Just got back from Zurich having spent the last few days there. Here are some general impressions and ranting...of course we only spent 3 days and often you dont grasp much but we tried to grasp as much as possible.

It started not so good, having hit the saturday traffic in the centre. Our hotel was the IPR guesthouse near the station....jeez we were looking for this place for 2hrs and then a parking space..crikey what a nightmare to find parking!!!

Anyway that rant aside we set off around old town...very nice place and also Bahnhoffstrasse and the main city centre.

I've never seen so many Porsches and even more over-sized sunglasses per square mile in all my life (in the city area)...and the sunday afternoon stroll along the Seefeld boulevard seems to be a Zurich tradition...huge amounts of posing...was quite new to me! Seems quite a few were aspiring to act the part (i am wealthy), drive the part (obiligatory porker) and dress (chic clothes with obligatory bug eyed/oversized sunglasses)...quite funny really...

We had a spot of bratwurst and frites at a big outdoor restaurant (the one by the lake with yellow parasols)....when it's not so busy that area is wonderful. We left the lakeside and headed up to the Buhrle museum, some amazing art there and a wonderful neighbourhood.

Weather was between terrible and average on saturday and then today stunning...so we got a good taste of how the city feels when the weather is at both extremes.

We much preferred the eastern side of the city to the more upmarket old town area...lots of bars and restaurants. We ended up going to a Mexicana resto and it was fantastic...mexicana not being our usual! The more laidback attitude in this area was much nicer. Yes we saw some peep shows and etc but nothing that i thought was untoward.

Prices...not as much as i had been told to expect. Beer prices were like the UK and the same as Strasbourg. Eating out was very much like eating out in a big city in the UK...although we didnt find any truly cheap places like we might find in Strasbourg. Still it wasnt expensive overall, i think many can bualk at the CHF prices but when you stick in the 2.35CHF/£ ratio it drops quite a lot.

Overall its bigger than strasbourg but not as pretty. Transport is ok if you're using trams, cycling doesnt seem popular or as well catered for (although i am sure you could cycle if you wanted) as in Strasbourg, there were traffic jams like any major city but seemed quite concentrated around the lake area...crying out for pedestrianisation in many areas i thought.

Zurich left a great impression overall. Combined with the great finance system i think it has a great deal to offer. Quality of life seems very high...now wheres my porker!

Parking! Yes, you should have left the car if you were staying in central Zurich - and your accomodation was near the station. Nice day today though, I presume you saw the mountains at their best too...

Hi,

Yeah you live and learn!

We saw the mountains at their best for sure...stunning views across the lake.

Going to digest what we saw and check out living costs...seems to be a lot of info already here on that.

Richard

Yes, what a cracking day. I took the number 7 tram to the end of the line in Wollenhofen, and then walked back along the lake. It was most enjoyable ... even saw one lunatic swimming!

Had lunch in ... err a big place on the lakeside (Enge side), where a "large" serving of ravoli was frankly miniscule. View of the mountains was great, as was the weissen biere.