Samantha Brown's Places to Love

– Samantha: I'm in a destination known for being polished and precise, an international city with an eye for design that has quietly guided the world.

But this city on a lake holds surprises just below the surface, delivering experiences that upend its stiff reputation and invite everyone in.

Here, cable cars double as public transportation, the mountains rise from the city's backyard, and the chocolate just keeps getting better.

Oh, wow.

I'm in Zurich, Switzerland.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world, and I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my Places to Love.

– Samantha: Major funding of "Places to Love" provided by Oceania Cruises.

– Announcer: A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

– Announcer: Railbookers helps you discover the world by train.

From bucket list dreams to iconic scenic journeys, our Railbookers itinerary includes trains, hotels, sightseeing, transfers, and more.

Railbookers offers guests a seamless way to explore the globe on vacation.

– Announcer: Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel in the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

-Announcer: Ever wonder where your sense of wonder went?

Maybe it's winding its way along the banks of the Colorado River.

Or waiting in the shadows of giant canyons.

Or maybe it's revealed in all the moments in between.

Introducing Canyon Spirit, a rail experience between Denver, Moab, and Salt Lake City.

Canyon Spirit, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-So, Michael, the last time I was in Zurich was 20 years ago, and it was in the dead of winter.

-Yes.

– Samantha: And so this is all kind of new to me.

Even the atmosphere is new to me.

-I think our visitors and also locals, we love this time of the year in our city because you can swim in the city center.

There's a lake, there is a river there.

There are many fountains.

So water -- that's a big thing in our city.

-It feels like we're in the city center right now.

And on either side, we have what is considered Old Town.

– Michael: Yeah.

– Samantha: And how old is Old Town?

-The remainings of many buildings are going back to the 13th, 14th century.

But Zurich, you can say, is older than 2,000 years old.

So my name is Michael Bauer.

I work as a tour guide since almost 13 years.

We are very welcoming city, so everyone is welcome from all over the world.

And also people live here from all over the world.

So Zurich is a multicultural, open-minded city, and everyone is welcomed.

Yeah.

– Samantha: Most people just love to to walk around Old Town because it's just so beautiful.

But if you pay close attention to the buildings, they really reveal a fascinating history.

– Michael: And especially this part of the city, you can see several guild houses.

So Zunfthaus, for example, the blue one behind.

So the guilds, that is were the unions of craftsmen, and they had the power in Zurich for about 500 years.

And they had their guild houses where they met, and in the guild Waag, the Guild of Balance, you had the wool weavers, the linen weavers, the hat makers, and the bleachers.

So they all tried to be as close as possible to the city hall, which is the gray building over there.

That's why you have a lot of guild houses quite close to the city hall.

All the buildings over there -- the gray one, the white one, the next gray one.

So these are all guild houses.

-Are there still these guilds today?

– Michael: They still exist.

So they don't have any political power nowadays, but very important because of culture and history.

So it's one big event every year.

It's called Sechselauten.

-Sechselauten?

That sounds awesome.

-Yes, Sechselauten.

-[ Laughs ] -Michael: Because of the 6:00 ringing of the bells of the Grossmunster church.

– Samantha: Oh, okay.

– Michael: Then people celebrated that with festivities, I would say the biggest cultural event we have in Zurich, it's a crazy event.

It's nice, a lot of tradition, a lot of history.

And, yeah, that's Sechselauten, that's where we celebrate the guild.

-So they were celebrating the extending of the work day?

-Yes.

So here in Switzerland, we like to work.

-[ Laughs ] -It's just like winter, as long as they have daylight.

And in summer, 6:00.

-Whoo-hoo!

-One more hour to work!

-One more hour.

-To be productive.

-Yes.

-That is the most Swiss thing I've ever heard.

Most of the halls of the 26 guilds are still being used today.

Many of them have restaurants on the ground floor.

This guild house, though rebuilt after a fire, has been the Carpenters Guild since 1456.

It also has a one-stop visual aid to help you identify all the guilds.

I'm trying to guess what some of the guilds are by the signs.

And there's two fish, an anchor -- would that be Seaman?

– Michael: Yes.

There's not a sea here, so like a Lakeman?

-Fishermen, boatmen.

So, like, all the people who were responsible for the transportation.

Like on the lake, on the streets.

– Samantha: And a camel?

– Michael: The camel -- So these are like the small traders.

So the ones who were responsible for the markets, like the oil market or the poultry and vegetable markets.

– Samantha: Small traders, okay.

Once you recognize that these emblems represent guilds dating back to the 14th century, you can start to see them all over town, so wander slowly and allow Zurich's buildings to reveal their place in history.

Zurich is a wonderful walking city, but it is a large one, so you do need other ways to get around.

Public transportation in Zurich is, as expected, exceptional.

It's so easy to navigate.

There are trams and buses traversing the entire city, and it really is just like a joy ride.

I have the Zurich card which gives me unlimited access to public transportation, including trams, boats, and even cable cars.

I'm usually a walker.

I love to walk through cities, but when I'm in Zurich, I'm a tram rider.

And fortunately, if you don't know exactly where you're going, you'll always be pointed in the right direction at my next location.

I was wondering if we could go through some of the pictograms, and, like, flash cards and I could tell you what they are.

Okay.

Ferry.

Um, a mountain, a funicular.

– Christian: Funicular.

-Um... Oh, boy.

Okay.

Oh.

That would be a cargo train.

– Christian: Exactly.

-All right.

Yes!

Oh, I've got an umbrella.

I don't know how much the umbrella is-- -Shopping?

-No, no.

Lost and found.

-Oh, okay.

-My name is Christian Brandle.

I'm the director of the Zurich Museum of Design, Das Museum fur Gestaltung in Zurich.

Gestaltung does not really translate into other languages.

It's really the whole universe of everything, which is not art, but created by human beings.

-No one appreciates a solid sign clear more than a traveler.

And the designs that we're seeing right here have to be communicated, inferred by someone from the Philippines.

-Exactly.

-To someone who lives in Australia to Mexico.

-It's global language.

– Samantha: So this is an original collection of pictograms made here in Zurich?

-Exactly.

-What time?

What age?

– Christian: The first ones are from the late '60s.

But the large majority dates from 1972.

– Samantha: Wow.

– Christian: Yeah.

After the Second World War, you know, Europe was seeking for simplicity... -Unity.

-...and unity, and organizing, reorganizing the continent.

A graphic design that had these values like simplicity and order, this was like very easy to export to other countries.

Everything is super rational.

-Mm-hmm.

-A bit boring maybe, but therefore the value stays for decades.

This is the Swiss design collection that consists in total of around 580,000 objects.

-Whoa.

-Yes, we've been collecting since 1875.

– Samantha: But the objects aren't just displayed, they're combined.

-Look as an example, here it is ski boot.

– Samantha: Yeah.

-And this coffee machine.

Of course they are in a dialogue due to the size, due to the color, due to these metal elements.

But also technically, you know, to close the shoe, you bring this bracket to a certain place and it clicks.

And here with the capsule of an espresso, it's exactly the same, technically, the same approach.

So we are able to combine objects that have nothing to do with each other, but they start to talk to each other.

– Samantha: I'm a typeface enthusiast, and so I was most excited about this exhibition.

-There are like two worlds of typography.

One is typeface to read texts, and the other one is typefaces to create an album cover as an example.

-Sure like a title.

Something bold.

-A title, exactly.

– Samantha: I don't think there's a font that is synonymous with the country that it is from, more so than Helvetica.

– Christian: That's true.

Helvetica has been used by many companies.

Always the same font that really stands for legibility.

Stands for safety, at the end of the day.

So it's really a typeface that goes along with the values of Swiss design.

-Helvetica is is the name of Switzerland, right?

-And it dates from 1954.

Now imagine what kind of music we were listening in '54.

What kind of dresses we had.

– Samantha: Right, right.

– Christian: It's like if you have a stone falling into a river, and then it's in this river for millions of years, and at the end it arrives at the sea.

It's like a purified shape that I'm absolutely convinced it will be here in 10,000 years.

-It's perfection.

-It's perfection.

– Samantha: And speaking of perfection, Zurich is blessed with two major bodies of water that come pretty close.

The city sits on the north end of Lake Zurich, and once you pass under the Key Bridge, the lake becomes the equally beautiful Limmat River.

The city of Zurich grew up on this river, and it's safe to say that the locals really love it.

I'm actually on my way to a bathhouse.

Or at least it is part of the time.

-[ Band singing in global language ] -This is Barfussbar, and I'm joining my Swiss friend Michaela, who felt that this repurposed venue would be a perfect meetup.

This is such a unique scene for me to be in a bathhouse right here on the river.

On the other side is the river.

Are there many of these type of bathhouses?

-Yeah, there are a few, and most of them actually turn into a bar at night.

– Samantha: Okay.

-And what's special about this one, it's just for women.

-Oh!

-During the day, it's just for women.

So if you're a guy you cannot get in here.

You can only get in after 8 p.m.

when it's a bar.

-And it truly is a pool.

This isn't the river.

-Yeah, no, it's a pool.

The water is from the river.

– Samantha: Oh.

– Michaela: There's no chlorine in.

It's natural water.

-No.

-Yeah.

You could drink it, actually, it's so clean.

– Samantha: I'll stick to my wine.

Danka.

But the ducks do seem to be enjoying it.

The city is so known for its banking and its intensity of economic importance.

So you tend to think that maybe the people here just don't relax or let their hair down.

But they do.

And this is a part of that.

-Yeah, they do.

And also they do it, like, over lunchtime.

A lot of people just hop in the river when it's really hot.

-And then go back to work?

-Yeah.

-That's what I love about the Swiss.

You take time out to enjoy nature.

Because quite literally, they are surrounded by it.

Zurich even has its own local mountain and you can take public transportation to get to it.

Ha-ha!

We have seen the originals.

Oops.

The Felsenegg cable car whisks you up 2,600 feet to the top of the mountain in five minutes.

This trip is also included in the city's Zurich card.

Once on the mountain, there are a bunch of hikes you can take from very easy to strenuous.

And even though I didn't do the strenuous hike, I am rewarding myself as if I did with a big basket of French fries and a glass of ros, and overlooking Lake Zurich and the Alps in the distance.

I'm having a peak Swiss experience, as they would say.

Zum wohl.

In the heart of Zurich is Hiltl, a restaurant that rises over three dazzling stories.

On it's ground floor, there's a 100-dish buffet featuring specialties from around the world, and upstairs you'll find a lovely dining room with full service and beautiful views.

The modern style and menu hide the fact that this restaurant has been a pioneer, redefining gastronomy here for over 125 years.

-My name is Lna Hiltl.

I'm the fifth generation of the Hiltl Restaurant, which is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world.

-This started in 1898, which just boggles my mind because even 15 years ago, traveling it was hard for me to get a vegetarian meal.

I just wanted something healthy.

I'm still a meat eater, but I wanted something without it.

And the attitude even 15 years ago was like, "What?"

I can't even imagine over 120 years ago.

So what was the attitude of vegetarians?

-It was really, really hard.

Uh, they were struggling a lot back in the days.

– Samantha: Mm-hmm.

-So my great grandfather, he was actually German.

– Samantha: Mm-hmm.

-There it's very typical to drink a lot of beer, a lot of meat and sausage.

– Samantha: Mm-hmm.

-And he came to Zurich, and actually got sick.

So he went to a doctor and he told him, "Look, you're eating too much meat.

You're drinking too much alcohol."

So he went to this one vegetarian restaurant in Zurich.

The people who ate there didn't walk in the main entrance.

They walked around behind the back and came in the back door because people were making fun of them and calling them, "Oh, you're grass eaters.

You don't even eat meat," so they were ashamed.

And my great great grandfather got healed.

– Samantha: Mm-hmm.

-And fell in love with the head chef.

My great great grandmother.

-And the rest, they say, is history.

Ambrosius and Martha took over the restaurant in 1898, beginning five generations of Hiltls celebrating innovative vegetarian cuisine.

Their daughter Margaret, for example, was the official Swiss delegate to the World Vegetarian Conference in Delhi and was a champion of bringing Indian food to the menu.

-India was very traditional for their -- very famous for vegetarian food, so she brought back all the spices.

And her husband, my great grandfather Leonhard, actually was like, "No, this Indian spices will not touch my kitchen.

I don't want that."

-Oh!

-So she cooked every Indian food upstairs in her little kitchen and sneaked it down in the restaurant without my great grandfather knowing it.

– Samantha: This wouldn't be the last time there was a family split over the menu, like when Lana's dad wanted to serve alcohol after a hundred years of not.

-And his grandmother was so mad at him she didn't talk to him for three months.

-[ Laughs ] Things certainly have changed today, and Lna's customers have come to expect sumptuous vegetarian and vegan recipes that even diehard carnivores can swoon over.

-Lna: For my dad, it was always important that, of course, the vegetarians come here to eat, but as well important that the non-vegetarians just feel as good here as the vegetarians.

So it's important that the meat actually tastes like meat and also looks like it, and also the consistency of it.

– Samantha: And there's no better test than a cheeseburger with vegan bacon.

But if there's one dish that wins the hearts of the Swiss, it's this one.

Wow.

-Yeah.

This is the Geschnetzeltes, it's called.

It's the most famous dish, and most traditional dish since a really long time.

So usually it's hash browns with real mushroom cream sauce.

– Samantha: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Lna: And here we did it completely vegan.

– Samantha: Okay.

But I can't resist that burger.

And I'm happy to report both meat and grass eaters will be happy.

You don't want to anger the grass eaters.

-Yes, exactly.

You don't.

[ Laughter ] -Samantha: In a city known for big international commerce, there's also room for small local businesses too.

And several of them are based here in a facility called Werkstadt, which roughly translates as Factory City.

And that makes sense because creators design goods here, manufacture them, store them, and one of them is so innovative even the name is special.

-My name is Christian Kagi.

I'm one of the founders of Qwstion, a Swiss brand founded in 2008 with the purpose to rethink how things are designed, made, and used.

– Samantha: Take bags, for instance.

Everybody uses them.

But how about bags made out of bananas?

Well, the fiber to be exact.

– Christian: This is actually the raw fiber.

And there's two reasons that made it really special.

The fiber is very long, very strong.

-It's like doll's hair.

Really bad doll's hair.

-Could be mine, right?

-[ Laughter ] -Samantha: Using banana plants instead of plastic, the company is rethinking the entire stage of the bag's life, including the end.

– Christian: We call that a permaculture.

It's a natural ecosystem that regenerates itself.

What we're doing here is really showing what's possible to do in a city with a bunch of other companies trying to do things in a more sustainable way.

– Samantha: On the last Friday of every month, Werkstadt opens it's doors for a few hours to the public.

You can wander about, take a peek behind the scenes, sample and purchase some of the products manufactured here, like this line of natural skincare products.

And since we are in Switzerland, of course there's going to be chocolate.

But even here there's room for innovation.

That's incredible.

I mean, that must be really bold to start a brand new chocolate company in Switzerland.

So how did you improve upon what's already a very well known entity of your country?

-We wanted to focus on the cacao, on the farmers, on the farm, on the the -- like, what happens in your mouth.

It's kind of like wine and coffee.

-All right.

Wow.

Lots of fruit.

-Like, there's so much that you can have in your chocolate.

-Mm-hmm.

-And this one is quite different.

-Oh my goodness.

So different.

-A lot of acidity.

-Definitely.

And it almost has a -- sort of a tobacco taste as well.

There's a smokiness to it.

-Exactly.

-Whoa!

All steps of chocolate production, except the growing, are completed here in Werkstadt as it goes from bean to bar.

– Meret: We do everything in here, like, we have the shop, we have the production, the packaging.

-How does it feel to actually be from Zurich, creating a Zurich product?

-For me, it makes me quite proud.

You make something very precious and smooth, and it makes me proud that it's possible to be here in Zurich and to show it to everybody.

-Oh, wow.

Just like, you know -- It's your childhood right there, but better.

- Hey, man Hey, man I'm a Swiss guy Well, there may be things that you might believe I don't yodel and I don't own skis Forget about the chocolate and the fondue cheese I'm here to tell you you're a country masterpiece Yes, I'm a Swiss guy Ohh -Samantha: It's surprising enough to find a honky-tonk bar in the center of Zurich, but if you think that's unusual, wait till you see what's right behind the bar.

Welcome to the Yonex Badminton Hall.

And it really does combine badminton with a honky-tonk bar.

-I'm Philipp Kurz, I'm a co-owner of this place here, and we built that hall in 1997, and it was a former warehouse in an industrial area here in Zurich.

We developed this place with music and bar and sports.

So it's, like, comparable like in the '50s in the USA.

These bowling alleys, more or less the same concept.

– Samantha: Philipp created a badminton community where there was none in 28 years and now has 29,000 members.

And they can play.

-I've been playing badminton for 11 years now.

I saw it when I was nine, like, this tall.

-Yes.

-And I'm part of the Swiss national team.

-I've only ever played this sport in my backyard like an idiot.

Like, even on the beach.

So I'm up against someone who's on the Swiss national team.

Hello!

– Vera: You always have to serve from down.

– Samantha: Oh.

Round up.

Okay.

– Vera: Exactly.

– Philipp: It's a unique place.

And also we're open to everybody.

So you don't need to be a club member or something.

You can just come here and play.

– Samantha: I was holding my own until Vera taught me real technique.

-If I'm a right handed player, I always try to make the lunge with my right leg.

-Okay.

Ah.

[ Laughs ] Luckily, you can be bad at the sport, but still great at the bar.

Cheers.

Cheers.

And just to be clear, this is not a gimmick.

Philipp is more than a badminton enthusiast.

-We play just country music here without any compromise.

So all our customers, they have to live with that.

And we love it, so that's easy for us.

– Samantha: Is that what you love?

You do love country western music?

– Philipp: Yeah.

I was a big fan already as a child.

I was listening to Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash.

– Samantha: And of course, the homegrown heroes.

- Hey, man Hey, man Yes, I'm a Swiss guy Play the guitar, Dave.

– Christian: Well, Zurich is a wonderful city to travel to, but also to live because it has a very small scale.

It's a small town, but it offers a lot of culture, a lot of nature and profit from the gastronomic scene that really is brilliant.

- Forget about the chocolate and the fondue cheese -Michael: What I like about Zurich is you have the city center with many attractions, but it's also very easy to reach the mountains, the lakes, to go skiing, to go hiking, everything by public transportation.

And as we are in Switzerland, everything is on time.

So if you have to wait two or three minutes, you already get nervous.

- Yes I'm a Swiss guy Ohh, yes, I'm a Swiss guy -There's actually so many things that you can do that are amazing, especially also the river, the lake, or even, yeah, the nightlife, the bars.

We have really nice ones, there are always fun activities to do.

- Hey man -Samantha: When a city reveals its centuries old tradition and world-shaping design, when it surprises are found alongside a river and up on a mountain, when you discover precision has a playful side, that is when we share a love of travel.

-All right!

Yeah!

– Samantha: And that's why Zurich, Switzerland is a Place To Love.

– Samantha: For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

– Samantha: Major funding of "Places to Love" provided by Oceania Cruises.

– Announcer: A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruises small ship experience.

– Announcer: Railbookers helps you discover the world by train.

From bucket list dreams to iconic scenic journeys, a Railbookers itinerary includes trains, hotels, sightseeing, transfers, and more.

Railbookers offers guests a seamless way to explore the globe on vacation.

– Announcer: Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy.

We've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

-Announcer: Ever wonder where your sense of wonder went?

Maybe it's winding its way along the banks of the Colorado River.

Or waiting in the shadows of giant canyons.

Or maybe it's revealed in all the moments in between.

Introducing Canyon Spirit, a rail experience between Denver, Moab, and Salt Lake City.

Canyon spirit, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."