However a looong shower at the hotel I've treated myself to to de-jet lag for a couple of nights soon set that right and I managed to put in a full day of touristing before passing out here in my little room under the rafters at the Hotel St Georges.
Today's highlights:
- Arrival at airport - when I asked someone whether I needed to have my hiking boots and tent checked I got an incredulous chuckle for a response. In Australia or New Zealand this would have been essential in order to make sure they didn't carry dirt which could bring in biocontaminants, but not here. Fortunately the person I asked had been to New Zealand so understood why I was asking! Was very quickly in possession of my bags and baggages and looking for the train.
- Train and tram to hotel - as smooth and efficient as I'd been led to believe Swiss public transport to be. The air here smells familiar - it reminds me of rural France, all flowers and sunshine, with a certain earthiness that makes me think, unreasonably (given that I haven't laid eyes on one), of horses. Shower and a little rest before going exploring.
- Fraumünster
- Lake Zurich - air very cloudy so no photos
- Wander through town - a town which reminds me very much of Christchurch, New Zealand in summer - it's full of flowers and lush green spaces, and there are rivers running throughout the town, many of which are such a beautiful clear blue-green that you can see the fish swimming through them. I kept thinking of the immortal words of Zoolander, because this is truly a place
- that is "really, really, ridiculously good looking".
View along the Sihl - a 5-minute walk from my hotel in the middle of Zurich
View from the Schanzengrabenpromenade to the Alter Botanischer Garten (Old Botanic Garden)
Fortunagasse
Flowers, flowers, everywhere!
Zunft zur Meisen (guild house originally of innkeepers, painters and saddlers)
as seen from Münsterhof
- The fountains! There are 1,224 fountains in Zurich, through all of which flow cool, clear, drinkable water. I particularly like this as it means I don't have to carry much water with me on my wanderings - just one little bottle which I can freely refill whenever I need to. As a big walker, and in this hot summer weather, this makes the city feel very hospitable.
A tiny side crypt which I don't think I was meant to be in.
It was entered through a small doorway just high enough for me to fit through.
Heavy wood and metal doors showing scenes from the Bible.
- The Limmat - the main river which runs through the city.
View from Lake Zurich up the Limmat, with Fraumünster on the left bank (green spire) and Grossmünster on the right (double tower)
- Migros (supermarket) for lunch supplies - big relief, I was ravenous and despite hours of being on the lookout for a supermarket during my wanderings I hadn't seen one, ended up having to ask someone where the nearest one was. Had a simple lunch of bread, cheese and chocolate milk at a small park overlooking the Limmat.
- Lindenhof
View from Lindenhof over the Limmat
- Back to hotel for a couple of hours' rest and a plateful of grapes on the balcony, just being in Switzerland (thanks JPGG - given my tendency to just keep pushing on until I drop, eager to see everything there is to be seen, without our UK trip I don't know that I would have learnt your trick of just stopping to be some place)
- Another walkabout - sheer joy and relief of finding food, money, shelter without being able to speak the local language (some people speak a little English, but not everyone does, which has already produced some very interesting situations at the supermarket). And at one point I turned a corner and the air over the lake had cleared a little bit and I could see an alp with some snow on its crest and realised that I really am in Switzerland! Kept getting lost - I always forget how confusing it is to have the sun coming from a different angle in the northern hemisphere, so I can't rely on that to tell where I am here for the first few days while I get used to it. That and the traffic being on the right, instead of the left, side of the road were quite befuddling (I feel like a bobblehead doll whenever I'm about to cross a road as I can't yet remember which way I'm supposed to be looking for traffic so I just keep looking in each direction. Sure hope I get used to this before I pick the hire car up tomorrow.)
- Learnt first few words of German - I find it a difficult language, very different to French and Spanish in its look and feel; I don't seem to be able to find anything to grab hold of in it, so am finding it hard to remember even simple phrases like "I don't understand" (Ich verstehe nein) (not that this particular phrase matters very much as my blank expression and shrug of the shoulders usually say this for me).
- Dinner and a complete and well-deserved unconciousness
- Big summer thunderstorm through most of the night