Greuzie!

I have been in Switzerland just under a week now and have to admit that I am no closer to understanding the language than I was before I got here. Even though they speak German here and I can speak a bit of german, the Swiss German is an odd variation and it has some particularly Swiss words that can really throw a tourist!

Zurich is a bustling, corporate city full of very trendy, busy people. It has some great sights and a beautiful old town area that sends you back to renaissance times. While in Zürich, I ventured in to the 2 Münsters (Cathedrals) and wandered around the old town, checking out the shops and gasping at the Swiss prices.

I took a couple of day trips to Basel, Bern and Luzern, which were brilliant! Each city has a spectacular old town and they are all located either located on a lake or river, making them all very picturesque. Basel is the smaller city of the 4 I visited in Switzerland and is easliy walkable. Bern, the Swiss capital, again has a beautiful Old town that makes up the main road through the city centre. It also points the way to the Bear Pit. The Bear is the Bern Mascot and has been since Bern was first settled. In fact, Bern means Bear and was named after the first animal hunted by the founding father of the city.

The Bear pit is really very nice. It is new and the resident Bear family have a lot of room and their own piece of diverted river to swim in. There are currently 2 baby bears in the enclosure and it was great watching them play and fight with each other.

Luzern is beautiful! The old town is immaculate and looks like it has only just been built, the 2 old wooden bridges (Käppelbrüke and Spreurebrüke) are fascinating and look great with the flowers lining the outer walls of each bridge. Considering it is was miserable, rainy day when Bec and I headed to Luzern, it still impressed with its beautiful setting. I would love to go back one sunny day and get a view of the Mountains surrounding the city and lake.

Bec and I have explored Zürich's shops and eateries rather thoroughly. We tried a lot of chocolate yesterday. Obviously, just to make sure Swiss chocolate is really as good as it said to be. Quality tested, it seems Swiss Chocolate is delectable! It is incredibly hard to walk past a chocolate shop without stepping inside, taking a deep breath and inhaling the amazing smells and taking in the assortment of sweets available.

After managing to pass up the opportunity of buying loads of chocolates to take home, we decided that we deserved a coffee and a piece of cake. So we headed straight to a Chocolatier's cafe and had the best cakes ever! I had a chocolate mouse cake and Bec had the raspberry sponge. After savouring our treats and with full bellies (and possibly small sugar highs) we promptly went downstairs to the shop area and purchased a few Luxembourgerli, small macaroon type sweets with a cream filled centre. Then passing another chocolate shop, we ventured in and purchased a small sample of chocolate truffles. We were being incredibly selfless here, Bec's husband had been in Denmark for the week and had obviously missed the chocolate tasting day, so of course we had to bring some examples home for him!

Today is Zürich's Street Parade. It is said to be Europe's biggest street event and attracts over a million spectators. There are live DJ's playing all through the night and apparently the pubic transport is continuing service until 5am. Should be a good night from all accounts. Since I am getting a train tomorrow morning, I doubt I will be partying until 5am!

I have also decided on my next ports of call. On Sunday, I head to Salzburg for a couple of nights and then to Budapest for 4 nights. I then go to Krakow for a few nights and then back into Germany, aiming towards Frankfurt for the 30th, when I fly to New York.

Will keep you posted.

Caz xxx