Zurich

Hi, we're broke. Well not actually but man, Switzerland sure makes you feel that way. We cut our 6 days down to 2 days in order to come home a bit earlier, which saved us some money.

Here's some things to keep in mind if you're planning a trip to Switzerland, specifically Zurich:

1. It's expensive. Take what you would spend on almost anything and double it (at least). For reference, a Big Mac meal here would be $15 Canadian.

2. They have free water! There are hundreds of fountains in Zurich spitting out really clean water, so put your bottle underneath every chance you get.

3. Bring food from another country. If you're doing a Europe trip, grab a bunch of stuff from wherever you are before you go to Switzerland. Food is a huge cost.

4. Take a walk. Hiking is a great free (or relatively cheap) activity and let's you see beautiful landscapes.

5. Sit by the lake. Zurich has a massive lake that you can go swimming in, rent a paddle boat or just people watch by.

Day 1: we got in at about 4:15 and it was HOT. Don't get me wrong, we appreciated the warm welcome (see what I did there?) but we had a hour walk ahead of us as we refused to pay for the train (refer to point number 1). After walking and now being drenched in sweat, we got settled, had some water, had some dinner that we prepped in Munich (refer to point number 3) and went for a walk. We came to the lake where we sat on the dock and watched the sun set. Once we got back to the hostel, we made our beds and fell asleep quickly. * The hostel provided a pillow case, duvet cover and what looked like a scratchy towel. We thought it was weird there was nothing to cover the mattress. This is important.

Day 2: luckily our hostel provided a buffet breakfast. The quote "take what you can, give nothing back" really applies here. You really want to fill up to try and hold out for a later or lighter lunch. We then headed into the town to purchase the Zurich card (sound familiar?) These cards can be great if you can get your money's worth. We were able to go to Uetliberg which is a summit looking over the city. Once we climbed to the top we found a hour and a half hike called the Planet Trail. Every metre you walked was suppose to be like 1 billion metres and you'd come to all the different planets. Somehow we missed the first four and the last three but we did find the cable car to take back down. After our sweaty hike, we needed to find some lunch. We ended up at a restaurant on the lake. I ordered a chicken caesar salad and a small Sprite, Jordon had a salad with fish and a beer.... this cost us about $80 Canadian (refer to point number 1). I mean sure, it was a good salad but it was green leaf lettuce, not gold leaf. After we felt poor again, we walked to a park on the other side of the lake, close to where we were the night before. We wanted to go swimming and sunbathe, which everyone else thought of as well. We found a great spot and pulled out what we thought were the scratchy towels from the hostel...... Well it seems we found the missing mattress covers. These towels were in fact fitted sheets. After laughing our pants off and folding them so no one could see our mistake, we headed into the water. It was unbelievable! It reminded me a lot of Penticton. Once we were all sun-kissed we headed to the ferry port to cash in on a "free" (thanks Zürich card) trip around the lake. It took about a hour and a half and was a nice relaxing cheap way to end our time here.

We're heading to the Belgium coast now hitting up Brussels and Bruges along the way. It's suppose to be hot there as well so hopefully I'll get good use out of that dress!

-Vanessa xo