Gordy's World Tour - 2nd Leg

Here I am in Zurich, Switzerland, fresh off the plane from India via Frankfurt, the Diwali Festival and the Taj Mahal were excellent experiences, and some that I hope to repeat some day, maybe introducing Lorraine to them. The contrast, as you would expect, is very marked.


My taxi driver from the airport drove like she was from India! I arrived at the hotel around 10:30am, 40CHF lighter. The hotel is right in the centre of town, right by all the shopping, the river and restaurants. My first impression of Switzerland is expensive. The hotel is almost $200 per night and the room is tiny. Breakfast is not included, and is another $20. I had a look around the gift shops and stuff on Saturday and the prices were outrageous!

I continue to be disgusted by the blatant profiteering in this hotel. I have just ordered room service for my evening meal. Certain dishes are only available in the day time, the cheap ones! Additionally, I asked for a coke with dinner, but they won't bring one, I have to have it from the mini bar. My last complaint is that there is no laundry service in the hotel, at weekends at all, and during the week it would cost $20 to have one pair of trousers washed and pressed. This is, without a doubt, the worst $200 a night hotel I have ever stayed in!

I decided that, as I only had a short time in the city, the best idea was an organised tour. I went on a Grayline Combo tour taking in both the city, and a train ride up into the mountains to the top of the Uetliberg, with some fabulous views. The city tour was very informative. We visited the Banking district, the old town, the university and shopping districts too.

Switzerland is of course famous for it's banks, but did you know that there are 17 railway stations! The Swiss are very proud of their railway system. The water in the lake is so clean, it is almost drinkable. Zurich passed a law a number of years ago to outlaw sewerage in any river or the lake. Did you know that 70% of Swiss rent their home, most are owned by the government, coops and private individuals.

Every one knows that there are four official languages, but what I didn't know was that English is not one of them. 65% are Swiss German, 20% French, 8% Italian and less than 1% Romansch. The smart amongst you will note that is not a total of 100% so I am not sure what the others speak!

We then went up to the mountain with fabulous views all over Europe, including the Alps. The train takes you so far, then you have to walk 20 minutes further up and then climb a man made structure another 10 minutes for the absolute best views.

I had some lunch there enjoying the sun and the views, before coming back down to write this. Of course, lots more pictures snapped. You can see them here. The next few days I will be working, so I don't think I will be writing much of interest until I hit the UK.