Day 2 In Zurich

10:20PM GMT+1 7/2/2009 Zurich, Switzerland

Today was another day in Switzerland, but it was longer and more interesting. I'll tell you about it in the best summary I can.

We woke up this morning, very tired and had breakfast at our restaurant, and I have to say, the food was not bad. After breakfast, we went to the train station and took a 20 minute metro ride to Uetliberg, the highest point in Zurich. After a short, 5 minute hike, we reached Kulm, a village featuring the highest hotel and restaurant in Zurich, a viewing tower that overlooked Zurich, Lake Zurich, and the Swiss Alps, and a TV Tower for Zurich. We didn't spend too much time there, but we plan to go again tomorrow and hike the full trail and take cable cars back into Zurich.

As we left the mountain, the rush of tourists arrived and we were lucky to not have to deal with them. After returning to the town center, we visited the swiss "Landesmuseum", or Swiss National Museum. It was small, but interesting. We followed the history of humans on earth, and saw artifacts from the Roman Age, Medieval Age, and some Swiss Army Arms. There was also a special exhibit on Swiss Humor (A lot about their punctuality, conservativeness, and neutrality). It was all in German though and we could not understand it, except for the picture only ones which were very understandable.

When we left the Museum, we decided to take the Riverboat Cruise down to the lake. It was comparable to Amsterdam's tour boats, except in Zurich, they are used for commute and transport rather than tourism. On the river, in turns out that the water extremely clean and people swim in it like they would in a pool. We arrived at the end of the river and decided to walk back to the station via Banhofstrasse. We walked down again, saw more extremely expensive watches and jewelry, and ate at was probably one of the most expensive McDonalds in the world. We paid 14 Swiss Francs (~13USD) for a typical meal. We also saw how much Michael Jackson is being remembered around the world with a big memorial on the side of the road with candles, flowers, pictures, signatures, and offerings.

At the train station, we left the Tourist Information Booth and took a walking tour through Zurich's Old Town. The tour was extremely interesting and we learned about Zurich's history, we saw its culture, and we strolled through its historical district. After this long tour, we took the guide's advice and ate at a local Swiss Restaurant. I had a Pork Snitchzel with fries and it was quite a good place to eat. On our way back to the hotel, we went to the top of a restaurant and had an amazing view of the City of Zurich, the main streets, the mountains, and the lake.

I am now at the hotel, and we are planning tomorrow's adventures. We plan to go to Uetliberg, do a long hike through the mountain and take a cable car down, then go to a Swiss Culture museum. Then we will go to a Latino Music Festival, and from there, we don't really have any solid plans. Today was a long day, and I will get pictures in as soon as possible. Be sure to check http://picasaweb.google.com/guitargodadamp.

Goodbye for now.

Update:

Pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/GuitarGodAdamp/ZurichDay2

Be sure to check out the map either online or Google Earth, it gives you a sense of where those pictures were taken.