Exploring Switzerland

Well, the small plane we were threatened with turned out to be an A340, which is only small if you compare it to an A380 so there was no problem with storage for us. Our business class seats were an older configuration but we could still lie completely flat, and that was all that really mattered. But food and drink options were surprisingly good. We got to try several Swiss wines and their famous Zurcher Geschnetzeltes. I didn't know Switzerland grew wine - they do but there isn't enough to export and it is easy to see why.

Despite quite a lot of sleep, we were still wrecked on arrival and had about 5 hour to kill before getting access to our hotel room. We walked down Bahnhofsstrasse, which is the main shopping drag for all your international brands, and therefore of little interest to us and decided to take a ferry trip on the lake for a cole of hours. Unfortunately, it was very overcast and very grey.

In summer the lake must be gorgeous, backed by huge mountains and dotted with little boats of all kinds. Magnificent homes and apartment buildings line the shore and every one has a boat house with sail, row or motor boats. Some have little summer pavilions in the gardens or above the boat storage. Apparently, Tina Turner is a resident and there must be lots of other rich and famous people.

Our hotel, right across from the train station has turned out well - spotless and newly renovated. I quite like the separate doonas on the bed and breakfast was good. I'm not sure what you are supposed to do with the lettuce that is served with the muesli and fruit though.

It was raining today and we are still a bit jet lagged so we decided to put in the day by taking the train to Geneva, hoping to see a bit of the countryside from the comfort of the train. We rocked up to buy our tickets and they were going to cost a small fortune (did I mention Switzerland is very expensive?). The young man at the ticket counter advised us to buy the el-cheapo tickets available online and very kindly stepped out of his kiosk to help us with the transaction - saving about $200 francs in the process.

Zurich is the German end of Switzerland and Geneva is very French. We had a very pleasant lunch with a Swiss sav blanc. It was pissing with rain so I managed a rather grey shot of the famous water spout but the sun came out on the way back. We travelled through lovely rural areas past a couple of major lakes with mountains in the background.

Tomorrow we've arranged a bus and train trip up into the mountains.