The Swiss Alps

After Italy I took the train and headed north into Switzerland. My first impression - beautiful and very cold! At least compared to the warm, balmy weather I had experienced in Italy. After getting off the train I took the bus (following the directions given on the internet) to the hostel. Found it easily enough even though it was nighttime and quite dark out. Fortunately it was Saturday night and there were lots of people out and about - who knew the train station in Zurich was the place to be Saturday nights!

The hostel was on a nice quiet street and the man who nice when I checked in. I climbed the stairs to my room and started unpacking. There were only two beds (one bunkbed) which was nice as usually they packed us into hostel bedrooms like Sardines! The other girl who was to be my roommate soon arrived after her day of sightseeing and introduced herself as Marilyn. She was from Canada, tall and slender and extremely friendly - very talkative thing too. I was quite tired after my train ride and then walk to find the hostel plus it was quite late and night, but no matter - this girl talked like we were best friends that hadn't seen each other in years. She filled me in on her travels of where she had been, what she had seen and the souvenirs she had collected. It was so nice to exchange conversation with someone in English but I have to admit I didn't get many words in between hers. She even insisted on showing me her wonderful collection of gifts and random knicknacks she had picked up on her trips. After what seemed liked hours we finally brushed our teeth and got ready for bed. Even in the dark and not able to see one another she kept up a steady stream of conversation until she finally petered out a bit and fell asleep.

The next morning we decided to go sightseeing together and caught the bus into the city. On the bus we met up with a boy from the States who said his name was John. John was traveling for a couple weeks before heading to school in Denmark. Not knowing where to go, and hearing us speak English, John asked if the three of us could hang out together. We agree this would be a fine plan. After dropping John's things off at the train station (we stored them in lockers) we walked over to one of the main museums in Zurich. It was a nice museum with many ancient artwork pieces.

After the museum we decided to take a break on a boat and took a ride on the lake which was free with our Zurich pass ( a pass which we had bought at the train station, good for three days of travel on the buses, trams and boats within Zurich). The boat ride was chilly but fun and we even managed to get a few pictures of the three of us.

After the boat we walked around the town looking for a place to have dinner. We finally found what seemed to be a "Swedish" place and went inside. We ended up sitting next to a nice couple from out of town who spoke German and were able to explain what it was they ad ordered for dinner. Aside from John, who ordered pasta, Marilyn and I ordered "Swedish" dishes and ate pretty heartily.

The next day Marilyn had to leave so we dropped her off at the train station. Then John and I rented bikes and rode to the Zurich zoo. It was fun just hanging out and enjoying the animals and the families there with the kids. After the zoo we cruised around a bit on our bikes and then headed back the station. After dropping off our bikes we changes into our bathing suites and went swimming in one of the streams leading into the Zurich lake. It was fun and so nice to cool off after the bike ride.

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