On the Zürichsee

Click image for more photos ...

Zürichzee Boat Tour, Tuesday June 7

Kate and Cindy spent the morning at the KBS conference. Reg checked out of the damp, dark and grotty Jolie Ville (a misnomer if there ever was one) and stored their gear at the Zürich train station in preparation for their 10:15pm departure that night on an overnight train to Hamburg.

Following Kate's talk, Reg met the girls at the conference. He's hot and sweaty since it's a very steep uphill tromp from the Rüschlikon stop. We trudge back down in order to catch the boat ride from Rüschlikon to Rapperswil-Jona which is on the other side of the lake and further down almost to the end. The boat goes back and forth across the Zürichsee with stops to let off and take on new passengers. The boat is quite large with two decks, the upper sun deck is for first class, and even serves meals, drinks, etc. The boats seems to be used for both holidayers like us and commuters who need to transfer across the lake. The boat trip is part of the Euro-Rail pass system so Kate and Reg ride for free since they will be using their pass again that day; Cindy has to pay to conserve days on her pass.

We spend the lovely afternoon on the sundeck. Kate and Cindy decide to start drinking beer since it's as cheap as water, the wine is terrible (and expensive), and the vodka is priced at 9 franc per shot. We have a meal on the boat and it was quite good and, for Switzerland, pretty inexpensive. Kate was introduced to a German/Swiss specialty, "spaetzle", which we had never heard of. Some of the other guests dining near us were able to help us figure things out. Spaetzle turns out to be a form of egg noodle pasta, described as a kind of "gnocchi" in Cindy's German phrase book but we didn't know what that was either. It turns out it's "sehr gut!" Kate's meal was described on the menu as "Mexicaine" but it seemed pretty much like Hungarian goulash to us. Reg had Weisswurst which look "wurst" than they tasted ("White Sausage" we found out is minced veal and back bacon in pork casings). When we told our friend Martin, later on the trip, he told us that was a mistake. White sausage is served only for breakfast! Little did we know.

We spent several enjoyable hours on the sundeck of this local commuter boat. Once we got to Rapperswil-Jona we take a short train ride back to Zürich. Kate and Reg slummed with Cindy in the second class cabins (their pass would allow them in first class but Cindy couldn't use her pass that day). In Zürich we wandered around the old city until train time. It's a very interesting section of narrow winding cobblestone streets that Reg had explored on the days where the girls were at the conference.

Monday was also a very sad day. Cindy phoned Pat after dinner and he told us that our mutual friend Janet had died on Sunday.

Our Tuesday evening train ride to Hamburg was interesting enough but not terribly restful. We had a little private compartment with two bunks one above the other. These folded down for sleeping and up during the day — we only saw the night mode. Reg had the upper bunk while Kate took the lower one. A ladder, and a bit of struggle effects entry to the upper bunk where restraining belts keep you from falling out onto the floor. There are lots of little shelves for baggage and such.

Of course we couldn't see much outside; it was night after all. Somewhere along the line we crossed a border from Switzerland into Germany but you'd never know it. We never saw any Customs or Immigration folk although there did seem to be a short pause along the way where our passports, which were in the hands of the porter, were examined.

Trains go clunkety-clunk on the train tracks which is a good rhythm for getting things off the shelves and onto the floor. It's not a great rhythm for sleeping.

Slides scanned and notes composed during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, March 2022 — as if living through the OMIGOD! COVID variant wasn't bad enough! The diary entries were made by Cindy, Kate and Reg at the time.