I can’t believe how far behind I’ve gotten on these summer posts! It seems like once again school starts and everything else falls to the wayside. Perhaps my next few posts should be less chatty and more photo-filled. We all know a picture’s worth…
A few weeks into our time in Leysin we popped up to Zurich for a fast weekend. We didn’t have much time…Chandler had classes until early evening on Friday and had to be back by 8:30 am Monday morning.
But we already had our Eurail passes and I had a friend from high school living there whom I hadn’t seen in four years – our last sighting being happenstance when we were both vacationing in Rome, summer of 2013.
We made it to Zurich shortly before sunset and my friend’s incredibly kind husband met us at the train station and took us up to a viewpoint:
It was a great introduction to the surprisingly small city and then we went for drinks, walking through Old Town along the way.
Instead of an up at ’em Saturday morning, we did something we hadn’t done since we started our European adventure: we slept in. And it was glorious.
My friend offered to walk us around the city, and after a quick train ride, our tour began. We saw more viewpoints (these ones filled with ingenuitive pigeons):
And wandered along the banks of the river:
Past churches with amusement parks set up right outside their front doors:
And all the way down to the lake:
We picked up some especially good chocolate along the way and ate it while soaking up the view (and the fresh air that we still couldn’t get enough of).
The whole day we had been contemplating a swim. The day was a bit warm by Swiss standards (though not nearly as hot as it had been in Paris), but we also had a time limit. Krystle had to get back for a performance that evening and Chandler and I had dinner plans at Hitl, supposedly the oldest vegetarian restaurant, open since 1898.
But, when you’re in Switzerland…
So we made our way to the local hangout, an area filled with food, drinks, and people in swimsuits. We took off our clothes, held our breath, and jumped off a bridge:
So now when asked: Would you jump off a bridge if Krystle did? My answer would have to be yes.
We floated down the river a bit and then were on our way. It wasn’t a very touristy day, but we enjoyed spending it like locals. And dinner at Hitl? Delicious. A vegetarian buffet where you pay by the gram – it was our most expensive meal in Switzerland!
The next day we contemplated waking up early and heading to Kunsthaus Zurich – the museum for modern art. They had an exhibition on Mexican Graphic Art, plus we love to go to at least one museum in every country we visit.
However, it wasn’t meant to be, as we apparently never set our alarms. Instead we had another luxuriously slow morning where we ate a late breakfast, packed up, and made our way to a cafe shortly before heading back to Leysin. I got my first iced chai latte in over a year and we got a long goodbye with Krystle.
If we ever make it back to Zurich, we’ll make sure to head to that museum, but I can’t say I have any complaints about our lazy weekend.
Abroad With Ashley 