms imaginable. You see, I was watching a New Years concert in Berlin and this band Tokio Hotel played two songs I really liked. Since I'm 99% sure no Canadian or South African has the vaguest clue who they are (I certainly didn't and have never heard them mentioned in my circles), I was surprised to learn that a.) it is a national pass time to hate them, and b.) just how much ridicule I was opening myself up for. Naturally the vitriol made me all the more curious and so I jumped down the internet rabbit hole and learned a couple of things about this German pop culture phenomenon. The first is that there are a lot of freaks on the internet and they seem to like this band a lot, and second the super androgynous lead singer (who, after the obvious suspect is Germany's most hated, or at least most polarizing man) fascinates me. He wears more make up than I do and has some truly ridiculous hairstyles, but then David Bowie at his most gender bending was my long term childhood crush. Some things are just different here in Germany. Anyway, we went to Munich and saw Tokio Hotel live. The music was good but the object of my fascination, Bill Kaulitz, reinforced the old adage that white men can't dance. Add the many pointless costume changes...from pirate, to raver, to so much in between and well, it was a bit disappointing. I will chalk it up to part of the quintessential German experience and I am now experientially indebted  big time to two friends for accompanying me. Anyway, immediately after the concert we were on the first bus bound for Switzerland.

 

Arriving in Zurich, I was at first underwhelmed. After passing through stunners like Fredrichshaven and Lake Constance en route it seemed a little anti climactic. But it grew on me like a slow burn and by the end I was completely smitten with the place. It's a fairly small city built on the rolling hills that surround Lake Zurich. It is just so...pleasant. For one thing, I'm not sure I have ever seen a better dressed populace (sorry Paris) where everyone oozes such serious elegance. I guess they can afford to seeing as the Swiss out earn just about everyone. It's also a very multicultural with many Swiss but also many expats, especially banking types. Everything here is of such high quality – the food, the wine, the style, the architecture, the scenery. It is also clean without being sterile and maintains personality, something I think Vancouver has failed miserably at during its transition to glass and steel encased modernity. But I must save my biggest accolades for the chocolate. It is incredible. Anyone who knows me well knows I have a serious chocolate problem – it's my kryptonite. I don't even want to admit to how much I ate on this trip, let's just say there were entire meals of chocolate and I was perfectly okay with that.

 

Bahnhoff Strasse is the main shopping street that runs through town. Every second store here seems to sell either Swiss watches or fabulous high end chocolate. Since Easter was coming we were privy to many themed window displays...in which we noticed a predilection for seriously psychotic looking bunnies. The type that would scare children. Hell, some of them gave me nightmares, although these were maybe partly due to eating too much chocolate before bed. Anyway, Easter is almost as big as Christmas in these parts and so the decorations were in full effect. The old city is really cute too – it lines both sides of the river that feeds the lake, traversed by many little bridges and lined with perfectly maintained old buildings. It's also full of adorable little cafes which of course sell...fondue! Which reminds me, the Swiss cheeses were also spectacular! Little boats are moored everywhere, and gondolas appear to be a main mode of down rive transport – though not the romantic Venitian kind. I would say that our most worthy expenditure was renting a peddle boat on Lake Zurich one afternoon. It was a great way to enjoy the 20 degree sunshine, chase swans, and ride the wakes of passing speed boats.

This is also a city of good shopping, filled with small boutiques and lacking in much of the tourist kitsch you find elsewhere - except maybe for all the cuckoo clocks. Things felt quality and authentic...not that I could afford any of them on my student budget. I was warned Zurich was expensive, but I'd managed Oslo, which is the world's most expensive city, a few years back. Zurich only ranks fourth on this dubious list. But the difference is that when I traveled Scandinavia I had well paying job. Now, as a student, I felt like a bum. Put it this way – a Starbucks coffee can set you back 9 Euros, which is around CAD$13. Crazy right? But locals explained that when you live in Zurich, you are well paid and can easily afford your own apartment even on the minimum salary – again not something feasible in Vancouver. Not to mention, when you travel anywhere outside of Switzerland, any destination becomes an affordable budget holiday. No wonder we met so many Swiss when we traveled to the Seychelles.

Zurich has tons of museums too, although I must admit none that interested me much. I've visited too many boring ones in my travels and have now learned to be selective. What that did stand out, though not in a good way, was the Museum of Wax Moulages. It is dedicated to three dimensional, life like wax models of disfiguring diseases. Sounds fun right? I saw some online photos of the collection and feared it would put me off eating for weeks, even the Swiss chocolate. Also worth an unrelated mention is the language. Zurich falls into the German speaking region of Switzerland, but they have the funniest dialect. Very sing song, with lots of rolling r's, and as a German speaker one must listen very carefully to understand. I'm not sure what this says about my German, but the Swiss seemed to understand me a great deal more than Germans do.

 

All in all, Zurich seems like the perfect place. The lifestyle is truly gourmet in every sense...it's just so sophisticated. Dammit, I want to be Swiss! And I think once I graduate next year that is exactly what I might set about doing, by looking for work in Zurich. I'll probably grow huge from gorging on cheese and chocolate, but I must say that Kate Moss clearly hadn't visited here before her famous declaration that 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'.