Hello Zürich! - Day 2

Saturday (9/20/14)

Another view of Fraumünster and Grossmünster

I will never tire of hearing church bells ringing. It is so ethereal, especially in the little village I live in, to hear the bells ringing out wildly across the countryside. So beautiful. 

I went to Zoo Zürich today! All by myself :D At first I will admit, it was a little boring, being alone. But as I wandered around, I ended up really enjoying myself! It is SO nice to be able to go wherever I want, whenever I want, without taking into account someone else's wants or needs.

Zoo map and ticket!

Elephant - Elefant

Camels - Kamele

The monkeys (affen) were the BEST part of the whole zoo

Mom's are the best

I'm SO bummed. I got the coolest video of some monkeys playing, but it's too big to upload on blogger :( Maybe I will try to put it on Facebook...

Seal - Seehund

NOT a two-headed zebra 

Lions (Löwen) & Tiger

Römisches Mosaik - Gladiator und Löwe

"...you turned me into a llama!" (name that movie) - lama

Rhinoceros (Nashorn) & Flamingos 

Macaws/Parrots - Aras/Papagei

Peacock - Pfau

Fishies! - Fisch

Piranha

Emperor Penguins - Kaiserpinguine

I think these are Tapir...  

I've never seen an Anteater (Ameisenbär) before! So cool!

Owl - Eule

Your mustache is now invalid. Monkey wins.

First souvenir!

After the zoo, I was supposed to meet up with people to explore the city more, but they never showed up (apparently their skydiving endeavor took longer than expected). After waiting for almost an hour I left the agreed on "meet-up spot". I happened upon a mini-concert in the main hall of the Zürich Bahnhof, which is HUGE - it felt more like an airport than a train station. I stayed and listened for a long while, grabbed some dinner, then headed home. 

Zürich Bahnhof in front of Bahnhofstrasse

Waiting for the train to get home

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Hello Zürich! - Day 1

Friday (9/19/14)
Yesterday, Tamara told me that some plans had changed and I could have the day off today! So I decided to take an impromptu weekend getaway to Zürich! I figured out the trains, and a friend offered to show me around and let me crash on the couch. Let me just say, EVERYONE knows I'm not from here. Even if I don't say a word, they just know. It's almost creepy. I had to buy something because my bill was too big for the ticket machine, so I walked up to the counter and start to ask for a Coke Zero, in Deutsch, and the guy answers back in English! He said my German was fine, but I needed to work on the accent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One challenge at a time Paco. He was really friendly though and we had a short conversation about where I'm from etc... And then again, on the train to Enge, I wasn't sure of my stop (for the billionth time haha) and a guy sitting across from me asked me where I was going... in English. It's like everyone knows not only that I'm not from Switzerland, but that I'm American. Anyway, we had a short conversation (he said he's from Rocco... I assume that means Morocco...) and he informed me that my stop was not this one, but the next one. Yay for friendly, helpful people who take pity on my lost American butt. haha. 

In front of the Opernhaus Zürich

Zürichsee // Lake Zürich

There are three main cathedrals in Zürich:

Fraumünster 

St. Peterskirche
(biggest clock face in Europe)

Grossmünster
(Romanesque-style Protestant church)

Industrial art

We came across a sweet little antique shop! It was closed, so I took a few pictures from behind the windows:

Old-school Ferrari

Night Lights

Saw this on the way back to the apartment.

xoxo,

     Rebecca