I invited Alex on a short holiday trip with me, over Thanksgiving week. She was able to get a few days off work. I booked a 3-city Switzerland tour with Go-Today. We left Saturday, November 22, from Peoria, via Chicago to Zurich.    

Zurich

We arrived about 1100 on Sunday. After getting through customs we took the train to town and walked to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Arlette Beim, a nice old-fashioned place very close to the train station. They allowed us to drop off our bags for storage.

We walked along the Limmat River to Old Town then stopped at Henrici for coffee and some brunch. We visited the Grossmunster, built between 1100 and 1200. According to legend, it was founded by Charlemagne. The church has beautiful windows by Augusto Giacometti with precious stones. We climbed one of the towers for great views of the city.

We went to the brewery in the train station, the Brasserie Federal, and we both had a flight of their beers before meeting Alex’s friend, Toja, or “Snow”, another former YMCA counselor who worked at Camp Abe Lincoln, around 1700. We went to dinner at the restaurant we had notice earlier with a big cow on it.  We started with a meat tray then had some great fondue. Showers and a very comfortable bed were welcome after our travels. Alex was sleeping by 2100. It always feels good to have a early night the first day of travel.

We spent Monday wandering around old town. We walked down the Bahnhofstrasse for window shopping. We saw the Fraumunster, which had been closed for visitors on Sunday. The church was built on the remains of a former abbey founded in 853. Like the Grossmunster, it is one of the four main churches of Zurich, along with Prediger and Saint Peter. Their beautiful windows were designed by Marc Chagall. We also visited the Rathaus. We walked down to Lake Zurich and tried to find a boat trip but unfortunately there weren’t many options in the winter.

Lucerne

We took a train to Lucerne on Tuesday. The hotel wasn’t that far from the train station but hard to find. We wandered around a bit to find the Jail Hotel; our rooms were what you would expect for a former jail. Small and narrow but quite comfortable; hotels in Lucerne were really expensive, so this was chosen based on cost.

We went to the tourist center and picked up tickets to Mount Pilatus. I knew we couldn’t take the “Golden tour”, the boat, railroad and cable car tour, at that time of year but we were able to take the bus out to the cable car and go to Fräkmüntegg. We walked around on the mountain for a while then had a great lunch. After getting back to town we walked across the Chapel Bridge and up to see the old walls and the Nine Towers, the Lion Monument, the Jesuitenkirche, the Mill Bridge.

We saw a fun house that was red and gold and pretended it was the Gyffindor House and we also saw a hotel with an Advent calendar on it. There were so many beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere.

We couldn’t find any of the recommended restaurants on my list from Yelp/Trip Advisor so just ended up at this British Pub on the river and had big cheeseburgers.    

Basel

We only spent one night in Lucerne and took the early train Wednesday, November 26, to Basel. We stayed at the YMCA Basel. Alex was excited about that. Not very good front desk service but it was a great room and a fantastic bathroom and shower! We had a free bus pass which was nice.

Walking to the Rhine, we had some Gluhwein on the way and stopped to enjoy the hot wine while sitting by the river. We also saw the Elisabethen Church that was hosting an art show and the beautiful clock on the Rathaus. We visited the Kannenfeldpark on the hill while visiting parts of the city wall.

We spent several hours at the Basel Paper Mill Museum in the afternoon, a museum that Alex loved. We learned about the history of paper. They make paper from old rags and clothes as done traditionally and we both made a sheet of paper from pulverized cloth. It’s really fascinating. There is also a large collection of old printing presses, book-related machines, various types of paper, and other printing paraphernalia.

Old Town was lovely here and we walked down along the river seeing lots of great buildings. We visited the Basler Munster Cathedral, built from 1019 to 1500; climbing the towers for more great views. The cobblestone covered square is full of other medieval buildings, too. We had dinner at the Zum Brauner Mutz bier hall, pork, potatoes and beer at a large shared table that was lots of fun.

On Thursday, we spent most of the day wandering the “Weihnachtsmarkt”, having Gluhwein several times and lots of good food. Basel, in the three countries corner of Switzerland, France and Germany, has a long tradition as Switzerland’s most “beautiful and largest Christmas city”. The market, held on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, has about 190 stands and wooden huts. The market is full of great food, arts and crafts from all over Switzerland, and many of the artisans show demonstrations of their craft as well.

The Old Town is especially gorgeous with Christmas lights and decorations, but the shops and the facades all over town are covered with lights, too. A hundred tall pine trees border the streets.

We didn’t really buy much, not finding anything we had to have but did pick up some wooden Christmas ornaments. It was a great day enjoying the decorations and eating lots of snacks. I had some weisswurst that I haven’t had in years. Yum!

Zurich

We took the train back to Zurich the next day. We planned to spend Friday with Toja. She met us at the Bahnhof and we took a train to her car then drove to Bergun, where her dad lives. We had beautiful views the entire drive. Her father, a professional chef, fed us an excellent meal of venison; I’ve never had more tender venison. We walked around the beautiful little town for a few hours. Toja had to help her father that night in his restaurant, so Alex and I took the train back to town. We tried to get in to several places for dinner but it was booked everywhere or had long lines. We went back to Henrici’s, sharing a pizza and more of the excellent Chopfab Weizen.    

Saturday, November 29, we had another good breakfast in the hotel then went to the grocery store to pick up beer and chocolate for gifts before catching the train to the airport for the flight home. It was a lovely and restful vacation. Christmas season in Europe is truly magical, I really enjoyed the years I lived there, the markets and decorations and special festivals.

** All photos property of Lisa, not to be copied or reproduced **