Switzerland.
Now, there isn’t much I can say about a country or city that I visited for less than 24 hours.
You would think.
But surprisingly, there was a lot I observed from the beautiful country and people of Switzerland. I can’t exactly explain the why or the how of it, but I can explain what I saw.
And what I saw was strange, beautiful, expensive, clean, chaotic, and somehow peaceful all at once.
Before anything, though, I need to say this: Swiss Airlines was perhaps the best, most peaceful flight I have ever had, and potentially ever will have.
The flight was practically empty. There were only three people flying, two of whom were myself and Brendan.
As we flew over the Alps, I would occasionally bring my legs up over the nearby seats and cross them like some kind of discount prince.
Hell, I even gave the seatbelt beside me purpose by having it straddle my water bottle.
The flight attendants were amazing too. They gifted Brendan and me two giant Swiss chocolate bars, along with some free cocktails, probably because we were basically their only company on that flight.
Apparently, they were fans of Canada too, which made us feel lucky to be from the North, to be honest.
Brendan chose gin, which I would have normally matched, but luxury meant adventure.
So I chose to try a Negroni.
Not great.
It tasted like effervescent toothpaste. Like Jägermeister for adults. Like a drink invented by cough syrup’s biggest fan.
Still, free is free, and I was on an almost empty flight over the Alps with Swiss chocolate in my hand.
Life was not exactly punishing me.
Landing in Zurich
After tearful goodbyes to our adoptive guardians for those three hours, we headed out into the streets of Zurich.
We had gotten lucky with a nine-to-ten-hour layover starting around 10 p.m.
Most people would probably look at that and think, “That’s inconvenient.”
We looked at it and thought, “Perfect. A bonus country.”
While munching on some chocolate, we found our way to the subway, which took us directly into the city.
And man, it felt…
Like a subway.
I don’t know what I expected. Maybe because it was Switzerland, I thought the subway would levitate or quietly give me a massage. But no. It was a subway.
Efficient, clean, normal.
Once we got into the city, we walked around the streets.
It was beautifully cool outside, and in some ways, it felt like we were almost back home.
With one major difference.
The streets were so clean.
Like suspiciously clean.
Like the city had been pressure-washed by generations of people.
We couldn’t see the Alps clearly at that point because it was dark, but we could faintly make out the silhouette of them behind the townscape. We didn’t see many skyscrapers either, but the lights lit up
silhouette of them behind the townscape. We didn’t see many skyscrapers either, but the lights lit up the city on the other side of the river or lake we were standing by.
Zurich at night felt calm at first.
Quiet.
Cold.
Organized.
Almost too clean.
And then we made our way toward the main city area around midnight.
That’s when Switzerland took off the cardigan and started blasting music.
Zurich After Midnight
By the time we reached the main city area, it had turned into a bustling party scene.
The people of Zurich — while tall, very tall — were amazingly vibrant.
They knew how to party.
And to this day, that night remains memorably fantastical.
There were characters all across the packed streets, drinking bottles of alcohol, smoking joints of all shapes and sizes, laughing, yelling, walking, dancing, and existing like the city had decided to become a festival.
There were ladies and men of the night (Prostitutes). There were people with scars and lipstick interchangeably on their faces. Broken teeth. Gorgeous model-looking people. Groups of friends. Solo wanderers. People dressed like money. People dressed like .. Well the opposite..
Every flavour of person was there. And it was freeing, it was fun.
And clubs, like any other city, were alive too.
We went ahead and purchased some bottles of beer, vodka, and joints, because while in Rome, we roam.
Or in this case, while in Zurich, we financially injure ourselves but pretend it’s cultural exploration.
When the City Becomes a Movie
Quick lesson: if a place already seems fantastical without alcohol or drugs, once you add alcohol and drugs, it quickly becomes either a loony fantastical comedy movie or a horror movie.
For us, thankfully, it was the former.
Zurich became this clean, strange, expensive carnival.
The kind of place where you could look one way and see a group of elegant people laughing outside a club, then look the other way and see someone who looked like they had just escaped a crack den.
It was beautiful. It was absurd. It was alive.
We partied for a few hours and then decided to replenish with some water.
Which, it turns out, cost five francs.
That’s around nine Canadian dollars.
For water.
Insane.
But hey, we needed it.
Plus, water wasn’t exactly readily available like the joints were. We really had to hunt for H2O that night.
That might be the most Zurich thing I can imagine: weed was easier to find than affordable hydration.
Hangover Specials
We finally closed out the night and cured our never-ending cottonmouth with McDonald’s and some Berlin-style döner.
Basically, the hangover specials.
There is something deeply universal about late-night food after drinking in a foreign city.
It doesn’t matter where you are. At some point, every traveller becomes the same person: tired, dehydrated, hungry, slightly confused, and biologically dependent on fast food.
McDonald’s abroad always feels funny too, because it’s both familiar and not familiar. You recognize the colours, the menu structure, the smell, the regret.
But it still feels different enough that you can convince yourself you’re doing research. And man, I have done some research.
done some research.
The Cleanest Chaos
One amazing sight from that night was watching the city trucks come by and clean up the trashed streets of Zurich.
Within hours, they made everything spotless again.
It seemed almost dystopian how efficient they were.
The same streets that had been packed with drinking, smoking, noise, garbage, characters, and chaos were suddenly restored to order like none of it had happened.
It was like the city had a party setting and a default setting.
And by morning, someone had simply switched it back.
That was probably the most Swiss thing I saw during the entire layover.
Not the chocolate.
Not the Alps.
Not the clean subway.
The cleanup.
The ability to absorb a night of madness and then erase all evidence before sunrise.
Beautiful, impressive, and mildly terrifying.
Leaving Switzerland
Eventually, we headed back to the airport, right in time to see the mountains along the horizon.
The Alps were finally visible.
After a whole night of walking through Zurich’s strange, homely, chaotic nightlife, there they were in the distance, quiet and massive.
Almost like a foreshadowing.
Mountains I would no doubt see again one day.
Switzerland was not a full trip.
It was barely a stop.
But somehow, in less than 24 hours, it gave us an almost empty luxury flight, free chocolate, a terrible Negroni, clean streets, midnight chaos, nine-dollar water, late-night döner, and a sunrise framed by the Alps.
Not bad for a layover.