Today my plan was simple: check out of my hotel in Colmar, clean the mud Hugo had left on the passenger side floorboard of my car, drive to Zurich to turn in my rental car and then hang out at my hotel until my flight tomorrow morning. I skipped my hotel's breakfast because I wasn't very hungry and I didn't feel like subjecting myself to the hand and foot service treatment again and departed by about 10:30 am. My car still had plenty of gas to get to Zurich, so the only thing I had to do before I arrived was find a place to stop for lunch and pick up some cleaning supplies for the aforementioned mud. I figured I would probably come across one of the typical roadside rest areas they have here in Europe, where there are usually gas stations, small fast food restaurants, and often small grocery stores. So I was driving south through France, keeping my eyes peeled for such a place, but failed to find one before the Swiss border. Perhaps that was a good thing though, because I was going to need the break after the ordeal I experienced at the border.
Perhaps "ordeal" is an exaggeration, but my experience at the border crossing into Switzerland was not fun. Say what you want about the politics of it (and Europeans have plenty of opinions themselves), one thing that is great about the European Union is that it makes travel within and between its member nations a breeze. You don't have to change currencies, you don't have to go through border checks, and it makes Europe like one big country, only with different languages. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, however, so when you enter the country you do have to go through the hassle of border checks. The last time I entered Switzerland it wasn't really a big deal - someone on the train checked my railpass and passport, saw that everything was in order, and then left me alone. Apparently crossing the border via car is a different story though. As I approached the border on the freeway, traffic was stopped and lined up in the checkpoint lanes, but cars were moving through fairly quickly. When I got to the front of the line, however, the police suddenly got a serious look and gestured for me to pull aside and park my car. I knew you were supposed to pay a road usage fee when you enter Switzerland by car, so I figured maybe it was just for that, but it quickly became apparent that they were less concerned with charging me the fee than with searching my car. They asked me if I had anything to declare to French or Swiss customs, which as far as I knew I did not, after which they proceeded to open my trunk and dig around through my stuff. They searched all of the car's compartments, opened my bag and rifled around through its contents (going so far as to flip through the pages of my history textbook), all the while asking me a bunch of questions about why I was in Europe, where I had been, where I was going, how long I had been there, what my job was, where I was from, etc etc. I answered all of their questions directly and honestly, made it clear I had nothing to hide, and after about ten minutes they apparently decided that I was not a drug smuggler and let me go. It sucked, but I guess it would probably be pretty unusual for them to see a rental car with German license plates entering into Switzerland from France in the middle of winter and without a Swiss road tax sticker, so I after the fact I understood why they were a bit suspicious.
So after my run in with the police I continued on my way to Zurich. Not long after departing I finally spotted a rest area with a grocery store, so I stopped to get some food and cleaning supplies for my car. Luckily, being close to the border, they accepted payment in euros, so I didn't have to find an ATM and make a withdrawal to get Swiss currency. When I got back to my car I cleaned up the interior, ate lunch, and then continued the journey to Zurich.
I arrived in Zurich at about 1:30 pm, and proceeded to the airport, where I had to drop off my car. I love Zurich's airport. It's well organized, signage is very clear and easy to figure out, and the facilities are great. It was easy to find where I had to drop off my car, and the drop off consisted of handing the attendant the key and the GPS unit I had borrowed and waving goodbye. Just further reinforcement of my thought that renting cars in Europe can be a very effective and convenient way to get around. I realized as I gave up the keys to my car that I had grown quite attached to it. It had been my constant and faithful companion for two weeks, seeing me safely over more than a thousand kilometers of European roads, and I was going to miss the little guy. I took a picture as I was leaving to remember him by, regretted that I had not given him a name, and then bid him farewell and made my way into the airport.
 |
| My faithful companion |
I had arranged to stay at the hotel at the airport, the Raddison Blu. Naturally there were signs in the airport directing me to it, and on the way I passed a number of restaurants, coffee shops, and even a couple of grocery stores, that all looked like promising sources of sustenance for the remainder of my time in Europe. When I got to the hotel I found that it was in an uber-modern building, basically a cube full of smaller windowed cubes which were the individual rooms, and a giant glass-enclosed tower of wine bottles in the middle of it. It's a nice place, with a very nicely-appointed room, and more importantly, good free wi-fi. When I checked in, the guy at the desk asked me how I had been enjoying Zurich. I told him I had just gotten there, and it struck me that it would be criminal not to at least check out Zurich proper, so I asked him if there were trains from the airport to the city, which he confirmed that there were and also further encouraged me to zip over for a quick visit. I decided to go ahead and do so, so I dropped off my stuff in my room and then headed out to see Zurich.
I found that the train station in the airport was a good as the airport itself, and had trains to downtown Zurich about every 15-20 minutes, so it didn't take me long to get it figured out and get down to the city. I bought a 24 hour pass for 12 Swiss Francs (the Swiss Franc is about equivalent to the U.S. Dollar in value), hopped on the first train to Zurich, and was there within 20 minutes. Before I left my hotel room I had downloaded the Rick Steves guide to Switzerland in ebook format on my iPhone so that I would have something to go by rather than just wandering around without a clue as to what I was looking at (which I have done before and do not recommend). I've been thinking about getting an iPad mini and using it to access my guidebooks in ebook format rather than cutting them up and rebinding them and carrying around a glued and taped-together book like I do now, so I decided to make this the trial run. Thus when I got to Zurich I had a plan for my visit - the guidebook had a good self-directed tour of Zurich's center to follow, which was supposed to take about an hour or two to complete and covered the important sights, so I decided to just follow that.
 |
| Zurich |
 |
| Zurich |
Like many cities in Europe, Zurich straddles a river - in this case, the Limmat River - and has sights on both sides and several bridges crossing it. I found that the area on the banks of the river was extremely photogenic, and took a bunch of pictures from various spots. In my foot tour of Zurich it struck me that Zurich is a very wealthy city. Prices are very high (for instance, the price for a cup of gluhwein from the Christmas market stands was double the usual price in France and Germany), the shops are all mostly high end, the cars tend to be pretty luxurious, etc. Still it's a fun and beautiful little city, eminently walkable and enjoyable to explore. I stopped in at a Starbucks and indulged in a chai tea latte (7.90 SF), walked up and down both banks of the river and around the lively and beautiful city center, and just enjoyed the ambiance. With the ease of getting to and around Zurich's city center, its foot traffic-friendly nature, its beautiful scenery and great collection of bars, restaurants, and shops, it would make a great place to arrive or depart from in future trips. Zurich doesn't have enough to it to really make it a destination, but it certainly makes for an excellent afternoon/evening side trip.
 |
| Zurich |
 |
| Zurich |
After a couple of hours I had completed the walking tour from the guidebook, so I hopped on a tram back to the train station and then caught a train to the airport. While I have been driving around Europe this time around, Europe's public transportation never fails to impress me. You can get around so effortlessly here. You don't have to speak the language and you don't even necessarily have to know what you're doing - the systems are generally so well designed and automated that it's really pretty foolproof (keep in mind, I said generally; nothing is perfect, including Europe's public transportation). I'm glad that I got a chance to do a little train and tram travel, because it reminded me just how good it is here in Europe.
Well I'm more or less settled in for the night and ready for my flight back home tomorrow. I suppose this will be my last post of the trip. Once again it has been a great trip, as good as I ever expected or imagined it would be. I learned a lot, improved my German and French skills, got some more travel practice, figured out driving in Europe, and did what I love doing most, connecting with people from around the world, speaking their languages and experiencing their cultures as a part of the party rather than as an outsider looking in. I already can't wait to come back.
No comments:
Post a Comment