Zurich in my heart !

In February I spent 4 days at my cousin’s place in Zurich, Switzerland. 

I went there by night train and even though the trip takes me 10 hours I was really lucky because there was no need to change train. What I like about this train is that I arrive at 9:20 a.m. in Zurich so I don’t lose one day of exploring this new city. 

My cousin, Kira, picked me up at the train station. I was so happy because I don’t get the chance to see her very often; the last time was 2 years ago.
Kira lives in Embrach which is a very small town 20 minutes away from Zurich. Her mother offered me to take my suitcase to her office and in the evening she brought it to Kira’s place. So we had the chance to spend the whole day in Zurich doing some sightseeing. 

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on my side. It was freezing cold and snowing the whole time. Personally I have to say that a city loses a lot of its beauty if the weather is bad. But Zurich was still extremely beautiful und after 2 hours of walking in the cold I got used to it. 

One of my favorite sights is the Zurich Lake. I’m sure in spring and summer it must be amazing sitting next to it and enjoying the sun. Kira told me that it’s possible to go swimming in the summer months. I decided that I would have to come back this summer (:
We went for a walk at the shore of Lake Zurich. You can walk there for hours I guess. It’s really big! We even had the chance to get a glimpse of the sun! If I would live in Zurich you can be sure that I would spend my days next to this beautiful lake. 

With a small cable railway we drove up a hill to reach the ETH. Maybe some of you know what the ETH is. It’s the technical University in Zurich and has a savoury reputation. Especially the program mechanical engineering is said to be one of the bests in the world.
Up there the view over the city is breath-taking!
Next to the ETH, 50 years after its foundation, was built the University of Zurich which has now more than 30.000 students. 

A beautiful church is called “Fraumünster”. The church includes a nunnery and a long time ago the women of the European higher nobility lived there. 

A legend says that Charlemagne discovered the tombs of Felix and Regula, who are the two saints of the city and founded the first church as chapter of canons there. This church is called “Großmünster”. It’s the landmark of Zurich.

 

My favorite church is called “Kirche Enge”. It’s located on top of a small hill and right in front of it you have a stunning view over the lake and the city. The church is built in a Italian early Renaissance style.

 

I also loved the Swiss state museum which is located directly behind the train station. It’s a huge old building and next to it is a lovely park. 

The big negative aspect of Zurich though is that this city is expensive! Gosh!! I had to spend so much money for food you can’t imagine. One glass of “Weißer Spritzer” in the evening coast nearly 10 euros. I was shocked. I knew Switzerland is an expensive state but it was more expensive than I had expected it to be. Of course people living there earn more money than we do but if you guys ever plan to visit this country keep in mind that you will need a lot of money!

But I can tell you there are a lot of great places to go out in the evenings. I only went out once with Kira and her best friend. We had a lot of fun! There are great places where you can dance or enjoy a glass of wine together and just chat about random things.

I already mentioned that Kira lives in a small town called Embrach. One day we were very lucky and there was sunshine but only in this town. In Zurich the weather still was bad. So we decided to go out for a walk next to her place. One of the best decisions ever. The landscape is incredible beautiful. The snow sparkled in the sunshine and it was quiet and relaxing. Here are some pictures to show you about what I’m talking.

I really enjoyed these 4 days away from home in a beautiful city together with Kira!