Zurich, Switzerland
Hotel Neufeld

I woke up at 8am after a pretty bad night’s sleep. This hotel and those pillows that look thick, but as soon as you put your head on it, they just disappear and become paper thin. Not cool. So I got up, packed my things, and headed down for breakfast.

The breakfast at the hotel was surprisingly good and I loaded up for the day. I parked the car next to the Vaduz Cathedral, which was a bit disappointing inside. I expected it to be beautiful inside, but it was very basic. I then went for a 15 minute walk up the mountain to Vaduz Castle, where the Prince of Liechtenstein lives. It was a nice walk until I got to the top and it started to rain a little bit.

I couldn’t help but think about what the inside of the castle must look like. It’s very medieval looking, but hopefully the inside is a bit more modern, because if I was the Prince, I wouldn’t want to actually live in an old medieval castle all the time. That sounds horrible.

After the castle, I walked back down to the city center and walked around, but there was nothing really appealing to me. I figured it was a good time to get out of Vaduz and see what else Liechtenstein had to show off.

I was recommended to check out Malbun (the ski area) and Burg Gutenberg (a castle in Balzers). I checked out both, but the weather was pretty awful at both places, so it wasn’t very enjoyable. Anyway, I feel like I saw everything I should see in Liechtenstein, enough that I could cross off the 67th country on my list. And then head back into Switzerland.

I drove into Zurich, in the rain the whole time, and found Hotel Neufeld at about 1:30pm. I left my stuff and bought a 24 hour tram pass and went straight into the city center. I walked around the old town for a while and ended up at a restaurant called Holy Cow which was recommended as the receptionist’s favorite restaurant in the center. It was a burger restaurant, and it was just OK.

I left Holy Cow and walked around the old town and saw everything in Zurich I wanted to see. I went from the lake up through the old town, then down the river and over to the other side and walked up through the fancy shopping street. It is a really nice city, but unfortunately it was grey and rainy the whole time I was there, so I didn’t get to see it at its best. I was pretty tired from all the walking so I went back to the hotel for a little rest before coming back out for dinner.

I got another recommendation for dinner, but this time I was very happy with it. I was told that the best place to go for Swiss food was a restaurant called Zeughauskeller. It was right in the city center next to Paradeplace, and it did feel a little touristy. It was incredibly busy, and as expected it wasn’t easy to get a table for one, but they ended up sitting me at a table of misfits, which was just fine. I was with a German couple, a Spanish couple, and a Brazilian guy on his own. Luckily the Brazilian guy spoke English so we just chatted the whole time through dinner.

I asked for the waiter’s recommendation for food and he said the pork shank is by far his favorite dish, so I went with that. I was not disappointed. It was a massive chunk of meat served with potatoes. For dessert I also took his recommendation and got the Swiss chocolate cake. The cake was good, but the main meal was absolutely fantastic.

I left the restaurant and walked around the old town a little more before heading back to the hotel. I sat down and enjoyed my Liechtensteinian beer that Emily sent me, which was a fantastic way to finish the day. I got to see a lot of stuff today, and now I’m exhausted. Time for bed so I can get up and enjoy my birthday tomorrow!