Today was my last day in Switzerland and it turned out to be a 'foodie' day. I'm now back in the hotel room writing this post feeling as full as a butcher's dog and dreaming about hitting the pillow.
The morning started with a stroll down Bahnhofstrasse. This is the main downtown street of Zurich and one of the most expensive! Think of a fancy-pants shop and whether or not you could afford to buy anything. If the answer is no, then you'll find it in the Bahnhofstrasse. Chanel, Dior, Hemes, H&M, Giorgio Armani, IWC, Mont Blanc, the list goes on.
Eventually I found a shop on Bahnhofstrasse that completed two criteria - I could afford it and it involved chocolate. How could I stay in Switzerland and not sample the chocolate? Food item #1.
Chocolates in Laderach, Bahnhofstrasse
Scoffing my Laderach chocolates
We had booked a 1/2 day Black Forest and Rhine Falls tour so a quickie lunch was required. Food item #2 coming up. Pretzels.
Feeding my face again
Pretzels
The Black Forest and Rhine Falls tour border hops over to Germany to Titisee and then back to Switzerland for the Rhine Falls. I had been really looking forward to this tour.
The first stop was Titisee on the shores of Lake Schluchsee where we were entertained with an introduction to the art of making cuckoo clocks and then given plenty of free time of our own. Titisee, it appeared to be, was nothing but a village made for tourists to lighten the load in their wallets. All buildings (while cute on the outside) were either restaurants, cafes or souvenir shops. We sampled the black forest cake (food item #3) and had some fun trying on hats, but I was disappointed in the obvious tourist trap. My tip for Titisee? Don't bother.
Cuckoo Clocks, Titisee, Black Forest
Black Forest Cake
Next stop on the tour was the Rhine Falls. We elected not to pay extra for the boat trip to the foot of the falls (much to the tour directors shock and dismay) and instead used the time to take a walk around the falls on our own. The escape from the tour group and the sun finally coming out was enough to lift my spirit and I did enjoy this part of the trip. Rhine Falls is Europe's largest waterfall at 150 meters wide and 23 meters high. (In comparison, Niagara Falls is 50 meters high.)
Rhine Falls, with a rainbow from the spray
Tonight's dinner was at Pulcino where we met a couple from Finland (table sharing must be the norm here). Great dinner, a good bottle of red and conversation with strangers finished the night off perfectly.