Bonjour a tous!
J’ai passé le week end en Suisse Zurich avec Liz et Walsh, comme d’habitude : )
Zurich était une ville vraiment charmante, plein de l’art modern, les gens tout habillé en mode du moment mais chaleureux et gentil aussi; un melange rare a mon avis! Le shopping etait le meilleur. Mieux que Paris peut-etre, juste parceque les magasins a Zurich sont tous mon style. D'accord--En anglais maintenant.
Hello to all!
I spent the weekend in Switzerland with Zurich and Liz Walsh, as usual:)
Zurich was a really charming city full of modern art, people dressed in current fashion but also warm and kind, a rare mix in my opinion. The shopping was the best. Better than Paris maybe, just because the shops in Zurich are all my style.
We planned Zurich perfectly. It was honestly a flawless weekend...except we were surprised by how expensive a city it was (even though they use the weak ass Swiss Franc still), and that everyone speaks German or English and they kind of hate French.
We arrived Friday evening and caught a train back to Paris Sunday at 6--so we had two great nights and two full days in the city.
Our hostel was in the very center of the city, on the street that had all the shopping, the restaurants, bars and we were a 5 minute walk from about 3 museums and steps away from the river that leads to Lake Beautiful Flippin Zurich. We really had such a wonderful time. It was the best weekend get away because we could walk everywhere we wanted--there was no stress about planning when and how to get where.
Well, I'll go over the highlights.
Saturday, we woke up early and went to an adorable cafe with the best outdoor seating. The was a long bend running along the front of the cafe, covered in pillows and blankets. Since it was freezing, we were the only ones outside, by we couldn't pass it up.
We spent the rest of the day at the market outside our hostel and exploring the cute local shops. Almost every single shop in Zurich is a boutique with original, handmade items. I bought myself a pair of sock monkey mittens that were calling my name. It was the biggest splurge ever, but I decided it was my birthday present to myself.
We spent the rest of the day at the most amazing museum called Kunsthaus Zürich. It was mostly modern art--some of which was too weird to take seriously, but almost all of the modern stuff was beautiful and really moving.
We met some great people in our hostel on Saturday night. Two girls from Sweeden and a guy from Brazil plus a bunch of other folk went out to find live music. We ended up at this great local jazz club with the jolliest folk/ young crowd.
Zurich is full of college tourists and chic yuppies who live there--and that was basically the crowd in the bar.
Sunday we got breakfast at the same cafe as the day before--except on Sunday, when my "Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Espresso" arrived with latte art on top, and I said "Beautiful!" our waiter replied through a German accent, "Why thank you...oh you meant the coffee" So that made my day.
We spent the rest of the day walking along Lake Zurich, cafe hopping, drinking delicious coffee and chocolate cake...but this is the best part.
We were walking over one of the many bridges by the lake, and we see a crowd of guys with megaphones...so we all steered away for a moment until we say the signs:
Free Hugs.
If you can imagine this--I jumped in the air and ran towards them with my arms open and hugged away. It was one of the happiest moments. Ever.
So I'm back in lovely Paris again, catching up on some work, planning the week ahead and dealing with another metro strike.
I'll be home in less than a month, and I'm just absolutely looking forward to it, because I think I've spent my time here so well, that I'll be ready to go home come December 6th when I take off from Paris.
Je vous embrasse
Erica
