Europe on a shoestring - Day 1 (Zurich) [September 24, 2005]

Arrived at Zurich airport at 10:30. Swiss efficiency saw us out of the airport and into the train leading to Zurich HB (railway station) at 11:10. The railway station is beneath the airport and everything is run according to the clock. Since we were before the 12:00 lockout period we had the time to walk with the backpacks for a couple of miles to the City Backpacker hostel. Aaaah yes, before I forget we saw a taste representative of Zurich in the form of a Porsche Carrera GT ($450,000) cruising outside the station.

Its just like Victoria Terminus in Bombay, India

City Backpacker is a small neat place by the side of the street -– so small that we nearly missed it the first time through. It is on the upper floors of one building and after climbing many flights of steps leads to the small reception. The rooms are very small with a 6-bed dorm and two guys were in bed when we entered.

Our timing had been impeccable and checked in 2 minutes before 12:00. Thanks be to God, since if we had been late it would have meant walking all the way back to the station to deposit the baggage. This timing would become more and more common through our trip,– we never actually MISSED anything, although many a time we did come CLOSE to missing it.
After relaxing a bit, and yes it was just a bit since we were in Zurich only for the day we moved out along Niederdorfstrasse. This is all old town Zurich, with cobble stone streets and cafes and shops all around,– again a common sight throughout our tour, quite charming in fact.

On our way along Niederdorfstrasse towards the hostel - traveling in style
Narrow bylanes in the old part of the city - the heart of the Dada art movement (and no - I have no clue as to what exactly that is)
Along the Limmat

We first saw Grossmunster and Fraumunster (the ‘Great minister’ and the ‘Lady minister)’ churches in Zurich. Both of them within viewing distance of each other on opposite banks of the Limmat river. Both churches are now de-consecrated, victims of the reformist movement of Huynrich Zwingli and company.

Grossmunster
Fraumunster

Mark Chagall'’s windows are super-famous in the Fraumunster, although they seem a bit out of place in a 1000-year-old cathedral.

The famous Chagall Windows

We moved on to Bahnhofstrasse, which in comparison to Niederdorfstrasse is the ‘business’ street in Zurich. However before that we took a small detour and went to see Burkliplatz along the Zurichese (lake).

Burkliplatz

First comments on walking back -– Zurich sure is expensive. All along the road are only shops dedicated to super-high designer wear, and the only cars you see are Ferrari, Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Saw clothes for E3850 and obviously given this climate the kind of people who were walking about were of course pretty. Felt out of place in my t-shirt and crumpled travel pants, but what the heck, it was my vacation -– and for sure it felt comfortable. (a piece of advice -– nylon travel pants ARE the way to go - may look crumpled and ordinary, but dry fast, occupy less space, and are super light, all important requirements when you are lugging your stuff around).

Poulterswil with potatoes and rice

Finally we stopped by Manor department store and had lunch at their self-serve buffet Manora. Had Poulterswil (chicken) with sides. Not sure if it was Anil'’s idea of being '‘chilled'’ enough,– but it was good value for money. Thanks again to Rough Guides, which I must say are one of the best books around, and offer good insights into traveling, including cheap and good eats.

@ Landesmuseum

Moved on to Landesmuseum (Swiss National museum -– I guess that'’s how the name comes about). Although it was huge it seemed pretty empty and we just walked around it – and instead went in the Limmatschiff to have a joyride through the Limmat and a bit of the Zurichese.

All about the Limmatschiff

The boat rides are a great way to unwind and digest on what you have seen and you can see a lot of things by boat that you may not be able to do on land.

Panoramic Zurichese

We followed that with a train ride to Uetliberg from where one can get a panoramic view of Zurich -– especially through a 30m high viewing tower. Beautiful cityscape seen with the setting sun.

View of Zurich from Uetliberg

In the evening it began to get a bit chilly, especially with clever me having now sweater. We returned after dark arriving at the Nordsee fish diner (a Rough guide recommendation situated conveniently at the railway station) and had some fresh fish and washed it down with a beer. Good food for the day.

Zurich by night... with the neon COOP sign which followed us all along Switzerland

Room was comfortable and slept after bath at around 23:00. The other guys were a guy name Dhranay from Mexico and an American named Chris from New Mexico studying Tibetian culture among the exiles in Zurich – nice scholarship I must say. Seemed ok enough people but we took no chances and chained our bags using the trusted bike-chain locks.