Zurich, Switzerland

Yesterday we went to Zurich, Switzerland! It was such a blast. I know everyone is probably thinking that it's crazy that we only went for a day but it was a full and long day. We got on the bus at 2:30 in the morning! the bus stopped around 8am for breakfast at a little place just before the border. The place we stopped at had a really pretty view.

 

 

After our 45 minute breakfast stop we continued on and reached Zurich at around 9:30. The walking tour didn't start until 10:30am so everyone walked over to the tourist information place inside the train station to get maps and Swiss Francs.

The tour was a two hour walking tour of Zurich's Old Town and while it was nice to have a guide we ended up ducking out of the tour early. We only had a day there, so we wanted to enjoy it at our own pace. Our guide moved so fast that no one had time to take pictures and she talked so quietly that we couldn't hear her.

Once we left the tour we stopped at a Starbucks to grab coffee and water because the temperature there was on the low 60's and it rained off and on the whole time. So it was kind of chilly! Thank goodness we decided that it would be a good idea to take jackets. The Starbucks we stopped at was on this cute street filled with small shops.

 

 

After our coffee and water we pulled out our tourist map and just started walking to the dots on the list that interested us. We saw three churches in Zurich.

St. Peter church, which has the largest church face clock in Europe. It's 8.7 meters in diameter!

 

 

The Grossmünster (Great minster) was my favorite church to go see. It has two steeples that were put up in 1487 and 1492. They steeples were originally made of wood but were replaced when the wood burned down.

 

 

The third church we saw was the Fraumünster (Women's Minster). The Fraumünster was built on the remains of a former abbey. I found the clock on it to be quite beautiful.

 

 

In the middle of seeing the churches we stopped at a park to just take in the view. The park had a huge chess board, a bird coop, a fountain (which people were drinking out of), and a bunch of benches for people to sit and relax on.

Interesting tidbit: All of the many fountains in the city are all fed by a pure natural spring, so it's perfectly okay to drink out of them.

 

 

Next to the Grossmünster was a little shop called Teddy's Souvenir Shop. We of course stopped in there to get our usual things that we get on each trip; shot glass, bell, and post cards. We paid almost twice as much for the souvenirs there than we have at every other place we've been too! Switzerland is expensive.

 

 

After picking up our souvenirs we started to head back across town so that we could pick up some chocolate and eat supper before we had to get back on the bus.

We got our chocolate from Confiserie Sprüngli. We had the option of either buying chocolate by the piece or getting an already packaged box. We opted for the box because in the end it was cheaper (20 Swiss Franc for 10 pieces). So far we've only had two pieces out of it. We're trying to go slow so that it lasts awhile. :) We split a piece once a day.

 

 

The river was gorgeous! We crossed it a few times throughout the day because it runs right through the city. There were swans and ducks and we could even see to the bottom in some places.

 

 

We were lame and ate at McDonalds for supper (Hey souvenirs and chocolate aren't cheap!). But in the end it ended up being expensive too. It was 24 Swiss Francs!! That is the most that the two of us have ever spent at a fast food chain. Ben got a cheeseburger and I got chicken nuggets.

Our last stop on the way back to the bus was the train station. We have to walk through it in order to get to the bus parking on the other side.