Hallo from Zurich!! After, spending the past two and a half days in Zurich, I have determined that Zurich is one classy place. From the time we arrived and met our couch surfing host at the train station we've seen nothing but hospitality and friendliness from everyone we've met. Our host, Yves, took us all over the city, introduced us to some fine Swiss chocolate (but I guess they would just call it chocolate :), took us to drink some beers at sunset at the local university (Yes! Drinking beer outside, in public without getting in trouble!) and showed us one of his favorite drinks called "flamly" (small flame), a delicious coffee, cognac, brown sugar shot that you set on fire. It's delicious. Also delicious was a typical Swiss dish (for which I forgot the name) that Yves cooked for us on our first night in Switzerland. It's potato, onion, egg, cheese and bacon (pictured below) and it was amazing! Discussing our love of bacon also helped bring us closer to Yves and his roommates. Ah bacon, always bringing people together!
People speak mostly Swiss German in Zurich that is, from what we were told, much different from proper German and often spoken in shorter, choppier words and sentences. Still, people often use French words and phrases intermittently. For example, Yves told us it is just as common to say "merci" than "danke." But mostly, we found that many people speak English.
I've found that Zurich is a very clean city with a great public transit system. Their drinking water is delicious (so clean and so tasty)! And if you plan on coming to Switzerland anytime soon know that leather jackets are really in style, it seemed that everyone, even kids, were wearing them (I hope no one noticed that my "leather" jacket is actually rayon).
Our first few days of travel have been impeccable. Yves' hospitality has been truly exemplary in his amazing kindness toward complete strangers. I just hope I can do the same for other travelers one day. It feels like we've been gone for weeks already, it's hard to believe it hasn't yet been one week.
Next up: The Swiss Alps!
4 comments:
I go back and forth about joining couch surfer.com! Those pictures are amazing. Have safe travels!
I know it sounds kind of sketchy at first, but now to me it seems like a community of travelers trying to help each other out along the way. I think it's good to be cautious, but also good to remember to trust people. Couchsurfing.org also puts some measures into place so that you can choose someone to stay with that has similar interests and philosophies. I say sign up for an account and see what you think! Good luck :)
you are doing couch surfing...i've done that before it's so great!!! what an amazing adventure!!
the dish is called "röschti", haha! take care, yves
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