284 WW #7 Lucy

"Lucy in the Sky" is the Christmas lighting covering all through the Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich's main street. It's made of thousands of LED light with crystals hanging from transparent wire. But I'm certain it doesn't need any explanation to appreciate the amazing beauty. I was almost shocked to see them for the first time. I was walking into the street without knowing what was waiting for me, and when I turned a corner suddenly this awesome lighting welcomed me. Stunned by its beauty I stood still for a while. It was just like stars, jewels or snowflakes in the night. It was really, really, really, really "Wow." I know I've seen one of the world's best Christmas illuminations many times, but this was exceptional. How could they make such a fantasy appear in the real street? 

If you are interested in the behind story of "Lucy" please check it;

"Lucy lights up Zurich sky with diamonds" from swissinfo.ch.

283 WW #6 Gastronomy

Some might think, "When you're going to talk about foods on your journey?" I seldom talk about foods in the first place. And I don't travel for foods. Most importantly I don't want to photograph foods which is served for me. A good blogger should refine that kind of skills but I feel somewhat guilty. So if I take photo of my plate, it's only when nobody watches me--- none of the chefs, waiters or other guests. This is one of them at beautiful "Restaurant Belcanto" next to the Zurich Opera house. Belcanto is a marvelous place in terms of atmosphere and quality of taste, located only a few steps from Opera house with spacious view of the lake Zurich.

Zurich I saw was a city of gastronomy, though I mostly enjoyed light meals at cafes and take-away sandwiches. The charm and advantage of the city as to cuisine, is internationality. It welcomes people with Italian, French, or German、Thai, Spanish, Chinese and Mediterranean dishes as well as its local Swiss. I found near my hotel a nice Italian Restorante "Molino" seemingly a successful Italian casual dining full of local families. Tasty and friendly enough.

"But have you ever really appreciated traditional Swiss foods anyway?", some might say. Yes. To me breakfast is simply the finest meal of a day and I was lucky to have savoury Emmenthal cheese (very famous and traditional Swiss cheese with large holes like you see in "Tom & Jerry") with fresh milk every morning.  

282 WW #5 Traffic

Punctuality always makes one of the virtues of Switzerland. Every travel guidebook I saw never failed to point that visitors could count on it. True. They have highly developed trams and well-ordered rails. I was personally impressed by the trams.

Zurich tram is worth seeing. 10-15 lines are seamlessly spreading all over the city. The cars are unexpectedly long, and ultra-clean as expected. Each lines seem to run at least every 10 minutes, so you always catch the next tram within 10 minutes. The sight of long and neat trams running frequently but also systematically in every major streets is marvelous. Comfortable to ride, very much convenient, they are excellent.

Among these many trams, buses and cars on the busy streets, pedestrians are well-organized. When you're crossing the streets, the crosswalk is divided into 2 or 3 according to the traffic and each is managed with the traffic light. Waiting time and walking time for pedestrians are both short. Everything looks quick and smooth, and organized efficiently even though the situation is complicated, like crossing trams are running in the middle of the junction of three streets.

281 WW #4 Elegance

Above is a tramstation at Bellevue-Platz, literally a beautiful location nearby the lake. Below is a cloakroom at Zurich Opera House. Neither of them might  be one of the popular photo-targets (especially to local residents.) But without knowing why I was enchanted by the scenes. It'd be a bit hard to tell from the photo, but the tramstation had futuristic shape and theatrical lighting. The cloakroom was situated in a place like "Under stairs storage" but it actually was very light and airy, with ivory-white wall and refined modernity (you see Ant Chairs by Arne Jacobsen, one of the masterpieces of Scandinavian design, in the middle of the room.) This modern room made a right angle with the solemn and gorgeous entrance of the Opera House so that they wouldn't interfere with each other.

Casually styled but well proportioned, simple but delicate, as well as effortlessly chic, I'd like to call it elegance.

280 WW #3 Lake

November is not a best season to enjoy the lake view. During my stay the weather around Zurich was cloudy, rainy, foggy, partly sunny and snowy at last. Streets and buildings looked all gray, while water and sky were mix of silver and sax-blue. But the Zurich lake never disappointed me. They said that the city banned draining waste water from any domestic and industrial site into the lake. So to say the lake is "almost drinkable." Tapwater tasted really nice as I've heard, and there were natural fountains that were actually drinkable all over Zurich. Whether it is real or not regarding the level of transparency, I think this moment in the dim light could tell how clear the water might be. This city is a genuine water-front.

279 WW #2 Starbucks

"Why did you go out of your way to drop in Starbucks, of all places?" my colleague asked me in amazement, when I talked about my frequent visits at Starbucks in Zurich. Yes, it seems odd to go to the global chain cafe while traveling. But I found perfect reasons for it. 

One, in Zurich you could see so many Starbucks so frequently that you'd guess that the city loves the cafe. 
Two, it gives you a relief to be able to count on something very familiar, like a habitual cup of coffee when you're a stranger in the town. 
Three, local differences in global chain are always interesting. 
Four, Starbucks succeeded to create an universal style that well work in every major cities on earth no matter how the locations and histories are. Would I go too far if I say that Starbucks is like an airport, in the sense of functionality and universality, because it welcomes people of all gender and all ages in the same style and design, regardless of the location? 

And lastly, it would be delightful to see your favorite place in an indeed beautiful Christmas ambience that is too good to be true.

278 Winter Wonderland #1 People

Multi-languages, cosmopolitans and immigrants are not unusual in Europe at all. But in Zurich I really met several different people and languages. On the flight to Zurich I had friendly conversation with an ex-trader working in USA, California, who moved to Zurich with his wife. He said he wished peace and quiet life in beautiful nature. Then I met a Japanese lady who was on way to home with her baby. I helped her carrying the baby and baggage at the airport. She kindly told me that she should have invited me to her home if only my stay in the city would be much longer. I thanked her and her husband and said goodbye. 

At Basel station I was looking for the way to a museum and went to the tourist information office. It was busy. A woman was handling 5-6 tourists and she switched the language respectively. German, French, Italian and English (Judging from the national-flag-badges she wore on her name plate, she could speak more than 5 languages). It seems nothing special, but impressive.

70% of Zurich people are working in service-sector. 10% of the citizens are somehow connected to the Zurich university. I'm not sure how these figures appeal to readers, but from my impression people in Zurich seldom shows plain friendliness or passionate expression, but they are friendly and talkative.  And they seemed to be professional citizen with highly developed quality-of-life and morals, living in highly-efficient and cultured city.

On my way back flight, I was sitting next to an old gentleman. For the first time I had difficulty in communicating with foreign people because he could only speak French, Italian and Spanish. My poor French and his limited English barely made sense. He was a Roman Catholic priest. As we were unable to talk a lot, I watched the latest Die Hard movie and wondered if it would be a disrespect to see Hollywood action film next to priest. But he didn't care at all and kept reading his Bible.

One of those who I met during my stay is unforgettable. In Basel a decent German taxi driver and I enjoyed talking for a while. He said he had retired and just got started his second job as a taxi driver on that day (not for money, but for enjoying driving and meeting people, he said.) I happened to be his first passenger!