1:15 am: I have boarded the flight. Its Swiss air and thankfully a direct flight to Zurich. Now I have to figure out how to spent the next eight hours before I land. That should not be really difficult considering the hour of the night. All I have to do is just go off to sleep. Sounds easy ? It isnt. I return to my book ‘The Danish Girl’.
I try some sleep and an up in another 4 hours. Some entertainment/TV and refreshment later its 6:20 am in Zurich. Within 20 mins I am out of the uneventful immigration and baggage collection. At the airport exit I donot have to search for my friend Nalini. We meet like we have just met yesterday as a matter of fact. No sentimental hugging and all which Nalini tried doing but I warded her off. She will kill me if she reads this but we will see when we come to that.
So I am still inside the airport and havent seen any of Zurich outdoor at all. We will be travelling about 30 mins to Baden which is the city near which Nalini lives. She lives in a village “Wettingen” which is 5-10 mins by bus from Baden.
We reach Baden and as we walk out of the station, we see small bakeries selling fresh bread and sandwiches. I buy myself a pretzel and smoked salmon sandwich. It is unimaginably delicious.
In the picture above I am with the salmon sandwich pack in my hand just right outside Nalini’s condo. I have already finished off the delicious pretzel.
Salmon Sandwich and iced tea ! With a breakfast like this to start the day, the rest of the day is bound to be amazing. I absolutely love smoked Salmon which I rarely get to eat in Delhi. Even if I find it in some upmarket restaurant it is exorbitantly expensive and not quite as it should be. Anyone reading my blog would have already made out how much food is going to be part of this tour or any tour as long as I am in it. Travelling for me is about the place, the book & the food. I usually find out a book related to the place I am travelling. This is my way to get totally submerged in the place I am travelling. This can get a little annoying for my cotravellers which is mostly my husband. The fact that I am at a very scenic place and I just want to sit there for hours and leaf through my book. And with an ipad handly, I want to probably write about it. On this tour I am armed with my kindle & ipad and the plan is to influence Nalini to buy a ipad for herself. I have already made her pruchase a kindle (wink). This way when I am playing games on my ipad on the train she will spare me the murderous looks in her eyes.
After the hearty breakfast, all I want to do is doze off which I didnt get to do on the flight. And yes I watch some tv. we had planned to go shopping in Zurich but all I care about right now is sleep.
I am loving this vacation already.
Few hours later at around 2 in the afternoon, I am all fresh and ready for some action !
We are at the Baden clock tower. There are small restaurants and shops around. Young mothers taking their babies on a stroll. Teenagers animately talking sitting on a bench. It is one idyllic town.
On our way to Zurich on the train I see the rolling hills and we travel along the river ‘Limmet’. The colour of the water is a shade of green and so it seems. I am puzzled because it doesnt look like there is algae, Could it be the reflection of the trees on the banks ? No the water itself seems green. I will need to figure this out.
This is McClean. At trainstations you pay and use the toilets. There are NO public toilets. duhh.. I miss US. I do not miss India as there are public toilets but you do not use it unless its a life threatening situation.
Nalini takes me to the shopping street in Zurich and row of stores like piaget, tiffany, prada, jimmychoo, Louivuitton. I have a nice time window shopping and wondering how can a simple shoe or a small scarf be so expensive. We go to a shopping mall which is more reasonable. I am still not sure I want to do ANY shopping here. I plan to come back next day.
This is the italian restaurant we stop to have some soup after all the walking and window shopping. The waiter is speaking in swiss german and he could be speaking in greek for all I could make out. Thankfully Nalini seems to understand and make some conversation in the local dialect. By now I have learned two words “Krutse” meaning “Hello” and “Danke” meaning “thanks”, The waiter hands us a menu again in german !! I look at it for 5 minutes and Nalini while she can understand german, I cant trust her to translate something as important as menu for me. After some time, it dawns on Nalini that she can let me know that we can request for an english menu. What a relief. This is an italin restaurant and I order a “Fish soup with Saffron”. Nalini orders “tomato soup with brod(bread)”. When she gets her soup she insists that the bread in the soup is meat/chicken and I have to try hard to really convince her otherwise. The fish soup is heavenly with prawns & mussels.
After the invigorating soup we stroll to the Zurich lake. Along the harbor is a beautiful park. There is a particular tree that catches my fancy. I will research it on the web and right some more of it. It was called ” Fusa silavitica”. I find a spot to sit and we sit there in silence chatting once in a while for about 30-40 mins. I wish could spend more time there.
THIS IS THE PICTURE OF THE DAY ! While we were sitting at the harbour we see this young man playing guitar. I can also faintly hear the strum of the guitar. There is this woman in the picture who dives in the water and swimming. And a fountain in the background.
We have a booking at Zeuhauskeller one of the most popular restaurants in Zurich both with tourists and locals. Its swiss cusine. Though I love fish and chicken and I am not a meat eater at all. I tried in the past but couldn’t develop a taste for lamb or mutton. Beef and pork is completely out of my way. However, may be this trip I will try the meat, how else do I sample their traditional cuisine ?
I later learn that Zeuhauskeller is housed in a building dating to 15th century! It has huge ceilings large gothic windows. On the walls are adorned spears, very old & very large rifles and armors. The interior is actually a huge hall which might have been some sort of ballroom in old days. The hall is filled with row after rows of basic wooden tables and chair. Nothing fancy here. The hall is full and there is a waiting outside and I am glad that we have a reservation. The waitress lead us a to a table which seats four. Two people are already on the table and we are to sit next to them and share the table ! So that there is maximum utilization of the chairs & tables.
Above is the picture of the menu. The delicacy of denmark is veal which is young calf’s meat. I decide to try that but then I change my mind. I do not think I am ready for meat yet. I choose the only fish meal that is on the menu.
I do not know what fish it is but it tastes delicate like Tilapia though cant say if it is the same. On the side are the veggies. It is very nice and hearty meal.
We walk back to the railway station which is a beautiful old building. As we are walking, we see some young men all dressed in identical t shirts except one who is dressed in white robe. I later learn that it is a swiss custom for the would be groom. I search some more for it on the web and learn that it could probably be some version of german polterabend( google this 🙂 ). This custom dates back to 1500s. It is some kind of bachelor party where the groom tries to collect money by selling knick knacks or may be asking for charity, around the town. The friends are all wearing fake moustaches probably to indicate that they are men of the world. I am told that the custom is symbolic to confirm that the groom is capable of earning and therefore taking care of his wife.
Just Like That Someday 