1979 Zürich (8/13/1979)

Monday, August 13, 1979

Neither of us got much sleep on this 12-hour trip, but we did get to see a lot of beautiful Swiss scenery; snow-topped mountains, mountains covered with evergreens, towns full of Swiss chalets, Swiss chocolate cows, and sunny weather. We arrived in Zürich about 8:30 and knowing we might go swimming, we put on our swimsuits under our clothes. Quick zipping of my stock-full suitcase is resulting in the zipper ripping from the case, and we aren't even halfway through our trip yet!

We walked down a main shopping street seeing lots of interesting food and candy stores. When we reached the docks on Lake Zürich, we decided to take a paddleboat out for an hour. We pedaled almost the whole time, and doffed our shirts to take advantage of the sun. The lake seemed endless, and we couldn't begin to cover the length of the lake even though we got awfully far from shore.

We arrived back just in time, or perhaps a little early because we were charged less than expected. We returned up the main street and stopped in a huge candy store for some absolutely delicious chocolates. We then found a grocery store and stocked up on picnic goodies.

We took a tram to outside and above the city, then walked through a forest to a recreational park with the unique swimming pool.

Pool cabina tickets

We stripped down to our bathing suits, but not any further like many of the women sunning around the pool. We ate our lunch of bread, cold cuts, and cheese with milk (instead of wine!). After lying a bit in the sun, Kathy went to swim several laps in the pool. On the hour, a horn blew and the specialty of this pool began: a “surf.” Waves began at the deep end, and undulated up to the shallow end to splash against the far wall. It lasted 10-15 minutes and was obviously popular. A sparsely filled pool became super crowded during the surf, which even I sampled. There were no breakers, just bouncing waves. We spent the afternoon sunning, getting wet, and people-watching.

Later we returned to the train station via tram. We bought our tram tickets in a vending machine that didn't give us change. Back at the station’s shopping mall was a huge vending machine affair; you put in your money and punched in the number of the particular item you wanted. Then you could watch as an apparatus ran on runners to retrieve your item. It seemed to be a popular tourist attraction in itself.

We have decided to go to München tonight, so we’ll have to take a train and change at Innsbruck. In looking at the maps, we have discovered that on our way to Zürich, we passed through the principality of Liechtenstein, just at the time I was using the toilet on the train; oh, dear! Sitting here at the Zürich station, a strange fellow came up to comment on our looks in poor German. Later we saw him boarding a train for Czechoslovakia with a dozen suitcases and a small bicycle he tried pushing through the train window until a train official told him he had to check it in the baggage car.

Map of Zürich

Next: Munich.