What About Sue and George: Zurich, Switzerland

What things come to mind when thinking of Switzerland. Of course chocolate, Swiss Army Knives, cheese, and watches. All are abundantly found in every corner of Switzerland and Zurich was no exception. In fact, I don't know if there is anything you can't find in this ritzy city.

If you ever visit Switzerland, you will no doubt, experience sticker-shock. It seems you can't go to the bathroom without paying something. But this could be my imagination running wild. We were able to borrow an umbrella from the hotel for free, so there you have it, some things are free. And lest I forget, you can borrow bicycles for free in the city at four locations, which is super nice, because the lake views are spectacular.

But you can smell the money in the air, and in the cars that travel the streets, there is a lot of wealth in Zurich.

Zurich, Switzerland - Wiesmann automobile

The Bahnhofstrasse is one of the world's most exclusive and expensive shopping avenues. Every high-end designer can be found here, but it was a street we only partially walked. We enjoyed ourselves in the old town section of the city on both sides of the river, window shopping, visiting pubs, and restaurants. Even at the most common of cafes, sheep skins covered the outside chairs and/or blankets were provided to thwart the cold air. We happened upon the Saturday Ohio State football game on a television, a little bit of home, since we have been unable to watch college football this season.

Zurich, Switzerland - you often see blankets
for patrons in outside seating areas.

Lake Zurich is a remarkable sight with snow-capped mountains draping the landscape to the south, several 13th century church steeples with golden clock faces towering over the city, and narrow winding, cobblestoned streets. The Limmat River flows from Lake Zurich and provides the city with picturesque views throughout. The day we were there, sculling race competitions where starting in the lake and finishing in the heart of the city. If there was one word to describe Zurich, it would be - clean. The swiss take great pride in keeping their city clean and orderly.

Quality museums can be found in Zurich, too many to visit for a 3-day weekend, but we couldn't miss the special exhibition by expressionist artist, Edvard Munch. You might know this artist by his most famous work, The Scream, (which has been stolen and recovered in the last decade). We were able to witness the lithograph version of this work at the the Kunsthaus Museum Zurich, a premier museum holding many famous works from the 15th century to the present. We also visited the Museum of Design dedicated to industrial design, visual communication, architecture and craft, whose current exhibition was Martin Parr Photography.

Our time in Zurich went quickly and we hope to return to this lovely city before our time comes to an end in France.

Here's some photos of our weekend.