Elle Takes Europe 2026 - Day 11: Chocolate Rhino’s
In the blink of an eye, our time in Switzerland is almost at an end. We woke up to a cloudy, overcast morning, the first we’ve had in Zurich. We went down to our final breakfast at the Park Hyatt. I had the Shakshuka, which was by far the best breakfast item I’ve had there; Jenn stuck with the eggs, and Elle had pancakes. As we were eating breakfast, a big summer storm rolled in and passed.
Fortunately, it passed right before we finished breakfast, and so we packed up our stuff and headed to the Zurich Zoo. In all of our research for things to do with Elle in Zurich, the two things we did today were at the top of the list. The Zurich Zoo is perched on a hill overlooking the rest of the city and near the airport. When we arrived, we bought our tickets and went in. We were immediately greeted by these penguin statues that Elle could not get enough of. She was a little scared of them at first, but began to warm up, and after 5-10 minutes, didn’t want to leave. Fortunately, we had a lot of zoo left to see, and so we made our way through the park, starting with the real-life penguins and nearby aquarium, and later on to see the peacocks, antelope, elephants, rhinos, and giraffes. The zoo was beautiful, well spread out, not overly busy, and thankfully about 20 degrees cooler than previous days. We stopped at lunch, which gave us views of the giraffe’s habitat. Elle had pasta while Jenn and I snacked on delicious French fries. We called an Uber and headed back to our hotel for Elle’s nap.
The rush back for the nap was to make time for our second activity of the day, the Lindt Chocolate Factory. The number of positive reviews for this experience was overwhelming, and this was the only slot we could book on our first day in Zurich. We woke Elle up a little early from her nap and took an Uber to the chocolate factory. We arrived about 15 minutes before our 4 PM ticket slot, but they let us start. The tour itself took about 30 minutes, although we skipped most of the history and interactive displays and went straight for the chocolate factory part. The first room allowed you to try fresh liquid chocolate straight from these vats with a spoon. This was Elle’s heaven; she loves chocolate, and today she ate a lot of it. From there, we went to another room that had devices that would pop out small pieces of fresh milk and dark chocolate. And finally, before we left, you were given about 6-8 pieces of chocolate per person. Elle did her best to put her hand in each container and grab them. She hasn’t stopped asking for chocolate since we left.
The museum wasn’t the best for a 2-year-old, but once Elle had chocolate, she was much happier to be there. It was also very crowded, making maneuvering difficult. We left the experience a little before 5 PM and called an Uber to take us back to the city and to dinner. The first Uber, which arrived after almost 15 minutes, didn’t have a car seat, so we couldn’t take it. We struggled to find a replacement, so Jenn took matters into her own hands and had the chocolate factory's staff find us a taxi. Five minutes later, we were on our way. Jenn took care of business as always.
We arrived at Zum Königstuhl at 5:30 PM and got a great table in the garden. After the delicious fondue from the previous night, Jenn and I wanted one final round, and got an even more delicious one today. With that, Elle got pasta, Jenn got sausage, and I had one final schnitzel. It was the best meal we’ve had in Zurich, and maybe the best on the trip. The fondue was divine, the schnitzel was incredible, the sausage was delicious, and Elle devoured her pasta. We were so full by the time we got done that we skipped dessert and took a slow walk back to our hotel. We let Elle walk almost all the way back. She, of course, didn’t want to leave Jenn’s side but kept pointing at different things as we walked, happy to be out on this beautiful evening. We wrapped up the night, giving Elle a bath and packing up for our early morning flight to Athens tomorrow.
