OK, I'm being sent by my company to Zurich for a week - October 30 to November 7. Something about how Swiss law requires the person working with Swiss customer data to actually be in Switzerland, and the guy who is usually there is on vacation so I'm covering for him. What should I do? Where should I eat? Where can I see some soccer? OK, for that third question, looks like FC Zurich is playing a Swiss league game on Saturday 31 October -- is it worth checking out? They're playing in the Champions League while I'm there, but they're in Marseille so that's out. For those first two questions, keep in mind that I'm almost 40, so don't recommend any dance clubs where twenty-somethings will be loud. I'm not into loud young people. Also, since I'm on call, I need to be in proximity to my computer or network access, so no running off to the hills like "The Sound of Music" (wait, that's Austria...) or "Heidi" (there we go). What's the weather like in early November? I'm going to assume cold. Do they do Halloween over there? My German is pretty good, and I'm not driving, it looks like they have a transit system to rival NYC so I figure I can get anywhere I need to go on the trains or trams. Recommend me some nice, quiet things for old people like me to do.
There's a decent restaurant/bar in the main train station. Had a collection of all types, but as I'm in your age group I was fine with it. The Zeughauskeller is kind of touristy, but we sat with locals and had a good time. May want to look into a reservation possibly too. Take the local tram up to FIFA Headquarters. I was in there during the holidays so it was closed and can't say anything more about it, but I would still like to check it out. The tram line exits at the zoo and the Headquarters are on the other side of the street. The local trams are very good. With just sightseeing in general around the city you should be able to find a lot of things and sights that appeal to you too. It's a great city.
OK, I'm here now. Weather is overcast and crisp but not raining (yet, that's scheduled for next week). I have the weekend to toodle around the city with my three day unlimited transit pass so we'll see what I accomplish this weekend. Not sure if I will make it to the FCZ game tomorrow -- I may still be jet lagged and falling asleep when it starts. But there appear to be plenty of seats still available. Do the Swiss do any wacky stuff for Halloween? I don't know if it's a big thing in this part of the world -- if I need to, you know, wear orange or risk getting egged, that kind of stuff.
Not that I'm an expert, or anything (I have been to Zurich, I'll add, where I met a restaurant owner who loved Americans and, especially, Harley's, was a member of some Swiss Harley club that later took all their bikes to the US for a cross country bike trip), but I'm not sure the Swiss are known for doing "wacky stuff." That said, my travels always seem to center around beer and the local beer culture. The Swiss will never be confused with the Czechs, Belgians or any number of other European countries on that front, but a 2 minute Googling expedition does come up with a few interesting venues, should you be so inclined: Brasserie Federal http://www.candriancatering.ch/sites/index.php?id_b=55 Bahnhofplatz 15 8001 Zürich Supposed to have 100 Swiss beers. Restaurant Zeughauskeller http://www.zeughauskeller.ch/english/frame_start.htm Bahnhofstrasse 28a, 8001 Zürich Big beer hall with some interesting selections. Welschland http://www.welschland.com/ Zweierstr. 56, 8004 Zürich Lots of Swiss micros.
I went to the Zeughauskeller for lunch -- good stuff. Had a massive bratwurst, Roesti and of course a beer. Got a ticket to the FCZ game tonight -- the guy at the FCZ fan store near the Hauptbahnhof was very helpful. So that's in about two and a half hours. Good trip so far.
Bump. Last year's trip was so good, I get to go back. I'll be there October 22 to November 3 -- my wife and son are joining me, arriving October 28, so we'll have some family time. Soccer wise, there are two games in Zurich while I'm there -- Sunday 24 October, Grasshoppers vs FC Thun, and Wednesday 27 October, FC Zurich vs Luzern. I already got my ticket to the Grasshoppers game, and can get the FCZ ticket at the fan shop when I'm there. So I'm pretty well set for my first week there, based on last year's trip. My questions this time are for where to go with my family. They're showing up on Thursday evening, and Friday we'll be seeing some sights in Zurich (I still have to work some), but from Saturday to Wednesday, we've gotta go somewhere. So I'm looking for suggestions. It's me and my wife and our son who is 4. We would like to go to one place where we can see a variety of sights from. My kid isn't big enough to enjoy museums yet, so the cities generally don't have that much to offer us. I'm thinking somewhere near Luzern -- maybe on the lake nearby, not in the city. The weather will probably be not so good, but the hotels in the city look a little too stuffy for a family with a small child. There are a couple of places in Luzern that look like fun for a four year old -- the "Glacier Garden" and the transport museum -- and I'm hoping that the weather is nice for a couple of days so we can head up a mountain or cruise on the lake. Any suggestions on places to stay that are within range but not too close to Luzern? I see a couple of places in Hergiswil (just a little south of Luzern) and Weggis (a ways east), on the lake, which look like they might be good for families. Anyone been to the area and have any suggestions?
i can recommend the incredible cable car ride up the aiguille du midi but that's not quite near luzern
Luzern and the Vierwaldstaetter See are lovely. I strongly recommend taking the train up the Rigi or the Pilatus: http://www.rigi.ch/en/welcome.cfm http://www.pilatus.ch/content-n38-sE.html Great views from up there. You can also combine it with a combined boat/train round trip, which is very nice.
So the trip came and went. We ended up staying in Zurich instead of uprooting and moving to a different hotel partway through the trip. My kid was not up for big changes, and we really liked the hotel in Zurich, so we just stayed there. Here's a link to the hotel, the Dolder Waldhaus -- it's on a cog railway partway up a hill on the east side of the city -- my son loves trains so he was very pleased that every time we left the hotel, the first thing we did was get on the mountain train. Most of our days (after my week of work was done) were pretty slow -- take the tram to some part of town and walk for a while to explore. We didn't bother with museums -- my son would not have the patience. Have a nice relaxing meal, and then when the kid gets bored, head back to the hotel. Zurich is very compact and has lots of nice areas for walking, as long as the weather cooperates, which it did -- no rain while my family was there. We did take a day trip to Mount Pilatus which is south of Lucerne -- very doable by train, and the mountain railway was great -- I'm not sure why anyone would look at that mountain and say "you know, this mountain could really use a super steep railway going up to the top of it", but some engineer got his dream job when someone made that decision a hundred years ago. There was a couple of feet of snow at the top -- I didn't think there would be that much snow at 7000 feet in late October, but there it was. So, good trip -- Switzerland is very expensive but it's so easy to get around -- I know enough German to read signs and menus, although I can't understand the Swiss German they speak, and nobody could understand me when I spoke my broken German (seriously, trying to order a beer, I say "ein bier, bitte" and the server doesn't understand me -- is my pronunciation that bad?) Probably the most disappointing part of the trip was the soccer -- the Swiss league is not that great -- I'm used to MLS where the refs do not call as many fouls so defenders get away with a lot -- it seemed to me like the Swiss teams were diving all over the place and the refs were buying it. I wouldn't say that any of the teams I saw were substantially better than San Jose, and San Jose was a pretty mediocre MLS team this season (despite advancing in the playoffs this week).