Tag: chocolate

Switzerland (V): Transportation Hub Zurich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, the last stop of our Swiss travel. At the first glance, Zurich seemed less personal than Bern, yet a beautiful city nevertheless.

You can’t miss this fun, gigantic flying “Guardian Angel” at Zurich train station. It was installed in 1997 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Swiss rail system.

Busy Zurich Train Station

Crowded and busy, Zurich didn’t feel as intimate as Bern. But as soon as we left the station and went on small cobble streets, Zurich was quite attractive.

Zurich is bike friendly.

The restaurants and cafes fill the alleyways.

Our hotel was by the Limmat River, in the early morning Zurich was quite lovely before the hustle and bustle filled the scene.

We visited the Grossmunster, the big cathedral of Neo-Gothic style. Her double domes have become the symbols of Zurich.

Rathausbrucke Bridge is a favorite spot for Instagram photos 🙂

You can read about the Swiss Reformation and the key role Ulrich Zwingli played in that era, and check out the 1531 Zurich Bible there.

Another church, Fraumunster, is on the other side of Limmat River. People come to see Chagall’s (1887-1985) stained-glass windows.

One thing we noticed in Switzerland: Swiss people really LOVE their flag, not only inside the cities, but at the Alps and in the mountain towns. We fly ours on July 4th, but here it seems everyday a National Day.

  • Interlaken
  • Lauterbrunnen

Another amazing thing in Switzerland is the spring water: the water from public fountains is not only drinkable but DELICIOUS. We didn’t need to spend a CHF on water in Switzerland.

Water fountain in Gimmerwald at the Swiss alps

This water fountain in Zurich had a smaller water outlet at the right corner, for water bottle! How thoughtful!

While at Switzerland we made sure to have their delicious cheese fondue. Here is a recipe I tried after came back. It tastes pretty authentic, just like the one we had in Interlaken. Enjoy!

If you are a shopper like me, you can easily stay for hours inside the Zurich train station. Anything you can think of, want or need, you can find it in the multi-floor station.

Make sure to pick some Swiss chocolate home! Our favorite is Laderach, yummy!

Last breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the airport to fly back home.

Another tip: if you travel light like us, with just a carry-on, you really don’t need to take a taxi to the airport. It is about 10 minute train ride from Zurich downtown to the airport, for a few CHFs the train will drop you at the lower level of the airport, all you need to do is to get to the top floor to check in your flight! We were totally amazed by the efficiency of the Swiss train system! And they are always on time!!

This concludes our Switzerland trip! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my travel blog! Stay tuned for Germany, Austria and Hungary.

Bruges, the Venice of the North

Bruges (broozh) in English, or Brugge (BROO-ghah) in Flemish, is a popular tourist town in Belgium. Through small, less than one square mile, Bruges is packed with charm. Our family visited there the summer of 2009.  It took about three hours with fast train from London.  The train dropped us right in the center of the town, and there were plenty taxi at the station to take you to hotel.

We stayed at Hotel ter Reien, at the top floor suite overlooking the Huidenvettersplein Canal.  I highly recommend this family-owned budget hotel: great location at the town center, although in the center of the action, the hotel was quiet; the owners were very friendly, they served delicious home-made breakfast.

For sights and attractions, the Bruges by Boat was a must. It was a relaxing and scenic tour with the captain narrating. Bruges was quite photogenic from the canal.

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There were two renowned Squares.  Burg Square was the political and religious heart of the town, a popular place for outdoor concerts during summer night.  Carillon bells could be heard every fifteen minutes.  Make sure to visit “Basilica of the Holy Blood” at the square (below, left). This church was built by the crusaders who had brought back the drops of Christ’s blood in 1150. For a small donation, we touched the vial containing the blood!  Tourist trap or not, we WERE tourists. 🙂

Talking about church, another memorable one was Church of Our Lady (above, right), made famous by the white marble Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. This was the only Michelangelo statue to leave Italy in his lifetime, a testimony of the wealth and power of Bruges in her heyday.

Bell Tower (Belfort) stood over the Market Square.  Around the Market Square, you could find many eateries and shops. Make sure to try frites, the Belgian-style fries. As detrimental to health as frites actually were, Belgians took pride in creating the frites. They were deep fried twice, first round to cook the potato strips, second round to crisp and brown them, the frites were traditionally served with mayonnaise, not ketchup. They might clot my arteries, but boy, they were heavenly with a capital H!

Another snack to try in the Market Square was the pickled herring, and ate it the Dutch way!

For dinner, moules, the Belgium mussels, were a must dish. We ordered ours with white wine (vin blanc), and with shallots (mariniere).  Ever since the trip, the Belgium way has become the only way for me to cook mussels at home. Of course, pair them with dark Belgium beer.

Another delicacy, and great gifts to bring back home, was Belgian chocolate.  Freshly made and sold the same day, Belgians know how to make divine chocolate. The best ones were from Dumon just off Market Square. After Belgium it was hard to go back to American chocolate, no offense Hersey.

My last advice was to pack a warm jacket even in the summer months.  We were there in mid July, the highest of the day was in the 60s. We had to cancel our biking trip because it was too cold!

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