ASHISH VIRMANI spends a day in the Swiss city and comes back dreaming of a nest egg

Zurich is perfect in late February-March, sun dappled and a city eminently worth walking through. If you start off at around the Bahnstroffe, the central shopping district of the city and move towards Lake Zurich, you will encounter luminous shop windows and fair-skinned people.

Having said that, for the most part Zurich is eminently understated. With its restrained architecture, muted colours and shimmer of gentility that hovers in the air — what Zurich seems to be saying to the visitor is "There's more to me than what meets the eye".

Out and About

We went boating on Lake Zurich and the boat skirted the periphery of the entire lake, which is a massive circumference. In the ride that lasted an hour-and-a-half, we saw quaint Swiss cottages along the banks of the lake come into view and as did cyclists pedalling along the banks energetically. Later in the evening we visited Kaufleuten — the hip and trendy nightclub, which happens to be Madonna's watering hole when she is in the city. We started with the bar and then moved onto dinner, which was a multi-course Swiss meal that lasted two-and-a-half hours. The raclette dripped with cheese while the rosti was done specially for us, as were a couple of thoughtfully done vegetarian dishes for visitors from India. By the time we were done, we were too sleepy with the jet lag and ready to hit our pillows.

Shopping

If you're in Zurich then it's worth walking down the golden mile of shopping —the Bahnhofstrasse. It's the city's central shopping district, a place where the goodies are concentrated within one square kilometre with designer boutiques and flagship stores from the world over. Apocryphal tales of business wives who spent 250,000 Euro on a pair of designer shoes here surface from our Swiss guide who's taking us through and we are suitably impressed. We also enjoyed window shopping. We stayed in Zurich for 24 hours before catching the Eurorail to the Alps where the snow awaited us.

Yet, our time was well-spent and in keeping with the crammed lifestyle that would do any American proud. Here's saying cheers to the next trip down the Bahnofstrasse — hopefully with a nest egg to support us.

Ashish Virmani/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication