The flight over from Miami was longer and more wearying than I thought I would be so all I wanted to do when we got to our apartment in Zurich was go to sleep. And considering the weather was pretty rubbish that’s basically what I did on our first day! It was great (though that meant I pretty much ruined my sleep pattern for the rest of the trip.)

Photos are here.

The Experience

Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city, though not its capital (Bern has that distinction) and lies on Lake Zurich and the River Limmat. The main attractions, as with any other European city, are its churches and museums. All are located nearby the river and also around Lake Zurich. It also has one of the best-known shopping streets in the world – the Bahnhofstrasse.

Another appeal in Zurich is its proximity to the beautiful Alps.

We had basically about three days in Zurich, not including the day that I, um, slept away … ahem, and most of the time we actually spent away from Zurich.

• When in the city itself we spent most of it walking around town and seeing the sights such as Grossmünster, an old Romanesque church (normally you can climb the towers for views over the city but it didn’t seem to be open when we were there), Fraumunste, an old Gothic church with beautiful window paintings by Marc Chagal, a down one side of Lake Zurich and of course taking a walk down Bahnhofstrasse. Nothing too exciting but admittedly not much can beat snacking on grilled Wurst by the waters of Lake Zurich on a day with brilliant weather.

• With lots of day tours available from Zurich we opted for taking in a couple of the Alps. The first day tour encompassed a visit to Lucern and Mt Titlis. Our tour guide was pretty funny, and later on we realised a little batty, but she certainly was very accommodating and flexible on the tour. We had about an hour in Lucern and to be honest it was enough to hit some of the highlights including the Lion Monument and the Chapel Bridge. Lucern apparently has a thriving tourist industry but mainly because of its proximity to Central Switzerland. The murals on the buildings in the old town were pretty cool. To get to the peak of Mt Titlis, at 3020m/10,000ft!, we rode a couple of cable cars including the innovative revolving cable car “Rotair”. These beautiful Alps are the closest slopes to Zurich and the cable cars can get pretty crazy with skiers in the peak season. It was unfortunate the weather was so-so because we unfortunately didn’t get to do any cool activities such as riding the Ice Flyer (a giant chair lift) and going sliding. The Ice Grotto, seeing inside an ice glacier, was different.

• Our second day tour involved a visit to Interlaken and Grindewald. Not quite the Alps but Interlaken lays at the foot of the Alps of the Bernese Oberland. The stop here was rather brief but long enough to see that Interlaken is beautiful. Most of our day was spent at Grindewald known as the Glacier Village. Grindewald was a nice enough little town but basically seemed to be a base for the skiers. They do have a fairly big sports complex where you can do all sorts of activities including playing ice hockey and curling. Seeing the little kids playing ice hockey was surprisingly entertaining.

Overall I can see the appeal of living in Zurich. It’s a beautiful city with great links to beautiful Alps. The only drawback being the high cost of living.