Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

 

[ellen10]

I remember some of those scenes. Did you have to change trains in Chur?

 

[Gem56]

I remember some of those scenes. Did you have to change trains in Chur?

Yes ellen10 we did, and platforms too, and it was included in the price.

 

[ellen10]

Did you enjoy the train trip, its such a smooth ride. We caught the train through to Lucerne.

 

[Gem56]

Did you enjoy the train trip, its such a smooth ride. We caught the train through to Lucerne.

We really loved it, yes... very smooth. In fact I'd do it again. We caught the train to Zurich from Chur. We were very happy, and lucky, too that we had great weather.

 

[Gem56]

After changing trains in Chur, we arrived in Zurich and were booked into the Crown Plaza. It's a little out of town and upon asking a cabbie what he would charge us (CHF35) we decided to tram it - 8 stops. The challenge though was trying to find out which tram and from where. We asked one of the official tram personnel and he assisted us with our ticket purchase - CHF2.70 each and it stopped quite near our hotel. A huge difference to CHF35 and we were feeling very pleased with our decision.

The next morning we enquired with the concierge about what was recommended to see in Zurich and then were informed that we would probably be better to get a day pass (24 hours) for the tram (CHF8.80 each). Apparently the cost is CHF4.40 one way so CHF8.80 is good value. We told the concierge that we only paid CHF2.70 each the day before from the main station and she said we were very lucky not to have been checked, the fine is CHF100 for the incorrect payment.

 

[Gem56]

The Crown Plaza. It wasn't the Bernina Hotel, but it was comfortable .

 

[Gem56]

It just so happened we arrived in the middle of the Züri Fäscht (Zurich Festival). Apparently attended by approx 2 million visitors, this is only on once every 3 years and we were lucky enough to be there for this one. It takes over the streets along the River Limmat and around the lake basin that are otherwise occupied by cars, trams and buses.

Just about every type of ride you can think of catering for all ages and adrenaline junkies; live music played all around the city; culinary delights from all around the world; many different types of events, ie platform diving; amphibious cars; aerobatic planes; fireworks both Friday and Saturday nights, etc, etc, etc.

The concierge warned us that there would be lots of alcohol and drug induced people around, however we didn't witness any of that, quite the opposite, there were lots of families out enjoying the festivities. Lots of very tired little munchkins at the end of the day.

 

[Gem56]

Gee... what a deal . Shame we weren't there on Monday night!

 

[Gem56]

Even the swans were having a lovely day




The divers were called in to remove some items where the divers were landing - the first one was a shopping trolley, and also a ladder. Go figure!

 

[Gem56]

And just on the edge of the festival area, a tram has created an unplanned attraction. The last carriage derailed.





Hmmm... don't think I would have been so trusting of the jack

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

We got a recommendation from a local on where was good to eat and not too expensive. This was the Zeughaus Keller. It was a great place to eat, food was really nice and cost of food and wine was pretty good, much better than we expected. We each had the same meal, 2 glasses of wine and a beer - CHF88.80.

We have found that vegetables are not the common accompaniment - the favourite is fries.

Pork Cordon Bleu

 

[Gem56]

When we came out of the Zeughaus Keller, we heard the sound of drums so went to investigate. They were great.

 

[Gem56]

Hari Krishnas. Haven't seen these guys around for at least 40 years. They used to be a common sight in the streets of Sydney.

 

[Gem56]

These creations are very clever, although CHF3,260 for Daffy Duck is probably not in my price range.


CHF7,400 for this big guy. I just can't imagine having him in my loungeroom.

 

[Gem56]

With only a couple of days left in Switzerland, the original plan was to catch the series of trains up to the Jungfraujoch, however the weather was not looking as though it was going to be a viable thing to do. So we hired a car - yep... another small one, a Smart Car, and drove to Luzern. The girl at the rental ca company, Sixt, tried to tell us that the back seats didn't fold down and we wouldn't be able to fit our luggage. She then kindly offered to upgrade us to a Mazda 3 for only another CHF30 per day instead of the normal CHF60 per day. But my +1, the 3D Tetris man, found that the seats did fold down and we had plenty of room.