Day 10 Zurich
 April 13, 2005.
Today was a day to explore Zurich. We slept in again which is not like me as my
feet normally hit the floor at 6 am.
Walked up the Bahnhofstrasse to the train station where we had coffee and
croissants. The station is amazing with hundreds of shops underneath. We found a
wine store and a grocery store where we bought wine, cheese and fresh Swiss
bread for our lunches today and tomorrow.
Zurich is
Switzerland’s largest city and even today retains much of its 19th
century charm. It is situated on the northern shore of Lake
Zurich.
Most of the residents speak a form of German called Schyzerdutsch. The city is
staunchly Protestant and some say it is a very puritan city.
The city
is built between the wooded slopes of the Uteliberg and the Zurichberg mountains
and is split by the Limmat
River.
We walked along the quays which line the banks of the river today admiring the
old town on the
Right Bank of the Limmat.
Zurich is
a major world center of banking and the headquarters of its five major banks are
located on the Bahnhofstrasse. The bankers are sometimes referred to as gnomes
because many of the banks store mountains of gold.
 Speaking
of gold, it helps to bring a suitcase full of money or have a large balance on
your credit card when you visit Zurich. Breakfast in the Baur de Lac hotel would
set you back $50 US per person. A large coffee at Starbucks is $10. However, if
you walk a couple of blocks off the main streets you will find scores of little
cafes with very reasonable prices.
Had an
interesting experience this morning. We needed to change some money and the
concierge in the hotel told us it was much better to change money at a bank
because the rate of exchange was higher. The only problem was that we couldn’t
find a bank that changed money. Most of the banks on the Bahnhofstrasse were
only open to private clients.
Nancy
solved that problem by going into a very expensive watch store and asked them
for directions. They had their armed security guard, carrying a Glock pistol,
escort her two blocks to a bank. Now that is Swiss service.
This
afternoon I put my bank account on the line as Nancy headed off to shop in
Gucci, Dior, Chanel, Rosenthal and other big names in the shopping world. I
stayed in our hotel room to do some writing and pray a lot. When she got back,
she was armed with presents for our grandkids and amazingly she didn’t blow the
limit on our Amex Card. Somebody up there must like me.
This
evening we walked across to a little Swiss restaurant in the old town and had a
pasta dinner - great atmosphere. Back to our room to end a great day with a
bottle of Henkell Trocken.
Stay
tuned for Day 11 in my “Around the World in 30 Days” saga.
Alan
Salmon
eClub One
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