After a day of hiking, I decided to be traditional and explore a little more of Zurich even though I had visited here a few years ago…

I decided to go check out the discount shopping district that was not far from my hotel.  Lots of window shopping here to say the least…

of course, since it is December, there are the Christmas markets everywhere.

Lake Zurich is pretty, but not that enticing to hang out nearby for too long given the cool sub freezing breezes.

But if you like it that much, you can listen to the locals attempt to play Christmas tunes on the traditional long horns.

Being my traditional self, I went to check out the National Museum.  It was not a huge museum that had some interesting historical artifacts.

This was the Swiss flag from their embassy in Berlin that was taken down when the Russians took over the city.

They also had the peace/trade agreement with Adolf Hitler in display that was signed before the beginning of WWII.  They had many exhibit items about Switzerland’s neutrality and supplier to both sides in WWII.

And here is one thing I did not know, Albert Einstein studied here in Zurich for 4 years.  Never knew that…glad I visited the museum.