Euro Trip 2008 - Zurich

November 13th marked the beginning of Euro Trip 2008, with the arrival of my two girlfriends from college, Joanna (aka “Jo”) and Lisa (aka “Neff”). We had two weeks ahead of us, with only a general idea as to what we were going to do: Cinque Terre, Rome, Paris, and Poland, with a few nights in Zurich to start.

To overcome their jet lag, I took the girls directly to the Zurich Wine Boats, a two-week long event with 12 ferries harbored in the city port and wine tasting from over 200 wineries throughout Europe. The wine, followed by a final round of drinks at the Outback and a late night stop at McDonalds’s ensured them a full night’s sleep.

The following day was spent showing the girls around town, including the standard 3 hour tour of Zurich, bratwurst at Sternen Grill, Kebabs at Imbiss, and of course, fondue dinner. Now, I have always been told that the only way to eat fondue is with shots of Kirsch (a cherry liquor). However, given that I really don’t like kirsch, and the idea of mixing it with a block of cheese sounded even more disgusting then the actual amount of cheese consumed, I was hesitant (almost reluctant) to try. But somehow (maybe it was after the first round was bought by Anna who had dropped her bread in the fondue after saying each dropped piece of bread meant a round of shots) it seemed the appropriate time to give it a shot, literally. And after 5 pieces of bread were lost in the cheese, followed by 5 rounds of shots, I suddenly became a believer in the concept.

To prove the power of Kirsch, I normally have nothing in mind after a night of fondue but elastic-waist pants and my couch. However, that night we were able to go out dancing until 2am with more rounds of drinks and numerous song requests, all the while sweating out the smell of cheese and kirsch. In my eyes, Jo and Neff got the perfect “Swiss” experience.