With a free day at our disposal, many of us decided to visit Zürich to see what it had to offer. Left to our own devices, we split up into groups to see different parts of the city.
Zürich is the financial hub of Switzerland. When you think about Swiss banking, you should actually think about Zürich. This is where most Swiss banks have their headquarters.
The city is also the world's largest gold trading center. The SIX Swiss stock exchange is located there, which is the fourth busiest exchange in the world.
To get to Zürich, we hopped a train that dropped us off at the main street.
This street is notable because it is one of the most expensive streets in the world for shopping. Upscale shops line the street such as Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Gucci, and more. The concentration of wealth and opulence was staggering.
At the end of the main street was the beautiful Lake of Zürich.
We grabbed hot dogs, which are unlike American hot dogs because they are entire baguettes with a hot dog inside. I'm sorry to admit that the Swiss do hot dogs better than Americans.
We boarded a boat to get a closer look at the lake and surrounding scenery. What we saw were rolling hillsides full of homes and a lake alive with sailboats.
The boat dropped us off at Schloss Rapperswill, an old castle. We explored the exterior of the castle and wandered through the garden grounds, pausing to take in the views of the lake.
Another group went hiking and roasted brats over an open fire. The hiking trail led them to the top of the surrounding hills of Zurich, where they climbed a watchtower to see the city in its entirety.
