Zurich (German: Zürich, Zuerich) is the largest city in Switzerland, with a population of some 364,500 in the city proper and close to 1 million in the greater metropolitan area. Zurich is on Lake Zurich, where the lake meets the Limmat River, in the north of Switzerland. It will be one of the eight host cities in the 2008 European Football Championships.
UNDERSTAND:
Contrary to popular belief, Zurich is not the capital of Switzerland (which is Bern), just its largest city. Zurich has long been known as clean efficient but only in the last ten years has it truly become a fascinating and worthwhile travel destination. This is mostly thanks to the liberalization of the cultural, party and gastronomy sectors. An increasingly cosmopolitan population has helped, as well, though more button-down Geneva remains Switzerland's most culturally heterogeneous city. Zurich is also known for banking. The Zurich dialect of German (which sounds very different from standard German) is the city's main spoken language, but speakers of this dialect invariably also understand standard German. Many people will understand English, French, or Italian as well.
GEOGRAPHY:
The city is situated where the river Limmat issues from the north-western end of Lake Zürich. Zürich is surrounded by wooded hills including (from the north) the Gubrist, the Hönggerberg, the Käferberg, the Zürichberg, the Adlisberg and the Oettlisberg on the eastern shore; and the Uetliberg (part of the Albis range) on the western shore. The river Sihl meets with the Limmat at the end of Platzspitz, which borders the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum). The geographic (and historic) center of the city is the 'Lindenhof' a small natural hill on the left bank of the river Limmat, about 700 meters north of where the river issues from Lake Zürich. Today the incorporated city stretches somewhat beyond it natural hydrographic confines given by its hills and includes some neighborhoods to the northeast in the Glattal (valley of the river Glatt).
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