Monday 5 December 1983 – Zurich and Lucerne
We were
ready for breakfast when we woke up and as usual had a most enjoyable meal of
rolls, croissants, cheese and jam before setting off for our shopping.
We wandered
through all the shops of our fancy during the morning, only pausing at Jelmoli
for a snack at about 12.15. Matt had a burger but Rab and I each had a very
tasty sausage on a rye roll – all washed down with cans of Pepita, a local
canned grapefruit drink. Rab and I both got new anoraks as ours were too thin
for the weather we expected to meet (f89 each) and I must say they are a great
improvement. I also got some “long johns’ as the tights I have been wearing
were not warm enough. Rab also got another pair of boots as hers have proved to
be far from waterproof. I also got a new (and rather fancy) jersey and a couple
of other odds and ends. So we are now better prepared for the cold – and the
snow. It was still below zero today – I would think a very similar temperature
to yesterday.
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| Swiss countryside from the train |
An enjoyable
time was had by all and we got back to the hotel at about 14.15 and after
packing away our new purchases (and my gloves!) managed to get the 14.58 train
to Lucerne. The
taxi was really expensive at f6.40 but it was much easier than lugging all our
goods down to the station. The trip was again most pleasant – about 48 minutes
– but there seemed to be more snow on the countryside near Zug and Rotkrenz
than there was yesterday. We are hoping to see snow actually falling soon –
that will be a first for Matt.
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| Another view of the countryside - no snow here! |
After
checking in to the Alpina, which we chose because we had a very nice lunch
there last year and because it is so close to the station, we set off for the Old Town.
We had good fun window shopping before Matt and Rab got down to the serious
business, the former at Franz Carl Weber where he discovered his radio
controlled cars and the latter at Wyler where she found her Swiss knits! As
ever poor old Dad got naught.
It was most
odd how late it seems with the light going so early. By the time we finished
shopping at 17.30 it felt about 20.00 and as we were all a little thirsty we
found a very pleasant little pub on the riverbank (zum Peran, I think) and we
had a couple of beers and a plate of raclette – a new taste discovery and very
nice too. (Costs for the record –
raclette f7.20; beers f1.80, Coke f2.40). A bit more window shopping – and some
genuine shopping too as the shops stay open until 18.30 and then we went to
Wienerwald at Matt’s behest for our evening meal. An excellent dinner and a
nice white wine. A little pricey by our standards at f77.00 ($33) but very good
value.
Back to the
hotel via the station to check on trains for tomorrow’s trip to Berne – and to buy some very tasty roast chestnuts on the
way. I had met these delicious snacks on a previous lone visit but they were
new to Rab and Matt. I was most surprised when both of them actually ate them,
although neither was very keen I must say. There were two or three lads on the
way cracking bullwhips made of rope. We had been puzzled by the noise while we
were eating and assume it must be a local sport.
And so to
bed after another wonderful day – my
companions have both been sleeping for the best part of an hour.
Tuesday 6 December 1983 – Berne
We all woke
up early this morning and despite my efforts to get the others back to sleep,
they insisted on getting cracking. So we went down to breakfast at about 08.00
– Matt reckons it was not as good as the one at du Theatre, mainly because
there was only processed cheese. He also managed to spill half a cup of
chocolate through fooling around – he said it was because the chocolate was too
hot. At f110 ($48) for the three of us I thought it good value.
We went to
the Information Bureau (bunch of no hopers with no information) and then on to
SwissAir to try and find out if we could forward one of our suitcases to Southampton. Not possible it turned out because there is
no Customs Officer there. We finally sent the suitcase through to Zurich airport to be
collected (hopefully) on our way through.
Then off to
the Old Town and Matt’s big decision – via I
might say a very fancy jeweller where I bought myself a pair of cufflinks. He
vacillated for about half an hour – after all it was a major purchase but
finally made his decision – which is now being shipped back to Harare. Hope it gets there in one piece. (It did.) we strolled back to the hotel
via a little shop we remembered from last year which sells small hot cheese
pies – very nice they are as you stroll along on a crisp winter’s morning.
It is still
very cold, although there are patches of blue sky today. Checked out of the
hotel and off to the station, collecting a bag of roasted chestnuts on the way,
in good time for our trip to Berne. The
countryside was beautiful with lots of snow about and distant views of the Alps every now and then when the cloud lifted. We bought
some snacks on the train – funnily enough the chap bringing them around was the
same chap from yesterday – and again enjoyed our Pepitas and nut rolls.
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| Berne |
We arrived
here in Berne just before noon and found a
pleasant hotel – zum Goldener Schussner in the old part of town. Off to explore
without delay but found the town a bit disappointing. Very nice old buildings and fountains and
kilometres of antique shops but not much else. We went to see the bears in the
bear pits and fed them for a while, walked back up through the gloaming and
then came back here for an early dinner and an early night. Good food and very
cheap – f36 ($16) for the three of us.
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| Matt at the Bear Fountain in Berne |
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