1983- SNOW AND THE QE2

Although we had thought it might only be the end of 1984 before we were able to get back to Switzerland, we made it a year earlier and were very excited at the prospect of seeing snow and having a White Christmas. People in the Northern Hemisphere might wonder why snow should be such an attraction, but growing up as we had in Africa, it was a novelty – and Matt had never experienced it. Rab and I had – me especially since I had been in England in the 1960s when all the climatologists were predicting the coming of the next Ice Age following the coldest three winters for 500 years. All due to the greenhouse gasses – carbon dioxide and the like which, it was said, were blocking the warming infra red rays from the sun. To add to the excitement our excellent travel agent in Harare had managed to find us a special offer for a trans Atlantic crossing on the QE2 – one of the three forms of transport on my wish list.

Sunday 4 December 1983 – Zurich

Team Herbert ready to go

We have just returned from a marvellous day trip and I thought I would start to record the events of the day while it was all fresh in my mind. We left Harare on the evening of  Thursday December 1 for Johannesburg to get our travellers cheques on Friday and then flew out of Johannesburg on Saturday evening via Nairobi on Swissair.

We arrived here at 05.30 this morning to a deserted airport. There must have been some really strong tail winds as we made up time on both the Johannesburg/Nairobi and the Nairobi/Zurich legs. The flight was very comfortable and although Matt is not too keen on DC10 aircraft, Rab and I like them. As usual, the service was good and the food excellent. We had a few Pear Williams and Coke, did Rab and I, so she missed the movie which was very light and good fun – “Max Doogan Returns”

Since it was so early when we arrived the bank was not open at the airport and since we would have to catch a taxi from the Hauptbahnhof to the hotel I decided to take a taxi from the airport which we had not done before. We had a nice old duck who drove like the clappers and who charged us f32 (US$14) for the trip. The ground temperature when we landed was – 7°C but it didn’t feel that cold when we arrived at the hotel – the du Theatre again – at about 06.10 so we checked our bags into our room and were off on an early morning exploration.

Well, one of the things we did discover pretty quickly was that it was much colder than we had thought. We made our way down to the automatic vending machine under the Hauptbahnhof but it wasn’t working. Rather unusual for Switzerland, in our experience. We went up to a little buffet in the main concourse and had morning coffee while Rab and Matt (neither of whom will eat airline breakfasts) had a salami roll each.

Ice in fountains!!

Fortified and having dragged Rab away from an American woman she had got chatting to, we set off down the Bahnhofstrasse to do some window shopping. On the way to Matt’s especial delight we saw a couple of cars with snow on them and ice in the fountains. (Years later on another winter visit to the Baltic our friends the Bengtssons were very amused by some of our pictures of snow covered cars – but it was, and is, an unusual sight for us!) We decided (very wisely as it turned out) to go back to the hotel for warmer clothes – tights, fur lined boots, wooly hats and scarves and then, properly equipped so we thought, set off again, going through the little lanes around St Peter’s Church which I had explored in September. I managed to find the Zurich Monument To Women which is a fine site giving a good view of the city. It was about 08.15 at this stage and although the light was still poor I took a couple of shots there. If they come out they may demonstrate the chill of the morning.

 

Monument to Women

We walked right down to the steamer quay on the lake looking for a café but none was open down that end of town, so we caught a tram to the end of the line (Tiefengarten I think it was) but it was not much of a ride as that was not very far – and not very interesting although Matt was happy to be back on a tram – and it was pleasantly warm. We caught another tram back to Centrale Platz which is just down the road from the du Theatre and baled out there.

Since it was 10ish and we were peckish we had a very nice continental breakfast at the Hotel Normand for f25 (US$11.00) including some excellent cheese which is always extra. Since it was dull and overcast, Rab suggested just going back to the hotel and taking it easy and I was quite happy to fall in with that suggestion, but not Matt. He said we could sleep in Harare. As we were here we must make the best of it – so off we went to the Travel Information Centre. They suggested a trip to Rigi as, they said, it would be in sunshine because the cloud was so low.

Alpenhorn serenade

So it was agreed. We validated our Swiss Rail passes and killed the time until our train departed – about half an hour by buying a couple of souvenirs, watching a busker playing on an alpenhorn and sitting in the waiting room with a couple of zonked out punk rockers.

We left dead on time as usual and about 45 minutes later we were at Arth. As we got closer we began to spot pockets of snow which gradually became thicker on the ground. The Zugerberg was quite a sight too – very misty and icy.

First sight of snow - great excitement.

We boarded the rack and pinion railway which was to take us to the summit of Rigi. It was an amazingly steep climb and as we rose the snow got thicker and thicker until we were in a truly “winter wonderland”. Marvellous.

The station at Rigi

All this time the weather had been overcast and gloomy but suddenly we could see sunlight and then we were through the clouds and everywhere we looked was shining white.  When we got to the summit I was madly taking pictures of the incredible panorama – dozens of alps exposed to our view all around the horizon – while Matt and Rab leapt about in the snow throwing handfuls at each other. Matt was also in his element doing ‘stunts’ which consisted of hurling himself off various vantage points into drifts of snow. One was a little deeper than he had thought and he found how difficult it could be climbing out of a deep pit of snow.

 

What a view for a flier

There was a hang glider drifting around the summit – he must have been very cold because there was an icy wind. I walked up to the top, but there was no view over the other side due to the cloud – it must have been magnificent in good weather because on that side of the mountain there is a sheer drop down to Lake Lucerne. We all went to the hotel to have a drink while we waited for the train to take us back down. There was a lovely St Bernard there, barking a welcome to everybody. At least I hope it was a welcome.

Matt and Rab eating snow - not yellow!

The return trip was down the other side of the mountain which seemed to be even steeper and once again the scenery was absolutely tremendous. We caught the ferry to Lucerne and had a trip of almost one hour. Because of the misty conditions the views were restricted but we enjoyed the trip. Matt was thirsty on the way so we had a Coke and bought a couple of nut rolls which were excellent. We reached Lucerne at about 14.50 as it was getting dark and the Christmas lights were lit. it was so pretty that we decided that we would get a quick visit in in our way to Berne. There was no problem in catching the train and we dozed our way back to Zurich. Since we had bought Swiss Rail passes, the only part of our trip today that we had to pay for was the rack and pinion railway up and down Rigi which, with a 25% discount was f69 (US$30). Well worth it.

 

On the lake heading for Lucerne

We arrived at Zurich just before 18.00 and shot back to the hotel as we were going out with the GRE man in Zurich – Albin Reichmuth. We were waiting for him at 19.00 in the foyer, as agreed but he only arrived at 19.10 in a taxi, having lost his way – in his hometown! His wife Elaine was most pleasant and although I had offered to take them out in repayment for the lunch he had given me in September, he insisted on paying. This only became clear after he had selected the restaurant and I was rather relieved because it was a bit fancy for our budget with main courses at about f25/30. we had Geschnetelte Kalfsveis and Rosti which was very good indeed, washed down by three bottles of wine between the three of us (Elaine had a cold and was not drinking). Matt ended off with a chocolate mousse which took us all by surprise being made of nut chocolate, accompanied by nut ice cream. All in all one helluva meal.

 

A lovely memory of our first day in the snow

We were all pretty tired and I almost dropped off a couple of times as the wine and the heat of the room exacerbated the travel tiredness. But we managed to keep going until about 22.20 when we called it a day. after a most invigorating walk back to the hotel we collapsed and were all asleep after a most satisfying first day. we all slept like logs until 07.30 when Rab got up to shower while Matt and I, most unusually, went back to sleep.