My sister told me Switzerland is like the South Island in NZ, but more expensive. She is not wrong. I was blown away by the prices. I didn’t even bother to look at the bubble tea prices, God knows how much francs it would’ve been! We arrived at the Zurich train station early in the morning and roamed the streets nearby. We brought some chocolates from a fancy place to try, which were ok. We went outside mostly to get water from the grocery store, but every bottle we brought was sparkling. I also brought a soft pretzel from Sainsbury’s. It was really salty.

Lindt Chocolate Factory

From the central train station, we went to the Lindt Chocolate Factory. Luckily, they had storage for bags there. An audiovisual tour was included with our tickets, which I found really interesting. It took us through the history of chocolate, the cultivation of cocoa beans, the factory’s history, and the marketing and popularisation of chocolate. They have a giant chocolate fountain at the entrance. I learned many interesting facts, such as Toblerone, Lindt, and Nestlé started in Switzerland. We tried some of the chocolate, which tasted terrific, especially the dark chocolate. It also tasted fresher than the ones we have at home. At the end of the tour, we went to the Lindt Café and got hot chocolates. I had the signature hot chocolate while my sister had the normal one. The normal one was good, but the signature hot chocolate was too milky for my liking.

The Lake and River

After the visit to the chocolate factory, we went to take pictures by the lake. We joked that Lake Zurich by the factory reminded us of the lagoon in Porirua by Titahi Bay. Then, back to the Zurich train station, we took more photos at the bridges over the Limmat River.

Summary

After the photos were taken, we went to the gift shop at the Zurich National Museum because we had no time to properly visit it. It did seem cool, and it would be interesting to have seen what history they chose to highlight. Then I had sandwiches from the supermarket for dinner and were on our way back to Italy. It was scenic, and I constantly had to stop reading my book to look outside. But that brings the European leg of my travels to a close.