Europe 2026-Day 1

Day 1 Zurich

Day 1: Zurich Didn't Let Me Sleep — And I'm So Glad

37 Days Across Europe | A 55+ Bucket List Journey

I've been awake for somewhere close to 20 hours. My back has opinions about economy seating. My internal clock has completely given up and filed for early retirement.

And yet — here I am, sitting at the end of Day 1, looking at photos on my camera and genuinely unable to stop smiling.

Zurich, you absolute charmer.

The Arrival

After 13 hours in the air and the quietly efficient miracle that is Zurich Airport, I found myself on a train to the city feeling that particular cocktail of exhaustion and electricity that only travel produces. Everything felt crisp and precise — the Swiss really do run things beautifully.

My plan had been simple: check in, rest, maybe a short walk. Zurich had other ideas.

The City Finds You

I barely made it a block before the old town swallowed me whole. Cobblestone streets that have been worn smooth by centuries of footsteps. Buildings painted in soft pinks and yellows with medieval murals climbing their facades. A woman in a striped top stopped to photograph a gallery poster — and I stopped to photograph her, because that's exactly the kind of spontaneous curiosity that travel unlocks.

Then, out of nowhere, a tram appeared. Not just any tram. The Märlitram — Zurich's famous fairy tale tram — rolled past in a blaze of green and red and flowers and lights, the word ZÜRI blazing from its front like a welcome sign meant just for me. I stood on the pavement laughing. Jet lag? What jet lag?

The Fraumünster

If you only see one thing in Zurich, stand on the east bank of the Limmat River and look west toward the Fraumünster. That teal spire, those gold clock faces, the stone arch bridge — it is one of those views that makes you feel quietly grateful to be alive and moving through the world.

I photographed it twice. Once through ornate iron railings — the kind of framing that a place like Zurich simply offers you, if you slow down enough to look. And again at twilight, through pine branches, as the sky turned that particular shade of blue that only happens in the hour before dark.

The Lake at Sunset

I made my way down to the lakefront as the sun was dropping. Two people sat silhouetted on a dock, doing nothing but watching the water go golden. The buildings across Lake Zurich — grand, baroque, confident — glowed orange. I stood there longer than I meant to.

This is the thing about travel at this stage of life. You stop rushing past the moments. You let them land.

Day 1 Verdict

Zurich is extraordinary. Clean, walkable, layered with history and art and an almost

absurd level of beauty around every corner. It is a city that rewards the slow wanderer — and at 55+, I have finally learned to be one.

Tomorrow brings more of Switzerland. But tonight, Zurich has set the bar impossibly high.

37 days to go. Follow along — it only gets better from here.

📍 Zurich, Switzerland | Day 1 of 37 Next stop: More of Switzerland 🇨🇭