Funny Accents - Zurich, Oct. 10

Welcome to Switzerland! I've been busy for the past few days and haven't had a chance to write a post until now. I still have to keep this one a bit shorter, because I need to get up early tomorrow for a lab tour. Here's a recap of my activities from the last few days.

My train ride into Switzerland went smoothly, didn't have any delays or cancelled trains like I had when going into and out of the Netherlands. My first train went direct from Stuttgart to Zurich, then I had another train to the people I'm staying with near Lake Constance. And I finally got to see some mountains for the first time on this trip! The train route was fairly windy so it wasn't super fast, which was actually a benefit since it gave me a better chance to nab photos. Here ya go!

I must admit, I've been missing having mountains and hills around. Flat terrain gets a bit boring after a while because you can't see beyond the buildings or trees next to you. Whereas with mountains nearby, you can usually see them between the gaps, so there's just more to look at. It's also nice seeing more green on these mountains, because I'm used to Colorado where it gets very brown for much of the year.

The people I'm staying with are a family who live out in the boonies near Lake Constance, who are related to my mom's neighbor. It's a bit of a farming area, so there's lots of crops and animals around this area. It also means it's hard to get around without a car, which is a bit of a downside for me, especially since I'm not driving on this trip. But they've been kind enough to take me around when I need it!

On Friday evening, we had dinner with some neighbors who came over, one of whom doesn't speak English very well. So the conversations were usually a mix of English and German depending on who was being talked to. Except it's not just German, it's Swiss German! They have a very strong dialect that is very difficult to understand, a lot of words are pronounced differently from what I'm used to, so I couldn't really follow the conversation. But it was still a good evening regardless!

Yesterday I took a train into Zurich, which takes roughly an hour. After arriving, I headed south towards Lake Zurich, which took me through the center of town. The main road down the middle is more of a tourist area, so there's lots of shops selling things that are way to expensive. Anyways, I got to the lake, took a picture, then headed straight back to meet with another one of my dad's coworkers for lunch.

It turns out his background is fairly similar to mine, we both got degrees in physics, so I had a really good time talking with him. We walked around for a bit, then went to a restaurant in town. And I was pretty astounded by the prices. For reference, 1 Swiss Franc is very close to 1 USD, so they're basically the same value. A burger cost 32 Francs. And that was one of the cheaper options! A veal chop was 62 Francs! Holy moly! The final bill between the two of us was over 100 Francs even before a tip, I'm definitely glad he paid!

I've heard that Switzerland, and Zurich in particular, is an expensive place to live, but that was even more than I'd expected. It did also look like a fancier restaurant, so that probably contributed a lot to the price. But that was still quite the shock to see! At least the food was good.

After we parted ways, I met up with another member of the family who gave me more of a tour around Zurich. The weather wasn't so nice earlier in the day, but it started to clear up in the afternoon, which was certainly welcome. I didn't take many pictures except for a few view points, of which there are some really nice ones.

As for the streets, they're decent, though it really depends on where you go. There's a mix of pedestrianized streets and car roads, and I think I've made my opinions on cars pretty clear. Even though most of the streets seem to be pedestrianized, I felt like I couldn't get as far away from the car roads as I would have liked. But it's still a lot better than Munich or Berlin, most streets have lots of people walking around on them.

There's also not much greenery in the city itself. There are a decent number of trees around, but hardly any places with grass. Pretty much everywhere is either covered in asphalt or bricks, there's very few places with natural terrain around here. Also, a lot of the buildings are in the boring light gray color that I don't care for. And the faces of many buildings are rather flat, so they're not all that great to look at, if I'm honest.

So far, my initial impressions of Zurich haven't been fantastic, but it's definitely not horrible. I do like that the lake is right next to the city center, and has visible mountains nearby. It also doesn't feel too quiet or overcrowded like I've found in other places, and the pedestrian streets that do exist are quite nice. I don't think I've seen enough to give a thorough judgement.

After we explored around town, we decided to get dinner at the Street Food Festival. Apparently this is an annual event in town which is almost over, so I arrived just in time! It's hosted a bit away from the city center, and has a large tent with lots of food vendors selling all kinds of dishes. A single website has the menu for each vendor, so it's really easy to get what you want. I got a curry for 15 Francs, which I think is a more normal price than the restaurant I had lunch at.

After that, I took a train back to the house. As much as I complained about the city center above, I did actually enjoy exploring around, and there are some really nice areas around. I think I need to look around more by myself to get more of a feel for it, which I might be able to do tomorrow after getting the lab tour.

Today, we had some adventures near Lake Constance. We met with their grandfather for lunch, which had some pretty nice food. After that, they took me on their boat and we motored around the north side of Lake Constance to see a few places on the coast. It was pretty fun, although rather cold with the wind blasting my face for most of the trip.

Fortunately we had a good way to warm up afterwards: fondue! Cheese and bread is usually a good combination, but melted cheese is even better. This was a pretty nice meal to conclude the day, in stereotypical Swiss style!

That's most of what I've done since getting into Switzerland. As I said, I'm getting a lab tour tomorrow morning, after which I'll try to explore more around the city on my own to get a better feel for it. I'm also working on planning my trip through the Alps, I'll likely take the Glacier Express since that's actually free with the Eurail pass (except the seat reservation fee). Should be a good way to see the mountains, so I'm looking forward to that!