S and J's Big Adventure(s): Week 11

Week 11 - We're going to Zürich from Monday to Thursday.

Sunday, Nov. 7

Blog time - it's always fun to reflect on the week.

Then we pack for Zürich:

Tickets
Passports
Vaccination cards
Cash
Charged up Devices/iPad, Kindle, phone(s)
Cords for Electronic devices
Warm clothing

For dinner - leftovers to clean the fridge.

Monday, Nov. 8

the itinerary:

12:25 Florence Santa Maria Novella Station

Tickets

#9424 Trenitalio

14:20 Milano Central

15:10 Milano Central

#320 Trenitalio

18:27 Zürich HB

Renaissance Zürich Tower Hotel

Turbinenstrasse 20, 8005 Zürich

Nov. 8 - 11, 2021

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I call for a taxi - around 11:15. By the time we gather ourselves down to the street, the taxi is there.

Warm coats

Our luggage...
We're traveling light

I buy sandwiches for the first leg of the train ride.

Board the train and we are off on time, just like in the days of Mussolini.

Arrive in Milano with just time to gather ourselves and wait to see what platform we need.

Very comfortable seating for John. We sit across the aisle from each other.

I think we are in Switzerland

First real glimpse of the Alps

We arrive in Zürich HB in the dark.

This isn't in the dark, but it's what you first see
when you get off the train.

Google says it's a 10 minute walk from the station to the Renaissance Tower Hotel, but we take a taxi. We get there in about 5 minutes in the taxi... only cost 30 euros! 😮

Here it is!

There's a nice bar and restaurant - we eat at the lounge/bar.

We share a hamburger and fries...
Delicious for a 30 franc hamburger
and 12 franc fries

After the hamburger and fries,
we need strong drinks

I guess we'll have to get used to the cost of food and drink here...
Now it's time to go to bed.
We meet a tour guide at 11 am in Old Town at the Starbucks.

Tuesday, Nov. 9

This is what we can see from our room...
These roofs of the business offices are grass. I forgot to ask why.

View from our room

A close up of the hillside

Hotel Concierge tells us where and how to get around on the tram. We buy our 24 hour ticket (8.50 francs each) at the Technopark station across the street.

We are off at 10:00 to meet our tour guide Elda at the Starbucks on Rennweg at 11:00.

Walking down the street, we saw the
green umbrellas

Looking across the street from Starbucks
it's starting to look festive

Elda arrives at 11:00 and we begin our tour of Old Town

A look over the Limmet River
from Lindenhof

Looking down river
from Lindenhof

A little farther down the street to
St. Peter's Church
with the largest clock in Europe

We cross the river to see the Old Town on the other side of the river...

1842 im Haus
Conditorei Schober

H. Schwarzenbach
Coffee, spices & confections

We are interested in a Lake Tour...so Elda takes us to the Bürkliplatz where we will take the Short cruise at 2:00 pm for 1.5 hours.

Bürkliplatz

We now walk back up the street to this sweet little covered sidewalk by the river.

A last look at the river and then go into town.

We part ways at this canal walkway
that goes all the way to
Bürkliplatz

We had a wonderful 2 hour private walk with Elda Pianezzi learning about Zürich and her own favorite spots in town. A great way to get to know a city. Thank you Elda and Lokafy.com.

(I also want to thank Peter Waser for making suggestions as to what to see in Zürich - it seems Elda thinks the important places to see are pretty much the same as Peter.)

We walked around a bit, checked out some stores and then walked back toward the train station. We then discover Hiltl Shilpost, a Vegetarian Restaurant in the old post office building.

The Post office building
We find Hiltl/Silpost

The Napkin

In the evening, we relax, order in room and enjoy the view...

"FEETuring Zurich!"

Wednesday, Nov. 10

This morning John takes advantage of the gym in the hotel and I walk around the area. It's a new area, very modern and lots of office buildings - they like to think it's Zürich's Silicon Valley.

Then I have a Caffé Macchiato in the hotel.

By noon, we are off to the Bürkliplatz to catch the 2:00 boat for the 1.5 hour tour.

We grab a table and look at the menu

We order lunch

John orders the Franfurters & Fries with a Fanta.

I have 5 pieces of Perch and Fries with a Aperol Spritz.

We watch Zürich Lake side go by...

Sketching

1.5 hours have passed, we disembark.
Beautiful lake cruise

Swans everywhere there is water

Walking around we stop for a warm drink and find the "Bar and Breakfast."

It was quite elegant.

It's starting to get dark, we start back to the hotel on Tram #4

I want to see the river at night.

Very nice.

We've bundled up

hmmm. Maybe, Dave?

Now we are going back for the night.

I think I want to return to Zürich
again & again & again &...

Thursday, Nov. 11

We leave today:

Itinerary:

15:33 - Zurich HB

#321 Trenitalia - 3 hrs 17 min

18:50 - Milano Centrale

19:10 - Milano Centrale

#???? Trenitalia - 1 hr 15 min

21:05 - Florence Santa Maria Novella

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We pack, have a latte at the hotel restaurant and are ready to checkout by 11:00 am.

By 11:15/30 we are at Technoparc to catch the tram to the train station.

At the train station, we locker up our luggage so we can make a last walk around town.

Locker Receipt

Walking around Old Town, we find Schwarzenbach to buy goodies

- dried fruit and chocolate covered cherries.

Again, we peak into
1842 im
Haus Conitorer Schober

It's Armistice Day...

Bands playing everywhere in colorful and playful costumes

We move on for more window shopping...

Lovely handmade porcelain

Jewelry for Melinda on a train for Steve

We get back to Zürich HB, unload the locker, buy some bread and board the train

Last look of Lake Zurich
before the long tunnel

A glimpse of the countryside

The sun is setting on Lake Zug

There is a little trouble on the train -

I can't access my eurail pass icon on my phone and the conductor won't take our seat tickets (like the Italian conductors have.) We have to pay the 285 Francs for this leg of the trip. When I finally get the app to work, the conductor says we have to deal for the refund at the train station.

THEN...We are almost to Milan but in Monza there is a delay. The police are going to every car to check everyone's luggage and bags (my purse was opened and unzipped and I had to show any money I had.) John had to open up the suitcase and they rummaged through it so much that John ended up repacking. Were they surprised when they opened our backpack and found 2 large loaves of bread? I think so!

We were to have a 20 minute layover in Milan but we get there 10 minutes after our connection has left. We just show our tickets and we are issued new seat tickets on the next train.

Milan Centrale

We make it back to Florence at 22:04 (10:04 pm)

We are safe in a familiar place and now we can taxi to our comfortable Firenze Home.

Friday, Nov. 12

Street view from Pian di Giullari, 65

Today, John wants to go to the train station and see about our refund for the Zurich/Milan leg of our trip. I want to stop at Carrefour to stock up on groceries so we can eat. We, also, have to be back at the apartment to meet Silvia and Giancarlo because they are showing the place to 2 sets of prospective renters at 2:00 & 2:30 pm.

Luckily we have bus tickets, so we catch the 8:55 bus and make it to the train station before 10:00.

We find out there's nothing to be done in Italy because the transaction was done in Switzerland. We will have to contact the credit card.

We catch the bus to Carrefour, shop and get back to the stop in time to go home, straighten up and meet Silvia and Giancarlo.

It's always such a pleasure to see Silvia and Giancarlo, we always have lots to chat about and share. Another couple to enjoy and call friends. We shall try to keep in touch as they will be going to London to help their daughter with her apartment remodeling and we won't be able to see them again as we will be leaving before they get back.

Thank you, Silvia and Giancarlo - it is such a gift to be able to live in your special guest home!

Saturday, Nov. 13

Today, laundry, lunch at Tuscan Taste and rest.

As we leave Porta Romana, it begins to rain...hard!