Twelve days, totally solo, exploring via every mode of transport you can think of and it all started in the land of cheese, chocolate and coo coo clocks....
Over the past several weeks, my daily scroll through my social media memories has reminded me of where I've been a year ago, three years ago, six years ago or more. Pictures of the places I've explored and random musings of my travels in cities I've called home for a brief period in time. After nearly six months of being grounded and unable to freely travel, it's felt almost bittersweet reliving many places I grew to love. When people ask me my favorite place to travel, I undoubtedly name New Zealand as my number one, the place I'll return to again and again. But what's my number two? It's the place where I started my 12-day solo journey in the summer of 2014; Switzerland.
Welcome to Zurich I started my journey in Zurich, Switzerland, which was my base to explore a lot of the country over the course of the next five days. I found a cute hotel right in the pedestrian district, a mere 10-15 minute walk from the train station. As I've mentioned before, when you travel solo, location is important. You never know what you'll find as you wander the streets just right around the corner from your hotel. This one did not disappoint, there were tons of restaurants and shops just out the front door and a fondue restaurant on the first floor. Before I left home, I bought a Swiss Pass as I had planned several long train trips around the country during my stay. My plans were lofty and ambitious. I planned to hit the ground running the minute I arrived. And that's what I did.
Day 1: Zurich After settling into my hotel, I sought out food! Finding a busy cafe near my hotel, I ordered a simple burger, fries and drink. What I wasn't prepared for was the cost of things in Switzerland! Let's just say that burger and fries was quite tasty given what I paid for it and not a single fry was left on my plate! Then, like I do in many new cities I scoped out a hop on/hop off type of tour and did the same in Zurich. I figured out quickly after the trolley circled back and forth around some of the same streets near my hotel that Zurich in itself was relatively small and walkable so the tour, while informative, was not really necessary but suited the purpose for a low-key easy day while I adjusted to the jet lag. Craving German food and an early night, I easily found a place near my hotel, but a quiet dinner wasn't what I experienced! Remember that story about my meal with seven 70 year-old'ish footballers enjoying a bit of a reunion from my blog about dining solo....well, that was my first night in Zurich!
Day 2: Lucerne I had four, day-long train journey's planned during my time in Zurich. The first to Lucerne, a town, in retrospect that I should have based myself in for my stay in Switzerland. Not that I didn't love Zurich; Lucerne is just a little more central in the country itself. Arriving in town, I hit the Tourist Information and was advised to catch a boat that would take me across Lake Lucerne to Mount Pilatus where I'd ride a cog-wheel train to the top of the mountain and take a gondola back down the other side. From the amazing homes I saw along the lake, to the breath-taking ride up the mountain (along with cows with their bells around their necks) to the amazing gondola ride back down the mountain to town, each view was more amazing than the one before. I had a little bit of time to wonder the streets of Lucerne before catching an early train back to Zurich to meet up with my friend from Australia who was in town for a family wedding. Remember my blog about my penpal in New Zealand, yep, that same friend and first and only time we've met up in a different country than the ones where we live!
Day 3: Locarno/Ascona
Taking the advice of my "footballer" dinner companions from my first night in Zurich, I set off on my first day-long train journey to the Italian region of Switzerland for the town of Locarno. My pre-trip research led me to this part of the country which sits along Lake Maggiore along the border with Italy, a country I had still yet to visit. Before my impromptu dinner I had just planned to wander around Locarno, known for its Film Festival each August and experience a bit of this region of Switzerland. But my dinner mates suggested that once I got to Locarno, I should find a ferry and sail around the lake to Ascona, "a much more charming town," they promised. So, that's what I did and it did not disappoint. From it's colorful buildings along cobblestone side streets, to it's beautiful lake side promenade, to the endless gelato shops I was instantly in love with this quaint lakeside town. After a few hours, I took the boat back to Locarno, wandered around a bit more finding their version of Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" with hand prints of several famous people on cement squares lining a garden. It was a beautiful area and solidified my plan to visit Italy someday soon though it took about five more years to make it there!
Day 4: Swiss Alps Arguably my biggest day of the entire trip and most definitely the most ambitious, I set out to get a taste of the Swiss Alps. It was going to be a LONG day, but never one to want to miss an opportunity to see and do EVERYTHING while I'm traveling, I was up to the challenge. So, I headed out early to catch a 730am train to Interlaken where I'd change trains to head on to Lauterbrunnen and begin my climb to the top, Schilthorn, and hopefully view the various mountain peaks of the Swiss Alps from Plaza Gloria. The journey to Lauterbrunnen from Zurich takes about 2 1/2 hours, though as I quickly learned, when traveling through Switzerland by train, it's not about just getting to where you're going, the view along the way is often breathtaking.
Once I arrived in Lauterbrunnen, I visited the trusty tourist information office to get my map and determine my route to the top. My journey to Schilthorn would include a number of trains, gondolas and cable cars to get to the top and back down again. After riding my first cable car up the mountain from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp, I boarded an open air train to ride along the ridge to the town of Murren. The views were absolutely magnificent with lots of greenery and small little villages below. Once I arrived in Murren, it was a picturesque walk through this quiet town, car-free town nestled in the side of the mountain. As it was their national holiday (similar to our 4th of July here in the States), I saw Swiss flags everywhere and far less people than I'd anticipated. After I walked through Murren I hopped on my next cable car ride up to Birg where I would board my third cable car to the Plaza Gloria or Schilthorn and hopefully glimpse the surrounding mountain peaks. By the time I had gotten this far it was around lunchtime and I was warned that by this time in the day the cloud cover would likely impede upon the ability to see the mountains- simply because I'd quite literally be standing IN the clouds. And I was.
I knew this when I started my journey from Zurich and in retrospect, it would be the reason I'd stay in Murren or another smaller town nearby, if I were to make this journey again. I was told that in most of the hotels there is a channel on the TV's where you can see the view from Plaza Gloria in real time, so you'll know when to race to catch the cable cars to the top. You can also see what the view would look like from the webcam on their website. It is spectacular. Not willing to give up a chance that I might glimpse a mountain peak or two, I decided to grab a snack while I was up in the clouds. A few times while I sat at my table gazing out the windows I was able to see the snow-covered peaks "peeking" through the clouds which gave me an idea of exactly how high up I was. And like all the other tourists as soon as those peaks appeared I ran outside for those essential pictures!
Next up was the journey back down the mountain. At the recommendation of the tourist information staff, instead of completely retracing my steps to make my way back to Lauterbrunnen, I rode the cable car down to Gimmelwald, another potential place to stay on a return visit. From there it was another cable car ride down to the train station and begin my journey back to Zurich. Knowing I had a long ride ahead, I planned to stop in the more touristy Interlaken to wander around and have dinner. Which was a great plan until a massive thunderstorm came through just after I finished eating my meal on an outside patio of a restaurant! I arrived back in Zurich just before midnight that night...yes, a LONG day. And I arrived back to the largest street party I could imagine- think New Years Eve in NYC. I did mention that it was Switzerland's national holiday, right?
Day 5: Rhine Falls/Stein Am Rhein
For my last full day in Switzerland, I'd planned to head towards the German border and visit Rhine Falls, the "Niagara Falls" of Europe. Not nearly the journey I took the day before and by now, I was a pro at navigating the train system. Oh, did I mention that during my day long excursion the day before that my iPhone died a sudden and early death? I later learned that I had a faulty charging cord that burned out my charging port on my iPhone, so I was back to old school navigation relying on maps, train timetables and the kindness of locals I met along the way. The thing that struck me that morning as I walked to the train station was that I couldn't find a speck of trash, not even a cigarette butt, on the sidewalks or roads from the New Years' Eve like celebration I walked back through to my hotel the night before. When I chatted up a local touring the Rhine Falls, he mentioned that the Swiss take a lot of pride in keeping their streets clean and litter free; in fact, most chip in to clean up after the party is over. Yet, another positive for a country I was quickly learning to love. After doing the touristy thing at Rhine Falls, I followed another recommendation I'd gotten off of Trip Advisor and headed to a town called Stein Am Rhein, a beautiful town with magnificently painted buildings. Picturesque it was, like so much I'd seen in Switzerland. I spent time wandering around, enjoying a fabulous German meal before making my way back to Zurich for my final night in Switzerland. I was off on the second leg of my journey the next morning with an early train departure for a country I couldn't wait to return to, Austria.
Before I wrap this up, there are a few things I learned about traveling around Switzerland.
Food is EXPENSIVE. Really, a lot of things are. The money I spent in those five days probably was 3/4's of the total I spent during my 12 day trip. So, make sure to book a hotel room that includes breakfast (which goes for a lot of places in Europe). Find the closest grocery store- while I think it's always fun to explore local food stores, many grocery stores also have grab and go sandwiches and of course other things you can pick up for long train journey's. I quickly learned to pack a sandwich and apple in my day pack which kept me from having to worry about stopping for lunch which saved some time, too. Bottles of water are also cheaper at grocery/convenience stores, too. By doing this, I enjoyed one good meal out each evening for dinner and didn't feel like I was breaking the bank for food and sustenance.
Public transport in Switzerland is the way to go. It's super easy to navigate, always on time and so well interconnected that you rarely have to worry about making a connection because well, the land of the clocks is always on time. Yep, I said that twice on purpose. And when you're iPhone dies only a few days into your trip and you can't use GoogleMaps, Switzerland is certain an easy place to navigate the old school way!
Looking back, I crammed a lot into those five days. Would I do it all again? Absolutely without a doubt. Though the next time I might spend a little more time in those places rather than day-tripping from Zurich. After all, I want to see that priceless view from Plaza Gloria first hand without the cloud cover! There's more to come from this journey....next up, Salzburg, Austria, which I'll save for the next blog....
Until then, one of my favorite travel quotes:
“You get a strange feeling when you leave a place. Like you'll not only miss the people you love, but you miss the person you are at this time and place because you'll never be this way ever again.” - Azar Nafasi