Switzerland
I was off of school this past week for spring break so my friend Shireen and I went to five cities in Switzerland! It was a great week filled with more food (especially cheese) than I want to even think about. I had so much fun and I’m sad to be back in Metz where the air is dirty and the people are less nice. 😦
Zurich
Our first stop was Zurich! I took a direct train from Paris Gare de Lyon to Zurich that lasted about four hours. I met Shireen there, and we both took a minute to appreciate the fact that the air was significantly better than in France. We walked to our Airbnb then went straight to dinner at Restaurant Swiss Chuchi. The walk to the restaurant was so lovely. We saw some cute buildings and the river looked so peaceful at sunset! I also noticed the abundance of luxury vehicles. I swear the only cars there are luxury cars like Porches, Audis, Jaguars, Ferraris, BMWS, Maseratis, etc etc etc. They were everywhere.
At Restaurant Swiss Chuchi, we ordered traditional fondue and raclette. They brought the potatoes for the raclette in this adorable little potato sack. The food was delicious and I ate my weight in cheese that night. After dinner we went to a century-old coffee and dessert shop called Cafe Schober. The hot chocolate I ordered was $10 but that’s Switzerland… It was really good and the cafe was decorated like it was Christmas! It was so fun and cute. They had these teeny tiny chairs and other fun furniture.
The next morning, we had a morning cup of hot chocolate and went to the Fraumunster church to see the 5 stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. They were gorgeous. Unfortunately, they did not allow people to take pictures. Next, Shireen and I took a short, 20 minute train to Uetliberg to hike to the Top of Zurich. We were not prepared for how slippery the ice was and slid all around but we made it! It was a great view, and I’m glad we went! That was the end of our time in Zurich, but now it was on to our next stop.
Lucerne
Our time in Lucerne was brief, but we managed to squeeze a lot in! We arrived in Lucerne around 2 PM and took a walk around the city. We saw the iconic wooden bridge and the Lion Monument (a memorial to the Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution). We walked up about a million stairs to get a great view of the city then went and had lunch at the local Migros. After wondering around some more and trying a truffle from Bachmann (Lindt is better!), we got on a train to Interlaken.
Interlaken
My first day in Interlaken was filled with winter activities! We got vouchers to go ice skating from our hostel so we figured we would give it a go. I got skates on (which were the super uncomfortable kind) and hobbled over to the ice and stepped on. I was sliding all over the place and having quite a hard time. I couldn’t figure out how to go forward so I was just sliding around in place, looking dumb. All of these tiny children were zooming past me and doing spins and skating backwards. It was so embarrassing. Toward the end, I got the hang of it and was able to skate around the course looking like I knew what I was doing…. to some extent.
After that exhausting experience, it was time for mid-morning dessert. We went to the cafe next to the park called Schuh where I got a slice of black forest cake and Shireen got an apple strudel with vanilla sauce (it tasted like melted vanilla ice cream). We walked around town some more and went in some shops before getting dinner at a restaurant called Little Thai. I had never had Thai food before so I was excited! I got pad thai and Shireen got some sort of green curry thing. Both were amazing! My pad thai had an absurd amount of been sprouts in it so it tasted a bit earthy… but still good!
That night we went night sledding with Outdoor Interlaken. This was my favorite part of the entire trip! I had never been sledding before so to do it in the Swiss Alps was so much fun. The view from the top of the lift was amazing. It was almost like it was a green screen it was so beautiful. I tried to get a picture but it was too dark for the camera to pick up what I was seeing. The moon was so bright it lit up the snow so bright and we were able to see going down. Our guide said, “Look around. See the black stuff and the white stuff? Avoid the black stuff!” And that was all the instruction we got aside from the basics of how to turn and stop. We were off! It took me a while to work out how to turn but once I got it down I was zooming!!! There were little bumps around the turns to help slow you down but I didn’t slow down. I went over them at full speed and even went airborne a few times. It was loads of fun and I would definitely do it again.
The next day was a change of pace from sledding. We went kayaking on Lake Brienz. I’ve never seen water that clean. Our guide told us we could drink the water it was so clean, so I did. It tasted better than most bottled water not going to lie. We had these very intense dry suits to keep us warm, but the weather was actually very enjoyable. We kayaked around for a while before stopping for tea and biscuits. It was apple tea which I thought I would like, but I didn’t like it so when everyone was looking away I dumped it over the cliff. The biscuits were great though! On the way back, a swan was swimming around us which seems nice, but I heard they’ll attack you so I paddled far away.
That afternoon we took a train to Lauterbrunnen then a gondola and another train to Murren. Seeing it in the winter was so different than the summer. There was snow all over the streets, so people were skiing down the streets and sledding and families were playing in the snow. It was like the opening scene to one of those winter Hallmark channel movies. We had coffee and a snack at a cafe that overlooked the mountains and the abyss below. It’s easy to forget how high up you are until you look and it just keeps going down, down, down. We went back down to Lauterbrunnen and walked to Staubbach Falls. In the summer, you can walk behind the waterfall but because it was winter and icy, the trail was closed. It was still pretty to see!
Dinner was at a place called Laterne which was recommended by our kayak guide. It was a small place off the main strip that had traditional Swiss food. I got the housemade sausage and rosti and Shireen got a fondue with tomatoes (tasted like cheesy tomato basil soup). It was a perfect last meal in Interlaken!
Geneva
We got to Geneva in the afternoon and dropped our stuff in the Airbnb. We walked around Old Town and saw the cathedral in town then got an afternoon crepe! I got banana chocolate and Shireen got a crepe with lemon ice cream, strawberry jam, and whipped cream. Then we walked back to the Airbnb and had an early night in.
The next day we walked to the United Nation Palace of Nations for a tour. It wasn’t as educational as I would have liked. We just saw some conference rooms, and the guide talked about the gifts from the member states. The symbol of the UN is pretty neat. The globe in the symbol is shown from the north pole to symbolize neutrality. After the UN, we went to CERN but weren’t able to get a guided tour because we didn’t request one in advance so we just saw the two permanent exhibits they have. They were cool but it would have been nice to have a guided tour and see more of CERN.
Montreux
At last, my favorite city. Montreux is easily in my top three favorite cities. It’s vibrant but not too touristy, small but not too small, and has some of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. The evening we got there, we got a crispy crepe, which is a crepe folded up like a waffle cone stuffed with gelato and topped with different toppings. Mine had vanilla gelato topped with Nutella and whipped cream. We took our crispy crepes, sat by the statue of Freddie Mercury, and watched the sunset over Lake Geneva.
The next morning, we took a bus to Chateau de Chillon to learn about how the members of the House of Savoy lived! The castle was built on a rock island so it provided a natural moat. The castle has an interesting history; it was a prison for a good bit of time. There was a pop up exhibit about the chef and the feasts and I couldn’t believe how much food these people ate. All of the doorways were so short and small I had to bend down to go through yet they went through over 100 cows and 6,000 eggs in one feast!!!! They did it all to show their wealth to their guests it said. Although I had already visited the castle, it was fun to go though again and see how people lived back then.
We walked along the lake back to town, stopping at the casino to see the Queen exhibit. I didn’t know this, but Queen owned the recording studio in the casino in Montreux, Mountain Records! They frequently recorded here to get away from the spotlight they had in London. They recorded several albums here including Jazz, Hot Space, A Kind of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo, and Made in Heaven. The Queen Studio Experience was very cool to go through. They had handwritten notes by Brian May and Freddie Mercury with lyrics to songs that appeared on albums. They also had two of Freddie’s outfits and one of Brian’s from tours. A fun story I learned is the story of the song “Under Pressure.” One night David Bowie, who frequently recorded in Montreux at Mountain Records, was at dinner and someone thought it would be good to introduce Bowie to Queen. That night they had a jam session and they created the song right then! Amazing.
The next day, our last full day in Switzerland, we went to the Maison Callier for a tour of the chocolate factory. The tour itself is very fun. You can sample the ingredients such as raw coco beans (they were very gross), almonds, and hazelnuts, You can then follow the production of their signature hazelnut logs and eat one at the end! At the very end of the tour, there were several samples of different types of chocolate. Most people tried one or two then moved on. Did we do that? No, we ate one of every type they had out to try, and they were all delicious.
Next stop was Gruyere to tour the cheese factory! It was so small but the cheese was great and we got to see the workers curdling the milk. Yum. Cheese is actually pretty gross if you think too long about how its made…
We walked up to the old town which let me tell you was a HIKE. It was so icy and windy and uphill. The town at the top is cute though and I rewarded myself with some of the most delicious spaghetti bolognese I have ever had. We took a train back to Montreux, got a crepe (not a crispy one because he allegedly ran out of crepe batter so we had to find another place that had crepe batter, I’m salty can’t you tell) and watched the sunset while enjoying my non-crispy crepe.
Switzerland blessed us with a week of clean air and fantastic tap water. I was very sad to go back to France, but I know I’ll be back in Switzerland before I know it. My grandma can’t seem to stay away so I plan to stuff myself in her suitcase next time. Spring break, it was nice knowing you!
