Zurich (September 2011)

Visiting Zurich, Switzerland September 3-12, 2011 for work. Will be mostly holed up in the Zurichotel, but will try to escape when I get the chance.

Journal / Itinerary

September 4, 2011

Dinner at Santa Lucia with the team. Decent quality Italian food near the hotel. They make their own pasta. I had papardelle with octopus and shrimp. The seafood was perfectly tender, but the overall dish needed seasoning.

Prices in Zurich: Wow. Just wow.

September 10, 2011

10am -- Meet Alex Schroeder at Zurich Hauptbahnhof. Brunch at Kafischnaps.

Possibilities

Zurich:

• Confiserie Sprüngli am Paradeplatz
• Dinner at Blindekuh (suggested by Eugene Chan)
• Visit Hub Zurich and meet Hagen Fisbeck (suggested by Eugene Chan)
• Korean restaurant that Andy and Adam visited (suggested by Andy Wang)
• Other folks in Zurich
  • WiserEarth person (suggested by Peggy)
  • Wikimedia Fellow (suggested by Steven W.)

Switzerland:

• Lauterbrunnen (suggested by Sara Crouse)
  • You'd hike there from Grindelwald in a day. Grindelwald is very nice, however. It's where you can take a look at the Eiger Nordwand. Zürich HB – Grindelwald is about two and a half hours
• If you just want a nice view of the Alps and have little time, you might just take the train to Rigi – supposedly where the three mythical founders of Switzerland swore their oath in 1291 if I remember correctly. From Rigi you can see a lot of mountains, if the weather is nice. There is a train that goes nearly all the way to the top. Zürich HB – Rigi Kulm (Kulm is usually the top of a mountain) is about two hours forty minutes
• If you actually want to be on a mountain, another place to go would be Lucerne. From there, you could take the cable car to Pilatus. It's rather expensive, I hear. Zürich HB – Luzern – Pilatus Kulm is about two hours
• If you want to see a cool gorge in the mountains, you could go to Meiringen (supposedly Sherlock Holmes died in the Rickenbachfall, a water fall in Meiringen) and take a walk through the Aareschlucht. Zürich HB – Luzern – Meiringen and on to Aareschlucht, West is about two hours and a quarter. You'd walk through the gorge and take the train back from the other side, I guess. When I went there, I just walked back the same way, that's how nice it was. The gorge would also be a nice place to go to if the weather is moderately bad (drizzling rain or the like)
• http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/interests/hiking1/hiking-suggestions/walenstadtberg-a-gentle-tour-on-the-wild-side-of-the-churfirsten.html (suggested by Katja)

Use SBB to figure out train connections.