DAY 16: Zurich and the Rhine Falls

Sunday, August 22nd 2010

It was yet another early morning. The showers were interesting: as I mentioned earlier, we'd gotten tokens for hot water, and I was worried that 5 minutes would not be enough for me, but it was actually fine. I managed :) The weather was very nice - sunny and warm. We walked to the Friedhof bus stop and waited for the bus that would take us to the train station. We got on a train heading for Schaffhausen and got out at the Schloss Laufen stop, which is where the Rhine falls are situated. At first we followed the people that got out at the same stop, but they were heading towards the boats and we weren't sure that was the right way to go. So we turned back and started walking uphill, in the direction of the ticket office. We bought tickets that entitled us for a visit to the falls and a tour of the castle, they were 5€ each. I guess we walked through the castle when we were going towards the falls, although I'm not sure. There was also a youth hostel in the castle. We followed the "Adventure trail" down the hill, and there were several observation platforms along the way. The view just kept getting better. I'd never seen a proper waterfall before, so I was impressed. Here are some pictures, all of which are clickable:

We made our way down to the small harbor, and realized that separate tickets were needed to get to the cool observation platform smack in the middle of the falls. We thought about it and decided it'd be worth it. There were several route options, so we made our pick and got on the boat. It took us to the other side of the river, and we then had to change into a second boat. That took us to the observation tower-cliff thingy. The water was very cool - greenish turquoise and bubbly. Looked almost like mineral water. The current seemed to be pretty strong, but the boat handled it just fine. We got out and started climbing up the stairs to the very top of the cliff. It was very cool. I was a bit surprised that we didn't even get much water on us though :D Along with the Untersberg mountain, the Rhine falls have got to be my favorite experience of the trip. Also, the weather was just right. Now for some more pictures:

When we were getting back to the docks, we apparently sat on the bad side of the boat and water splashed on our backs. Iiishk. We eventually got back to the train station and got on a train to Winterthur, only then realizing that we would need to change trains to get to Zurich. It took a really long time to get to the main station of Zurich, because the S-Bahn that we took from Winterthur kept stopping everywhere. Finally, we arrived in Zurich and were shocked by how hot it was. The sun was shining, and there was barely any wind. Pinky got cranky pretty fast because she isn't a fan of the sun :P

Our first mission was to find some place to eat. We expected Zurich to be very expensive, so decided to just go to McDonald's and ordered 2 BigMacs, large fries and two milkshakes. Instead they gave us 2 BigMacs, 2 large fries and 2 frappés, because apparently they don't have milkshakes in Switzerland. I paid with my credit card and didn't really pay attention to how much it all cost. When we were eating we started converting the 27 CHF to euros, and it was only then that we realized how expensive Zurich really is: ~20€ for two people at McDonald's. Probably the most expensive burgers of our lives... A pretty cool thing about that McDonald's was their bathroom system. The receipt had a code on it, which opened the bathroom door. So basically you can't enter the bathroom unless you buy something, and keep the receipt.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the old town of Zurich. Saw the three cathedrals: Grossmunster, Fraumunster and St Peter's. They were all a whole lot modest than all the churches in Austria, for example.

The Grossmunster

The street leading to St Peter's Cathedral

As I mentioned already, it was very hot, so we sat by the Limmat river and dipped our feet in it. The water was refreshingly cold. Unfortunately, we never made it to Lake Zurich. On our way back to the camping site we stocked up on groceries and the rest of the evening was uneventful.

-Brain

DAY 15: The journey to Switzerland

Saturday, August 21st 2010

We left the ever-so-lovely Natterersee Camping with the 10:17 bus. Had brunch at a cafe near the railway station, bought some snacks for the road and went to the platform. 

Goodbye, Innsbruck, you will be missed

Our train left at 11:58 and it was a pretty long train ride (~3.5 hours). There were some lovely views out of the window though, gorgeous scenery:

We arrived in Zurich and went looking for an ATM to take out some Swiss money. Tried two different ATMs (different banks) and neither of them worked - they said our cards are damaged and we need to contact our bank. I started getting a bit worried about the prospect of having no cash. Luckily, we managed to get money at Western Union, phew. Swiss money looked like Monopoly money, and don't even get me started on their coins... Like what is the deal with the 1/2 coin???

Once we had the money problem solved, we took a train to Winterthur, which is where we were gonna camp. The train ride took about half an hour, and then we had to take a bus as well. We asked the bus driver for two tickets, but he said that we can't buy them from him, we need to use the machine outside. The instructions were all in German and we didn't really get them, so we asked a young woman for help. She told us what to do, but we didn't have enough coins for two tickets, so I had to get one from a nearby kiosk. So complicated. Why can't the bus driver sell tickets?? We'd only been in Switzerland for a few hours and were already irritated by those little things.

Anyways. We took a bus towards Rosenberg, got out at the right stop, and had no idea which way to go. So we just started walking along the road until we passed some guy and asked him for directions. Turns out we were going in the right direction, which was a relief. We found the camping site (Camping am Schutzenweiher), and the reception was closed. We sat outside for like 15 minutes and there were two men sitting at a table eating and talking. Then some lady came there and asked us something in a language we didn't understand. Then she asked in English if we wanted to check in. We said that we did, and she told us to just go and put up our tent somewhere, and take care of the paperwork later. She also said something to the men, and it seemed like she was telling them off for not telling us that we didn't need to wait for the reception to open. More annoyance :P 

We found a spot for our tent and got settled, then returned to the reception which was now open. Took care of the paperwork and paid for two nights. The lady gave us tokens for the shower, and I was a bit worried about those. Only 5 minutes of hot water seemed like very little. We asked the lady about a grocery store, and she said that most places close early on Saturdays, but that there is a small shop at the gas station that is always open. So that's where we headed. We found the gas station, and got ourselves food. Barely anything had a price tag, so we had no idea how much anything cost. But we needed food, so we didn't really have a choice.

We got back to our tent and just chillaxed until bedtime. Our tiny flashlight died, so we had to use our cellphones to get some light inside the tent. It was very very dark in the evening.

Our tent, and the laundry line :D

-Brain

Zürich, Switzerland

• Official languages of Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansh
• Currency: Swiss franc (1 € = 1.5 CHF)
• Railway info: the Swiss Federal Railway connects the major cities and reservations are only needed for special scenic trains. InterRail passes are also valid for travel on many private railway companies and various buses will give discounts. Switzerland is very well connected to the rest of European countries. For example, the trip from Austria (Innsbruck) to Zürich only takes about 3.5h with the ÖBB train. There are also high-speed trains to France - the TGV train ride from Geneva to Paris is only 3.5h, but tickets must be reserved in advance.

Swiss cuisine is largely influenced by that of its neighbors - Germany, Italy and France - but the Swiss do have their own unique dishes. Switzerland was historically a country of farmers, so their specialties often incorporated potatoes and cheese (Rösti, Fondue, and Raclette), and also more exquisite ingredients, such as chocolate. As everyone knows, cheese and chocolate are the two foods Switzerland is world famous for. Tarts and quiches are also traditional Swiss dishes, and tarts in particular are made with all sorts of toppings, from apples to onions. Cervelat or cervelas is considered the national sausage and is popular all over Switzerland. Zürcher Geschentzeltes is a Swiss dish from the Zürich region: thin strips of veal with mushrooms served with a cream sauce and rösti.

Rivella, a carbonated drink based on lactose, is one of the most popular drinks in Switzerland. The chocolate drink Ovomaltine originates in Switzerland and enjoys ongoing popularity, especially among young people.

Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland and its main commercial center. It has been named the wealthiest city in Europe and also the city with the best quality of life in the world. In Zürich, most of the action revolves around water, with the River Limmat, which splits the old city in two, flowing into the lake and the Sihl joining it north of the center.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get around Zürich, since InterRail passes are valid on the local trains (S-Bahn) and the best way to see the old town is on foot.

Places to see:

• Grossmünster: a Romanesque-style church. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site. Richard Wagner (the famous composer) is known to have mocked the church's appearance as that of two pepper dispensers.
• Fraumünster: for most of the middle ages, Zürich was ruled by the abbesses of Fraumünster. Today it is mostly interesting for its stained-glass windows created by Marc Chagall in 1970.
  
• St Peter's church: located near the Lindenhof hill and was built on a site of a temple to Jupiter. The tower's clock face is the largest church clock face in Europe.
  

View of Zürich (and St Peter's church) during the day

• Lindenhof and Niederdorf - the oldest parts of Zürich, with settlement traces dating to pre-Roman times. The Lindenhof hill is the site of a Roman castle.
  

In Niederdorf

• The Guild houses along the Limmat river
• Üetliberg - a mountain with a panoramic view of the whole city as well as the lake (the summit is accessible by train, 20min from the central station)
• The Chinese garden and the old botanical garden are not too far from the old town (in the Seefeld quarter). The Chinese garden was a present to Zürich from its Chinese partner town Kunming.
  

The Chinese garden

• The Bahnhofstrasse is a shopping street, starts at the main train station
• The Langstrasse (Red light district) is supposed to be very safe
• Of course, if the weather is nice we should explore the old town in more detail and see Lake Zürich from up close
• Finally, the Rhine falls are a must see: the largest plain waterfalls in Europe, located near Winterthur and easily accessible by train (~45min from Zürich central station). There are observation decks, guided tours, two castles... Definitely worth visiting.

The Rhine Falls!

View of Zürich at night (Limmat river, Fraumünster and a guild house on its left)

Where to spend the night:
I found several youth hostels that aren't terribly expensive (35-50 CHF/person/night), but I think a good option would be going to the Rhine falls in the evening and camping at the Winterthur Camp Site (the website is all in German, aaargh!) We could go back to Zürich in the morning and continue on our journey.