Happy Easter from Mt. Pilatus

In Switzerland, Sunday is seen as a dedicated "Family Day", and it's illegal to have most business open on Sunday.  The only businesses allowed to be open are any places that sell foods, public transportation or any business underneath the public transportation railway stations.  In Thalwil, that means the only place to go out on Sunday is Starbucks.  Thalwil doesn't have a large enough railway station to house any businesses underneath it, but Zurich HB is a massive station and has a "RailCity" of businesses underneath (like Migros!  The Swiss Ms' favorite!) 

Although we knew that Switzerland was known for its gorgeous mountains and scenery, we had no idea that Easter was such a big deal here.  Not only are chocolate bunnies and beautifully colored Easter eggs everywhere, but both the Friday and Monday of Easter weekend are taken off as well.  As one local told me, it's basically four Sundays in a row.  As such, we thought it would be fun for us to get out of the city and celebrate, so we decided to go to Luzern (Lucerne in English) for the weekend (just a 40 minute train ride away).

Luzern also boasts a huge train station (HB), like Zurich HB, and hosts its own RailCity underneath!

Upon arriving at the Luzern Hauptbahnhof (HB), we walked along the Kapellbrüke (The Chapel Bridge), which spans the Reuss River of Luzern and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.  Unfortunately, a fire in 1993 destroyed most of the old bridge, but it was reconstructed and reopened to the public by 1994.  Inside the bridge, we admired the religious/ historical paintings lining the ceiling of the bridge.  Some of the triangular paintings were completely blackened, but it seems that they were able to save/reconstruct some of the surviving paintings.

Kapellbrüke spanning the Reuss River in Luzern.

Some of the paintings that survived the 1993 fire.

The farmer's market was also open on Saturday, which came as a pleasant surprise to us, since we expected nothing to be open.  We weren't planning buying anything since we were on foot all day and staying overnight, but the freshly baked bread smelled so good we couldn't resist buying some.  

The farmer's market!  So much cheese!  So little time!

Did I mention that Easter was a big deal here?

We broke down and bought a bread bunny.  They even gave us a second one for free!  (Swiss Ms: "How can you say no to those faces!")

We strolled the streets of Luzern, eating pieces of bunny bread and admiring all the local produce.  We strolled around town until we could find a restaurant that wasn't too busy, and ended up at Bäckerei Hug, a nice bakery and cafe.

Spinach Swiss Tart with mixed salad.

Älplermagronen (traditional pasta and potato dish in lot of cheese) with roasted onions, and apple sauce

Café au lait and espresso, with complementary chocolate!!!  We could get used to that.

Bäckerei Hug sat right on the Reuss River, across from the Spreuerbrucke (think Kapellbrüke with death story-boards).  We then took a bus to the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (Swiss Museum of Transport), which is apparently the most visited museum in all of Switzerland.  After going, we can definitely see why.  It's a phenomenal museum that showcased all forms of transportation, with the actual vehicles there to tour and explore.

Swiss Mountains make helicopters essential for rescues.  Look at that victim wrapped in foil!

All the traffic signs in Switzerland!  Since we don't have to drive, we barely see them!

Cog railway to take you up and down the mountains!

After the museum, instead of taking a bus, we decided to take a boat back to Luzern HB.  The great thing about Swiss transportation is that a ticket will cover ALL modes of transportation, so there is no need to buy separate passes.  Once again, like everything Swiss, the boat was on time, immaculate, and housed a restaurant for you to rest and relax.  On the way back, we had the pleasure of talking with a family from Germany who were visiting Luzern for Easter break, and they spoke fluent English!  Although we've been in Switzerland less than a month, it was refreshing to hold conversation in English without feeling like "dumb Americans" who can't speak German.

I'm.  On.  A.  Boat.

After a long day of trekking around, we headed to our hotel (c/o Lonely Planet Guide- thanks TFT!), to drop off our things and go out for dinner.  We ended up at the Ristorante Rossini, a very warm, and affordable (relatively speaking) Italian restaurant.  Since asparagus is in season, we ended up ordering a delicious roasted eggplant/asparagus pizza and garlic infused/asparagus filled ravioli.

Too bad Swiss Ms had to share with me.

Too bad I had to share with Swiss Ms.

The hotel (which Swiss Ms, the dealseeker found), also offered a continental breakfast.  We had a delicious Easter brunch to look forward to.

Look at that spread!  Holiday Inn has nothing on this!

No Swiss breakfast is complete without cheese, dried meat and jogurt!

And for the extra touch, festively colored Easter eggs!  

Filled with a hearty Easter brunch, we then made our way to Löwendenkmal (the Lion of Lucerne), which commemorated the Swiss guards who were killed in the French Revolution defending the bourgeoise.  It is simply a stunning work of art.

The monument measures about ten meters in length.  (Swiss Ms: "I never would have thought when I visited this monument 12 years ago that I'd be a resident of Switzerland".)

Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti.  "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss."

Finally, we get to the title of the post, Mount Pilatus!  During the summer you can take the world's steepest cog railway up the mountain, during the wintertime, it's closed!  However, there are still gondolas to take you up the mountain-top.  Unfortunately, due to the weather being cloudy/rainy, we could not enjoy the panoramic views.  We will have to come back on a sunny day (and perhaps, with one of our readers!).

The cable car up Mount Pilatus!

Very excited!  (Swiss Ms: "This blog is going to turn into pictures of me revealing my inner 5 year old glee while riding various forms of transport.")

Going up the mountain!

At the top, but it's so foggy, you can hardly see out very far!  We will be back!

Sorry for the long post.  Hope it was worth the read.

Happy Easter!

-Sir Cervelat

Exploring for the adoring fans (Hi Mom!)

Since Switzerland is known for its gorgeous mountains and landscapes, we decided to ask Kevin, a fellow post-doc in my lab, for recommendations.  He suggested Üetliberg, just a 15 minute train ride from the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich main station) on the Swiss Federal Railways (abbreviated as SBB CFF FFS).  

On a side note, the Zurich HB is the central station in Zurich that connects to almost everywhere else in Switzerland.  Not only can we get to Üetliberg, but we can also get to the Zurich Flughafen (Zurich Airport), Geneva, Lausanne and Bern (the capital of Switzerland) with ease.  With the help of travel agents inside the stations, the SBB can even take you to the surrounding countries like Italy, Germany, France and Lichtenstein.  For work, I only take the SBB back and forth from Zurich and Thalwil, but we do intend on using SBB to get all over Europe!

So we left from Thalwil, got to Zurich HB, then transferred to the S10 line to get to Üetliberg.  The train practically took us all the way up the mountain to some breathtaking views, despite being a fairly cloudy day.  The engineer treated us to a few Thomas-the-Tank-Engine style whistles on the way up the mountain!

Go away clouds.  I want to see the mountains.

At the top of a tower in Üetliberg.

This was followed by Jenica's first restaurant experience in Zurich at the Uto Kulm Resturant, while I have already been eating out for a fair bit.  While Jenica has been diligently making her lunch at home from the Migros and Coop goods, I have been going out to the mensas (the campus dining facilities, not the high IQ society).  There are several campus mensas out there, such as pasta mensa and asian mensa, which offer things like different pasta or mongolian/indian dishes.  I guess I am still too used to eating out at food trucks for lunch everyday.

Jenica's air-dried beef sandwich with buttered bread and pickles. 

My bratwurst in a red wine onion sauce mit Zuri Fries (with Zurich fries). 

Combined with the views, this was a great way to have lunch.  Although, as we left, we passed by what appeared to be the restaurant's mascots.

All hail the giraffe king.

We then traversed between Üetliberg mountain, past Balderen and to Felsenberg on the Gratstrasse trail (about a 5.5 km walk).  According to the map, it was flach and gut begehbar (flat, easy).  We'll have to go back an do a more difficult trail next time.

We traversed between "5" and "10". 

 When we arrived at Felsenberg, we took a gondola down the mountain to Adiswil (between Zurich HB and Thalwil)!!!  Very Swiss.

So excited to be on a Gondola!

A view of the gondola's path from Adliswil.

Of course, we decided to do the hike on Samstage (Saturday), so there was limited public transportation between Adliswil and Thalwil.  As such, we would've had to back-track to Zurich HB then go back to Thalwil.  So, I had the brilliant idea to WALK from Adiswil to Thalwil.  The next picture will give you a good idea of how Jenica felt about that idea, especially since it was another 4.8 km walk.

Not at all excited for the walk.

But not to worry, we both got back to Thalwil safe and sound.  We were even able to do some grocery shopping and prepare dinner and dessert for Kevin's birthday (March 23rd).

Toni Jogurt Update:

Since we love the yogurt and dairy here, we've decided to go through all the yogurt Switzerland has to offer.  So far, we're going through the Toni brand and got two different flavors.

Nougat Toni.  Seriously good, but not as good as Chocolate and Blood Orange.

Stracciatella Toni.  It's like eating ice cream.  Thumbs up!

Thanks for reading!

-Sir Cervelat

Grüezi!!!

Hi all!!!

Jenica and I have been slowly adjusting to life in Switzerland (currently 5 hours ahead).  We were hoping that this blog would serve as a way for you all to keep in touch with us over the next few years as we explore Switzerland and Europe, and of course, ask questions!

We first started our Swiss Journey by leaving from Boston Logan Airport.

I took a bunch of photos of the food on our SwissAir flight to Zurich.

Dinner served at midnight!

Not too bad for airline food.

Free Swiss Wine!

And breakfast!  For a 7 hour flight, this was a lot of food.

Complementary Swiss Chocolate!

Overall, the flight was great.  Seats were a little cramped, but we tried our best to relax.

Once we arrived, the post-doc at Professor Norris' lab, Kevin McPeak, picked us up and our six bags of luggage.  We paid the an additional fee for extra bags, since it's much more expensive to send packages by mail to Zurich.  We took the train to Thalwil (a small town south of Zurich), that is about a 15 minute train ride from downtown.  Since then, we've been getting to know Thalwil, Zurich and life in Switzerland.  So far, we'd like to comment on a couple things:

Public transportation:  AMAZING.  It's spotless, efficient and always on time.  From what I hear, if the train is late by 30 seconds, the locals start to complain.  It's really remarkable how consistently reliable it is, especially after Philly, when sometimes your bus may not even show up.

Prices:  Everything here is so expensive.  You pay for that efficient public transport in the $15 dollar round-trip ticket from Thalwil to Zurich.   Or the 33 CHF fajita (~$35).  Or the 22 CHF burger.  Or even the cafeteria food here is at least 13 CHF.  There are no cheap foodtrucks around here, and there is definitely no King's Wok.  

Grocery Shopping:  We've been going to Migros and Coop, the two major grocery stores, and because we're still not used to the high prices, we've been buying the Migros "Budget" or Coop "Prix Guarantee" brand foods.  Once we have some income, maybe we'll start splurging a bit on food, but for the time being, no.  Although, you can see evidences of Swiss culture even in the food.

Look at that "Budget" spinach!  It comes in pre-portion cubes!  It's so convenient and makes sense!   So Swiss!

This was cheapest item from Coop is chocolate.  0.40 Rappen (100 Rappen = 1 CHF).  Go figure.  

We did, however, splurge.  According to Kevin and Elena (Kevin's wife), they have had the best yogurt in Switzerland.  Naturally, we had to get some ourselves.

Blood Orange Toni.  Seriously good.

Chocolate Toni.  Also, seriously good.

We both have to agree, this is the best yogurt we've both ever had.


Local Food:  Despite the high prices, it hasn't stopped us from sampling some of the local cuisine.  On our walk around Zurich, we ended up in the Bellevue area, and I insisted we get some sausages.

Cervelat Sausage with bread and mustard.

This was super good.  Too bad I had to share with Jenica.

In our tour of Zurich, we also saw a ridiculous amount of chocolate being sold.  Since Easter is a very big holiday here, it wasn't surprising to see all the Easter chocolate that came with it.

If it wasn't so expensive, I'd buy it all.

Way better than the Teusher in Philadelphia.

Chocolate Easter eggs being decorated by a  Swiss Chocolatier.  Too bad they cost over 100 CHF.

Not only was chocolate big, but so is candy in general.  We found a Barenland store that would probably cause Tyr to spend his entire month's stipend on gummy candy.

The entrance to gummy haven.

Actually, the same price as a real cheeseburger with fries.

So....much....candy.....

Gummy shakes!

The Views and Environment:  It's hard to believe that everyday we wake up and we are surrounded by the Swiss Alps.  The air is so crisp and clean, and it's an absolute joy to walk around.  In-congruently, there are just as many smokers as there were in Philly.

View from Thalwil looking across Lake Zurich.

View of the Swiss Alps from Zurich.

Thanks for reading!  More to come later!

-David