A traveller's reflection: Switzerland 2001: Zurich

My Travel Journal

"There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road and through it all there'd always be tomorrow's episode" - Elton John

I started traveling around the world since early 80s when I had the opportunity to combine business trips with vacations. Then later when my rezeki is in abundance, there were numerous other trips along the way for vacations, most of the time with hubby and the kids when the timing is right. I have also started to compile the journal and photo-pages covering almost more than 45 years of world wide travel. Some destinations I visited just once, others many times. Many of those places are the obvious famous places people would like to visit but some, the casual traveler doesn't even think to try. I have placed links to my travel at the side bar of my personal page, My Life Reflections, and will be updating them from time to time.

My wish is to continue my travel and complete circumnavigate the globe, insyaAllah…

Friday, 22 June 2001

Switzerland 2001: Zurich - The Little Big City...

"The days you are most uncomfortable are the days you learn the most about yourself..." - Mary L Bean

Zurich, Switzerland

(21 - 23 June 2001)

(Our favorite bench in Zurich)

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, with a population of some 364,500 in the city proper and close to 1 million in the agglomeration area. Zurich is on Lake Zurich, where the lake meets the Limmat River, in the north of Switzerland.

(The surface of the Zurich Lake glitters in the light)

(A view of the Alps from the lake)

(Strolling along the Marina of Lake Zurich)

As Zurich is the central node of the Swiss-wide train network and also runs the biggest and busiest international airport of the country, it generally is the first place for tourists to go to. Because of the city's close distance to tourist resorts in the Swiss Alps and its mountainous scenery, it often gets referred to as the "portal to the alps".

(Taking the tramp around town)

(A tour of the city on the Classic Trolley)

(A leisure walk to historical sites)

Zurich has long been known for being clean and efficient. Due to this, it has been continuously ranked as the city with the highest living standard world-wide for many years. However, it is only for the last ten years has it truly become a fascinating and worthwhile travel destination. This is mostly thanks to the liberalization of the cultural, party and gastronomy sectors. An increasingly cosmopolitan population has helped, as well, though Geneva remains Switzerland's most culturally heterogeneous city.

(A sunny clear summer weather)

(One of the many benches at the park)

The Zurich dialect of Swiss German, which sounds very different from standard German, is the city's main spoken language. Many people understand English, French, or Italian as well.