There had been a party on my floor the night before and we didn’t go to bed until about 5, so obviously, this was not going to be one of those “leave at the crack of dawn” trips. We got to the station at about 12, Jemma’s boyfriend arrived at 12.30 and then Peedee and I went to get tickets and food and wait for the train. We had chosen Zurich completely randomly because someone had suggested it. I bought a map book and we waited for the train. It was one of the long shiny white ones and we soon discovered that it tilts!! I thought it would probably be three or four hours to get there, so I was a bit surprised when it only took an hour and a half.
It was cold in Zurich and before we’d even found our way out of the station, we’d been gabbled at by a German-speaking woman looking for Media Markt. We got outside, went to the nearest bus stop, tried to figure out the machine and then gave up because they hadn’t finished building it. So, we walked along the station road to the next bus stop, then decided to walk down by the river. Peedee loved the rows of seagulls. At the next bus stop, we bought our day tickets, which involved much counting out of tens and twenties. Swiss coins all look exactly the same – they don’t have this different colour, different size, different shape thing like in England and it’s very annoying! We carried on walking down the river and then we saw lots of crowds and went to see what was going on. It was the end of the Zurich boat race, between Uni and Poly. I don’t know who won, but they were wearing blue

Next we went down a windy lane filled with expensive shops and emerged into the square in front of the Fraumunster.We went inside. They’re very proud of their stained glass windows, particularly the ones at the back (?) which were very modern, all flowing lines. I preferred the rainbow coloured traditional ones. After that, we got on a tram and headed back to the centre of town, where we found a Starbucks. Peedee got very excited; it was the first one she’d seen since she’d left America, so she had a coffee in there. We got on another tram and spent the next few hours seeing the outskirts of the city and watching it get darker and darker…

Finally, we got off the trams and buses and walked through town to an English pub called the Lady Hamilton, where they had the football on big screens, although no one seemed to be watching it. Peedee got fish and chips and accidentally ordered three beers. Afterwards, we went out in the dark again before getting the train back.