Can you believe that I head back to the US in under a month? As much as I have loved Europe, I am ready to get back to sweet, sweet, America.
This past weekend I was in Zürich, Switzerland and my trip was full of chocolate, Christmas lights, Swiss cheese, and glühwein.
On this trip, I was joined by Aine and Killian, who I haven’t had the chance to spend time with while studying abroad. We picked Switzerland pretty spontaneously and just ran with it!
Ireland was one of my favorite trips from my travels! Read why HERE
Although we knew that there wasn’t a ton of sightseeing to be done in Zürich, we were all on the same page to have a relaxing trip and see where the weekend took us.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to plan, plan, plan and then plan again, but it was so nice to just go with the flow. We started on the first night by going for a walk around the rivers that ran through the city, and Killian spotted Christmas lights on the side of a building, so we went to investigate.
Little did we know, we had walked into a very legitimate winter wonderland. In the courtyard of the National Museum, there were dozens of food vendors, gorgeous Christmas decorations, and a snow globe bar! We discovered that this beautiful event was called Illuminarium, and is open until the end of December.
Inside the snow globe bar, there were Christmas trees, hundreds of twinkly lights, and tons of seating areas which mimicked what we joked looked like a trendy grandmother’s living room.
We made ourselves comfortable, ordered a drink, and got to catch up a little bit while being surrounded by what might as well have been the North Pole. After a long travel day, we decided to head back to our hostel from there and call it a night!
The next day, we took our time waking up and did a little research about what to do for the day. We settled on making a trip to Zürich’s longest running outdoor flea market. Although it was nothing insanely special, it was pretty cool to see some of the old memorabilia which people were selling.
We explored the neighborhoods around District 4 before making our way to the river to lead us back to the old city.
YOU HAVE TO RENT A GO BOAT IN COPENHAGEN. THE CANAL VIEWS ARE INSANE! READ ABOUT MY TRIP HERE!
At this point, we needed some food. We stumbled upon Rheinfelder Bierhalle, where we all ordered traditional Swiss food. I got the largest bratwurst I have ever seen, and Aine and Kill shared spätzel and rösti, which are Swiss-German hash browns and pasta.
From there, we wandered through the old town, window shopping until we found Läderach and Teuscher chocolate shops. I am almost positive that each one of us had to stop ourselves from drooling at least once. Taking only one free sample was the most willpower I have ever exhibited!
NOTHING IS MORE MAGICAL THAN CHRISTMAS! READ ABOUT MY TRIP TO 7 OF COLOGNE’S MOST FAMOUS CHRISTMAS MARKETS HERE
We purchased some Christmas presents, and treated ourselves a little bit, before walking through District 1 and stopping to listen to some of the street performers. Although it was chilly, it was a beautiful night!
The next day, we took it slowly again and had a late start. We packed up our bags and headed out to keep exploring. To our surprise, absolutely everything was closed on Sunday! That didn’t stop us from enjoying the fairy-tale like shops and ornately decorated window displays.
After a gorgeous trip, we then headed our separate ways and ended another weekend roaming around Europe!
Alexandra Mier y Terán 
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