This weekend was free for us to explore Switzerland at our own digression. I and 13 others from our group spent the day in and around Zurich. At the suggestion of our instructor Michael, we first travelled to Rapperswil to travel the length of Lake Zurich by boat. We split into two groups in Rapperswil, with eight of us leaving immediately on a ferry while the other six spent time exploring the town first.
Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and we were not able to see the Alps to our south, but everything we could see along the lake shore was picturesque. The entire lake is surrounded by small towns and vineyards, and if we had enough time, we would have gone to shore to see them up close.
The whole ride took about two hours. In Zurich, we spent the afternoon walking up and down the riverways and had a late lunch of spaetzle and beer. Four of us stopped at the FIFA museum and another four spent some time thrift shopping.
Zurich became less charming the longer we spent there. The city felt much more exclusive than our experience had been in Munich, the last major city we explored. From the luxury watch stores, to the sports car sightseeing, and after being kicked out of a few restaurants that required a reservation for dinner, the parts of Zurich we explored seemed disinterested in us being there.
We left earlier than we expected and had dinner back in Winterthur. It wasn’t everything we expected, but overall, we enjoyed our day trip to Zurich, especially the boat ride from Rapperswil and the historic parts of the city. Tomorrow we will be traveling to Luzern to hike and explore the lakes. Special thanks to Q for taking the pictures used in this post.
-- Riley H.
