Adventures in Switzerland

When your trip of three months in Europe is on a budget, you have to compromise a few things.  Like buying an expensive designer bag is out of the question (most Japanese tourists go to Europe to shop).  You won't be staying in luxurious hotels; instead you'll be staying in a more 'cozy' hostel.  This was the case when we were looking for accommodation in Zurich; most of the hostels were just too expensive for us.  So, we ended up staying in Basel, about an hour outside of Zurich.  This was made possible by our handy Global Eurail Pass that gives us unlimited access to many trains across Europe.  So, we stayed in Basel, which I was told is a beautiful city.  Unfortunately, we had no time to do any site seeing in Basel as most of our limited time was dedicated to Zurich and Weil am Rhein.  But our hostel was pretty cool; it was a complex of converted warehouses, some into restaurants, some into shops, and one portion converted into a hostel.

We were caught off guard when we arrived in Basel, as Switzerland is not a part of the European Union.  Which meant their currency was the Swiss Francs, not Euros.  Fortunately, most stores in and near the train station accepted both Euros and Francs.  We had a very limited time in Switzerland; one day was dedicated to Zurich, and another day was dedicated to Weil am Rhein (which is actually in Germany).

We decided to book a bus tour for Zurich because we had a limited time, and wanted to see as much as possible.  It took us around the lake (called Lake Zurich), up to a scenic look out, where we caught a beautiful panorama of Zurich right after a rain storm.  It brought us near the famous Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; among its famous alumni are Albert Einstein, Santiago Calatrava, Herzog & DeMuron, and Bernard Tschumi. 

For dinner, we ate Cheese Fondue!!  A bit over priced and I tipped the waitress (when tip is actually included in the meal in Switzerland), but it was good and fun experience.

Next day, we set off for Weil am Rhein, which has the famous Vitra Museum.  Buildings by famous architects are scattered all around this ‘park’; buildings by Zaha Hadid, Herzog & DeMuron (designed the Vitra House), Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry (designed the Vitra Museum), Alvaro Siza, Nicholas Grimshaw, and Jean Pouvre.  During our tour, we were told that the architects were conscious of the surrounding buildings and ‘did their best’ to unify the architectural language.  But in the end, it’s a mish-mash of different architectural styles; whether it works or not, is up to the viewer.  Although I was looking forward to seeing the fire station by Zaha Hadid, my personal favorite was the Vitra House by Herzog & DeMuron.  And the furniture designs by Vitra were interesting as well.

We left Switzerland through the Gottard Pass, to satisfy Alex’s (quite possibly) soul reason for coming to Europe.  The train goes over the Swiss Alps into Italy, offering spectacular views to the passengers.  We got off at a local station for a couple of hours so Alex could satiate his eyes with trains, while I took some time to enjoy the simple things around the station.