Zurich is the most ridiculous place in the world...so far....

So, we made our way to Zurich at the ungodly hour of 430 am from Munich, a five hour ride that was actually quite pleasant. The Swiss and German countryside is very scenic and the second class seats were quite good in my opinion. As we made our way through the Zurich haupbahnhoff the first thing we were looking for was a place to stay. We had done some initial research that suggested we would be paying anywhere from 40-60 francs a night(blarg!) for dorm room accommodations. We managed to find a relatively inexpensive one for 34 francs/night so we were happy about that. After lugging all our stuff, my bags being significantly heavier due to a large knife roll and kitchen uniforms, we decided to walk around and get something to eat.

Wow. Have you ever felt that you've over paid for say, a roast beef sandwich at starbucks or some other place where you bought food because it was convenient? My suggestion? Never go to Zurich. We went by about 2 dozen restaurants that seemed good, but charged a fortune. Appetizers were 18+ francs, Mains 25+ francs, and I didnt even want to look at the cost for dessert. We walked around for a good half hour before we settled on a place that didnt even look that good, but it had a nice view of the main strip. I'd like to think that so far on this trip we've managed to find some really good places to eat and drink and shop for reasonable prices. This was not one of them. For 25.50 francs, my main course included a lame side salad with the swiss equivalent to ranch dressing, a well-done roast beef with a horseraddish butter, and boiled potatoes and vegetables. Sounds good right? I'm not sure if I've every recieved a meal and been more dissapointed. Unfortunately for me, I was hungry and for 25.50 I wasnt going to waste any of it.

Suffice it to say, I was not a happy camper after this experience and we decided that from now on, we are going to by groceries. There is a kitchen in the hostel that we are allowed to use, and we can at least afford to buy food from the super market. If things go well, I won't be completely broke when I leave Switzerland.