Zurich, Switerland

Off to the neutral land we went on Wednesday morning! I was really excited for this trip since it was the last two days with my brothers and I knew Zurich would be gorgeous.

Our plan was to take a train from Milan to Zurich, and it was a great change from flying because you could really see all the landscapes going from Italy to Switzerland. The mountains and hills were everything you’d expect in Switzerland… and more! We saw waterfalls, the ice capped Alps, horses, chickens and goats on the farms and lots of rivers and lakes.

Waterfall

Farmland

Finally arriving in Zurich our plan was to check in the hostel, grab some grub and head to Lake Zurich before it got dark. We stayed at City Backpackers Hostel Biber. The location was smack dab in the center of everything, it was perfect.

After having lunch, we headed to the lake. Pictures don’t really do justice… but trust me on its magnificence. We walked along the edge to try and find a boat tour or paddle boats to rent so we could get on the lake. We found a place to rent paddle boats for an hour and went for it! It was the coolest thing, I love being on the water (i'm truly my mothers daughter) so it was the cherry on top of the day. Marty and I paddled as David lounged in the hammock type chair on the paddle boat. Marty and I did some doughnuts and made it pretty far out, we even hit the wake of a few boats, which was exhilarating in our tiny paddle boat. Thee were sail boats and other paddlers cruising the lake given it was 60 degrees and sunny. It felt like a summer on lake Michigan... Expect better since we were in Switzerland!

We then checked out Lindenhofplatz which is where the last bits of the old wall of Zurich stands. It is an elevated park where there were bocce ball, life-sized chess and plenty of room to relax and hang out overlooking Zurich from above.

Sunset was a great sight in Zurich, and a perfect picture taking opportunity!

Once it started to get dark, we went back to the hostel to find a place for dinner. We ended up at Johnniter which had a lot of sausages and meats. It was quite a unique place off of Niederdorfstrasse, a pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants. It was decently crowded but our waitress was a pleasure. She didn’t speak any English, mostly German. I ordered a Leffe blonde lager and the goys had some German beers. My beer was so good and reminded me of Two Brother’s beer, Ebel Weiss, because it was had a banana/fruity flavor.

I got pumpkin soup made from Syrian pumpkin seeds which was cool and then I had a grilled Swiss sausage with onion rings and it was delicious and very filling. My sausage was gigantic. Dave got veal and potatoes and Marty got pork and potatoes. WE al really enjoyed our meal. A couple from California sat across from us which was fun to see and chat with fellow Americans. They suggested we go to the twin towers which we planned on doing the next morning.

Syrian pumpkin soup

Grilled Swiss sausage

Swiss Francs!

Before going back to the hostel we stopped in a liquor shop and Marty and I got Swiss beers to drink along the lake. We tried Quollfrisch beer and Feldschlosschen beer. They were both very smooth and tasty and a great way to close out the night.

The next morning we got breakfast at Heinrici which was a cool coffeeshop next to our hostel. We all got a croissant and coffee. They had cool designs form using the steamed milk that topped the cappuccino.

Next stop was to the Bahnhofstrasse which was a mile long streets of high-end shops. It was like the magnificient mile but European! We stopped into some chocolate shops and the boys got some cool truffles to try. I had to refrain but I picked up some chocolate bark for my Mom instead. We window shopped mostly and then made our way to the twin towers.

Swiss chocolates

The towers were connected to the Grossmunster church. Legend has it that Felix and Regula were martyrs in Zurich years ago and each tower is dedicated to them as they are Zurich's patron saints. We made our way up 155 steps of on of the towers to see an elevated view of Zurich It was incredible!

on the way up

the other tower

view from the top

view from the top

view from the top

With an hour to kill before the boys train, we went in a music store called Musik Hug It was awesome, we checked out the piano floor and drooled over the gorgwous and pricey pianos.

We grabbed a quick lunch afterwards. I got a sandwich from Ass Bar – interesting name, I know – it hit the spot. The boys got flatbread sandwiches which were supposed to be  must try in Zurich. Then I walked with the boys to the train station around 12:30 since their train was a few hours before mine. Not going to lie, I choked up a bit while saying goodbye.  I was so sad to see them go after such a quick visit! They continued on to Germany and both made it back to the states later that week. Next time we will see each other back in the states, but their time here was so great and I wish I could do it all over again!

Florence, Italy - with the boys

Florence – one of my favorite cities in Italy!

We arrived early morning and started out by going into the Galleria dell’acedimica where the David by Michelangelo was. Luck for you, I snuck a picture of it! He was huge, I was not expecting to see this ginormous statue. It really was incredible. We walked around and saw a lot of other cool statues and paintings. Then we headed toward Piazza del Duomo.

The piazza was gorgeous. It had this unbelievable church – the Duomo or Catterdrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. Truly breathtaking.

We stopped and got pizza al taglio at a little place in the piazza. We swore we wouldn’t eat any more pizza but ended up walking out with 26 euros worth of delicious pizza! I got pizza with red and yellow peppers, David got tomoato and cheese pizza and sausage. Marty got cheese and prosciutto. All were equally delicious and we decided to skip dinner and just snack on our pounds and pounds of pizza throughout the day.

Next stop was Piazza Della Signoria. This is the piazza that the David used to be in. There are still millions of statues. It was almost overwhelling! There was a very cool fountain and so much to look at.

One of the buildings had flor-de-lis and keys on it… I guess Florence love KKG’s J

We hung out there for a bit then made our way to Ponte Vecchio. This is especially cool because there are homes on it! The bottom is filled with cute shops and the view is incredible. We walked along the river a bit and crossed over another bridge to get a good view of Ponte Vecchio from afar.

Ponte Vecchio

View from the bridge

We walked along Borgo San Jacopo and ran across Friends Pub that we wanted to check out later. Being only 3pm, it was still closed. We decided to go to Palazzo Pitti to relax a bit. It was so nice out that we laid in the sun (or at least I did) and got some shut eye since we got so much done that morning. We snacked on our pizza a bit and then walked around the area before heading to Friend’s Irish Pub.

Friend pub was so cool! We stopped in and were the only people there, but we found it necessary to go to an Irish pub in honor of bleated St. Patrick’s day. Since they weren’t serving drafts yet, Marty and I got Beck’s beer and David got a Pilsner. We had some potato chips and goofed around a bit as well, just enjoying ourselves while in Italy together.  MTV music videos were playing on the TV so we had some fun watching some crazy music videos too.

Before we left, the bartender gave us free hats! They were just simple black hats with an Italian beer label on the front. We took them just for shits and giggles.

We headed back to the train station but made a lot of stops on the way since we had a few hours to kill. We stopped at San Lorenzo market, which was HUGE! There were hundreds of vendors selling leather goods, purses, silk ties, shirts.. .you name it, they had it. Marty picked up a t-shirt and a nice silk tie. I got some goodies as well for some of my friends and family, I know they will love the surprise gifts!

There is so much art in Florence. There were markets all over the streets and we even saw some art being made in front of our eyes!

We headed to find some wine for the night. We stopped in a wine shop and a lady helped us pick out a great white drinking wine from the Tuscan region. She explained how you can’t get Tuscan wine that tastes this good unless you are in the region. The wine we got was Cesani Vernaccia di San Gimignano. After, we walked back towards the train station and stopped at Giardino Della Gherardesca which was a cute park near the train station. We hung out there and watched the locals on their evenings walks with their dogs. Literally everyone was walking their dog. It was mostly older men walking with a friend or two just chatting like old friends would. It was exactly what you’d expect for an afternoon in Italy. The sun started setting so we stated back to the station and hopped on a train in Verona.

That night we scrapped together some pasta from the night before and topped it off with pesto to have with our Tuscan wine. It was already getting late so we quickly packed for the next trip to Zurich before we headed to the hill to finish our wine.

We walked to the hill and stopped at Ponte Pietre to gaze at the river and look at the night scene of Verona. It was so peaceful and quiet. Then we made the trek up to the hill and sat on a bench at the top to finish our wine. It was a nice sweet dessert and a deliciously filling drink to end the long day. I was pretty restless to get some sleep, as were the boys, so we headed back to the apartment to get a few hours before we made our way to Switzerland bright and early the next morning. I almost got us lost on the way back… oops! But we figured it out and we were all sound asleep the minute we laid down.