Tourist in Zurich

A few weeks ago, I took a couple of days off work and spent some good time with my brother and his girlfriend, who came to visit me and see Zurich for the first time. It was a very delightful couple of days, followed by two days at our parents' home, and we had the chance to talk a lot and catch up with each others' lives. It might sound like an obvious thing to say, but I dearly love them both. They are intelligent, down-to-earth individuals, people with whom you can actually have a conversation ranging from soccer to philosophy, movies, art, etc. Did I say that I love them???

Anyway, I picked them up at the train station, and we went home briefly, then off to discover the city. We were extremely lucky because it was a gorgeous day, and we went on a tour of the downtown area, including Banhofstrasse, Paradeplatz, the Zurichsee, the Limmatquai, the Fraumunster with those gorgeous, gorgeous Chagall windows - I am very partial to Chagall, everywhere I go I look for his works, as it warms my heart like few others. Then, at a leisurely pace, we headed outside of Zurich to catch a cable-car that took us all the way up to Felsenegg, a cool place in the mountains where you can enjoy a superb view of the city. We walked around, took pictures, enjoyed the sun, and then we had some amazing desserts at the restaurant. We went back by boat across the lake, and then had a short ride through the Gold Coast to get to downtown Zurich again.

In the evening, we went and had a majestic and humongous dinner at Zeughauskeller, a place recommended by a coworker for some typical Swiss food. I honestly thought it would be more of a touristy place, given the location, but I was pleasantly surprised because there were all kinds of people, local and non local alike. Also, they had a very large selection of foods and drinks to accommodate any dietary restrictions, individual taste, etc. and their special beer was to die for! We were pleased. Afterwards, we headed for a stroll in Niederdorf, one of the oldest parts of town, full of cool little stores, art galleries, and plenty of bars and cafes - a true favorite of mine. When I want to think and sort of wander around on my own, I go there and take random turns on the narrow streets and hills, and I always find some very cool places I've never seen before.

The following day, we were not so lucky, because it was raining and cold. After I paid a visit to the gym (yes, I felt bad for the amazing St. Galler Bratwurst I'd eaten the night before, hehehe), we took it easy for a bit, then headed to eat lunch at Lily's - Stomach Supply, an outstanding Asian restaurant with foods from different countries that I had discovered while in Basel - this is the "sister" restaurant. Since the weather was nasty, even though it kept changing and giving us the illusion that it would warm up and improve for good - which it didn't - we decided to stay indoors and went to check out the India!India! festival at the Hauptbanhof. We then strolled more through Niederdorf on our way to the movie theater in Bellevue, where, after a nice tea, we watched "Inception" - I will just say that while my heart hated it (no passion, no feelings, no emotions), my brain was highly intrigued and captivated, over and over again.

Here our "tourists in Zurich" adventure ended, and we headed back to the train station to catch a train that would take us south, to our parents' home, for a weekend of fun. And off we went to another adventure...