Swiss Alps and Zürich, Switzerland

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Not having enough time to make any stops, I was forced to take pictures of the Alps on the trains from Luzern to Bellinzona and Lugano to Zürich. The train travels through central Switzerland and through the Gotthard Tunnel, which is a 9 mile long rail tunnel. Going south, the tunnel begins in Canton Uri in German-speaking Switzerland, and ends up in Canton Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part. The 3-hour train ride from Lugano to Zürich allows one to experience the ontime perfection and efficiency of the Swiss trains, the beautiful Swiss landscape, and the tunnels and highways through the mountains, signs of Swiss engineering.

I had only 2.5 hours in Zürich, making a long stop on the ride home from Lugano to Eichstätt. Being the only place in Switzerland that most Americans can name, you get to see plenty of Hawaii shirts and white sneakers with knee-high black socks here. It's a city with terrifyling huge intersections-- millions of bikes, streetcars, and Aston Martins flying at you from every direction-- you can spend 30 minutes figuring how to get from the train station to the river without being killed. Zürich ranks at the top with Geneva for being some of the most expensive cities in the world, but with all the banks, money must be available somewhere in the city.

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