An Island of Neutrality

We left Vaduz with full stomachs and headed toward our next stop: Zurich. On our way, we saw innumerable picturesque farms and landscapes, and hills dotted with castles and ruins. Even the shacks and cottages seemed beautiful and perfectly situated. I wondered aloud more than once why anyone would leave this idyllic beauty to live in a soulless, grey city.

Of course, driving through the lovely Swiss countryside means driving through endless tunnels. The engineers of Switzerland have definitely perfected the art of the tunnel and like to practice every chance they can. We must have driven through no less than75 cumulative kilometers of tunnels just the first day. Of course, when you live in the middle of the Alps, I guess figuring out how to get around them or through them is a good skill to have.

At the end of our relaxing and tunnel-tastic drive was the city of Zurich. I can say without any hesitation that Zurich was a lovely city but definitely, and without a doubt, the most expensive city we visited during our two-week tour of Europe. That evening, I inadvertently ordered a $13 cocktail. Worse yet, I almost ordered a second before Hubby translated Swiss Francs into dollars for me. Don’t even get me started on how much I spent on the orgasmic chocolates and madelines I bought to eat in the car.

Hubby did manage to find one pastime that wasn’t too expensive – wandering around Zurich’s Red Light district and taking photos of the advertisements on the wall. Of course, when I wasn’t hiding behind posts and pretending not to be with him, I may or may not have been egging him on.

Gripes about the price of everything from a glass of wine with dinner to the to-die-for chocolate sorbet we had for dessert aside, Zurich was great. We wandered around the large pedestrian mall area (Why don’t more American cities have these?), stopped for a concert courtesy of the Salvation Army, practiced our French with puzzled locals in this German speaking city, and even found a then yet-to-be-released paperback by one of my favourite authors at a local bookshop.

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of central Europe was Munich, Germany. Sadly, we didn’t find Munich to be very interesting for the most part. Admittedly, due to the poor weather shortly after we arrived in Germany we arrived later than planned and didn’t get to do our normal walking tour of the city. (Hubby Edit: It was only the weather’s fault??) (Typ0 Edit: I know you’re not trying to malign my Map Girl skills! *glare*)

While a chance to explore this city in more depth would have been interesting, we did get an unexpected opportunity to visit one area of town.

Next time you’re in Munich and you’d like to know how to find the Red Light district, call me – I’m very familiar with it. As luck would have it, our hotel was a mere three blocks from the middle of the Munich’s “naughty area” and while the walk from our hotel to dinner was amusing, the walk back was an education I’m not likely to forget anytime soon.

Two Red Light districts in as many days, what more could a girl want from a European adventure?!