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Published: July 31st 2010
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On the train ride to Zurich we went past the Rhine Falls, Europe’s biggest waterfalls. They looked amazing even from the train! Unfortunately when we arrived in Zurich it was very wet 😞 We know Zurich is in a lovely setting but we couldn’t see much! The long walk to the hotel in the rain wasn’t much fun but we made the most of our time and headed back into the city after dumping our bags. We decided that comfort food was in order - fondue or course!! Our very expensive dinner (everything is ridiculously priced here) consisted of a HUGE pot of bubbling cheese, bread and wine! Yum!! Unfortunately that much cheese didn’t sit too well in our stomachs after! We decided not to go for the chocolate fondue for dessert.
The following day in Switzerland was the longest time we had apart as Richie headed to his heavy metal festival and Lysh wandered around the sights and shops. Richie took the train out to the Sonisphere festival which was in Schwarzenbach, about an hour from Zurich. The train was packed with lots of foreign metal fanatics preparing for a huge day! When I arrived I had no idea
where to go so just followed the massive crowd. Along the walk to the venue I came across some people selling garbage bags and people wrapping them around the bottom of their jeans, I thought, sure that looks like a great idea! Once I paid my 4 francs for two rubbish bags and some electrical tape I felt I was prepared for the day and hopefully I wouldn’t get to wet! How naive I was, by the time I got to the venue everyone walking past me was covered in mud! Basically you had to walk across a field of around 600 meters in mud around 3 inches thick to reach the gates. I tried my best to keep following the path to stay out of the way of the mud, but the path ended.... I figured this wouldn’t be the last of the mud so I trudged through the gates and then another 1km of mud, passed the muddy tents of all the diehards camping, then finally I reached the two stages. When I arrived “As I lay dying” were playing. I headed straight for the beer tent to get some supplies and go and make my way ready
Sonisphere
Thats a photo of my feet, can you see them? for Anthrax. I found a position to the left of the main stage on the hill where people were peeing all over the makeshift fence. I then came across a dead mouse and another mouse shivering like I was, at this time as the rain was getting heavier and it was very cold! Anthrax came on stage and were awesome! I found myself headbanging along with the other hardcore fans! Bullet for my Valentine were next on the smaller stage and kept me entertained, I really enjoyed their set and will be definitely listening to some more of their music when I return to Australia. When they finished it was time for Alice in Chains! Wow, they nearly put me to sleep! Yawning I headed off to the tent again to try and find another beer and something to eat! I can’t remember the name of what I actually ate, but it was pretty much a beef kebab on a stick, which set me back 15 swiss francs! Ouch, I’d better head for the pizza stand next time! When I left the tent the chains just finished and I saw a massive queue for the main stage and decided I
would line up! Little did I realise that Slayer was due on the Apollo stage next. I jumped in the queue and joined the pushing action, metal heads vs security, not easy to predict who won that battle. Once I was settled, Stone Sour was on the Saturn stage and like other bands earlier were very good! Slayer didn’t disappoint, it was probably the most active pit of the day, I reluctantly stood 15 metres clear and watched! Next on the Saturn stage was Megadeth who were so so. Motorhead followed them up and rocked the stage, they seemed to bring the sun out which was nice, but I was too lazy to take of my rain jacket and get domo out for that matter, I had visions of the little guy disappearing into the mud! After the old rockers pumped out some great tunes Rise Against took the Saturn stage. As these guys play primarily punk rather than metal, the foreign metal fans took a backward step and took a while to get into them, but as it was my first time to see them play I’ll admit I was impressed! By the end of their set everyone was
looking forward to seeing the main act - Metallica!! They played a lot of old songs mixed with a couple of new ones, they put on a pretty good 2 hour plus show. As soon as they were off so was I and around 50% of the crowd. It took quite a while to trudge back to the train station covered in mud, I feel sorry for the rail company, they’ll be cleaning the carpets and seats on the trains for the next 2 months. I made it home safe and sound at around 2 still buzzing from the noise, I had such an amazing day and was awesome to see some many big acts in the one festival, Australia is quite isolated to these big festivals so it was definitely a major highlight in my travels.
Meanwhile while Richie as getting muddy and headbanging away Lysh was being civilised and visitng churches! I walked along the recommended tourist route and ducked into places here and there to get a break from the rain. These included two 13th Century churches and the St Peterskirche tower which has Europe’s largest clock face. The two churches were the Fraumunster and the
Grossmunster which both have famous and very unique painted windows. I had planned on going for a dip in the Zurichsee (lake) but the sun didn’t come out for me Shopping was the next best thing! I window shopped around the old town and then the famous Bahnhofstrasse which is a mile of shops and cafes - most out of our budget! I had a great day relaxing day and was glad to see the mud covered Richie when he got “home” at about 2am.
After a sleep in the next morning we left for Luzerne. It was a pity the weather wasn’t kind to us in Zurich as I think the city would have been much prettier when the sun was out!
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