Zurich in a Flash

central train station

On my way back from skiing in Serbia I discovered the silver lining of long lay-overs' by having the opportunity to visit Zurich.

unbearably beautiful watch-hand craftsmanship

Being in the city of watches I was excited at the opportunity to indulge in my obsession and perhaps even purchase something I could afford. Fat chance. Not surprisingly I did not find any "affordable" watches in the city of affluence. My guess is if they existed in some elusive vintage market...which I'm thinking you'd need more than a couple of hours in a new city to locate, they would be quickly scooped up by one of Zurich's many watch pros', polished and displayed as something less affordable. Besides, judging by the rest of the city - vintage probably = garbage. Funnily enough I bought a vintage Swiss watch in Belgrade the week before, so the layover was more about looking than shopping.

Speaking of shopping, Bahnhofstrasse (and surroundings), where you'd find a million little watch stores glittering in twinkle lights and Christmas balls, also has Cheap & Awful (C&A) and H&M...for those "less fortunate"Swiss...or tourists perhaps. Anyway, if shopping, Zurich is about beautiful boutiques and a very traditional Christmas market...which meant I had to get a pretzel dog, which almost meant I missed my plane. I couldn't believe it, but luckily a double-decker train in Switzerland was actually running a few minutes late!

Want it.

The Christmas bazaar was pretty much London's Winter Wonderland without carousels and with better food.

Every street, every restaurant, every tram...was so cute it was hard to look away. The trams in particular caught my attention. The windows were so clean, it was like they were brand new. I just want to show an image I took of the tram in Kiev last year and compare. It's just evil how some governments steal from their own people and convince them - this is ok...meanwhile probably shopping in Zurich. Near  same sight was in Belgrade...which I will cover for Zoot magazine.

tram in Kiev

tram in Zurich

I  won't claim to have been able to form an informed opinion of the city in two hours, but I got the impression it's a great place to come for the weekend...to shop, witness how clean and beautiful a metropolis should be and dine out in style.

Although I was recommended lunch at the Hiltl and drinks at Prime by a facebook freind, I didn't have any time for anything but to take pictures. Therefore, enjoy my mini image travel diary...