YOUR NEXT DESTINATION / January
YOUR NEXT DESTINATION / January
Words by Zane Nikodemusa
Publicity photos, by Zane Nikodemusa and Zürich Tourism
Illustration by Agnese Tauriņa
ZURICH.
MORE THAN
A PRETTY FACE
‘In the Swiss German dialect spoken in Zurich,
many words are used in the diminutive form. But
residents of Zurich would never use this form for
the words “money” and “mountains”. That’s an
absolute “don’t” here,’ says Katja Weber as we enjoy
a dinner of steaming fondue together. A native
German, Weber moved to Switzerland 13 years ago
and is currently one of the most visible personalities
developing Zurich’s urban environment. Together
with a team of like-minded people and business
partners, she has helped both locals and tourists
become acquainted with a completely new side of
this wealthy city.
I confess that, up until now, my preconceptions of
Zurich also revolved only around precise, expensive
watches and especially delicious chocolate. I visited
the city for one day about ten years ago as I passed
through on my way to a ski holiday at Switzerland’s
legendary Adelboden-Lenk ski resort. What I
remember is lots of sun, endless expanses of snowy
peaks, intense sunburn, good food, and an all-
around feeling of peacefulness.
And it’s this all-around feeling of peacefulness that
surprises me in Zurich this time as well. Although
I’m surrounded by people in business-like overcoats,
financial transactions worth millions taking place
left and right, the city has the aura of a charming
little town. On the trams, which run perfectly on
time, I see the new, suit-clad talent at a banking
or insurance firm reading the newspaper in the
same relaxed manner as the elderly pensioner in
a short-brimmed felt hat sitting next to him. In
the afternoons, the cafés, which smell invitingly
of chocolate and coffee, attract aristocratically
elegant ladies as well as hipster students, of whom
there is no lack in Zurich. It seems that it is exactly
the locals’ respectful unhurriedness and love of
order and precision that make Zurich’s version of a
meditative atmosphere much more understandable
and familiar to Westerners than, for example, the
ashrams of the East.
Every year, Zurich is named among the
most beautiful and most livable cities in the
world. Here Baltic Outlook presents its
own explanation of this phenomenon.
50
/ airBaltic.com
Baltic Outlook
/ 2019 / 51