My law school roommate Tai has settled in Zurich with her nine-year old son Thilo. We had a lovely 24-hour catch up while our boys hung out with their dads.
It’s a bit of a cliche, but the Swiss train experience is amazing. We live next door to the train station in Basel and I leave our apartment 15 minutes before my train takes off promptly at 10:06.
On the train I draft our “Reality” blog, read Infinite Country by Patricia Engel and am fascinated by the adult woman sitting across from me who is hugging and kissing a Pokemon stuffy. I arrive promptly at 11.
Tai and I walk the city! We head through the shopping district, reassuring after the shopping desert in Basel.
We head to the Fraumünster church, where Marc Chagell’s glass windows were installed when he was 83 years old. Of course I love the depiction of Jacob wrestling with the angel best (dark blue on left).
We pass the Cabaret Voltaire, home of Dadaism.
Have a late lunch and walk along the river to Lake Zurich.
It’s a sunny, 80 degree day and the Lake is a scene: swimmers, boaters, paddle-boarders, and Lake-side volleyball. Tai says this is Zurich at its best (and happiest).
Lake Zurich is in a valley and we hike up one of the hills that surround it to get the view.
Then back down to have a spritz at one of the pool bars along the Lake. We dip our toes in and admire the rising moon.
Then it’s back to Tai’s neighborhood for our 11 pm dinner of tacos and burritos. Mexican food is one of the California staples I expected to miss. Tai insists this restaurant is approximate. It is! We finish up our Modelos and 12-hour conversation and head to bed. In the morning it’s brunch and a train back to Basel.
Thank you Tai and Zurich!
Swiss Family Lang-Newkirk 