The happy swiss
(posted a couple days after I wrote it):
Writing this as I'm sitting on the train passing through the Alps to Italy (will post it later).
Woke up earlyish at the hotel in Berlin and proceded to leg it over to the Hauptbahnhof, and put our luggage in storage before heading down into the city. Was a bit of aimless wandering, we took the s-bahn to Alexanderplass and had a look around there, eyeing the radio tower before we walked down to Museuminsl, the small island in the rivers which houses the Berlin Dom, a large cathedral, and various museums. The Dom was clearly a protestant church, as the indoor statues was not of saints, which is usual in catholic churches, but of people like Luther and Calvin. It was very elaborated and nice inside, and we spent some time climbing up to the top of the Dom, for a view of the city.
Then it was on to the Historic Museum, and their antique collection. I have to say I'm getting a bit too used to looking at old vases in various museums, so that we kinda took a peek at the statues and such we found interesting, and breezed through the rest, really.
Lunch was taken at a random restaurant we found while wandering about, we all had snitzels, and then we went about walking down to Checkpoint Charlie and looked around there. Walked a bit south into a more normal suburb before heading back up to Unter der Linden. Stopped for a cup of tea and small cake, then more random wandering around until it was dinnertime. From there it was on to the train station for our next leg.
We took the night train from Berlin to Zurich on monday. Unfortunately the ticket officer in Norway had misunderstood me, so we got 3 'beds' in a 6-person compartment, instead of in a 4-person compartment. At least we managed to grab some semblance of sleep. Got to the hotel earlyish, but they had the room ready so we could check in at once, and grab a nice shower before heading out to sightsee.
We went wandering down one of the main shopping streets in Zurich, Bahnhoffgasse. Lunch was taken at a place called Zeughauskeller, an old restaurant which is part tourist trap, part local. Ate a verrry yummy veal dish with a creamy white-wine sauce and the biggest darnest rösti I have ever seen.
Went out to sightsee some more, wandering up and down the western parts of town, including a trip to the GrossMüster, the largest church in town, where we hiked up the stairs to get a nice view of Zurich.
Dinner in the evening was the Hotel Adler restaurant, which specializes in fondues. Cheesy goodness (just don't check my arteries...).
Øystein
Writing this as I'm sitting on the train passing through the Alps to Italy (will post it later).
Woke up earlyish at the hotel in Berlin and proceded to leg it over to the Hauptbahnhof, and put our luggage in storage before heading down into the city. Was a bit of aimless wandering, we took the s-bahn to Alexanderplass and had a look around there, eyeing the radio tower before we walked down to Museuminsl, the small island in the rivers which houses the Berlin Dom, a large cathedral, and various museums. The Dom was clearly a protestant church, as the indoor statues was not of saints, which is usual in catholic churches, but of people like Luther and Calvin. It was very elaborated and nice inside, and we spent some time climbing up to the top of the Dom, for a view of the city.
Then it was on to the Historic Museum, and their antique collection. I have to say I'm getting a bit too used to looking at old vases in various museums, so that we kinda took a peek at the statues and such we found interesting, and breezed through the rest, really.
Lunch was taken at a random restaurant we found while wandering about, we all had snitzels, and then we went about walking down to Checkpoint Charlie and looked around there. Walked a bit south into a more normal suburb before heading back up to Unter der Linden. Stopped for a cup of tea and small cake, then more random wandering around until it was dinnertime. From there it was on to the train station for our next leg.
We took the night train from Berlin to Zurich on monday. Unfortunately the ticket officer in Norway had misunderstood me, so we got 3 'beds' in a 6-person compartment, instead of in a 4-person compartment. At least we managed to grab some semblance of sleep. Got to the hotel earlyish, but they had the room ready so we could check in at once, and grab a nice shower before heading out to sightsee.
We went wandering down one of the main shopping streets in Zurich, Bahnhoffgasse. Lunch was taken at a place called Zeughauskeller, an old restaurant which is part tourist trap, part local. Ate a verrry yummy veal dish with a creamy white-wine sauce and the biggest darnest rösti I have ever seen.
Went out to sightsee some more, wandering up and down the western parts of town, including a trip to the GrossMüster, the largest church in town, where we hiked up the stairs to get a nice view of Zurich.
Dinner in the evening was the Hotel Adler restaurant, which specializes in fondues. Cheesy goodness (just don't check my arteries...).
Øystein