Zurich

6 June 2013

Is it possible for a girl to be so lucky? I have been blessed beyond measure during the entirety of my trip. Yesterday someone so kind and gracious made our experience in Switzerland one we will never forget. I have great family. My aunt Angela has been so supportive in following my adventures on Facebook and my blog, and it has been great to get her insight on what to do and see. Her and her family are quite the travelers and have been all over the world having adventures of a lifetime. When Angela found out I was on the way to Switzerland she put me in contact with her sister Reta, who lives in Zurich. It is hard to find wifi as you travel around so I was unable to contact her until we arrived in the Zurich train station.

Next thing I know, I am reading an email from Reta explaining that shehad already taken care of a hotel for us to stay in while in Zurich. She was so kind in paying for a hotel for not only me, but the others I am traveling with. We knew Switzerland was an expensive place to travel too…but we had no idea how expensive, expensive was… The hotel as not cheap, and I will forever be grateful for her kindness towards us.

We checked into our hotel and set out to go visit the markets and walk along the river to the lake. Zurich is a beautiful city with lots of bridges and beautiful buildings surrounding the river that runs through the city. We had a great experience in Zurich, aside from a little ATM scare that luckily got sorted out and all was fine.

Reta came by our hotel later in the evening to make sure everything was fine, and we were gone touring the city! Both of us seem to have crazy schedules, hers more crazy than mine for sure, but I hope to come back to Zurich and meet her and her cute little daughter. She works in a finance department here in Zurich, the emphases that I am going into at the Marriott School of Management. Reta, if you are reading this, I cannot wait to discuss with you our life stories and formally thank you for everything you have done for me and my friends. You are an angel in our eyes and made our experience in Zurich one that will never be forgotten.

If you think her kindness stops here you have no idea… When she heard about our ATM scare, she left some money at the counter of the hostel for our remaining time in Switzerland. I am just blown away by this woman’s kindness and her love for me and my friends, despite never meeting us. If everyone in our world were like Reta, think of where we would be…

Thank you for everything, you will always have a place in my heart.

Zurich has some of the best markets I have ever seen. We stayed in Backpacker City Hotel Biber right in the heart of Old Town Zurich. Old Town Zurich is one of the most unique places I have visited. I love the markets with shoes, fabrics, rugs, trinkets, and carved statues. It is a place where I would love to live because everything is so unique and fun. There were some leather shoes I really, really wanted to buy…but the market closed before we got the ATM mess sorted out. They were made out of Camel leather and had some of the most unique designs I have ever seen. They look like a cross between gypsy and hippy shoes, which is a style I would love to try. I decided that I have to leave something to draw me back to Switzerland…so I will be coming back to Zurich soon because I need to buy myself some camel leather shoes. It would be hard to decide which ones to buy because I loved every single one I saw!

I am so glad that we saved Switzerland for the last destination on our Europe trip because it has been the most welcoming and lovely place we have been yet. It’s beauty trumps anywhere else we have been in Europe, and its people hands down are the nicest we have met. Reta played a big role in our great experience here, we cannot thank her enough.

If I ever have the means, I would love to come and stay in Zurich for a little while longer and experience it as a local would. It’s atmosphere is just something that cannot be replicated anywhere else. Swans grace the top of the lake, sailboats can be seen in the distance with their sails fluttering in the wind, and people chat around tables full of great food and wine. Switzerland is such a unique place because they speak a variety of different languages. You hear French, German, and Italian constantly and with the huge number of tourists, a variety of other languages can be heard as well.