BEST PLACES IN ZURICH

Over the coffee in Julie's House my good Swiss friend who spent in Zürich whole her life gave me a list of the truly best places and MUST see in this city. Hopefully I will have a chance to visit them all and meanwhile I am sharing her tips with you.

• ''Cupcake affair'' Zürich. Try out the ''Merlin Monroe'' - really awesome!
• Check out Niederdorf, very cute nice little shops and restaurants.
• Sprüngli (there is one in the HB too but they are everywhere). You MUST totally try the ''Luxemburgerli'', buy them in the morning and eat them right away, because unfortunately they get bad quickly. 
• Check out the ''Hiltl'' and ''Tibits'' for some nice vegetarian food.
• Go to the ''Outback Lodge'' to eat some awesome chicken wings & down under fries.
• Have a posh hot chocolate at the ''Schober'' or a nice soup in the ''Schoffel'' - less fancy.
• To buy cheap: Migros or Coop which are the Swiss supermarkets; Migros doesn't sell alcohol though.
• Nightlife. I am not an expert in that. but try ''Supermarket'', ''Gonzo'' and everything in the ''Kreis 4'' is said to be nice.
• ''Dini Mueter'' is a nice bar, Kaufleuten isn't the cheapest but they have a really nice cocktail terrace.
• ''Dolder Grand'' is the most expensive coffee in Zürich (it is one of the most - if not THE - most exclusive addresses in Switzerland..try to let yourself be invited to ''The Restaurant'' **Michelin; the ''Dolder Waldhaus'' is also very nice.   
• My brother used to work in ''Trichterhauser Mühle'' which is also nice. The restaurant on the top of the Uetliberg ''Top of Zürich'' is also nice.
• But the best place is in Geneva anyway, Go to Christophe Berger and be amazed! It will change your whole life! (or chocolate perception...).

I hope I spelled names of the places correctly. If not, please tell me about it in the comments below, so I can correct the post! Here are photos of original writing of my friend as I really enjoyed how neatly she wrote it down for me.

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BELGIUM RAIL

The two tickets that are very convenient to use if you travel in Belgium are Go Pass and Weekend Pass. I usually buy Go Pass for 10 trips and use it when I travel long distance and on weekends I just buy Weekend Pass as it is cheaper (50% reduction comparing to standard ticket). You can check trains timetable and buy tickets online at Belgium rail official website http://www.belgianrail.be.

GO PASS 10

Go Pass 10 costs € 51 for 10 trips if you are under 26 and € 75 if you are older. It will valid for a year to any destination in Belgium and you can share one ticket together with your friends. Prior to train boarding you just need to write on your Go Pass day and date of your trip, from where are you going and your destination. Go Pass can be used to go to the airport but you would also need to buy additional fee  € 5.07 called ''Diabolo surcharge''.      

WEEKEND TICKET

Weekend Ticket is the return travel ticket. As I wrote it saves you half price and can be used on Friday after 19:01, Saturday and Sunday. For example, return trip from Aalst to Gent with weekend ticket cost me € 6.

HOW TO GET FROM GENT TO CHARLEROI AIRPORT

In Belgium, Ryanair fly from/to Charleroi Airport. To reach the airport from Gent you will need to take a train to Charleroi-Sud station (with one change in Brussels Midi station) and then the bus to the airport. The bus is direct.  It is called ''bus A'' and it takes 20 minutes to reach the airport from Charleroi-Sud station. There is train ticket which includes the bus transfer. If you use train pass, you can buy separate bus ticket directly on the bus.
It is cheap and convenient to travel with Ryanair from Belgium. Once I bought return ticket Brussels-Budapest for 12 euros! When you buy early 6 am plane ticket keep in mind that there can be no tram early morning to take you to Gent-Sint-Pieters station and in that case you would need to spend a night in the airport or take a twenty-euro taxi, so better purchase an afternoon flight. 

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JULIE'S HOUSE GENT

Overview: Julie's House is a little and cosy coffee-cupcake cafe in the very centre of Gent. They have quite a big selection of delicious desserts and tasty breakfasts. Be prepared that the place is really popular! It is used to be a hidden gem, but now it is discovered by tourists and students.

Last Sunday the weather in Belgium was perfect! After spending a wonderful day on a lake in Gent with my friends we were really ready for some coffee with cupcakes. So I decided to show my favourite coffee place of Gent to my friends and was really surprised that they never heard of it before! So if you are like my friends have not discovered pure delight of cappuccino accompanied with white chocolate cake or blueberry cupcake - keep reading this review!   

We arrived around 4 pm and were lucky to find a free table because the place is pretty small. The place is really nicely decorated and has relaxing atmosphere with quite music. My favourite dessert of this place was white chocolate cake, it is really tasty, though I am searching for an alternative to it as it is really sweet. This day I decided to treat myself with latte  chocolate coffee - it was delicious. My friends ordered cheesecake and carrot cake. They were quite happy with the choice except that the carrot cake was too sweet. It is a pity that they couldn't have my favourite cupcakes as they were sold out as a lot of other cakes. Nevertheless, we had a great time and I will continue coming to the place with my friends and recommend you to try it out if you have not been there yet.

Address: Kraanlei 13, 9000 Gent, Belgium - near the river.
They are open on Sundays 09:00 - 18:30, but on Monday and Tuesday the place is closed! 

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