The day started out rough to say the least...
When the bus arrived at the station in Zürich, Switzerland we had very little time to gather our things. The bus driver even shut all of the doors and was outside trying to take a bike off of the rack before we even got our shoes on! In our hurried and worried state, we ran out of the bus thinking we were going to miss our stop. We went to a Starbucks across the street and gathered ourselves. After some breakfast and coffee, we decided to get a start to our day. It was at this time that Tim asked "Where is the Nintendo Switch?". IT WAS ON THE BUS! At this point an hour or so had gone by and the bus was already gone and on its way to its final destination about 2 hours away. We hopped online and immediately filled out a Lost and Found form on their website. After calling the bus company (Flixbus) and getting nowhere, we were finally able to determine that the bus' final destination was Freiburg, Germany. So, Tim got on his phone and quickly bought a ticket to go so that he could try to retrieve his Switch. Aftyn on the other hand was going to about the day as planned. She left Starbucks and made her way to Lindenhof hill where a castle once stood. Tim however was still waiting for the bus at the bus stop because it had been delayed, and he somehow missed it and gave up on his endeavor to retrieve the Switch in person. So, Aftyn came back to Starbucks and the day officially began.
Lindenhof hill was about a 15 minute uphill walk from the bus station. The view was spectacular! There were many very old churches and buildings that could be seen along the river from this viewpoint. We learned from some signs that a castle once stood on this location and We stopped here for a few minutes to collect ourselves and then moved on.
Our next stop was an old church called St. Peter Kirche that has a beautiful clock tower. We really just meandered inside and looked around as there wasn't much more than that. It was quite breathtaking.
After that we just wandered around some of the side streets for a bit, then grabbed a small bite to eat and some drinks at a cafe.
The next stop was a 1200 year old church called Fraumünster. The church had been remodeled several times in its history and is now setup as a museum. It is one of the oldest churches in town and has the third largest organ in Switzerland! It also has some very beautiful stained glass windows and also has a crypt underneath. We hung out here and took in the sights for awhile and then we headed up to an Art Gallery not too far away.
The walk led us over the river and up a hill through town. We got to see so many buildings with such great architecture. When we arrived at the art museum, we found it to be a bit too pricey, so we just left.
At this point it was getting to be early afternoon, so we decided to start making our way to the direction of our AirBnB location. We had been in contact with our host Celine, and she told us that she worked in Kilchberg and that she would give us a lift if we got there around 5. So, we hopped on the metro and headed to Kilchberg. We ended up doing some shopping and then hung out at a Ferry Terminal that was also a park, until she came to pick us up.
We had such a great evening with Celine! We went with her when she walked her dog, Kira, who really reminded us a lot of Rhythm. Then we all ate dinner and chatted about all sorts of things. Eventually, she put on the Football (Soccer) game and we drank wine and talked while watching the game. We stayed up much later than we planned, but it was totally worth it!
Thursday June 28, 2018
We had a nice, slow start - taking our time getting our showers and packing up our things. Around 11AM we left Celine's house to take a hike through a nearby park called "Wildnispark Zürich Langeberg". It was basically a zoo mixed with a state park-esque hiking trail. We got to see a herd of red-tailed deer, some kind of small wildcat, a mouse, and a wolf - but the other animals were not visible. We had some mixed feelings about the place, because as a general rule we aren't big fans of keeping wild animals in cages - but at least in this case they were still in their actual natural habitat. We also do appreciate the fact that zoos provide education for the public and rehabilitation for endangered species. It was unclear if that was also the case with this Wilderness Park, but we hoped so, and we did see some educational displays about the animals. I mean, they were, of course, in German, so we couldn't actually read them... but they seemed educational.
Side note: while walking through the park, Tim received a message from the bus line saying that they had found his Switch and that he will be able to pick it up in Amsterdam when we arrive there on Sunday!
After our hike, we went back to Celine's to pick up our backpacks before hopping on the Metro back to downtown Zürich. We didn't really feel like spending any more money on tours of old buildings or museums, so we just spent the rest of our afternoon sprawled out on the lawn of one of the many parks surrounding Lake Zürich. We ate our lunch, which was leftover rice from dinner the night before, and then we found a sunny spot and both took a bit of a nap. When we woke up, it was time to head to the bus station, for our journey to Paris!
Love from Switzerland <3
Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:
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