Zürich between lakes and mountains

Claire was the first person I met when I arrived in Paris – I won’t say how many years ago because, frankly, counting years it's becoming more & more annoying...

I was in the subway going back home from an acting class when this girl, who was also in the class, came to talk to me.
She thought I was crying, probably sad because I was away from my family... For the record, I just have very sensitive eyes...

Anyway, we exchanged our numbers & she told me she would have called me. I honestly didn't think she would have really called. But she actually did & a couple of days later we went out with other friends to watch "Bridget Jones' diary".

And that was the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.

Regrettably, a couple of years ago she moved to Zurich where she lives happily with her very cute & very blonde family.

So now I can't see her very often, but I can go to Switzerland for the weekend ;)

When I thought of Zurich, I had images of serious men dressed up in black suits, carrying their suitcases on their way to work, of modern bright buildings occupied by all the big banks, coming to my mind.

I couldn't be wronger: Zurich is a cute, small & very clean little city, built around a beautiful lake & surrounded by mountains.

Nature is everywhere & it's really easy to access.

Starting from a walk in the mountains on Saturday morning...

Last time I came, the panorama was quite different, but equally beautiful.

Which one do you prefer?

The destination of our walk was a mountain restaurant, where we were supposed to have lunch… Before realizing that none of us had cash, but only credit cards… That the restaurant didn’t accept!
This is apparently quite common in Swiss mountains; so if you’re in the corner don’t forget your wallet! ;)

We ended up sharing two soups and continue our hike. We arrived to a sort of a bobsleigh slope we wanted to take to get down the mountain, and they luckily accepted credit cards (and sold ice-creams!)

The bobsleigh was super fun!! The ride was quite long and you could really go fast! Mick was driving and I was happily screaming!

On our way home, we continued to marvel at the endless series of green, luxuriant mountains ending in blue beautiful lakes.

On Sunday morning, despite the grey weather, we enjoyed the other natural attraction Zurich has to offer: the lake.

Now, this wasn't just like going to the countryside and swimming in a lake. Zurich’s lake is more like going to the beach: you have green grasses to lay down and sunbathe, volleyball fields, playgrounds for children, a floating platform to sunbathe in the middle of the water, boats for renting and a toboggan, that we enjoyed very much!

The water was freezing though; it took me like 30 minutes to enter in it, while around me people were easily jumping in the water like if it was the Caribbean sea… But once in it, it really felt good and invigorating. I'd love to have such a swim every morning! I would feel so good!