I began my Saturday with a trip to the downtown shopping area. I got off the tram at Rennweg, and joined the throngs of shoppers (stores are closed on Sundays, so Saturdays are one's only chance to buy things on the weekends).
I bought a pair of shorts from H&M for only 25 Swiss francs, which was a steal because everything in Zurich costs about four times as much. I couldn't help noticing a particular busy store, and wandered closer to see what the fuss was about. As I closed in, I understood the enthusiasm: it was a chocolate shop! Back home, I say that I don't like chocolate -- Hershey's and its ilk taste like flavorless wax to me. But Swiss chocolate is a totally different story. I selected eight bonbons from the beautiful spread up front, and also one of each of their caramels. By the time I was able to take this picture, I had already eaten several of my delicious buys:
I then went to dinner with my co-worker Josh, who was visiting from our Atlanta office. He got the weinersnitchel, which was cooked perfectly (I know because he let me taste a little bit):
I got a plate of "lean" sausages, a name I find totally ironic because meat sticks are inherently unlean! And yes, that's orange juice in my beer mug.
Because we hadn't made a reservation, we were given a table that we had to vacate at 8 p.m. This dinner was the first rushed meal I had in Europe: they love to take their time, to eat slowly while enjoying good conversation, fragrant coffees and delicious desserts. We basically had to scarf down our food, which was easy because it tasted soooo good.
I then clamored for gelato, so we went to the Old Town to get me a cup (pineapple, passion fruit and mango). Unfortunately for my pancreas, we passed by that brunch place, which was open. I just had to show Josh their gorgeous confections...and once we saw the rows of seductively beautiful pastries, we had to get something. This dark truffle cake had a ribbon of meltingly decadent caramel running through its center, and super-sour red berries as counterpoints. It was divine!
Thank goodness we had already planned to go dancing with Angela at a hip hop club that night (review: the music was mediocre and the Swiss, bless their hearts, are not great at dancing to hip hop). Four hours of dancing later, I was convinced that I had staved off Type 2 diabetes for one more day!
