Fonduin' it up in Switzerland
When my 30th birthday was approaching my mom mentioned that she really wanted to do something special to celebrate together, just her and I. My mom has previously traveled solo with my brother, my dad and I have taken a few father daughter trips together, but we had never done one with just her and I. Considering my 30th was approaching and I happened to be born on Mother's Day we figured it would be the perfect time to jet away somewhere fun to celebrate each other, and I am so grateful that we did.
She pretty much handed over the decision of where to go to me and boy, was that a difficult thing to narrow down. Having no restrictions basically opened the entire world up to me and quite frankly, I got overwhelmed. We were forced to travel between a very specific window of dates due to conflicting schedules and I found the options kept getting more and more difficult to make work with connections, flight times, and me always wanting to do too much at once. I have a hard time limiting myself to just one location when I travel since I want to see everything and go everywhere. Sometimes I have to take a step back and make sure that I am making my trip more about quality than quantity and cut out some locations and save them for another date.
After much deliberation we decided Switzerland fit the bill for this trip perfectly with it's stunning natural beauty and tons of recommendations from my Aunt who lived here for many years. Another factor was that it was close to so many other neighboring countries that we could always hop around if we had the time. We knew that we wanted to really explore Switzerland and go to a few cities within the country, but maybe also add Lake Como to the mix.
Our first flight had us meeting in Philadelphia and flying off to Zurich together! My Aunt Betsy lived in Zürich with her husband, Florian, for many years. He was from Switzerland so over the time she lived in Zürich, he was able to show her all the best local spots, tips, and sights. My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to get all of their notes on what to do and where to go and we certainly did not take that for granted (Thank you Betsy!!!)
One thing for certain upon your arrival to Zürich is, it's totally worth it to walk all over. Make sure to go to old town. Betsy recommended we grab a brioche at Schobers Cafe ("Conditorie Schober") which is the oldest cafe in Zürich, around since 1842! This place is full of the prettiest pastries and we had a great meal here before we continued exploring. Right across the street from Schobers is Schwarzenbach, a tea and coffee shop that has an overwhelming variety to choose from and truly feels like you are stepping into another era.
We continued walking through the town and passed the fun eclectic shops of the Neiderdorf area as well as the Bahnhofstrasse area (this is where you'll find your high end designers). These two shopping areas are both great and only about a 7 minute walk across the Limmat River. On your way to Bahnhofstrasse as you leave the Neiderdorf district you will pass two gorgeous churches:the Grossmünster Church and the Fraumünster Church, famous for it's Chagall windows.
By this point we had worked up an appetite and were ready for the meal we had been dreaming of...Swiss Fondue! Now Betsy recommended two places, Herr Ernst's Chässtube Rehalp and Le D'ezaley. We happened to be a little tired and chose to skip the train ride to Chässtube Rehalp and go with the closer, Le D'ezaley. Unfortunately Chässtube Rehalp has permanently closed their doors since the pandemic hit so I do regret that we never had a chance to dine there. Le D'ezaley was fantastic though...the cheese fondue is just out of this world.
The rest of our stay in Zürich was filled with wandering the streets and popping into bars and restaurants that Betsy suggested. We had drinks at the Widder hotel which had a beautiful patio to sit outside at. There is the James Joyce pub, Mere Catherine, Kronenhalle, and the Lipp which features great views of the city.
If you're looking to explore some museums the Kunsthaus has the entire collection of Monet's water lilies and the Landesmuseum is the Swiss National Museum, both are worth checking out!
You really can't go wrong when dining or exploring in this city, just walking around the river you in Old Town you will be surrounded by fantastic options. For my mom and I,taking in the sights of the small Swiss alleyways made us feel like we were back in another time. Zürich was a fantastic first stop on our trip around Switzerland and I hope you enjoy some of these recommendations!
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