My friend, Ariane Prewitt of AP Shop in Lakeside, Michigan, taught me that the first thing you need to do the moment you get to a new city is buy flowers for your room. Whether they’re Casablanca lilies from the corner bodega or swan-necked tulips from the florist, nothing makes a hotel room feel like home better than a jar of flowers on the table. In Zürich, I head over to Urs Bergmann to carry home a fresh fistful of whatever’s in season.
Because I have kids that I’ve left at home with my husband, I seldom build extra days onto a trip to wander through the gallery district, but I do take the moments between the last meeting of the day and dinner to find treasures to tuck into my bag to bring home to them. When they were smaller, the hand-sewn cotton soccer balls or handbags from enSoie and a card from Naanuu at Sibler were welcome surprises, but as they grew, a hand-bound journal from buchbinderin, a fancy Caran d’Ache pen from Landolt-Arbenz or einzigart, or a set of inks from Fabrikat were more apt accompaniments to the always-purchased stash from Max Chocolatier.
Impossible, however, as I walk through old town, gathering this and that, not to press my face up to every window of every bookshop. I try to limit myself to one new book per trip but in Zurich, it’s a challenge. Never mind a challenge—impossible. For my husband, I’ve brought home a Max Bill monograph and a first edition of Camille Graesser, and for myself, more rare books and prints from Peter Bichsel and Eos Benz than I can count.
As the shops close, restaurants open. One of my favorite restaurants in the world, Wystube Isebähnli, is a tiny, 27-seat, jewel box run by Turkish-born chef, Yücel Ersan, and his sister Ebru. It is a study in intimacy and in creativity; every element, from the service to the cellar, is a clear translation of emotionality and care.
Once, however, you’ve laid waste to the massive Burgundy (and Champagne and Barolo) selection at Isebähnli, your focus must shift to the incredible Swiss wineries nearby. There are six wine regions in Switzerland, most easily divided into three groups: French, German and Italian Switzerland. Some of the most serious—and my favorite—Swiss wines come from the impossibly steep, south-facing slopes of the Valais, wedged in the southwestern corner of the country in the heart of the Alps, a three-hour drive or train ride from Zürich.
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