Zurich
Trip Start
Apr 25, 2012
1
37
44
Trip End
Oct 10, 2012
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Thursday I walked around the old town of Zurich. You can tell it is a very affluent place with a high standard of living, and unfortunately very expensive (the equivalent of 35 AUD for a simple men's haircut). I chanced upon giant chessboards but there was too big a queue of scholarly old men waiting to play. For dinner I met Gavin and his host Florian for dinner then we went to the registration party. The swiss are very friendly, but their German is very hard to understand!
Friday I went to tennis relaxed and finally ended my losing streak winning against a German guy. After the match I went to the nearby bridge and jumped into the river which was really nice and clean and cool. You float downstream until you reach a rope and pull yourself out. Later doubles was also successful with Gavin and I coming back from 5-0 down in the first set to win 7-6 6-4.
Next day I played the qtr final in singles in really hot weather and I was mostly satisfied despite losing 6-4 6-3. It was an exhausting match where almost every game went to deuce (and one with at least 15 deuces, no exaggeration), but Jon my english opponent won the important points. I jumped in the river again, then Gavin and I crashed in the doubles, which wasn't entirely a bad thing as it gave me sunday free. In the evening we went to a nice lake side venue for the dinner and tennis party which was fun and interesting as always.
Adrian had suggested that I go to Lucerne when I first arrived so Sunday I got up early and took a train there. I signed up for the golden round trip which included a 90 minute cruise, a 30 minute incline train ride to the alps (Mt Pilatus) then a 30 minute cable back down to Lucerne. As the photos indicate it was amazing and on top of the mountain you could walk around and go through tunnels.
I then walked around the town of Lucerne before taking a train back to Zurich where I had a final gin and tonic with Adrian before heading to London tomorrow. Switzerland was great!
Comments
Glad your tennis games are more relaxed and positive Matt. Wonderful and breathtaking natural views. Keep enjoying and appreciating all your experiences.
I love Lucern, my favourite town in Switzerland, and the Lake Lucern ( in swiss german: " Vierwaldstättersee ") and the fantastic alpine scenerie is so beautifull to see on ya pics again. Glad you like it and you were doing this trip after relaxed tennis matches :-)
I'm glad you enjoyed Switzerland. I loved it - Interlaken was my favourite although I agree with Hobi that Lucerne is just beautiful. Great pics Matt, you're looking really well. X
PS Ethan is turning into the Rainman of geography - he knows all the countries and their anthems and their flags, and knows populations stats etc. Sound familiar? :)