Zurich

All new hires with PwC attended a new-hire orientation in the Zurich office, so Nate’s first day of work was actually in Zurich and not in Basel. Since Nate was headed to Zurich, I thought that this was a great excuse to go and explore the city. I had been to Zurich once or twice before with my family, however, it was typically only for an hour to see one of the famous churches and then we would head to the mountains, so it was nice to actually see the whole city this time.

So as Nate entered the PwC office, I left to explore the city. The first thing I noticed was that it was very cold, almost too unbearable to walk around, so Jake and I went to the one place that any American would head in a new city…Starbucks! We warmed up with a nice cup of hot coffee. Well, Jake didn’t have any coffee, but he did have some of my blueberry muffin! The Starbucks was huge… four stories and lots of comfy couches. Jake can vouch for the comfy couches, because he took a long nap while I read. It was a great place to get warm and gather myself, before I braved the big city of Zurich all by myself, because up until this point, Nate had been with me the entire time we had been in Europe.

After Starbucks, I decided to walk along the river and stop when I saw something interesting. It just so happened that the first interesting thing I saw was an H & M. I was a little nervous about taking Jake inside… but I saw other people take in their dogs, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It turns out that I had no reason to worry, because he behaved beautifully. He just watched the other people in the store, as I looked around at the clothes. In some ways, I think Jake may be a more enjoyable shopping companion than Nate, since Nate is not a big fan of shopping. After making my purchases (only a few very small items!), it was almost noon and I hadn’t even seen any of the historic parts of the city!

So Jake and I trekked on and found some amazing sites. My favorite place was a park located on a hill overlooking the river and the beautiful old buildings. Our tour book said that this spot used to be an important fort. A few centuries ago, the men of Zurich were out fighting a battle, when the not-so friendly Hapsburgs circled the city, ready to attack. The women put on armor and tricked the Hapsburgs into thinking that the city was prepared for the attack. Not up for a fight, the Hapsburgs left. In honor of this event, the citizens of Zurich created this park. The park was filled with trees covered in gorgeous yellow leaves. I decided to let Jake off his leash and he loved running around. Okay, actually he was scared to death of the other dogs, but he warmed up after awhile. There was one dog that looked like Jake’s younger brother! He was still a puppy and so friendly. His owner, a young Danish woman, spoke perfect English and we talked for awhile as the dogs played.

Jake didn’t want to leave the park and his new found friend, but I wanted to see some more sites. We headed back down to the river and towards the lake. The lake was absolutely beautiful! There were swans, sailboats, and mountains (NC sized mountains, not Alps sized). It was very picturesque. The day had also begun to warm up, so I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Well, maybe for Nate, but we were about to go pick him up from the office.

Our last stop was a famous church, the Grossmünster, where Ulrich Zwingli, one of Martin Luther’s contemporaries, played an important role in the Reformation. Church history really interests me, so it was exciting to see one of the places where the Protestant Church began.

In addition to this church, there were many other beautiful churches. One, St. Peter’s Church, has the largest clock face in all of Europe and was founded in the 7^th century. It is hard to believe that this Church was built a millennium before American even became a country!

I was having fun, but it was time to go meet Nate, so Jake and I hopped on a train. Jake practically pulled me the entire way because he was so excited to go see his daddy! Once our family was reunited, we decided to stay a little longer in Zurich to walk around the city together. I took Nate to all the highlights, but no H & M or Starbucks. We went to the park overlooking the river, through the old town, down to the lake, to the churches, and then to a little square for dinner. We ate a classic dinner of freshly baked bread, spicy mustard, and a sausage. It was yummy! After all the day’s walking, Jake and I were exhausted and Nate was too after his first day of work. We hopped on a train and headed back to our home away from home, Basel.