Blogs from North-East, Switzerland, Europe - page 42

The train ride from Munich into Zurich was another comfortable and pleasent trip typical of all our experiences on German trains. However, when we went to eat at the on-board dining car we found the prices of the meals to be unusually expensive which was a sign of things to come in Switzerland. When we went to prebook our accommodation for Zurich we found everything to be very expenisve. Oddly we found there to be no cheaper hostel type places in the city centre, only luxury hotels. This may have something to do with Zurich being a major financial centre rather than a destination for budget travellers. Anyhow, eventually we settled for a cheapish hotel (Hotel Ibis) located about 20km from the city centre opposite a train station at Baar. Costs were fairly easy to work ... read more

I got to Pisa and went to see the leaning tower. I took some photos, but could not climb up because I had all of my luggage. I had my thoughts confirmed by some others that Pisa does not offer much. I was delighted when I got to the net cafe to have an email from francesco saying he could host me on that night. I contacted him quickly and he met me in the square. We got some kebabs and went to his flat with his friends. They went to see a horror movie in Italian, I declined and did some train research. I had my own bed which was nice and I slept well. The next day we played with his Chinchilla , Roger and then he made us some pasta before my departure. ... read more

You may have noticed but the blog has been down recently and we just got access this morning. It is 7:43 am in Zurich and we have a few minutes before hitting the road towards Grindewald and Lauterbrunnen so here is a quick play by play of what we've been up to the last few days. Wednesday - We visited Worms where Martin Luther was called on to recant his views that started the Protestant Reformation. We saw the Holy Trinity Reformation Memorial Church which was very modern but a neat little place. We headed on to Rothenburg which is a medieval village with cobbelstone streets and the whole bit. We spent the evening there in a gasthaus hotel and took a sunset stroll along the stone wall that surrounds the village. Thursday - This was ... read more

We met Pascal Behr at “the meeting place,” by the big clock at the Zurich train station. We were greeted with a big swiss-german hug and a smile from ear to ear. It has been harder to make conversation with women since leaving London. In Amsterdam women are a bit guarded, something I can totally understand, and the women in Switzerland have their own agenda (atleast that is my impression for the duration of my stay). The woman sitting next us while we ate breakfast was my first attempt at a counter-part swiss-german conversation. She was dressed all in black and quietly drank her coffee while Pascal, Ryan, and I were catching up- excitement flowed throughout all of us. I didn’t know how to start a conversation, so when the opportunity arrived for her to ... read more

Hey Everyone, I just had a good olde fashioned English Breakfast Thai style in 31degrees heat, an saw a Internet Cafe on the way back to guesthouse so I thought I better get this whole Blog thing going :) So the journey has begun an yet nearly got delayed in Switzerland of all places. We flew Swiss Airways from Dublin to Zurich on Tuesday 26th June, about 3hours of comfort aboard a very plush airline, well for backpackers anyways. We got fed about hour into flight which consisted of a swiss cheese sandwich and swiss chocolate - we decided this was the perfect oppurtunity to start our powers of bargainng an asked the airhostess for belguim chocolate an cheddar cheese - the good olde swiss humour got the better of us as she smiled, said nothing ... read more