Zurich Pt 1: Zuper city!

Off to Zurich, Switzerland we went for a weekend trip to visit Eckhard, Michelle's Director from work who is in the middle of a 6-month sabbatical (seriously, i need one too.)

• Stayed at the Continental Hotel about 2 blocks away from one of the main shopping areas, Bahnhofstrasse. I'd give the hotel 3.5-4 stars for being in a good location and having an alpine-lodge type feel. Free fresh-pressed apple juice in the lobby too!

• We arrived in the evening and were met by Eckhard, Michelle's co-worker who is on a 6-month sabbatical and lives in Zurich. Took us through a cool, area with small sidestreets, cobblestone walkways and filled with restaurants, bars, and one-off shops. Had dinner and drinks at a separate lounge/bar and actually ended up the lounge/bar the night after. It was also a national holiday in Zurich so there were fireworks going off around the river/lake.

• Next day went shopping in and around Bahnhofstrasse which is a high-end shopping area, like Rodeo Drive, but with tons of watch shops...next time i will get a Swiss watch (just have to bring along my 4000 CHF (1 CHF = 1 CDN)).

• Zurich is EXPENSIVE! I thought London was expensive but Zurich is now top of my list of most expensive place i've been to live-wise. Put it this way, it may have been partly b/c we were at the airport but, a Whopper combo + single burger cost me 20.40 CHF !!! A Swiss t-shirt (all red with a white cross) was 39 CHF !! wtf?! I'm just going to assume that salaries are higher there and/or income tax is lower...

• Zurich is CLEAN and MODERN - love it! Could definitely live here assuming i was making a relatively good salary..

• Met again with Eckhard and his girlfriend Laura, who graciously took us around Zurich and showed us places like Dolder Hotel (most expensive hotel in Zurich located atop a hill overlooking the city and Lake Zurich), FIFA headquarters (where Zinedine Zidane had to report to after headbutting that dude in the last World Cup..)..very cool.