The Unforgettable Schogi Tram

I think we just combined two of the Swiss Ms' favorite things in this post:  (a) desserts and (b) antique trams.

Dreams do come true!

The Swiss Chocolatier Honold hosted a "Schoggi Tram (CHOCOLATE TRAM) in Zurich, for only a week from November 2nd to the 10th (too short!).  This immensely popular ride was only 5 CHF per person (believe it!).  We could not believe that something this amazing could be so affordable in Switzerland, much less Zurich.

The tickets went on sale a half hour before the first trip and cannot be reserved in advance online.  Luckily, we were out shopping for groceries at Coop at Bellevue when we saw the ticket line for the Schoggi-Tram open up.  Seizing the opportunity, we leapt in line to reserve our spot!  

Almost like a ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

THERE IT IS!

 

From the back.

The train starts at Bellevue, goes to Zurich HB before returning to Bellevue: a brisk 20 minute round-trip.

Knowing how punctual the Swiss are, we arrived a good fifteen minutes before our scheduled trip to ensure a good spot.  We were first in line and snagged a prime table for two near the front of the tram!

Eagerly awaiting the ride.

Beautiful antique interior.

They were playing Christmas music!

We got to peak into the driver's compartment.

Our table had fresh flowers.

In typical Swiss fashion, the tram promptly left at 3:30 and drinks, dessert and chocolate were served.  The tram was a little jerky, but it added to the entire experience.

No detail goes unnoticed, like this snow-flake tablecloth.

A tall mug of decadent hot chocolate.

Delicious!  

Doin' hot chocolate right.

Many passerby's admired the Schoggi tram.  Who can blame them?

Next up, Honald's specialty "Pain de Gênes" (an almond cake similar to American pound cake, where almond paste replaces some of the butter).

And to top it all off, chocolate!

On the left plate, dark chocolate covered espresso beans, a mint white chocolate covered in pop-rocks (they fizzed in your mouth!) and a liquor truffle.  On the right plate, cherry chocolate and plain dark chocolate.

Whew!  That was a ton of food to finish on our twenty minute journey.
  

As we got off, we noticed that the tram staff had already prepared for the next group of lucky riders!  We should have bought more tickets...

Thanks for reading!

-Herr Cervelat

Our First Visitor, Rob Jawns!

We had our first Zurich visitor around mid-July, Rob!  He has been spending the summer at Grenoble, France, doing an internship at Minatec (Micro and Nanotechnology Innovation Centre).  He decided to make the long trip to Zurich for his cousin's rowing competition and to visit family in town.  Oh, and maybe spend some time with us!  

Since it was his first time here, we went for two signature Swiss items:  Sausage and Chocolate!

Rob posing for a picture.  He reluctantly complies.

For chocolate, it's off to Confiserie Sprüngli.  On the way, we walked along the famous Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich's main downtown street and home of some of the world's most expensive and exclusive shops.

A white peach tea, cafe latte and a cold glass of chocolate milk for me.   By the way, that glass of chocolate milk was 6.50 CHF (Yikes!  Rob got a nice introduction to Swiss prices quickly)

Rob's uncle was kind enough to invite us over for dinner at his fabulous home in Altstetten (Zurich Kreis 9).  We were so humbled by his family's generosity and had a wonderful evening.

The next day, we met with Rob for Sunday brunch at a new restaurant, Gran Cafee Motta!

Motta is a Milan-inspired coffee house sitting right in the middle of the Limmat River.

No meal is complete without coffee. Rob and I were supremely jealous of the cafe latte in comparison to our tiny espresso shots.  

Open-faced sandwich with roasted vegetables in a tomato sauce.

Open-faced sandwich with ham and egg.

Rob has been very patient with all of my photo taking.

We made our way to three different churches in Zurich:  St. Peter's Church, Fraumünster and Grossmünster.  

Built in 1534, St. Peter's Church apparently has the largest church clock face in Europe (8.7 meters = 28.5 feet).  Currently owned by the Swiss Reformed Church (Reformed branch of Protestantism in the 1520s).

Beautifully detailed interior.

The church organ and ceiling.

Fraumünster is built on the remains of a former abbey for women aristocrats.  We could not take pictures inside, but this building has 5 large stunning stain glass windows designed by Marc Chagall.

Grossmünster is a Romanesque and Gothic-style cathedral.  According to legend, it was founded by Charlemagne.  The twin towers are a recognized landmark in Zurich.  Photos are not allowed inside, but for a small fee, you can climb the tower and get impressive views of the city of Zurich.

To end our quick tour of Zurich, we took a water taxi back to the main train station so Rob could catch the return train to Grenoble.

Such a squat boat!  Why, you ask?

Because it travels up and down the Limmat River and has to go underneath very narrow bridges!

While it was a short trip for Rob (he arrived Saturday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon), we hope he will revisit with Xiaowen and stay a little longer!

Thanks for reading!

-Herr Cervelat

Switz Bitz 2

More Bitz- Restaurant Edition 

Eating out in Switzerland is a pricey endeavor.  This stems from two hallmarks of the Swiss lifestyle that are related to each other.  

1)  Food is sourced locally whenever possible. While listing the origin of a restaurant's meat and vegetables is a relatively recent trend in the US, it's simply expected in Switzerland.  The Swiss like keeping their money close, so they buy from local producers, even when limited supply means very high prices.     

 2)  All professions are paid livable wages.  Swiss farmers and ranchers are paid enough to make a living as are restaurant employees including waitstaff.  In a country where everything is expensive (and just across the boarder in places like Germany and France, prices are significantly cheaper), the Swiss know the importance of paying their citizens well to keep them (and their money) within national boarders.  

Cows, cows, cows.

1)  Tipping

Did I mention the waitstaff don't even get tips and they still make a decent salary?  Apparently, tipping in Switzerland will typically result in embarrassing your server and is only done in the most extraordinary situations.  While going out to eat at restaurants may seem really expensive it's not too different from the States.  

I made this pizza with garlic mascarpone, spinach, and egg.  We already shared all of our  restaurant pizza pictures, so just pretend we actually ordered this one in a restaurant...

Switz Bitz Arithmetic Blitz:

Swiss Example: 23 CHF for a small pizza with fancy toppings at a nice restaurant.  The price already includes tax (and as you now know, no tipping required) so the amount you see listed on the menu is the total price you pay. 

US Example:  Let's work backwards and find out what the price of that pizza would have been in the States.  (I'll stay in CHF for simplicity.)  Assume you are a lovely and generous person (Herr Cervelat), and tip 25%.  (25% of your total bill is $5.75, meaning your pizza plus tax was CHF 17.25.)  Now, assume the nice restaurant is located in Philadelphia where the sales tax is 8% and there is no additional meal tax.  (8% of CHF 17.25 is CHF 1.38, meaning your pizza (without tax and gratiuity) was CHF 15.87.  The lowest denomination of Swiss Franc is 5 rappen, so let's call it a day at CHF 15.90 for a small pizza.  Granted, CHF are valued higher than USD, but this reasoning makes that Swiss pizza with fancy toppings look a little more reasonable.

2)  Seat Yourself

Mission accomplished!

See a free spot at that cafe?  It's yours!  No free spot?  This calls for vulturing the outdoor tables to get that nice two-top in the sun.  Vulturing (noun)- Lying in wait near a desired object until a fellow trophic level consumer abandons the desired object. (Example desired objects include: that cafe table, last shirt in your size on the rack, hands-on exhibit at the science museum monopolized by a single child for the past 20 minutes, cookies).    




3)  A Side of Chocolate 

Why doesn't anyone else do this?  Nothing makes all that vulturing worth it more than a piece of chocolate next to your steamy beverage.  They are perfect partners.  The Swiss have this figured out.  Nine times out of ten your coffee or tea will come with some tasty bite on the side.

That chocolate says, "Come stay awhile.  Relax and enjoy".  Don't mind if I do, chocolate.

Tschüss!  

-Swiss Ms

At the Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum) and Lake Zurich

While it has been exciting exploring different areas of Switzerland, we have to admit we haven't checked-out Zurich thoroughly.  Our initial plan was to go to a very well recommended restaurant, Alpenrose, just north of Zurich HB in Kreisboro 5.  Zurich is divided into twelve districts (Kreis).  (Sounds like the Hunger Games.)  We were aiming to go for a nice Saturday brunch, but when we got there, they were not open!  It seems that on Samstag und Sonntag (Saturday and Sunday), they are only open for Abendessen (dinner).  

So, we ended up going to Migros instead for lunch, which was fantastic!  For those of you who know about Wegmans, we feel that Migros is the Swiss' Wegmans.  Like Wegmans, Migros does not sell cigarettes (or alcohol).  However, some retailers acquired by Migros such as Denner (think discount Migros) do sell them.  The Swiss Ms. continues to prefer Migros over Coop.

Migros is continuing to win her heart (and her stomach).  Almost as good as the food bars at Weggies!

I thought that by getting food at Migros, it would be much cheaper than eating out.  WRONG.  This plate of food cost me about 22 CHF.  If you felt how heavy it was that would probably make sense.

We then made our way to the Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum) and had a great time learning about Swiss history.  Rather than take post pictures of the entire museum (you wouldn't want that), I found two parts of the museum very interesting.

Swiss Money

The money really embodies Swiss culture.  It is incredibly thoughtful and makes a lot of sense.

The evolution of Swiss Money.  The money in circulation is the bottom row.  Note how the size of the bill gets bigger with larger values:  the size of the 1000 CHF is larger than the 10 CHF.

1000 CHF!!! Who would carry that around with them?  Note the triangle on the left side of the bill.  There is a unique indent to help distinguish the different bills' denominations (i.e. 10 CHF has a dotted circle, 20 CHF has a dotted square).  This feature, in addition to the bill size, is an aid for the sight impaired.

At values below 10 CHF, there are the 5, 2, 1 and 1/2 CHF coins, which all scale in weight!  (i.e. 5 CHF is 5 times heavier than the 1 CHF coin, 2 CHF coin is four times heavier than the 1/2 CHF).  Then there are the 20 and 10 rappen coins.  The five rappen coin (not pictured) is the smallest of all and the color of a penny.(100 rappen = 1 CHF)

Terrestrial Globe 

On our visit to St. Gallen, we learned that there was quite a fierce religious war in 1712 between the Canton of Zurich (Protestants) and Saint-Gall (Catholics).  As such, many cultural objects that previously belonged to the Abbey Library (which we visited), were transferred to Zurich.  Later on in 1718, Zurich agreed to return most of the cultural objects taken from Saint-Gall, except for some 100 items (manuscripts, books, paintings) and most importantly, Prince-Abbot Bernhard Muller’s cosmographical Globe (pictured below).  Saint-Gall asked for the rest of the cultural objects, but Zurich denied taking them, and the globe remained at the National Museum.

Fast forward to the year 1996, the issue of unclaimed cultural objects is brought up again, and the public becomes involved.  Eventually, by 2006, settlement between Zurich and Saint-Gall was reached through outside mediation.  In the end, Saint-Gall accepted Zurich's ownership of the cultural objects at the National Museum, Zurich indefinitely loaned some manuscripts to Saint-Gall, and most importantly, Zurich commissioned a copy of the Globe at its own expense and donated it to Saint-Gall.  For more information, you can go here.

The original globe sitting in the Swiss National Museum at Zurich.  We couldn't take a picture of the copy when we were at the Abbey in St. Gallen, so we're excited to show you!

Saint-Gall welcomed its copy into the Abbey with a celebration in August 2009.

After our museum experience, we decided to treat ourselves with a delicious cup of hot chocolate at Sprüngli, a Swiss luxury confectionery on Bahnhofstrasse.

Right on Bahnhofstrasse (Zurich's main downtown street, think NYC's Fifth Avenue).  Home of delicious hot chocolate and other tasty treats.

Typically at restaurants in America, you would get complementary tap water with your meal by request.  Not in Switzerland.  Water is typically not given out, and only available for purchase.  The only instances we received water were when we ordered coffee and a small glass (4oz or less) was given as a palate cleanser.  Additional glasses at 1 CHF each.

The next day, we decided to continue our adventure of Zurich, but instead of taking the train to Zurich...we took a boat!

The ticket from Thalwil to Zurich covers all means of transportation, including this boat.   Behold the good ship Albis.

Fully catered with getränke (drinks) and food!

Happy to be on a boat cruise on a Sunday morning.

Enjoying a cup of espresso as we travel up Lake Zurich to Bürkliplatz.

Once we arrived at Burkliplatz, we noticed another, much larger ship filled with people.  We learned that every Sunday, there is a brunch buffet cruise that leaves Burkliplatz and circumnavigates Lake Zurich on a relaxing 2 1/2 hour cruise!

We decided that we would save it for another time and hopped over to cafe Odeon for Sunday brunch (and unlike Alpenrose, it was open!)

According to Wikipedia, Cafe Odeon has the reputation of being an intellectual meeting place.  Some famous visitors include Albert Einstein, James Joyce, Lenin and Mussolini.  When we're famous, Wikipedia will add our names to that list.

My Rösti, a Swiss dish of grated potatoes, with two gooey eggs and loads of cheese.  The conversation may not have been overly intellectual, but it was just the right speed for a Sunday morning.

Thanks for reading!

-Sir Cervelat