We had to pay for internet in Zurich (and we’re broke) so, I'm posting the last few days of our trip in one final entry.
Zurich day 1 was pretty uneventful. It was the first opportunity we had to catch up on sleep and recharge the batteries…it was also rainy and cold, so just looking out the window was reason enough to get an extra hour or two of sleep.
The only real plan for the day was to head to the train station to pick up our Swiss “Flex” pass that granted us unlimited tram, train, rail and bus access for 3 days and then meet up with my colleagues from the CS office in Zurich for dinner and drinks. After a light breakfast we headed downtown to the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the Zurich version of 5th Avenue with its high-end stores and 12th century architecture.
The only real plan for the day was to head to the train station to pick up our Swiss “Flex” pass that granted us unlimited tram, train, rail and bus access for 3 days and then meet up with my colleagues from the CS office in Zurich for dinner and drinks. After a light breakfast we headed downtown to the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the Zurich version of 5th Avenue with its high-end stores and 12th century architecture.
After walking around and validating our train passes, we got a little hungry but still had an hour or so to meet the team so we headed into a really nice food shop in the train station…Now, when I think of train stations, I’m thinking of Port Authority or Grand Central…well, not here. These cats had stuffed lobster tails, fresh fish, octopus and other gourmet foods. But we kept it simple and ordered some nuggets, only to find out when we ate them that they were fish nuggets, and they were GREAT. McDonalds ought to get in on the Mc Fish Nuggets…I should pitch the idea and make millions! Who knew I was a marketing guru??
We headed to meet the guys at the office and after a few kinks in the plan, like forgetting the address and telephone number in the hotel room, we found the place only we were an hour early. Ok, so I CAN’T READ MILITARY TIME and my watch is still on NY Time…so between the manually subtracting hours and converting them to military time, I was a little confused. But, I got to see our Zurich office and got a few of the guys to leave a little early and join us for drinks.
Dinner with the team was at a restaurant called Zeughauskeller, which dates back to 1487 and was once an arsenal. The place looked like a huge tavern with vaulted ceilings, mobs of people and tons of food flying around. The food was really good, I got a sample platter of 7 Swiss sausages and Mir had some ribs that were really tender and fell off the bone. I was told I couldn't leave Switzerlans without sampling the sausage. Some of the other stuff on the menu like calves liver and veal in a white cream sauce.....not so appealing. But we were happy with our orders and had a great time with the guys. Ah, and a footnote....Swiss beer is friggin great!
The night ended with a quick walk through the rain, to our lucky 13 tram and a 5 minute ride back to the hotel.
Zurich Day 3We got up early enough to have breakfast by 9am and be on the road for our mini-excursion to Lucerne.
I don’t know what it is with trains in Europe. Everything was according to plan. We caught the right train, it left on time and we got half way to Lucerne…when the train stopped at a small town called Zug and then turned around! We swear that the final stop on this train was Lucerne - I promise you that. But we still found ourselves heading back in the direction from which we came! Ughn! We got off at the next stop and asked the ticket agent, when the next train to Lucerne was coming and the told us the next train wouldn’t be for another half hour because the next train that was supposed to go there directly was cancelled, only the boards were indicating that it was running 5 minutes behind schedule.
Either way, the train WAS 5 minutes late, was NOT cancelled and we were only set back about 45 mins.
Lucerne was AMAZING. Dating back to the 13th century, the town is surrounded by these towering mountain ranges. We left the train station and our Frommers book (yes, we’re dorky tourists) recommended that we take the main road out in to the Swan Square. We looked around for street signs but didn’t need to look far. The lake was teaming with swans and ducks! I guess they don’t really need a sign, just follow the swans. We did a lap around the center of town and Mir just had to stop at Starbucks for a Chai Tea Latte. I think she’s been suffering from withdrawal the entire vacation.
The most prominent feature of the town was the covered bridge. Built in 1333, it had 122 paintings depicting every day life in 1599 only some moron burned down 2/3 of the bridge with a cigarette in 1993. Don’t even get me started on the smokers. EVERYONE out here smokes and while I respect the right for them to kill themselves in any way they see fit….it irks the crap out of me when some inconsiderate jackass blows smoke in my face while I’m trying to do something. Sorry, back to Lucerne.
We toured the plazas called platzs and cobble stoned streets before heading to a smaller bridge a few meters away. This one was special though. It has drawings dating back to the 17th century commemorating the plague that swept through the city. This one, was a bit morbid. Each painting had skeletons either decapitating or torturing people throughout the country. From the bridge, we made our way through the narrow streets until we got somewhat side tracked.
Now, let me just begin by saying that Mir has never met a hill she has not wanted to climb. When in doubt, head up hill I guess. I was having flashbacks of the stairs in the Bahamas. So, we climbed this mini mountain and just when I thought I reached the top, you guessed it, another path heading even further up the hill. Finally, the top….or maybe not. We inadvertently found the 9 fortification towers of Lucerne, dating back to the 1300’s. The view was amazing. We got a clear view of the entire city and if not for the low cloud cover, would have had an amazing view of the lake and mountains. We got some great shots, before heading down the mountain and making our way to the famous Lion Monument.
One of the main reasons for even going to Lucerne, was the Lion Monument and it was definitely worth the trip. I couldn’t believe how big it was and the level of detail in the stonework. Mir and I were blown away.
We finished up the day at Lucerne with some souvenir shopping before picking up a few sandwiches and heading back to the train to Zurich.
We ended up walking through the “Old Town” section of Zurich, buying more souvenirs and heading back to the hotel with 180 pictures in the camera and bags full of plunder.
We ended up walking through the “Old Town” section of Zurich, buying more souvenirs and heading back to the hotel with 180 pictures in the camera and bags full of plunder.
Zurich – Day 4
Our last full day in Zurich was bittersweet. The people are friendly, the city is beautiful and although the forecast called for rain every day, the sun found a way to poke through when we needed it.
That being said, we’re getting old. Our tired bones find it more and more difficult getting up in the morning. The alarm rang at 8:30 and as much as we wanted to get up and catch the hotel breakfast, in my half sleep delirium I convinced Mir to go back to bed by promising her Starbucks. Sure, enough it worked. We got up about 2 hours later and made our way to Starbucks on the main Bahnhofstrasse.
We’ve also been on the hunt for an elusive object since Lucerne…we found that Credit Suisse branches have been giving away free CS Soccer balls commemorating its role as the lead sponsor for the upcoming Euro Soccer championship. We’ve seen hundreds of tourists with these balls and every branch we’ve gone into had already run out. So we spent most of day 4 hopping from branch to branch looking for free soccer balls, with NO luck.
Our last full day in Zurich was bittersweet. The people are friendly, the city is beautiful and although the forecast called for rain every day, the sun found a way to poke through when we needed it.
That being said, we’re getting old. Our tired bones find it more and more difficult getting up in the morning. The alarm rang at 8:30 and as much as we wanted to get up and catch the hotel breakfast, in my half sleep delirium I convinced Mir to go back to bed by promising her Starbucks. Sure, enough it worked. We got up about 2 hours later and made our way to Starbucks on the main Bahnhofstrasse.
We’ve also been on the hunt for an elusive object since Lucerne…we found that Credit Suisse branches have been giving away free CS Soccer balls commemorating its role as the lead sponsor for the upcoming Euro Soccer championship. We’ve seen hundreds of tourists with these balls and every branch we’ve gone into had already run out. So we spent most of day 4 hopping from branch to branch looking for free soccer balls, with NO luck.
Ok, back to Starbucks…this is so cool. The Starbucks here give you the coffee in a real mug and serve your food on a real plate. Not plastic, real plates! How long would something like this last in NY before the branch had all of their logo mugs stolen?
It was at that moment that I had an epiphany. While here, we’ve seen people drop their bags in the train station and walk away and leave laptops unattended while their owners went to the bathroom among other acts of what Mir and I consider sheer lunacy (stupidity in NY terms). But acts like these served as a gentle reminder of the kind of animals we really are! Skipping ahead briefly, we just got back from the movies. The theater had large comfortable (padded) ASSIGNED seats. The ticket agent showed us a digital layout of the theater and asked us which seats we wanted to sit in! Ah, and the kicker…the seat numbers were EMBRIODERED! Are you kidding me?? The entire place was carpeted, clean, without spillage, drippage or vandalization. Half way through, we even had an intermission! Try giving New Yorkers a 10 minute intermission in the middle of a movie and see what happens. This place is like a multi-million person small town.
Ok, so back to our day. We decided against taking the 2 hour train ride to Geneva, in favor of a mini-excursion to a mountain look-out overlooking Zurich and the surrounding area.
We took a mini tram more than half way up the mountain and hiked up the rest of the way. When we got to the top, we couldn’t believe the view. We were on the top of the hill with a view of Zurich, the entire length of Lake Zurich and the surrounding cities. We were already at 3,000 ft above sea level but to top that, we climbed half way up a lookout tower on the top of this mountain for a completely unobstructed view of the area. We got only half way up because the wind chill was crazy and it was REALLY high. The entire tower shook as the wind blew, so…we wussed out and went only half way.
We took our time walking down, enjoying the view and the fresh air while Mir entertained us with songs from the Sound of Music along the way.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever.
Try getting that stuck in your head for a couple of hours. I don't even know what a friggin Edelweiss is.
We took the tram back to the main railway station for fish nuggets and chips before walking down the Bahnhofstrasse to finish up with the last of the souvenir shopping. Then we did one more lap around the “Old Town” before dropping the bags off at the room and then back out for dinner and a movie.
We walked back through the brisk Swiss air, back to the room to finish packing and attempting to get some sleep before an early flight tomorrow.
And so, our European vacation has come to and end. Deep thoughts, after this commercial break.
We walked back through the brisk Swiss air, back to the room to finish packing and attempting to get some sleep before an early flight tomorrow.
And so, our European vacation has come to and end. Deep thoughts, after this commercial break.
Below are the Swiss Alps from the air.
