Zurich
We arrived in Zurich to find protests taking place around the city and police in riot gear seemingly everywhere. It was quite an introduction. What caught us even more off guard, though, was just how incredibly expensive Zurich was. We knew Switzerland wouldn’t be cheap, but we weren’t prepared for this.
A simple wurst from a street vendor with a chunk of bread and a small cup of mustard cost us about $30 CDN. Huh? The little 330 ml can of Coke Zero to go with it was another $8 CDN. Suddenly that street lunch felt like fine dining.
Other than the expense, Zurich is a beautiful city. The combination of the old city, Lake Zurich and the Alps in the distance makes for some spectacular scenery. Naturally, seeing the mountains from Zurich wasn’t enough, so a cable car ride up for a closer look was required. At least I’m not afraid of heights.
We also took a boat ride around Lake Zurich. The affluent communities along the lake’s sunny eastern shore are commonly referred to as the Gold Coast, while the opposite shore has sometimes jokingly been called the Silver Coast. Either way, there wasn’t much about Zurich that struck us as particularly inexpensive.
And finally, I’m sorry Switzerland, but we liked the chocolate in Belgium better. We found Swiss chocolate a little too sweet. There, I said it.
