Zürich, Switzerland

When I found out that Laura had to go back to New York for a week, I scrambled to find something to do for the weekend. Before we left for Germany, a good friend of mine named Arie put me in touch with a couple of his American buddies who now live in Zürich , Dave and Kevin. They have both been in Zurich about three years, working as ex-pats for Ernst & Young. Dave had his girlfriend's family in town, so his place was full, but Kevin was nice enough to offer me a couch to sleep on and a fun place to hang out for the weekend. I am very thankful for Arie putting me in touch with them and also for all Kevin did for me this weekend, because this turned out to be one of my best weekends yet.

Zurich is an awesome city, the weather was incredible, and there was a lot of excitement in the city because of the Euro2008 soccer tournament that is being co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland. Of all the places I have travelled to in my lifetime, after this weekend, I am convinced that Switzerland is the most beautiful country on the planet. Zurich is no exception to that. Despite it being one of the more expensive cities around, Zurich has so much to offer. It is the largest city in Switzerland - the metropolitan area population is just over 1 million people, while about 400,000 live within the city limits. Unlike most large cities, though, it is so incredibly clean and naturally beautiful, set right on the Zürichsee (Lake Zurich) with views of the snowcapped Swiss Alps off in the distance.

Although there were a lot of people in town for the soccer event this weekend, I don't consider Zurich is a very touristy city. It might not offer as much history and famous architecture as some other major European cities do, so it's not on the typical tourist route through Europe, but I think it's well worth a visit. Of course, it didn't hurt that we had perfect weather all weekend and I was there with locals who knew the area and non-touristy activities to enjoy. Unfortunately, Laura missed out on this weekend, but it gave me an opportunity to do some things she probably wouldn't have been as interested in as me, and she will also get to see Zurich soon, as we are planning to stop through for a day on our way back from France in a couple weeks.

In order to get to Zurich before traffic hour and before roads got shut down for the Euro2008 public viewings, I decided to take a half day from work, leaving Heidelberg at around 1:00pm. It was supposed to be about a 3.5 hour drive, but I got slowed a bit waiting in traffic at the border crossing in Basel. I took the A5 highway south, running parallel to the French border for a good part of the way, close enough to even pick up French radio stations. I was sandwiched between Germany's Black Forest on the East, and France to the West, passing close by Strasbourg, a major French city on the Rhine River. There were lots of full cars and vans coming from the Netherlands, decorated in orange and flying their Dutch flags. These were mainly the people that held up the border crossing. Many of the cars from the Netherlands got the search from customs, which made sense to me since they were coming from a country that so freely allows drugs, but they were all on their way to Basel for the big quarterfinal soccer match the next day.

Since Switzerland is the one country in the area not part of the EU, this was the first time I had to pass through a border patrol. I had no problems, just a quick, "where are you headed" and a waive. I did, however, have to stop in the office to purchase a "vignette," the Swiss equivalent of paying tolls for driving on their highways. It was 40 Swiss Francs (US$1 is about 0.98 CHF, so a pretty easy conversion of almost 1 to 1), you put the sticker on your windshield, and it's good for a year. Pretty pricey for only a couple hours on the Swiss highway, but I guess we'll use it again. After going through the border in Basel, it was about another hour to get to Zurich. Once in the city, the roads got a little tricky, but I was able to find Kevin's apartment after the navigation system recalculated from a couple of missed turns.

When I got there, Kevin came out and introduced himself and then his first question was, "Did you bring a bathing suit? We're going for a swim in the lake." Luckily I packed one, and after figuring out where to park the car and bringing my stuff inside, we were soon on our way to the Zürichsee for a dip. Kevin had another friend, Shannon, in town visiting. A former work colleague from the US and Ernst & Young in Switzerland, she moved to London last year and was back in town for a weekend visit. Kevin didn't have any problem hosting us both, though, as his place is large and fairly vacant. He lives in a three bedroom apartment, and at the moment he is the only one there. He was living with Dave, but he moved out about four months ago because he bought a condo on the other side of the lake with his fiancée, Allie, who just moved over from the US. So while Kevin is in search of another person to take over a room, there was plenty of space for both Shannon and I to have our own room.

The apartment was great, with views of the lake from his patio - a perfect place for a summer BBQ. To get to the lake, we just had to walk down a small hill, under the train tracks, cross a street, and there was a lakeside park right there. Such a great location, and very convenient to dip in the lake on a hot summer day or to wind down after work. Shannon and Kevin's girlfriend, Carole (a local Swiss girl who works as a flight attendant for Swiss Air), joined us at the lake, but Kevin and I were the only one's brave enough to jump in the cold water. I'm not usually into swimming in cold water, but sometimes you just have to do things for the experience, and after a couple minutes the water felt okay. After our swim, we just enjoyed some relaxation and getting to know one another as we sat in the park and enjoyed some nice weather.

After about an hour at the lake, we headed back to Kevin's apartment so we could shower get ready to go to dinner and watch the quarterfinal soccer match between Turkey and Croatia at the Zurich Fan Zone. The train station to take us into the city center was just at the end of the block, and Kevin, Shannon, and I took a train to the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (main station). Upon arriving at the main station, you could immediately see the excitement about the Euro2008, with larger-than-life figures of soccer players hanging from the high ceiling. Each country qualifying for the tournament was represented by their biggest star. To get an idea of how big these things were, look at how small the people are next to them in the pictures below.

From there, we walked over to another city square to meet back up with Carole and some of her friends for dinner at a restaurant that had tables setup in the middle of the square. This is when I started to notice just how expensive Zurich could be, ordering an average steak sandwich and fries for 27 CHF. This clearly was not a cheap area, but still a little over the top for a sandwich. After dinner, we headed over to the Fan Zone, an outdoor viewing area to watch the Turkey-Croatia game. On the way, we walked through the "Fan Mile," a long stretch along the Limmat River that had TV's setup with the game, temporary bars, restaurants, and clubs lining the walkway.

When we got to the Fan Zone, another American ex-pat who also works for Ernst & Young (lots of US accountants here!), Paul, met up with us. Paul moved to Zurich about a month ago for a one year assigment, and we would hang out with him most of the weekend. The site of the Fan Zone was pretty impressive. They blocked off the road by the lake and had several huge screens setup, and even some temporary bleachers.

The game itself was pretty uneventful until late in overtime. After a 0-0 tie in regulation, Croatia finally scored a goal in the 118th minute, only to be equaled by Turkey a minute later. After two overtime periods and 120 minutes, the game would go to a penalty kick shootout to decide the winner. Turkey won the shootout easily, and their fans celebrated in the streets. The Turkish fans are a little nuts, we hear them in Kempten after big wins. They are Germany's largest minority group, and there seems to be a lot of Turks in Switzerland as well - and just as crazy with their celebrations after a big victory. The Croatians, understandably, weren't quite as joyful. We came across a very angry group of about eight Croatians who were just looking for a reason to beat somebody. One guy had a broken leg and was in a cast, but his friend showed no sympathy as he stole one of his crutches and continuously slammed it against the ground, bending it. He even chased after some hecklers, violently swinging the crutches at them. We just tried to stay back and watch, unlike one drunk Dutchman who said something to them and was tackled by another angry Croatian with a running start. Word finally got out to the riot police, who had apparently been waiting years for some excitement like this. Within a matter of about 10 seconds, they ran in and took down the whole group of Croatians, pinning them face first against the pavement and tying their hands together with zip-tie handcuffs, before dragging them away to a holding place. Since we weren't on the wrong end of any violence, this was pretty entertaining to watch. Again, these Europeans are just so passionate about their "football" and will do some outrageous things to show their loyalty. After the Fan Zone was shut down for the evening, we walked back toward the Fan Mile, and hung out for a bit at the edge of an outdoor club that was setup there, just chatting and listening to music, before heading back to Kevin's apartment and calling it a night.

Saturday morning, we woke up and drove around the lake to Dave and Allie's place for brunch. Dave and Kevin don't live all that far away from each other - it's directly across the lake - but unless you're a world-class swimmer, to get there you have to go through the city and around to the other side, so not all that convenient. Their condo was very nice and luxurious, even by American standards. It was a brand new building, which they purchased while it was still being built. Dave is another one of Arie's good friends, and Allie is the sister of Arie's fiancée, Angie. Arie and Angie put the two together, and they had been dating long-distance for almost three years before she moved out to Zurich to be with him last August. They were both very nice, and I can definitely see the resemblance between Allie and Angie. I am one of the groomsmen in Arie and Angie's wedding this labor day weekend, so it was also nice to meet some more of the wedding party before then.

Allie's parents were in town visiting, and they helped Dave and Allie host us for a large and delicious American-style brunch consisting of pancakes, bacon, fresh cut fruit, juice, and coffee. I was there with Kevin, Carole, and Shannon, and another couple Matt and (I don't remember his girlfriend's name), from Ohio, were also there. And, you guessed it....Matt, also an accountant. After brunch, we set up a game of Cornhole in the backyard, which Dave and Matt had recently built. The neighbors watched in confusion, wondering what the hell these crazy Americans were doing. I guess even some Americans might wonder what it is, but I was familiar with the game from football tailgates - the object of the game is to throw corn-filled bags into the hole.

It was such a beautiful day, and while it was very nice playing Cornhole outside Dave and Allie's condo, we all decided it would be even better to take advantage of the great weather and move locations to another popular lakeside park, bringing the game with us. So we packed up a cooler of beer and some more games, and road the tram downtown to the Enge Station. From there, we walked a few blocks to the Arboretum, a grassy park right on the Zürichsee, near where the Limmat River, which splits Zurich in half, dumps into the lake. With it being such a nice day, the park was full of locals who were sunbathing, playing games, and swimming. Kevin and I threw the football around while we waited for Cornhole to get setup, which again the locals were totally confused by. Then we teamed up for a few unsuccessful games against Matt and Shannon, who could not be knocked off by anyone all day. We also hit the volleyball around a bit, and went swimming again in the cold lake, which actually felt refreshing after running around and sweating. It was a perfect afternoon in the park, we had such a wonderful afternoon. Even though we couldn't stay too long, because we had to get ready to go to Basel for the big soccer game, I still managed to come away with a bit of a sunburn.






























That night, Kevin, Carole, Shannon, and Dave had tickets to the quarterfinal match in Basel between Netherlands and Russia. They all entered a lottery a year ago, and Shannon got 4 tickets for this game (Dave actually got 4 tickets to the final in Vienna the following week, so Shannon picked the right person to invite). Since I did not have tickets and figured it would be impossible to find them, Kevin had put me in touch with Paul and a couple other guys who I could watch the game with at the Fan Zone in Zurich. But I decided I would rather go to Basel and take in the atmosphere there - what I figured was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was trying to recruit people to come with me, without much luck. So I decided I would just ride the train with them to Basel, and watch from the Basel Fan Zone near the stadium while they were at the game, and then just meet up with them after. Dave gave me an extra cell phone so I could communicate with them if I needed, and we all rushed back to the apartment to shower and change quickly before heading to the train station.

Because Saturday night at the game was such an amazing experience, I have decided to write about that in a different section. So, now on to Sunday, which was also an incredible day, a hike we did about an hour outside of Zurich. That also deserves it's own section, so picking back up the last bit of Zurich Sunday night when we returned from the hike........

I was really in no rush to get back to Kempten Sunday night, since I could really just work from anywhere. After a long day of hiking, I was exhausted and didn't feel it was the wisest move to drive home that night. Hoping I hadn't already worn out my welcome, I asked Kevin if I could stay another night, which also gave me the opportunity to visit a teammate in the IBM Zurich office on Monday before driving back. Kevin had no problem with it. Shannon was already staying until Tuesday so not a big deal to have one more. When we got back to Zurich, we stopped in a grocery store to pick up some food to make for dinner (most things in Europe are closed on Sundays, but this grocery store was in a subway stop, which stays open more regularly) . We teamed together to make a good dinner, and then we went to another fan area to watch the Spain-Italy quarterfinal match that night.

This time, we went to the more tame area of Münsterhof to watch the game. They had several nice flat screen TV's setup and it wasn't quite as rowdy of a crowd to deal with. Münsterhof is one of the main squares of the Altstadt ("Old Town") district of Zurich, just off the Fan Mile. This is where some of the famous buildings and cathedrals of Zurich stand, along with a main shopping district. One of the churches was lit up in Switzerland red for the tournament, which I thought was really neat to see. After 120 minutes of scoreless soccer, the game went into a penalty kick shootout where Spain won. Of the four quarterfinal games, the Germany-Portugal game was the only one to not go into overtime.




















After the game, we went back to the apartment where I figured out how I would get to the IBM Zurich office the next morning, and we called it a night. What an amazing weekend in Switzerland - I got to see some great stuff, enjoy some local activities, had some great weather, and met some really quality people. Thanks to Kevin for everything!