How ironic that I, whose
profession is travel, won a raffle for which the prize was a river cruise. Riverboats were on my wish list but not in
first place; and the itinerary wasn’t my first choice for when I would go on a
riverboat. With all that honesty
revealed, my wish list has been reshuffled!
So, let me tell you why…
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After
checking into the Hotel Continental Zurich (member of the Sofitel group), we
took advantage of our luxurious accommodations and enjoyed a brief rest after
which the quite knowledgeable concierge sent us on our way with maps and
instructions to take in as many sights as possible during our brief visit.
DADA,
chocolate, cheese, watches and Helvetica typeface…what do they have in
common? They are Swiss exports. Switzerland’s neutrality in the first World
War made Zurich a popular refuge for artists, and one result of this was the
creation in 1916 of the anarchic DADA movement.
The movement went on to conquer the world influencing artists and
intellectuals in countries as far away as the USA and Japan.
Helvetica typeface was designed
by Max Miedinger. From the feather of
Adrian Frutiger came Univers, Frutiger, OCRB and Avenir—the font for Apple
products. Bruno Maag designed fonts for
Swiss Broadcasting Corp and the Ubunto font family for the open source software
Ubuntu. What would we do without some
Swiss cheese with corned beef on rye bread?
Chocolate — Lindt can’t be beat!
Day two began with a light rain
so we enjoyed a leisurely buffet breakfast—compliments of the Hotel
Continental. Prepared by a creative
culinary staff it ran the gamut from freshly squeezed juice to coffee (made to order)
and every item in between. Still trying
to master the art of “stopping-just before-I’ve-had-enough”; grateful that
there were no scales on the premises. 
Umbrellas in hand, we strolled to
Old Town along the Limmat River which splits the city into two halves. With so many museums and points of interest
each visitor would have to select the sights according to personal preference
and interest. At Spiegelgasse 1 we
visited the Cabaret Voltaire where the DADA movement began. Nowadays, it also houses a museum, café and
shop.
Serendipity reigned. While walking through Old Town I spotted one
of my favorite shops frequented during my European travels—DeSigual. I felt fortunate that there was a big SALE
sign in the window so I had no trouble spending some of my Swiss francs. Very difficult to pass up this
opportunity.
We had a recommendation for
dinner at The Blue Monkey--a fun name for a Thai restaurant—which lived up to
its reputation. Leisurely walking back
to the hotel, we discovered a Gelatto hangout with more flavors than I could
count on both hands. Well…I am on
vacation, so why not indulge.
The next day we boarded the
Scenic Opal, and I anticipated what was to be on my first experience aboard a
luxurious riverboat on the Rhine River with a companion I love…my son,
Gregory. I hope you’ll return to our
blog in a few days as we sail from Basel to Amsterdam.
800.248.8404 ~ www.reidtravel.com ~ mail@reidtravel.com
