Zürich & Geneva, Switzerland
Zürich
We left Denver on Iceland Air for Zürich. There was a stop over in
Keflavik. Much has changed since we last flew in either 1981 or 1982
when JKF was their only US terminal and Luxemburg the only
Continental Europe termanal. There are many cities on both
continents now. We met David in Keflavik as he flew in from Seattle.
At the airport we showed our passport and did not have to show it
again until we were bound back for the US. We continued on to
Zürich. Iceland Air upgraded us from business to Saga without any
real explaination but it made the next leg more comfortable.
We arrived in Zürich on Friday afternoon. We had excellent
instructions from Claudia on how to get from the airport to our
hotel, the Renaissance Zürich Tower, and from there to her office
where she and Marina had a quick business meeting and I tried to
stay awake. One really nice thing about Zürich is the public
transport. There are trains, trolleys (they call them trams) and
buses everywhere. You buy a 24 hour pass and just get on and off.
Checks for tickets are random and we did not encounter one. However
if you are caught cheating the penalties can be severe. I don't
think this honor system would work in the states. After the meeting
with Claudia we all went to the old part of town for an Italian
dinner at Molino-Select, then back to the hotel to crash.
Saturday we went to the old part of town for a while, went to the
chocolate store Claudia recommended, then using the 24 hour public
transit pass, caught the water taxi for a short loop around the
northern end of the lake that Zürich borders on. At the end of the
taxi ride, it started to rain so we had lunch at Confiserie
Sprungli. After lunch we walked some more. The old church has had
its stained glass replaced by designs by Marc Chagall. We were the
only ones it seems that honored the request not to take pictures (so
that they could sell you pictures). After we got back to the hotel
to rest and have a drink at the bar, we went out for Fondue. This is
what I requested and while the food was great, I should have
requested something German because when we left Zürich, we left
German restaruants. I did not even get a pretzel. Thought I would
have a chance in Geneva but did not.
Geneva
Sunday we walked back to the train station, caught a train to the
downtown station, the caught a train to Geneva. Marina had purchased
1st class tickets before we left for Europe. This time they did
check the tickets!! As we arrived at Geneva, we walked
downhill from the train station to our hotel, Hotel de la Paix which
is right on the lake a block from the mouth of the river the lake
drains into. We walked around, had a light lunch of pizza
slices and salad, walked around some more and played with our
cameras as the weather was nice, then back to the hotel to rest.
Dinner was at Rhone 4A which is is not a tourist destination where
we had steak and Pomme Frites. The next morning we took a cab to the
airport and met up with our group.
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This page last updated June 28, 2016