Zurich
18th April, Zurich We stopped for coffee at a restaurant in Arth overlooking
the Zugersee
The train to Zurich was very full and we were lucky to get seats in First Class, most of which had been
reserved already. (Eurail pass is First Class, in case you were wondering why we went for First Class!).
We chatted with an interesting Canadian couple where were at the start of the first European holiday, so we
were able to tell them quite a bit about what to do. We had quite forgotten how efficient everything is in
Zurich. We phoned Uta and Urs Lenzlinger from the station (the phone worked first time and swallowed the
right amount of money!) and Uta gave us directions as to how to get to their house. We caught a tram and
she met us at the stop. We had intended to be off to Florence today, but it would really be too rude -
they have been so good to us. So we're here for two nights! Last night we imbibed two bottle of German
wine and had a lovely German meal (Uta is German, married to Urs, who is Swiss). We got to bed very late,
but slept like logs. Today Uta booked us on to our train to Florence tomorrow and will take us to the station.
Today we are going to take a ride into the country. Just right now Uta is doing our washing in her automatic!
18th April, Evening
What a lovely day we have had with the Lenzlingers who really are very nice people. Uta (the wife) is a Doctor
of Sociology, although she does not work as a sociologist. She works for a car firm which exhibits all over
Europe. Urs, the husband, is an architect and much of his work involves restoring old buildings. We went for a
long drive, first of all through rather built up areas near Zurich, and then up into the mountains along a road
where the snow was about 6 feet high on either side of us.
Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland.
Urs, Uta and Ann outside the Abbey.
In the Mythen Mountains outside Einsiedeln, near Zurich.
Our picnic in the snow in the mountains.
View of the Zugersee looking out from Arth.
Then we came home through Zurich which is en fête - I'm not sure why, but all the flags are flying
on buildings and buses. Uta has phoned the station and booked us on the 8.45 a.m. Trans Europe Express to
Milano where we change to a Rapido to Florence. Urs will drop us at the station tomorrow morning. I can't
get over how incredibly kind they have been.