Zurich Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Switzerland 2015 Day 15 – Home Sweet Home

Posted on June 26, 2015September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up early to pack further. The others woke up closer to 9am but by the time we were out of the hotel it was already 10am. Had breakfast which again was a simple one, where the bar counter had been set up with the bread and cheese.

Went to the street behind to get a Swiss flag romper which would look cute on baby K.

Checked out and dragged the luggage to the main train station, across the roads and the tram tracks.

The next train for S2 was at 1045am, one hour before our flight was due. The train to the airport was only about 10mins and by the time we got to the check in counter, it was almost closing. They allowed us to check in but informed us that it was really far so we needed to hurry.

1115 and we got our boarding passes. Walked through the gates and though the X-ray machines which we had to remove bottles of milk and electronic devices and placed them in trays. The staff then isolated the bottle of milk which took some time to come back to us.

Then it was to the immigrations and again the queue that we took was taking longer as the lady seemed to be stricter. She even wanted to have a look a baby K’s eyes for confirmation even though he had fallen asleep in the Ergobaby.

The gate E was very far away and we had to take a shuttle train to reach it. When we finally arrived, it seemed like we were the last to board and had to get onboard the plane through the economy section on the 2nd floor since the first floor door was closed.

There were still quite a bit of activity on the plane when we got to our seats. The plane also delayed in taking off, could be due to us.

The entire return journey was far more difficult than the arrival one because baby K didn’t sleep mostly and when he did, it was only for a few minutes. We made a mistake of not packing the Halo swaddle into our carryons and he just couldn’t get to sleep. He was also getting cranky sometimes, crying really loudly and only wanting my wife to carry, having grown accustomed to mommy’s scent.

The passengers next to ours had a 13month old girl who had absolutely no problem falling asleep. We could only envy.

It was a really difficult flight back and by the time we landed, we were throughly exhausted and baby K still didn’t want to sleep. The humid temperature didn’t help and the whole Saturday was spent recuperating.

This was our maiden long haul journey with baby K. The itinerary was planned with a slightly different expectations and too ambitious. As a result, we couldn’t get much travelling experience out of this one and spent a lot of time bogged down by baby activities. More time should have been given for the cities so that we could truly get more out from the visit rather than a touch and go approach. It was also quite tiring for both parents and baby.

Driving in Switzerland cities was horrendous experience for me since most of them were more pro-public transportation. With a big car, it was difficult to negotiate the small carparks and roads. Some of the roads were even not allowed for driving although these were not reflected in the GPS causing confusion. Added the fact that trams, buses and bicycles share the road and parking was seldom available, it made it all the more stressful to drive in these cities.

Highlights were of course the time together with family was well spent. Never again would baby K be the same as he continue to grow and this would be something we would cherished in years to come.

Switzerland 2015 Day 14 – Lucerne and Zurich

Posted on June 25, 2015September 22, 2019 by ziyi

As the light of dawn shine through slightly translucent curtains, I awoke to find the purple hue of sunrise from the balcony of the window. 515am and a little chilly, I took some photos of the bridge, now quiet from the bustle of day. A different perspective.

Lucerne bridge highlighted by the morning rays.

Returned to nap for a little before waking up in preparations for the day ahead. I was prepared for what was to come, when the hotel staff came and knocked urgently on our door, saying it was an emergency. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the staff that advised the parking instructions the day before, telling me that the place that I parked the car was going to have some set up for some events and I had to move it immediately. She also apologized for the slip up. What a start for the day. When I arrived at the car park, there was a long trailer already parked in front of my car. Had to speak to the job supervisor to get them to do the shifting within that tight space, which was done rather quickly. I parked at the parking garage eventually and walked the 4 mins back to the room.

We had some of the dried fruit cake that we purchased from the gas station as breakfast, knowing that there would not be time for us to have brekkie.

Our main activity today was to visit Mount Rigi. There was a package route that encompassed the ferry, cogwheel train and a cable car round trip and so we chose that. There wasn’t much information around and the brochures were non English so we tried our luck at the port. Went over to the counter and purchased the round trip tickets. The ferry would carry us to Vitznau and we would then changed to the cogwheel train all the way up to Rigis top. Then the return was taking the same train, we would alight at Kaltbad station and transfer to the cable car which would bring us to Weggis and take the ferry back to Lucerne.

The ferry at 10am-ish had so many passengers loaded up but luckily we managed to get seats at the inside of ferry. There were hot drinks available and the staff was asking customers other than ourselves, frankly not impressed by this discriminating attitude.

The ride took about 1 hour and we alighted at the port of Vitznau and hurried to the cogwheel train already waiting. As there were many people, we only got onto the cabins where seats weren’t enclosed thus exposing to possible cold draft. The climb was steep but the train wasn’t really fast so we didn’t get irritating ear pressure issues.

The ride up was about another hour, the higher we climbed the more the marvelous was the view of the surroundings. There were insects (could be bees) flying around though.

It was bright and sunny at the top and the 360 views around coupled with the refreshing mountain air (except for places with smokers, and there were just many of them) was just great. The cold air sometimes gave us the chills but it was ok most of the time.

Walked around and up to the satellite station where we could see the mountains on the one side and the flat lands with the lakes on the other. After that we had our fill of the scenery, we went back to the train station for the ride to Kaltbad to have lunch at the hotel restaurant there. There was one restaurant at the top station (with a great view) but there were too many people so we decided to eat at Kaltbad instead.

View of the lakes and plains dotted with houses.

To take the cable car, we had to take a ridiculously small lift down 3 floors to the single cable car which would bring tons of people to the bottom of the mountain. This ride was very uncomfortable as it was filled to the brim, just like our MRT train during rush hour. There were many kids that went up the mountain, probably as an excursion and there were making a hell of a ruckus.

Steep ride down took about 15 minutes. Then it was another 15minutes walk to the Weggis port to take the ferry back to Lucerne. Went back to the hotel to claim the luggage and brought it to the church before I went to claim the car from the Migros which cost a crazy expensive amount of 30CHF. Loaded the luggage and off we went to Zurich.

Getting out of the city, I had to negotiate the traffic and at one instance, I thought I was caught by a speed camera (because of the flash) (which I was, at 91km/hr, 6km more than the 80km/hr limit + 5km tolerance. Paid the fine through bank transfer) before entering the tunnel.

Entering Zurich city was a nightmare again. Traffic jam and roads not allowed for travel. I had to park the car at the side of the road in front Hotel Limmatblick to unload all the luggage, quickly check in and move the luggage up before going to top up petrol and return the car. I was pretty familiar this time and returned the car in no time. I think Sixt was about to close and when I told the staff about the paint scrap at the door and the speed camera but what I got in return was that if there was anything, they would email me. Took the train back to the city.

Brought baby K to walk the city one last time before meeting up with wife for some last minute shopping for chocolates at Teuscher. 5mins before closing time at 8pm, we got into the shop and had to leave by the side doors because the main door shut automatically at 8pm.

Walked to the street behind our hotel where there were rows of restaurants and we chose to eat at one called N-68. Ordered some Rosti and Clubsandwiches. Returned to the hotel to pack for the flight home the next day.

Switzerland 2015 Day 1 – Jetlagged Zurich City

Posted on June 12, 2015September 22, 2019 by ziyi

The plane landed earlier than planned. There was just so many items that we brought out during the flight that we had to wait till quite a few passengers to get off first before we brought down our own bags to pack.

It was quite a distance to the train that brought us to the immigrations and baggage claim area. The queue was quite short at immigrations and we got through it rather quickly. There was a forex counter at the baggage claim area and SGD was on the board but the rates were funny. Didn’t thought too much since we have exchanged it in Singapore.

The trains were at another building, tickets could be purchased over the counter or at the ticketing machine, which we did with the help one of the staff. He informed that all trains go to Zurich HBF (main train station) at lanes 3 & 4 and so we boarded the S2 train which came earlier but left later.

Train timings and destinations. Zurich HB was our destination.

10mins later, we arrived at the Zurich HBF, and thankfully with the free wifi by the Swiss trains, we navigated to our hotel, Zurich City Hotel. The room wasn’t ready as earlier advised and thus we went to the lounge on the second floor to rest. It wasn’t long before they provided a room with some expedition by the cleaning stuff – great service.

Lounge that we had our rest while waiting for our room.

Squeezing into the tiny lift, we brought the 2 heavy luggage to the rooms, unpacked, did what we need to do before getting onto the streets. Blazing sun in the summer time turned up the temperature but baby K didn’t had a problem snoozing in the Ergobaby as we walked the old town of Zurich except that I had to constantly shield his eyes.

The old town was easy access from our hotel, just a couple of minutes walk to the shopping street of Bahnhofstrasse and a short climb up Lindenhof hill where we get to see the panaroma view of the town across the river. Thereafter going southwards to see the churches with the huge clock face on the clock towers of the church St. Peter and Fraumünster Church. The later had nice stained glass within the church but photography wasn’t permitted.

Crossing the Münsterbrücke bridge, we find ourselves at the Grossmünster cathedral with the twin towers that could be seen towering above the buildings in the old town. Within were stained glasses too with the welcome coolness from the afternoon heat.

Walking towards the lake, we stopped by for lunch at one of the Lebanese cuisine at Le Cèdre Bellevue, thinking that it was more affordable. Had some chicken wings and Falafel, a beer and a strawberry juice and it ended up almost 50CHF.
The falafel was good though.

We walked towards the lake to have a closer view but wasn’t particularly nice then we head back to the hotel, about another 30minutes walk. It was a short but tiring walk around the city, made worse by the sweltering heat.

Tram tracks in modern Zurich. — Tram tracks dominating the roads of modern Zurich.

Back in the room, we were busy with the washing up of the bottles and the baby and when jet lag hit, we fell asleep till 10pm, when the sun just set not too long ago. I went to the nearby COOP to get some sandwich and cold pasta for dinner, walking through the brightly lighted streets in much cooler weather. There were a few pubs along the way and expensive and loud cars can be seen zooming past, so similar to our Singapore streets.

Baby K slept early too, probably having the same jetlag effect and I dozed off again after dinner.