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Published: January 23rd 2007
Throughly excited, Suzy and I headed off today to meet Talar and tour around Europe. But, first it would take a bit of traveling to meet up in Zurich. The night train seemed to be the prefect option. Needless to say we were very ambitious of the romantic evening, on the night train, riding through the Alps.
As we arrived at Vienna’s main train station, as always, we easily found our train and couchette. The numbers had been changed around a bit, by the conductor, so we decided to ask the question... are you sure were in the right place? Hmm, she assured us we’re where we’re supposed to be. The room when we had arrived in it had the standard two couches facing each other. Everything was going smooth until the conductor woman came back in. (It should be noted that when we first asked her if we were cool she was very short and didn’t really want to be bothered for some reason) As the blunt woman reappeared she motioned us up and then began the transformation. Within 5 minutes she had transformed our two couches into 6 beds. “Excuse me, we don’t need 6 beds.” She
then brokenly explained to us that this room is a six person couchette. You have got to be F-ing kidding me!!! This is smaller than a jail cell and your going to make 6 strangers sleep together. Son of a bitch. Ok, ok can you explain what we paid extra for... because there are 6 seats (now beds) in here and I am confused in the noteworthy monetary increase? She hands us two bottles of water and asks if we want our bread and coffee here or in the Zurich station. GOOD GOD WE ARE IN JAIL!!!!!! (Or, worst hell... since they at least have flat water in jail, damn water with gas! Worthless!)
Within minutes we had our first roomie join us. He was quiet and apparently a pro at the whole coffin in a jail cell thing. Suz and I got situated and prayed for no more bodies. As we stared aimlessly at each other pondering over how we could have not asked the question. “Private room?????” All I can say is damn. Our lovely conductor came back in and explained to us we were in the wrong beds. Wrong beds? Where the hell are the
numbers on these things? Are you just trying to make us as miserable as possible. (We had long forgot the romantic portion of this trip) We moved to the two middle beds and stared at each other some more and laughed. Since we felt guilty chatting it up across from each other on the beds we felt it would be appropriate to medicate ourselves and knock the hell out. This worked wonders for Suzy, but not I.
Around midnight, three hours into the ride, someone opened the door and peered in. Oh, joy here we go. The couple closed the door and stood in the hall. This I remember vividly as I was wide awake with anticipation of just how jacked up this trip could get. Ten minutes later, the couple opened the door again, then closed the door. Alright people, seriously. Five more minutes past and once again they open the door. Now the lovely conductor is with them. After what I could figure out, the wife was afraid of heights and didn’t want to sleep in her assigned bed, up the whopping 5 foot ladder. So, the woman slept below me and man, who I had
just noticed was elderly climbed the ladder to sleep above me.
Two hours later I had not slept a wink and the gentleman above me had started heighten his snoring from a low rumble to a raging club level, of bass, shaking the bowls of my body. Is this man dying? I honestly don’t think I could fake snore that damn loud. Something MUST be done! After contemplating the situation, I came up with a quick and effective way to silence this man, without punching him in the stomach through the mattress above me. (Which I probably would have done, If I wasn’t as mature as I am hahahaha) While the plan was effective it wasn’t exactly fool proof. There might be some casualties, namely disturbing others in the room. But seriously I’ve had enough.
With the pinpoint accuracy of an expert marksman I kicked the ladder sending a wrenching, nails on chalkboard sound up the ladder, just beside the mans head. OMFG, LOLOLOLOLOLOL. I almost peed myself trying not to bust out laughing. It was a flawless execution by a sleep deprived soul. Ah, success is so sweet...... It took only three more piercing shifts
of the ladder to make the night bearable. I would like to take this time to formally apologize to Suzy and the other two roomies that felt the wrath of the ladder. 😊
We arrived in Zurich at 6am and found the luggage storage lockers. I think they were around 8 Swiss Francs for each one, our bags were pretty big. But, this ended up being a saving grace as we wanted to wander around and check out the beautiful town. Although it was raining, we walked down the famed Bahnhofstrasse. This is the street that it is rumored to be lined with the gold of the surrounding Swiss Banks. (It is also worth mentioning that Zurich, because of its banking, is supposed to have the most amount of millionaires in the world.)
Just as we had heard, it was like walking down Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills. We have no business shopping here, because we are not millionaires. The prices in this city are best brought into aspect by the price of a venti coffee at Starbucks, around $10. Seriously, that’s like 1 billion percent markup. After some time and a coffee (not at Starbucks),
we headed over to our hotel, Hotel Bristol, around nine (which is very close to the main train station). To my total surprise they allowed us to check in. We could not have been happier, we get to rest in a bed for a few hours then off to the airport to pick up Talar.
We picked up three Zurich cards, valid for travel anywhere in Zurich for 24 hours, before boarding the train to the airport. These turned out to be very convenient over the following days. But, honestly no one ever asked to see it. So, we technically could have saved the money.
Talar’s plane arrived on time and we were rejuvenated by our reunion with Suzy’s little sister. All of the luggage was accounted for and back on the train we went to go unwind at the hotel.
We chilled at the hotel for a bit, then out to check things out and grab some food. We cruised the streets of Old Town and decided on a fondue spot for dinner. While it wasn’t the best financial decision (it rarely is) eating in the touristy part of town it suited our
vegetarian needs and they had drinks as well. You just simply must eat at a fondue spot in Switzerland.
After finishing the giant pot of bubbling cheese. We asked our waiter where was the best place to go out that night. He stirred us toward a bar/club called PurPur. After a much longer walk than we had expected, we were glad we had Sprite bottle full of Vodka, yum. We ended up finding PurPur pretty easy and were amazed at how chill the place was. Huge low couches, pillows, chill music and hookah, perfect for making Talar feel at home. One apfell hookah and a couple drinks later we headed back out in the cold walked home for a fun day of touring tomorrow.
The next day we woke up with the big ambitions of conquering a local mountain as well as the world famous Lindt Sprunglii Chocolate Factory.
We hopped on the U4 and headed toward Aldiswil, one of the local vistas overlooking all of Zurich. While it wasn’t quite mountain climbing it was an up hill walk about 10 minutes to the Felsenegg. This was the local gondola to the top of
the mountain. We easily found the gondola but were a bit baffled at how to operate it. (We’re not total idiots, the guy in the tourist info spot said you needed to go through the turnstile to turn the gondola.on) Well there was no turnstile. So we looked dumb and tried to find the guy in the office. He told us to chill and it would leave in 5 minutes and sure enough it did with no warning.
The view from up top was beautiful and snowy, and as promised you could see all of Zurich as well as Lake Zurich. After snapping some photos and a bit of hiking the three of us decided to get out of the cold at a local restaurant atop the hill. Two coffees, a water and two apple strudels later and we were warm, content, and ready to head down the hill.
Once back in town we hopped the train to Klichberg, to go sample some of the worlds best chocolate at the Lindt & Sprunglii chocolate factory. From the train station it is easy to reach. Just head down the hill to the main road just off the
lake and hand a right. Ten minutes later the smell of cocoa filled our nostrils and we knew we were close. Unfortunately the “museum” of the chocolate factory was closed indefinitely but the store was most certainly open for business. It was amazing sooooo many kinds of chocolate.... spicy chili, creme brulee, cream caramel, tiramisu, Cuban Cocoa, as well as chocolate bars offering ever nut under the sun. Talar was in heaven and couldn’t decide on what flavors to get! I believe we had about $60 worth of chocolate on us when we left. Hell, I even conned Suzy into going back to the front desk of the factory, where we weren’t allowed, and grabbing a couple free goodies from the receptionist desk. Delicious!
That night we chilled in the room and prepared ourselves for the early morning train ride to Milan, Italy. Look out! I see lots of pizzas and wine in our future.
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Erin
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It's sad, but it took me this long to figure out how to add a comment! Picturing the six person sleeping car and Dave kicking the ladder is pretty much my favorite story from the trip! Way to take care of things the Johnson way! mmmmm.. chocolate :) Miss you guys!!!