So, a little while after our weekend trip in wexford, we ended up going to Zurich. A friend of ours Paul (you remember Paul… the American who was hired at the same time as Toby when we first moved to Ireland). Well, he took a job awhile back with a company that moved him to Zurich in Switzerland for a little while. And, it just so happens Zurich Fest was about to happen so of course we had to plan a trip over!
Zurich Fest
So, Zurich fest is this HUGE festival that happens in Zurich around the first few days of July, but only every 3 years. So the next one is July 1-3 of 2016. They take a lot of the main streets, and close them down to pedestrianize them. On the streets, makeshift restaurants and food stalls are created, there are dance parties in the streets, rides for kids, acrobatics… you name it, it’s there. Now, even though this is the German speaking side of Switzerland, luckily everyone there spoke english. As part of the event, they do a MASSIVE fireworks display. It’s actually been deemed one of the 5 largest fireworks displays in Europe, and they do it TWICE!
Just a few facts about Zurich Fest 2013… 2 million vistors came in over the weekend JUST for the festival, there were 60 STAGES (not concerts… stages) that held concerts and performances over town, and there were 300 separate food stalls.
The Trip
So, we arrived in Zurich and sort of just hung out around in town until Paul got off work. We were staying in his place, so we met up with him afterwards to hang out while we waited for our two other friends to land in town, Killian and Colin (although we just call him Macker). But eventually they got in, and we all just kind of hung out that first night.
A few celebratory – Hooray vacation drinks
Paul hanging out on his balcony
The next day, we decided to go check out the lake in Zurich. It was such a gorgeous day that we made a bit of a picnic of it and played some boce ball.
The boys playing boce ball – while paul work ridiculously short swim trunks. We teased him about it the entire trip
One side of Lake Zurich. The lake is actually so large that it has waves and people go out paddle boarding on it.
People sailing in the lake
Then the guys decided go diving in the lake
Some more gracefully than others… 🙂
Afterwards, we grabbed ourselves a little snack from a sausage vendor nearby. It was seriously one of the best sausages I’d ever had
We were pretty tired after being in the sun all day, so we went back, chilled for a bit, before heading out for… DUH DUH DA DUH!!! ZURICH FEST!!! As you can see… there were a LOT of people who were also excited about seeing the fireworks…
But I don’t blame them… Check out the fireworks display for yourself… (warning, this video is 27 minutes long – because that’s how long the fireworks display was… ha ha)
Afterwards, we headed out for a few drinks, some grub, and to watch some street dance parties
Our last day there we just roamed around the town, and then ate dinner at a place called Zeughauskeller that served meant ON A SWORD!!!
The food was fantastic! But then the next day (monday) we decided to head out on a road trip through Switzerland, down to Lake Como in Italy. See our trip via the photos below
Driving through the swiss alps
View of Lake Lucerne from the road
Lake Lucerne – The color was this amazing green/blue color because it’s melted glacier water. I can’t even put into words how beautiful it was
They seriously LOVE their tunnels there…
We drove through the Furka Pass – it’s one of the battle sites of the Campaign of 1799 when Russian and French forces fought. Crazy to think they fought across this bridge
Overlooking the view from the top of the furka pass
you had to watch out for cows in the middle of the road too
Apparently part of James Bond: Goldfinger was filmed here
driving through the galciers
Glaciers and snow in the swiss alps
It’s amazing how beautiful Switzerland is. If I was able, I would totally move there in a heartbeat. If you ever get the chance to go to Switzerland, or go through the Alps, your answer MUST be yes!!
From Cornfields to Celts 