New metro line

The extension of the M1 line to Bankstown was ready on Friday 30th.  Coincidentally, three of us had arranged to meet up at Revesby, but when we discovered the line was open, two of us hopped on the metro and met our friend at Bankstown.

All very exciting - and we relished the opportunity to not only easily get to Bankstown, but also the prospect of exploring other places that had suddenly became accessible.

First indication of the new order - signs at Epping with new names!

New places to explore!

On board, we had plenty of space.

Gap fillers:

Getting off at Bankstown

And Bankstown was celebrating!

And the station had been redeveloped as well.

View of UWS, to the right as we exited the Metro station.

A great new piece of infrastructure - as well as the new airport - in the next post!

Data Centres

 Data centres have been in the news.  There have been protests around the place where people do not want them built near their homes, over fears of their demands for electricity and water, and noise.  As well there have been listings of Data Centre builders on the stock exchange, with uncertainty as to their future as an investment.

So we thought - we had better go and see what they are like!

We discovered there are lots in Sydney - including in the light industrial area near Macquarie Shopping Centre.  They have been hiding in plain sight!  It was my John Howard moment - how long has this been going on?!

We took pictures of just three.  But there are plenty more in Sydney.

Along Waterloo Road.

At least the turkey was happy!

Then  NEXTDC along Eden Park Road.  At least they made an effort to look bright and interesting.

And another NEXT DC in Giffnock Avenue - had never heard of the street, even though it is near Macquarie.

When we could get close, yes, there is a hum coming from them, sometimes reflecting from surrounding buildings.  It was a bit like the hum you get from a motorway.  

Out and about in Zurich

 

Tonight we pack before our flight tomorrow - Thursday local time. Today we just walked around Zurich, and tried the Funicular and local tram system.

Just in case you aren't sure which country you are in - you are reminded.

 

There are plenty of chocolate shops with plenty of chocolate.

 Queue for sight-seeing lake cruise.

Lakeside views

And the mountains in the distance.

The polybahn -or funicular.

And in Zurich, traffic and pedestrians mix freely!

 

 

Einstein's locker

Einstein studied at the ETH Zurich (the Federal Institute of Technology) from 1896 to 1800, and later taught there as professor physics from 1912 to 1914.

We saw what was his  locker - I cannot find whether it was when he was a student, or a teacher.  Now it is a mini-museum to him.

The building

Directions......

And some pics of the locker and its contents...

 

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.