I've been enjoying your emails very much - sorry if my replies have been brief, but they're likely to become more so from today onwards as I leave Zurich and my hotel with its WiFi for the wilds, so internet access (and power) are probably both going to be pretty erratic from now on. Given that, I'll prioritise writing this in preference to replying to individual emails where I have to make a choice, as this reaches all of you (and, more importantly, lets you know where in the world I am, which given my gypsy-ish lack of formal itinerary for the next month is an important safety consideration!). Please don't think this means I don't value your emails, as I do, tremendously, and hope you understand my lack/brevity of individual emails in response under the circumstances. :)
That said, here's what I got up to today:
Rainy rainy rainy!
You can see what a dampish day it was in this video I took from my balcony (I love technology). Spent some time getting all my gear in order, including having a go at sealing the seams on my tent. Note to self, seam-sealer does not travel well in the cargo hold of a plane. Just as well it's water soluble before it sets, and that it was itself still sealed in the packaging I bought it in, or there would have been a very big and fairly permanent kind of mess in my luggage. JH, don't know if JA is reading this, he was the one who put me onto seam sealer and I think I need some tips as I don't think it's working as it should! Might just get a tarp, then I know it won't leak - don't much fancy waking up in a sodden sleeping bag.
Tent repairs in my tiny, plain, but quite comfortable little hotel room.
Travelling is just so glamorous.
Travelling is just so glamorous.
The rain tapered off so I ventured out to the old Botanic Garden. Completely bare of humans due to the weather, it was a soft, green, slightly overgrown little garden, full of beautiful old plants, flowers, secret paths and little nooks where you could take cool and shady refuge on a summer's day. Chairs were scattered throughout, I certainly got the feeling that minus the rain this must be a very popular place to spend a lunch break.
Looking in the opposite direction to yesterday's photo of the Sihl, in more ways than one -
grey skies and muddy water today
The Old Botanic Garden - lush and green, with winding paths and just a little bit overgrown
Then over to St Peter Kirche - spent ages pottering around in here taking photos of things.
St Peter Kirche is the big tower with the huge clock face at the centre of the picture.
In black and white because the dull, rainy weather made for a miserable-looking photo in colour; black and white makes almost anything look good!
St Peter Kirche - view from the altar towards the back of the church
St Peter Kirche - view from back to front of church
St Peter Kirche - detail
In each of the ancient churches I've visited in Zurich the faint marks of the paintings of centuries ago can be found. This photo was taken at the back of the sanctuary in St Peter Kirche.
Many of the windows in the older buildings in the city feature these hexagonal panes
Came out to find the rain had started again with a vengeance, so rain-coated up and went for a bit more of a wander around town, past:
- The guild houses
- Stopped by the Limmat in the pouring rain to listen to the bells of Grossmünster, Fraumünster and St Peter Kirche all ringing at once - you can listen too, I recorded a bit of it here (did I mention I love technology?!?)
- The Opera House
- Lake Zurich
Bit of a grey and miserable day at Lake Zurich. Uetliberg, a mountain which offers a great view of Zurich, is to the right - I plan on visiting it when I come back to Zurich at the end of this trip. If it was a clear day, I believe you'd be able to see snow-capped alps at the left of this picture - for now, you'll just have to use your imagination.
- Fraumünster again
Swiss National Museum
I read somewhere that the Swiss don't like to do anything unless they're paid for it, and apart from the fountains I mentioned in my last post that does seem to be true. Even going to the bathroom will cost you a pretty penny (anywhere from 1 CHF (Swiss franc - equivalent to 1.33 Australian dollars at the time of writing) to 2.5 CHF. Hmm, suddenly the free-ness of the water flowing from all those fountains makes sense ...)
Without being too indelicate, I've found the best way around this particular problem while keeping my budget in check is to visit an attraction you have to pay for - in this case the museum - where the bathrooms are free to use.
The Swiss National Museum was not quite what I expected. I visited four of its handful of exhibitions - Swiss history, living rooms, tower of arms and the collections hall. The Swiss history collection was by far the most extensive, but it didn't seem to follow in any chronological order so I found myself quite bewildered by treaties and wars. Besides the general "Swiss history overview" section there were separate sections covering banking, exports and thought (yes, that's right - thought - a section dedicated to the achievements of philosophers etc).
During the Renaissance, coconuts were such rare and exotic fruits that they were often reworked into precious cups. Consider that while you chug back your next coconut water.
This one comes from southern Germany/Switzerland and is dated to 1570.
This detail from a 1602 double goblet combines state-of-the-art scientific insights into the nature of space and time, as reflected in the globes which feature here, as well as artistic skill.
Hitler's signature on a trade contract between Switzerland and Germany.
Switzerland entered contracts with both sides during the second World War
in order to guarantee foreign trade during this period.
This flag flew above the Swiss embassy in Berlin during WWII.
In April 1945, the embassy came under fire from Soviet troops.
The embassy staff managed to save their flag and bring it back to Switzerland.
Safety-deposit boxes
Living room of an Italian mansion, the Palazzo Pestalozzi-Castelvetro, 1585
A glorious example of a ceramic-tiled stove. This was probably the fanciest one I found at the museum. Note the steps up to a little seat at the left hand side of the picture.
Phone
Finally, after a couple of days of everyone I spoke to telling me it wasn't possible to get a SIM which would work throughout Europe, found someone who could solve this particular problem for me. Turns out a SIM which works here is essential (my Australian one doesn't - thanks, Aldi Mobile ;P) as you can't access any of the free WiFi points without a mobile number. I'm going to save this for emergencies though as roaming will cost an arm and a leg, so I'm already starting to build a collection of hard copy maps for my route so I don't have to rely on Google Maps. I always prefer hard copy maps in any case - I like to sit and pore over them for hours, finding things I might not otherwise have known about if I'd used Google Maps, which is great if you want to get from known point A to known point B in the fastest time, but not so good if you want to wander around a bit, finding unexpected treasures, which is the whole purpose of this particular holiday.
Gas
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have gas. For my camping stove, that is. After everything I'd read online telling me that I was going to have to buy a stove here as none of the cartridges would work with an Australian stove, I only packed my tiniest camping stove on the offchance I'd find a cartridge I could use with it. After spending hours yesterday searching for camping shops in Zurich, I ended up finding one completely by chance when I walked past it - a whole two blocks from my hotel. And yes, they have cartridges which fit my stove, so I splurged and got two. Yee ha, hot dinners while on the road! After a bit of miming with the sales lady, who only spoke a very little English, I got her to write the German words for "matches" and "lighter" on the back of my receipt and took it over to a convenience store nearby where I got some matches as well. Hehehe #owning this not-speaking-German thing.
Got back to my hotel feeling very "I am woman, hear me roar" after sorting out the phone and gas situation, and had a lovely little tea of fresh bread, brie, salami and tomato in my room. It feels tremendously luxurious to have all my camping gear here - means that preparing a nice, if simple, meal is very easy.
Bed
Realised that the weird block-and-tackle type apparatus in my room is for some heavy-duty window armour. If I was every in any doubt that this place gets cold, I need only look at the window-dressings. Behind the light, summery curtains is double glazing and then this window armour (sure there's a proper name for it but I don't know what it is). Anyway, the window armour acts as a total blackout device - not only light but apparently air are all kept at bay by it. By this stage it was only 8pm and still very light outside, but I was beat so it was a joy to let down the armour, shut the light and the cool air out and sleep a well-earned sleep.
Window armour, with window-armour-pulley-thing (technical term)
Onwards!
I leave the lovely Hotel St Georges to pick up hire car this morning - wish me luck, am feeling very nervous about this! Aiming for Rhine Falls, an hour out of Zurich, today and will probably camp somewhere near there tonight. Thinking of heading to Neuschwanstein Castle tomorrow and then Munich the day after that, but will see what I find along the way and depends on how I find the driving. Could be a few days before I'm able to post again, but will when I can.