Zurich, Switzerland & Vaduz, Liechtenstein

My solo trip to Switzerland was spontaneous but Liechtenstein was truly an unplanned jewel…

I definitely landed in the correct country! The flags had no trouble reminding me along my walk. I decided to come to Zurich to visit my friend doing her masters at the same university as Einstein! Zurich was much smaller than I expected but packed a lot of character into its architecture and food.

My first stop of the trip was to a bagel place because I have had a withdrawal for the last couple of months. These were incredible and the dough was soft and flavorful.

The Fraumünster church sits in the center of old Zurich. It was founded in the mid-800s and includes a convent.

I found this spot on the ledge of the Rathausbrücke bridge to eat lunch. I was pleasantly presented with a marching band show that appeared to celebrate the beginning of spring. The fog was minimal, so I could see the mountains in the distance.

The aforementioned salmon bagel!

The view from the top of the University of Zurich hill.

The University of Zurich

The memorialized locker of Einstein, who studied physics and mathematics here in 1890s and later taught for more years.

The train station in Zurich.

From the train window on the 1.5 hour journey to the Switzerland-Liechtenstein border, Sargans.

This yellow blanketed field passed us like lightning on the train, but I managed to snap a quick picture.

I found the same flowers in Vaduz, here is a close up of what covered the field!

Once in Liechtenstein, I felt I was still in Zurich, except with a lot less people. It was a Sunday, so nothing much was happening.

I did a short but drastically uphill hike to see the Prince of Liechtenstein’s castle.

The castle was under construction, but was still beautiful to see. No one is allowed to go inside since it is still used as residence for the royal family. This country is known as the most powerful true hereditary monarchy left in Europe.

I walked back into town and had a couple hours until my train back, so I went on a mission to find some cows.

I walked all the way to Alte Rheinbrücke which is a no-car bridge over the Rhine River, connecting Sevelen, Switzerland to Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

View of the Alte Rheinbrücke and Rhine River from the Liechtenstein side.

The Rhine River. Although this Principality was formed in 1719 under the Holy Roman Empire, Liechtenstein gained sovereignty by joining Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. After the destruction of WWI, Liechtenstein switched to rely and deal more with Switzerland than Austria.

Back in Zurich there was the beginning of the Spring festival, including a parade.

Candy booths and food stands lined the streets during the celebrations.

Zurich is the most expensive city in Europe, and this was evident with the luxurious cars lining the streets.

I grabbed a matcha (mainly because there are no good places in Logroño)! This one had fresh crushed raspberries underneath.

I finally got a chance to meet up with my college friend for some fondue. We had one regular, and one mushroom. The sides were vegetables and bread. It was so delicious, but not as delicious as the Swiss chocolate.

We walked up to Lindenhof Hill, a popular lookout point to see the whole of Zurich.

To our surprise, there was a Swiss-German electronic music festival occuring, also to celebrate the start of spring!

Near the Zurich Lake, there was a man playing music, people listening and drinking, and families of swans swimming through the sound.

I didn’t eat this, but I loved the name!

Views of Lake Zurich. I would love to come back sometime in the summer one day and swim here.

And maybe also take a trip to the saunas!