Sundays...

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
Good evening!

We (hubby and I) were talking a lot about it, and we really want to understand the concept of the sundays here.

Ok, we know that, everything is closed and it is a quiet day. But it is so strange for us to see so many restaurants closed on sundays. We can understand for the shops but the restaurants is something strange!

We love to go for brunch on Sunday morning, we saw today some places where they are offering it. But they are rare according to one of the manager who told us it is not a cultural thing for the Swiss to have breakfast.

We like to take that day to visit around but it is very limited when you have a little hard time to find something open...

So here is my question, what do you do on sundays?

Thanks for you help,

Nil

2
We do a number of different things.

Relax.

Go for walks.

Bike ride.

Go swimming.

Visit friends.

Go to the playgrounds with the kids.

Go to museums.

Visit the zoo (zurich zoo is fantastic).

Strawberry picking.

Visit the mountains (so beautiful)

ski-ing

water ski-ng

watching a good film at the cinema (when it is bad weather).

It all depends what the weather is like, if you have children (i loved the zoo even before we had kiddies ), and what you like to do. If you give me more information then i can help you more

3
I went rock climbing last Sunday and did a via ferrata this Sunday. Sunday before that I got lost trying to find a crag for bouldering but was rewarded on the walk back with a view of a weird apparently swiss game of some sort of paddle ball put shot or something. Sunday before that took train to Milano and the one before that (might have been Saturday, don't remember) I stayed at home because I was hooked reading a suspense novel.

There's a lot of stuff to do on Sundays that doesn't involve buying things.

4
I have to admit, it was wierd for me too but the Swiss do it for the right reasons. I cant get used to how everything closes over lunch .

Here, we dont have a zoo or cinema or museums unfortunately but we go for a lot of walks&talks, we take a train ride to anywere, we go paddle boating. The best is the flyfishing.

good luck!

5
Thanks to share with me...

Honestly, in Istanbul, we had so much stuff to do on sundays. Yes the shopping center are open until 22h on sundays, but we didn't go there that often actually, only in very bad days.

We were so busy, going to brunch, walking on the sea side, having a tea on the Bosphorus side, visiting museums, palaces, bazars, Mosques, etc. The amount of terrace available is so big, and you find always something to do. Always some action, something is going on.

Here, it is difficult for us to ajust to many differents things; the weather (we never know, or especially this last month it is very not nice) it is very quiet, nobodies outside, rare terraces...

I'm pregnant, even if I would love to do sports, I'm limited. We love to meet people and enjoy time with friends.

One thing we found interesting, a lot of expats we meet talk about how boring is the sundays here (really forget the shops, we all can live without them once a week, I'm not even talking about that) As much as boring it can be or look, I don't understand with the quantity of expats around why it still like that. I mean, people from USA, Canada, UK, Germany tell us how quiet it is and how difficult it is for them, so in that case, why they don't bring more life on sundays in the city? Where are the people????

6
Man, Nils, I really feel you on this one. Sundays in Lugano you could hear the drop of a dime. I haven't been here much time so I'm hoping there's some hiking/lake sports club I could find or perhaps a sewing circle. As it is I lay around most of the day, cook good food, watch some episodes of So You Think You Can Dance, and snuggle my cat. Perhaps this sounds nice but I really miss meeting up with friends over coffee, checking out new items from local designers, picking a new recipe and going to the store for ingredients, or tooling around a huge bookstore. Maybe when I make more friends this won't seem so daunting

7
I live in a city and most restaurants are open seven days a week. In more rural parts many restaurants close on Mondays or another workday, but not often on Sunday.

For me, Sunday is a day to relax. I make sport, meet friends, read the whole newspaper, sleep through the entire morning if I want. Of course it is also an oportunity to finish the household and to do other work that was left over, but I wouldn't like to routinely waste my whole Sundays with this stuff.

8
I go to church on Sundays. It's a wonderful english interdenominational protestant church, in Zürich. I've made great friends through my church. Afterwards we have coffee and a chat.

9
But possibly fridays were quieter? Just asking, but AFAIR friday is the "day off" for muslims.

Ah, the weather... I feel your pain

You obviously haven't had contact with the locals when you try to bring "more life" to their sundays. Or flushing the toilet after 22h.

I see you live in Basel: use your sundays to check out France and Germany... I'm sure you'll find plenty more to do over there!

Good luck!

10
Funny isn't it how people perceive things? That's the one thing my wife and I missed when we were in Japan: the ability to eat or have a coffee outside. We always said how much greater that was in Switzerland

11
You better get used to it - it has been an average Swiss summer so far (May was too dry and warm, June is about average)

12
Spend the day in bed with a friend..

(it's way more fun than anything else)

13
Girl and husband go to church, I generally mess about on t'internet. When they come home we have lunch and then she and I either go to a birthday party (last one of the school year tomorrow) or we go out en famile to walk on Zugerberg, go to the park over in Cham, go to Lattich to swim. Once your baby comes along you'll really enjoy the opportunity to stroll with the pram in the great outdoors.

14
Sundays are great in Zurich. Slow, leisurely breakfast as a family instead of everyone dashing about getting ready for work or nursery.

A whole day to do stuff like go to the zoo, go swimming, go down to the lake, buy an ice cream, visit friends, play Lego or whatever.

15
We go for long walks and/or the cinema. Other Half goes cycling round the lake sometimes. Or a day trip to another canton.

Cooking for dinner is a major production for both (one conjures the main courses, the other whips up dessert).

As for many restaurants being closed...

Pack a picnic lunch -- it's cheaper and healthier, and as delicious as you want.

Some suggestions other than the usual sandwiches: Cold roasted chicken thighs or legs/wings, curry puffs, hearty salads, homemade quark cake.

Or if you don't feel like cooking, buy stuff from the supermarket the day before: sausage rolls, quiche, Zwetschgentasche (plum puffs), slices of pie, cream puffs, roasted whole chicken.

16
In summer Zürich Sundays are brilliant. BBQs; lake side sunbathing; swimming, mountains; cycling; fresh air. In weather like recently (cold damp, threat of rain) they are abysmal . Unless you plan an activity, you can be left frustrated. Everything closed. Lack of DIY and similar opportunities for pottering; and few spontaneous activites not dependent on being outdoors don't help either.

Worst day of the week when raining.

dave

17
I think Sundays in Zürich (or Switzerland) are great family-days.....however, some of us do not have families/children and hence find cold, damp Sundays like yesterday abysmal.

Particularly in summer, when we can expect a little more warmth and sunshine, I find rainy Sundays really annoying.

Barbra.

18
No, not a all! They have the Mosque on friday, for the ones who go, but nothing change in the friday daily life

19
I can say we do most of what you are doing. Go take a walk, visit the parks around, go on week-end in France or Germany to look what they have there. be at home and relax, walk in the town, etc. It is great, I do like it.

Understand me, we are just used to be in a city who never sleep. 20 millions of people. Bars, restaurants, cafes open 24/7. 1 hour by car, you reach Sile, a beach area where you can go and swim in the Black Sea. You are never bored in Istanbul. If you want to stay home and relax, you can, if you want to go to restaurant, you can, if you want to go the shop, you can, if you want to go to the park or the sea, you can... From the sky, before landing, it is impossible to see the end of the city. It is huge!

So here we are, very happy to be in a very healthy country, where we have a very high quality life. With green everywhere. It is a perfect place to raise kids, I'm sure about it, and we are happy for that.

But we need to ajust ourselves. This is a very huge difference for us. And to pass from a very active life in Istanbul to a slow one in Basel, it's a big challenge. So we try to put more activities in our life.

20
Next time you wake up on a rainy Sunday morning and decide to snuggle back under the duvet, think of those of us who have been up since 5 am playing Lego and watching Bob the Builder for the 87th time. Rainy Sundays won't seem half so bad after that...