Swiss Studying

We arrived in the later afternoon and didnt have much time to do anything but walk to town from our hostel, explore a bit, and get a nice dinner. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE - even McDonalds is wildly expensive compared to what we are used to, so just be ready for that. Zurich is an extremely well kept city, and we spent the evening roaming the beautiful streets and stopped for a night cap at an outdoor cafe before heading home.

In the morning, we had (free) breakfast at our Hostel, and then headed back to the city center to join a free walking tour of the city. They set them up with local guides and it’s nice because its low cost or free and you get to learn about all kinds of things to see and do in Zurich along with a lot of its history. We saw the lake, a palace, famous landmarks, and more. When we were done, we went back to the places that intrigued us, whether it was a shop, a food vendor, or somewhere to get a tour or explore. We found a cool tower in an old Church to go up and get rooftop views of the city.
After lunch, we made our way to Zurich’s own little mountain - Uetliberg. You can actually take the metro / train all the way there and then walk up to the summit of it where they have walk-out look outs and Vista points. On a clear day, you might even catch a view of the Alps as well as the lake and city below. It truly was gorgeous! For dinner, we planned to splurge on a traditional Swiss Fondue place. It was a phenomenal experience. For starters, you get a cheese fondue with various dipping instruments, and of course for dessert, a chocolate one of your choice. Highly recommended, but very pricey. Worth!

We took a small day trip to Lucerne (only 1.5 hours by train) and it ended up being out favorite part of the trip! Lucerne is tiny and quaint but has a lot of character. We met up with other friends there, and toured all the landmarks and chocolate stores (they are famous in Lucerne for them). We saw the Sleeping Lion Statue, the famous floral bridge, and more. Towards sunset, we went up the gondola to mount Pilatus, overlooking all of Lucerne and into the Alps. At the top they have a hotel / bar and we got traditional White Russians to sip during the winter sunset. This was in November, so it was cold and the mountains were snow-capped. It was such a serene experience, and not crazy expensive. After a dinner down in the town center, near the river, we headed back on the train to Zurich before catching our flight the next day.