Day 21-23: Switzerland

I arrived in Switzerland and planned to do...not much. I didn't want to see anymore museums, so I didn't! What did I do in Switzerland? I mainly enjoyed the rides on trains...watching the magnificent Swiss scenery just pass by at each stop...I could describe how picturesque and beautiful it all was, but I will leave that to the photographs!

Day 1 in Switzerland I followed my Dad to the Swiss capital Bern. It was yet another early morning for the train ride from Zurich to Bern. I was very impressed with the Bernese scenery! The last time I was in Switzerland I was in the French-speaking Geneva...this time round I arrived in the German-speaking Zurich and took a 1 hour train ride to Bern, also predominantly German-speaking. We walked across one of the bridges around midday and the scenery was just breathtaking! The weather was also perfect too. See below!

The city centre of Bern is also quite small...yet it has its charm and individuality. Being in Switzerland you just cannot escape clocks! Bern has one of the most famous of Clock Towers - dating back from 1530!! It was quite funny as my Dad and I were trying to locate the clock...at first we thought one of the clocks was THE Clock Tower, however when we saw a bunch of tourists waiting for the clock to strike 12 elsewhere...all geared with their camera's to take a photo, we knew the previous clock we spotted wasn't the right one! Bern is also listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site - particularly for its preservation of medieval buildings. (Not sure why I have no photographs of this...I think I was getting a bit tired of taking photos of everything towards the latter half of my holiday!)

Detailed view of the Clock Tower clock!

See all the tourists! There are 2 clocks as the one on the bottom is the Astronomical Clock

In the arvo, we took a train to Lucerne just cuz my Dad thought it was kinda on the way back to Zurich (not quite...but yeah why not since we're in Switzerland right?). I'm glad we went to Lucerne even if it was just for the arvo...the scenery was just so serene and beautiful! When we arrived at Lucerne, we took a walk around the area, had the best Vanilla ice cream ever!! (Must be the swiss milk!) and for me, it was cool to recognise the Bucherer watch shop from 16 years ago!! We also talked to some Australian tourists whilst we were sitting there eating our ice cream and waiting for our boat cruise to arrive. It was a homely feeling to hear the Aussie accent again after many days! The boat cruise lasted around 1.5 hours, and that was just purely relaxing. Loved sitting on the deck outside in the fresh crisp unpolluted air, enjoying the slight warmth of the sun, the gentle breeze of the wind, and just watching the mountainous Swiss snow capped mountains in the background combined with the still calm clear waters we were travelling on. Again, more photos...

Scenes from Lake Lucerne cruise...

Day 2 Switzerland was another train ride - this time to Basel. (Up to this point, all I managed to do was sleep & eat in Zurich!) Dad had scheduled a company visit to one of his favourites - Syngenta, and one that has been doing very well in his fund. He thought it would be beneficial for me to actually attend this meeting...so I did! I spent the 1 hour train ride reading up on the company from his Goldman Sachs & UBS Reports...it was an interesting read as I had no prior knowledge of this company that is in the crops protection and seed business. A company that is big on sustainable development, R&D & biotechnology to remain competitive and profitable. In order to not look like a complete idiot in the meeting, I was furiously taking notes down as the Q&A style sessions commenced. I guess for me it was interesting to actually witness in action the whole purpose of my Dad's business trips...and one of the reasons why this holiday was finally made possible for me! A possible career in investment management does look rather appealing...however I really need to get up to speed with world financial/business news if I ever want to break that industry!! (To date, I've mainly been a lazy bean counter getting by with minimum effort in my rather non-exciting career...)

Anyhow, after the meeting did some walking around Basel...can't say its the most exciting city...not as scenic as Bern...but maybe that is because I didn't spend enough time there?!? My Dad and I did have an interesting adventure on the trams though...it eventually involved my father asking an eldery guy our way back to central station (as we didn't take the most direct tram back to central station!)...he was speaking German of course...Dad was nodding along as if he understood the guy...but then my Dad would just turn around and ask "You understand him right?"...err no Dad did I ever take German at school???

On the streets of Basel...

Now I finally managed to explore a bit of Zurich on my last day in Switzerland!

• I took a stroll around the Park near Lake Zurich.
• Walked along the main shopping street - Bahnofstrasse - it's where all the expensive branded boutiques and numerous watch shops are located...and takes you all the way to central station (I really should have taken a picture of that place as I spent so much time going there to catch trains!)
  
• Visited Zurich's most famous landmarks - Grossmunster & Frauminster (more churches!)

Pics from Zurich...

Lake Zurich

So that just about completes my Swiss adventure - Zurich-Bern-Lucerne-Basel...not bad for a 3 night stay huh?

Next update: Vienna & Prague...last part of the trip!