Around Europe in Twenty Days ( Zurich – The Launch Pad)
(The sprawling Zurich HBF station)
Preface: A series of posts about exploits in the beautiful cities of Europe is being shared with the readers. I hope I will be able to share some exciting moments with you. Do share your thoughts....
The Story
It was dusk; the sky was turning dark, my wife and I searched for the hotel. It had been a tiring day after a long flight via Muscat from Delhi. The street was deserted except a lone woman in the bar who was enjoying her drink. I walked up to her and showed her the address I was looking for. She was kind and helped me in locating the place. The door was closed with instructions near a keypad. I punched my booking number and the credit card details .The key popped out. Whoa! What a surprise to walk into the room from main door with no manual intervention. The adventure had just begun, as we landed at the hotel in Zurich.
The trip took six months to conceive, with detailed itinerary of places to visit, followed with bookings for the hotel and a Eurorail pass! We planned to see 10 cities in 20 days, an ambitious target indeed. What followed was a whirlwind tour across the continent, starting from Zurich, followed with lovely cities of Lyon, Marseilles, Barcelona, Genoa, Padova, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Berlin.
The room was very comfy and we settled down for the night. I had forgotten to change the time on my wrist watch and even the mobile clock was not synchronized with the local time. After about two hours of slumber, I woke up with a start and looked at the watch. In an hour the train from Zurich Central would leave! I shook my wife and we both got dressed, then it dawned on me that there the time difference of 5 hours and 30 minutes is what we had forgotten, in the excitement. It was just past midnight, local time! We changed once again to catch up some sleep, which was elusive.
(Colourful Trains)
Around 6 AM we checked out of the hotel and locked the room and left the key in the bin. This was the first time ever; I did not see a staff of the hotel during my stay. We reached Zurich Central station which was already bubbling with activity. A steaming cup of tea and a croissant set us in the right frame of mind for the long journey that lay ahead. As there was still time I walked up to the reservation booth to check regarding availability of an earlier train. Due to some work progressing on the tracks en route, we would have to take a train via Beil to Geneva now, instead of a direct train.
(Beautiful towns enroute)
We rushed and boarded the train in a true ‘Dil Wale Dulhaniya le Jayinga ‘style! In a few moments it left the station and headed southwards. The scenic beauty of Switzerland and the small stations that passed by, is beyond words. The clear blue lakes, the lush green meadows, pine trees and scores of huge cows grazing were a treat for the eyes. The train halted at Beil a picturesque station where we interchanged for Geneva. The picture postcard journey continued as we crossed the city of lakes towards Chambery Challes Les Eaux a small town on the French border.
(Gateway to Lyon- Lyon Part Dieu station)
The French countryside is quite different form Switzerland and in two hours we arrived at Gare Du Lyon Part Dieu station. It was a huge terminal and from the roof of the station the panoramic view of the sprawling city and deep blue sea greeted us. I purchased the Lyon Pass while I stared at the enticing fresh baked Croissants; the whiff was driving me crazy. (Read more about Lyon in the next story….)