Before I visited ---I have learned various talks about this country that abounds in watches and is famous for banking. For example, everything there is said to be extremely expensive. For a period of time, Zurich was described as an intimidating city for backpack tourists in Europe and even the entire world. In the spring of 2002, I visited Nancy University in the east of France and spent a serene time that is hard to achieve at home. Nancy is the home town of the famous French mathematician Jules Henri Poincare and the university I visited was also named after it. But soon I was informed by a German poet Burghardt I got to know in Colombia of a good piece of news that the annual Zurich Poetry Festival sent me an invitation at his recommendation. 

The recital of this poetry festival was scheduled in a mosque where Arabic Association of Switzerland was located as well. As it was the first time that I had recited poems in Europe, I never imagined that from then on I would step on Europe couple of times almost every year and Europe has become the very continent that I have frequented. During the recital, I would recite in Chinese first, and then an Arabic poet and Swiss poet would recite respectively in Arabic and German. In that way, I formed a group consisting of a full-time listener from Paris, two German interpreters, two Arabic interpreters (Mr. &Mrs. Ali) and two reciters. 

Unexpectedly, only one year later, I was lucky to visit Zurich a second time. This time, as a judge of China-Switzerland art exchange event, I dwelled at a hotel nearby Lake Biel, and Zurich is in the neighborhood of this lake. Though this lake seemed to be 4 kilometers in width, it is impossible to travel full circle because it is nearly 40 kilometers in depth. A river called Limmat stretches out of the lake and makes a thoroughfare into the city. In face of such scenery, tourists would take this city for Geneve. However, there is not a big fountain in Zurich. The connection part of the river and lake is called Burkli Plaza, the beginning point of Bahnhof Street, well-known global commercial center. 

Within the total length of 1400 meters, Bahnhof Street gathers all the international leading banks and brand headquarters of garment, jewelry and watches and thus becomes a famous shopping street. If you are not interested in shopping, you can walk swiftly down the street in southern direction. On the left is an Augustine’s Trail and at the end is St. Peters Cathedral built in 853AD. The clock on top of this cathedral, with a diameter of 9 meters, is one of the biggest clocks in this kingdom of watches as well as in Europe. Together with the ancient trees, flower terraces, pigeons and visitors in the small square before the cathedral, a romantic atmosphere is created. Therefore, many celebrities prefer to hold weddings there. 

Around the cathedral, there spread many lithographic stone paths in all the directions. Among them, a small path in the northern direction leads to Lyndonhoff Hill, which is a castle in the late Roman period and cradle of Zurich. From the hill which is densely covered by bodhi trees, you can enjoy an overview of Limmat River and a distant view of old city district in the opposite as well as large-scale compound of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and University of Zurich where the famous physicist Einstein studied and worked in his early days. To my regret, due to lack of commercial benefits, the Voltaire Hotel, the birthplace of Dadaism—avant-garde art school in the early 20^th century, is not available any more.