A trip to Switzerland took an adverse turn when my colleague said he wants to join and people around has confined in him the admirable beauty of Zurich which was never in my plan. Life had other plans as I dropped my Bern and other Swiss cities for Zurich which turned out to be an eventful trip as all my previous ones had been around the world. Reached Munich Hacker Brucke well on time for the trip. The Deutsche Bahn bus had been longing for my presence on it. The bus ride was short, sweet and just what I would have required anyway with wifi, snacks vending machine and clean toilets. Many a guys has complained online on bad quality bus rides but Deutsche Bahn seems to be serious about their buses.
As advised by my friend in Munich, I went to tourist information after my breakfast and got all the information that we needed. Walked along the ZurichSee and got an accommodation within the city for almost the price the outskirts hotel had promised earlier. As usual in other trips, I was in the heart of Zurich. Felt Zurich had lot in common to Edinburgh, be its terrain, trams(new in Ed), cobbled streets and new and old city residing on the two sides on the lake. The Golden Mile in Zurich being the Bahnofstrasse. We walked around the central Zurich for hours visiting the landmarks without knowing what is what for a start. Our inn keeper old lady helped a lot to give a hold on the direction. And places around and along, with the day pass for commute which is almost same price as Munich, got us moving quite fast.
The cost of living in Zurich looked to be the highest I have ever encountered in life. But for a tourist, it doesn't matter much except once you are back home. I even visited the Victronix shop to buy a camper for myself with couple of kitchen knifes which are Swiss made. The outskirts of Zurich looked devoid of humans and bit abandoned for a city of this magnitude. The life came to a standstill around 5pm and people looked happy to rush home to their personal world except few who had some sort of night life. To give you a fair idea, a McD burger could cost you almost double as Munich. The inn keeper lady suggested to do a Euro to CHF conversion in the main station to save some bucks and I could get CHF10 extra for a €100. The conversion is quite negligible but for larger amounts it mattered. Another interesting thing was the €2 toilets or WC across the central station and even restaurants charged the same for their patrons.
The Zurich lake was a snapshot of the heartbeat of the city with full of life and love while people came out to enjoy the sun. It was filled with fun and laughter all around giving visitors a good feel a wonderful view of the lake flowing to eternity before getting wedded with the Alps. Alps seems to be omnipresent in this part of the world protecting the countries as a welcomed border filled with pride. This guy keeps it cool all around as embracing Euro with its cold long arms. Unlike Munich the demographic looked promising from the outset but later I realised it was all tourists enjoying a warm weekend in Switzerland.
At night, we walked around the river and had some good Italian food and Swiss Ice creams which was very filling a tasty. Also had a relaxed long drink at the bar under my roof for the night. It was filled with bottles with no one to taste when I entered and not sure whether it is me again or the happening time was to follow, it got filled with people, fun, dance, live piano and much more. I didn't stay to enjoy much but decided to head to the room to give my tired legs some rest. I am not sure whether I closed my eyes first or put my legs on bed, but found me in the bed next morning when my friends mobile rang. The inn was getting closed in another months time as per the landlady and felt sad that this cute, antique piece of a hotel was going to be closed, it was straight in the center of the old town and should have been minimum 80 Years old and standing strong. Their were no attached bathrooms and then you could guess when it would have been build. My friend preferred modern high tech hotels whereas I was grateful to be part of history being a student of history myself. It had all the beauty that you would expect with even primitive phones all around the corridor and front desk. The only thing missing was a music from Eagles which would have signified what I really felt being there. Luckily I was told that I have to checkout next day 11am else would be charged for another day.
We had to get to the information centre every time to find out best routes and tracks for visiting various places around. Took a train trip to Schauffhausen to get to the Rhine falls. It really was a quick trip with some trekking via man made steps to the waterfalls and the shelters close-by for some snaps of the falls. Most of the time, I had to return to Zurich main station to get some Italian food as nothing else I could get vegetarian around. On the way to Rhine falls, we had a changeover at Winterthur station which provided with good wifi. And that was the first time I had any contact with outside world in 1.5 Days as my low cost mobile service provider doesn't work in Zurich. I was all excited to connect with friends and family to share that it was all safe. Both to and fro to the falls, Winterthur wifi was a blessing. Upon return to Zurich around 3pm, we didn't have much to do other than a boat ride which would start at 5:40 and had all the chance of making us lose the bus in the evening. The thought was based on the fact that we were not sure whether the return bus would be from the place where they dropped us in Zurich.
After some food, we went across to the University Hospital to get some good view of the old city. The view was so awesome that I could see the whole Zurich from there which lay below the viewpoint. Didn't realise in couple of stations, I had climbed this high which blessed me with such a magnificent view and some work for my amateur cam. The return bus was right on time from which they dropped us. I also found that the bus captain didn't have a minute to talk to us to clarify few silly questions until his duty was done. This was not to drive the bus but also to clean it with the help of a hippy influenced guy who was waiting for the bus to arrive. We started our journey right on time and arrived well ahead. Unlike the trip to Zurich, the bus was loaded with people probably returning to work in Munich as it was a Sunday night. This also resulted in making the wifi service crash. I could take it as a lighter thing as once we get to Germany from the un-tolled borders, my mobile internet would get running. Like all good things, this trip also had to end and it did end well with nothing much to worry about. Back home in Munich, my kind roomie had already prepared dinner for me to make it more relaxing while I prepare for the next busy day at work.
As advised by my friend in Munich, I went to tourist information after my breakfast and got all the information that we needed. Walked along the ZurichSee and got an accommodation within the city for almost the price the outskirts hotel had promised earlier. As usual in other trips, I was in the heart of Zurich. Felt Zurich had lot in common to Edinburgh, be its terrain, trams(new in Ed), cobbled streets and new and old city residing on the two sides on the lake. The Golden Mile in Zurich being the Bahnofstrasse. We walked around the central Zurich for hours visiting the landmarks without knowing what is what for a start. Our inn keeper old lady helped a lot to give a hold on the direction. And places around and along, with the day pass for commute which is almost same price as Munich, got us moving quite fast.
The cost of living in Zurich looked to be the highest I have ever encountered in life. But for a tourist, it doesn't matter much except once you are back home. I even visited the Victronix shop to buy a camper for myself with couple of kitchen knifes which are Swiss made. The outskirts of Zurich looked devoid of humans and bit abandoned for a city of this magnitude. The life came to a standstill around 5pm and people looked happy to rush home to their personal world except few who had some sort of night life. To give you a fair idea, a McD burger could cost you almost double as Munich. The inn keeper lady suggested to do a Euro to CHF conversion in the main station to save some bucks and I could get CHF10 extra for a €100. The conversion is quite negligible but for larger amounts it mattered. Another interesting thing was the €2 toilets or WC across the central station and even restaurants charged the same for their patrons.
The Zurich lake was a snapshot of the heartbeat of the city with full of life and love while people came out to enjoy the sun. It was filled with fun and laughter all around giving visitors a good feel a wonderful view of the lake flowing to eternity before getting wedded with the Alps. Alps seems to be omnipresent in this part of the world protecting the countries as a welcomed border filled with pride. This guy keeps it cool all around as embracing Euro with its cold long arms. Unlike Munich the demographic looked promising from the outset but later I realised it was all tourists enjoying a warm weekend in Switzerland.
At night, we walked around the river and had some good Italian food and Swiss Ice creams which was very filling a tasty. Also had a relaxed long drink at the bar under my roof for the night. It was filled with bottles with no one to taste when I entered and not sure whether it is me again or the happening time was to follow, it got filled with people, fun, dance, live piano and much more. I didn't stay to enjoy much but decided to head to the room to give my tired legs some rest. I am not sure whether I closed my eyes first or put my legs on bed, but found me in the bed next morning when my friends mobile rang. The inn was getting closed in another months time as per the landlady and felt sad that this cute, antique piece of a hotel was going to be closed, it was straight in the center of the old town and should have been minimum 80 Years old and standing strong. Their were no attached bathrooms and then you could guess when it would have been build. My friend preferred modern high tech hotels whereas I was grateful to be part of history being a student of history myself. It had all the beauty that you would expect with even primitive phones all around the corridor and front desk. The only thing missing was a music from Eagles which would have signified what I really felt being there. Luckily I was told that I have to checkout next day 11am else would be charged for another day.
We had to get to the information centre every time to find out best routes and tracks for visiting various places around. Took a train trip to Schauffhausen to get to the Rhine falls. It really was a quick trip with some trekking via man made steps to the waterfalls and the shelters close-by for some snaps of the falls. Most of the time, I had to return to Zurich main station to get some Italian food as nothing else I could get vegetarian around. On the way to Rhine falls, we had a changeover at Winterthur station which provided with good wifi. And that was the first time I had any contact with outside world in 1.5 Days as my low cost mobile service provider doesn't work in Zurich. I was all excited to connect with friends and family to share that it was all safe. Both to and fro to the falls, Winterthur wifi was a blessing. Upon return to Zurich around 3pm, we didn't have much to do other than a boat ride which would start at 5:40 and had all the chance of making us lose the bus in the evening. The thought was based on the fact that we were not sure whether the return bus would be from the place where they dropped us in Zurich.
After some food, we went across to the University Hospital to get some good view of the old city. The view was so awesome that I could see the whole Zurich from there which lay below the viewpoint. Didn't realise in couple of stations, I had climbed this high which blessed me with such a magnificent view and some work for my amateur cam. The return bus was right on time from which they dropped us. I also found that the bus captain didn't have a minute to talk to us to clarify few silly questions until his duty was done. This was not to drive the bus but also to clean it with the help of a hippy influenced guy who was waiting for the bus to arrive. We started our journey right on time and arrived well ahead. Unlike the trip to Zurich, the bus was loaded with people probably returning to work in Munich as it was a Sunday night. This also resulted in making the wifi service crash. I could take it as a lighter thing as once we get to Germany from the un-tolled borders, my mobile internet would get running. Like all good things, this trip also had to end and it did end well with nothing much to worry about. Back home in Munich, my kind roomie had already prepared dinner for me to make it more relaxing while I prepare for the next busy day at work.
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