Swiss Perfection in Zürich

The ride from Vienna to Zürich was probably my most uncomfortable night train experience to date: the windows were open for ventilation but it was stormy out, the train was loud, and four of the five other passengers in my compartment smoked inside. Oh, and I forgot to bring water. Most of the original passengers disembarked by Innsbruck and I got about two hours of sleep before dawn. After that, I gazed wistfully out the window at the alpine villages, imagining hills of edelweiss and cows with bells on everywhere greeting this first morning of July.

Whoosh.

My host Roger was kind enough to meet me early in the morning at the train station. He had just moved into his flat the day before so Ikea furniture assembly was a big part of the weekend. We unfurled the futon and I napped until noon. After lunch we strolled along Lake Zürich to the center of town and I experienced a bit of a culture shock. Zürich was the very incarnation of the expression "lap of luxury." The grassy park along the lake was full of glamorous sunbathers, giggling children tugging on the sleeves of well-dressed parents, bikers, frisbee players, all looking fit and casually cheerful. The glistening lake was teeming with sailboats against a backdrop of houses and trees on the rolling hills of the opposite bank.

I wandered around the bridges, churches, and shopping areas downtown and sat down on a bench to enjoy my pear-flavored sparkling mineral water. A gregarious middle-aged British lady in a floppy hat came to rest beside me and launched into a long, animated account of all the funny things that happened when her daughter spent a year spent teaching English in China. Those stories were less than fascinating but my patience, or inability to get away, paid off when she revealed that she used to run to the bathroom and feign constipation to avoid being called on during math class in grade school. Silly little British girls.

Shopping district. I was able to find an Adidas swimsuit and stuffed giraffe at reasonable prices.

Cuckoo clock store.

The undulating roofs of these barn-looking buildings reminded me of ruffled mushroom caps.

Boats on the Limmat River.

Narrow cobblestone streets.

The clockface of St. Peter is the largest in Europe. Fraumünster's green steeple is peeking out from behind.

Arches of Grossmünster.

Poodle drinking from a fountain at Grossmünster.

Towers of Grossmünster.

Roger and I have lunch at Google Zürich. It's a good thing we got such large plates of food since the refrigerator at his new flat wasn't working yet and we had been subsisting on apples, rolls, and instant pasta.

My favorite convenience store snack in Europe, first discovered in Geneva. Rice milk pudding with raspberry sauce. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Before the flight, on the train, hiking break, midnight snack.