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Post date: 01-Oct-2009 11:38:52
Throughout our 6 month trip, we are visiting 14 of the world's most expensive cities. Zurich was ranked number 6 this year. I can see why. We took the couchsurfer we are staying with out for Indian food and it cost us $150.00 Swiss Franks! (Lesson learned: If you offer to take someone out for dinner and they pick the restaurant, check the prices on the menu before you sit down). Swiss Franks are close to being on par with the American dollar at the moment. This is the more money than Colin and I normally spend in 3 days on our trip. We have eaten at La Ronde in Edmonton for cheaper. We justified our guilt for spending this much on food by calling it our early 3 year wedding anniversary meal. It probably would have cost us about the same price to stay in a Zurich hostel for 3 nights and we stayed with our couchsurfer for 3 nights.
We bought groceries for the rest of the stay and cooked our own food. However, we did go out for coffee with our couchsurfer and his sister. The price of my hot chocolate was $7.00 CHF, my juice $7.00 CHF, Colin's cappuccinos $12.40 CHF. Thankfully our couchsurfer treated us. If we had ordered something to eat we would have paid the following for a sandwich:
We could not afford to live or eat in Zurich unless we were millionaires. Even our groceries of the bare basics for 2 suppers and 3 breakfasts cost us $65.00 CHF. This was for eggs, juice, cheese, fries and chicken.
We had relatively inexpensive day touring the town of Zurich. You can enter the Grossmunster and the Fraunmunster cathedral for free. They are both beautiful churches but the Grossmunster church is larger. It has a basement with a statue of Charlemagne who is said to have built the original church and for 2 Swiss Franks you can tour the tower and get a great view of the entire town of Zurich.
Fraunmunster Cathedral
Grossmunster Cathedral
Our couchsurfer introduced us to Spriingli which is one of the best and of course most expensive sweets shops in Zurich. As per Lynette's recommendation we tried the Luxembergli. The outer shell is a bit like a merengue cookie and the inside is a creamy sweet filling. They tasted richer than the macaroon cookies that we tried in Paris.
At an outdoor market, I found two spoons for my mom. One of them is made of lead, so I hope the rusty spot comes off the spoon. They were 2 Franks each.
We walked through the entire town and back to our Couchsurfer's house. I saw a few rubber ducks, but the stores were closed, so I couldn't buy any. However, this was fortunate since it's unlikely I could have afforded one.
To see the rest of our 227 pictures, click here.
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