Bern

 Today we tested the Swiss rail system - to Bern.

The Zytglogge (time bell) is one of the icons.

The other side of the zytglogge.

Einstein's house was another viewing destination.  We went inside, but it was reasonably crowded and not good for photography.  But you can find info here  But I did get a pic of his family tree.

I can only say that he didn't have a lot of space!

 

Some other Bern pics.

The main street.

Roofline

On the way to the river..

There are shops below the street level.  You get to the shop by taking the stairs from the street.

And this is how you close shop.

There is also a Rathaus in Bern...

And at the Tourist Bureau, we were told to see the bears.  You just keep walking to the river and we were reassured you could see the bears from above. NSW readers will recognise the term "bear-pit" - the state parliament.  We saw two bored bears walking up and down the path.....

There was a bit of drama on the way back. We were waiting for our train to leave, when we heard shouting outside.  I saw two polezei  on the platform.  The shouting continued and the shouter tried to get into our carriage. By then, the police moved swiftly and when I looked outside, the police had the man lying on the platform, and were proceeding to handcuff him. I asked the young lady over the aisle what he was shouting about, but she replied "I haven't a clue".

So that was Bern for us.  A very pretty city.   Except for the modern trams, you can imagine how it was all those years ago.

Zurich Day 2

This morning, we went to the main train station - Zurich Hauptbahnhof.  We were told that was where the Tourist Bureau was.  Of course, very efficient queuing system, and perfect English spoken.  We bought our tickets to go to Bern tomorrow, plus a ticket for getting around Bern.  As a friend warned us - we will have many OMG moments in Zurich.  The cost was something like CHF 230 - multiply that by 1.75.  We leave our passports at the hotel, so had to get general tickets - which I guess means that if you lose it, tough luck.  With passports, we could get identified tickets. 

 

Stuff we saw as we wandered.....

View of HBH from outside.  Another family also getting their photo taken.

Close-up of the signage. FFS is what you feel like saying when they tell you the price!

Job advert in a clothing store window.  Language requirements in Zurich, and presumably Switzerland, are demanding. Written in English.

Kin Mun spotted this

And who needs churches!  Available elsewhere....

Seemed to be selling jewellery.
 

When my German is limited, English can often miss the point!

Sussweine is "sweet wine".

Rot means "red".

There are coop stores in Zurich.  KM looked them up and they seem to be truly cooperative - no private shareholders. We had also been told, we could get meals there and bring back to our hotel, but unfortunately we don't have a microwave for anything hot.  Anyhow, we took a look and wandered around, and found ourselves on the top floor cafeteria/restaurant.  So we had dinner there.  Much more reasonable than most restaurants, pleasant service and you can  get help from fellow diners. 

Zurich - and still tummy jet-lag

We had to get up at 5:30 am for our transfer to Bilbao Airport.  A flash-looking black Merc arrived, and as I got into the back seat, I recalled another instance where a lady had done the same thing in Paris and it didn't end well.  All ok for us though.

Airport at Bilbao quite navigable.  We were in an Airbus 220 - I didn't know it was a thing!  But one side of the aisle had just two seats, which suited us well. Good flight.  Our flight was operated by Swissair, and guess what was served with the sandwich!

Found our hotel in Zurich and checked in.  I won't tell you the cost - more than we have spent ever, I think.  All because of the location - near the old town and the main train station, and very convenient.  Oh well, this is Zurich and for location, money well spent.  Hotel is 4 star - bright, clean and comfortable.

Explanation - you will have to use Google Translate.  But we knew that Glock was a bell, as well as the brand of a pistol, used by NSW Police.

It was lunch-time and I realised there was also jet-lag in Europe.  My tummy had settled into Spanish meal-times. Late and large lunch, and late  - like after 8:30pm - dinner.  Will be quite happy to get back to more normal times for me, but I can see the social benefits of the Spanish system.

Kin Mun happy to see pulpo(octopus) in his seafood spaghetti.

I discovered how much German I know - ZILCH.  I can find my way around a French, Spanish or Italian menu, but German leaves me dumbstruck.  And I won't be able to learn any, because so much English is available.  Our waiter was from Italy, but speaks Spanish, German and English.  He pointed out that German ain't German - there are several varieties in Switzerland.

Wandered around the old town, before coming back to the hotel for snooze etc. 

And a note on the German language - they seem to join words together quite freely!

 The last word means hosiery department.  Apparently it has been newly renovated.

 

Bilbao

 Farewell to our hotel in San Sebastian. Two leaders to the right.

Again, the country to the north of Spain is completely different to what we saw at the beginning of our tour.  And the weather much more tolerable!

And even low clouds over the mountains.

Tolls!

Bilbao is a one-hit-wonder - or so it seems.  We  were told how it was an industrial city, dirty, unappealing etc etc until the Guggenheim Museum was built, which transformed the town and was a huge boost to tourism.  

Some pics from the Old Town.

The railway station.

 

 

The theatre

 More buildings in the Old Town.  A lot of Palestine flags hanging from windows.  Actually, this has been fairly common over our tour.

Easier to see in this pic.

The puppy - and Kin Mun - at the Guggenheim

We went to look at hanging displays in A Matter of Time - until exhaustion took over!  We had spent a long time on our feet.

 

 

San Sebastian

We are now in San Sebastian, on the bay of Biscay, in northern Spain.  It is a seaside town.

Firstly - what a relief the weather is.  Who would have thought that 80% humidity and mid- twenties Celsius was a relief - but it is!

Secondly - I had no preconceptions of San Sebastian - and was surprised to see how beautiful it is.  Old buildings and a beachside setting.  It is a lovely city.

Some pics:

 

Too busy walking to get some of the city buildings - but a lot of similarity to Paris.

And many buildings were built by, or named after, Queen Maria Christina.

This bridge:

And she built this palace - called Mirimar Palace - with its gardens open to walk around.

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