Day Trip to Aarau

Last Saturday my mum and I decided to go for a little city trip, do some shopping and

Aarau, old town

sightseeing and we had plans with some choir friends to go to this concert.

Aarau, is a little city nearby, about 1 ½ hours away. We decided to take the train, because we don’t know the area and it’s much easier getting to know the places and the nature looking out of the train window.

Arriving in Aarau, we first had to figure out where to go and oh surprise surprise, it leads us to a bookstore. Of course I had to go in there, I have to compare the shops and I love books, so… I found some bookish related cards and also bought a a mandala books to use at school. The English section in the story was tiny, but oh well… I spotted Summer At Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond. This book is so pretty, it was a bit too expensive though, so I’m going to order it. I barely buy books in our Swiss book stores, because they are just so expensive.

We continued our walk through the city and found the old town soon. It reminded me of the old town in Zug, but it’s a bit bigger and has more restaurants and bars. It’s really cute, with wonderful buildings and lots of charm.

The shops were great as well. To be honest I expected there to be the usual suspects like Zara and H&M, but no, really individual stores with lots of great brands and a unique interior design. In one store the even used books to decorate the shelves, so awesome!

We had lunch in another bookstore and then continued our stroll through the city, with some stops at shops, yes I bought a shirt and some trousers ;). We also took the time to just enjoy the buildings, I bought some goodbye pressies for my kids at school and we were quite impressed by the castle. Next to it there is an art museum. The outside of the museum is quiet special. There are random special carved into it, it was wonderful to look at. Inside we were quickly introduced on how they do it, although I didn’t understand the whole thing. They are carved into wood with a saw and then kind of turned into stoned.

At five o’clock we met our friends for a drink and then dinner. Dinner was great, but how can it not be at an Italian restaurant with some really yummy red wine.

Castle, Museum of Art

Then it was time for the concert. It was the Latin Jazz Mass, composed by a German, who lives in Switzerland now. We sang one of his songs at the World Choir Games in Riga and it’s now part of our concert /event songs. I really enjoyed the concert, would love to sing the whole mass myself. The conductor was one of my former professors at uni and oh surprise he recognized me again. After the concert we went for drinks with the musicians and some others, we had lots of fun.

They day has been amazing and it really showed me that I actually have to make for trips like that. We have some many great cities nearby and they would be perfect for a day trip. Will definitely do this more often. I love exploring, even Switzerland has so many wonderful places, and only because I live here, it doesn’t mean that they are less special.