Chris had a business trip scheduled: spend one week in the UK traveling with their new sales guy & visiting some customers; and spend the following week in Austria going over the 2010 budget with the board members, and his boss - Udo. His company is owned by an Austrian company, so board meetings are held in Austria - about a one hour train ride from Zurich Switzerland.
We found an inexpensive airline ticket for me, so I planned to join him for a long weekend. We decided to meet in Zurich, Switzerland, since it was convenient for his following week's meetings. I've been to Zurich 3 times, so it was a comfortable place for me to fly in and meet up with Chris, as well. Switzerland is beautiful, clean, and most everyone speaks English! I took a 10 pm flight out on Thursday, and arrived in Zurich at 11:00 am on Friday, Dec 11th. It's a 7 hour flight, and there is a 6 hour time change. You find the lost hours again, on the trip home...
Just what I needed to jump start the day, and to counter the effects of the time change...
Our hotel:
(yes, that is a person riding a bicycle - reflected in the window...) Many people rode their bikes - even in 30 degree weather! Also, almost all restaurants had outside seating available - with no heat lamps. And there were some people that actually ate outside - wow!
Main entrance to Zurich HB train station:
Inside the train station:
The Limmat river flows through Zurich - allowing many great photo ops.
Looking across Lake Zurich - sailboats still in the water!:
Most of the major cities in Switzerland reside on beautiful lakes. And near the lake, these cities & towns have an 'old town' section - cobble stone streets, narrow passage ways, quaint stores and restaurants. This is where we spend most of our time - walking around and enjoying the sights. Here, they are all decorated for Christmas:
On Saturday, we decided to take a train ride to Rigi - a mountain ski resort. We took the train from Zurich's main station to Arth Goldau (a quaint town on Lake Zugersee). Then a cog railroad train car took us up the mountain.
Chris on our first train ride of the day - comfy and clean. The train conductors announce the next stop in German, and then in English - lucky us!
I love these convenience stores - kiosk. You can get drinks, snacks, newspapers...
The Rigi train that would take us to the top of the mountain
The track clearing machine:
Steph superimposed in the photo that Chris took of Arth Goldau - looking out of the Rigi train
Heading up the mountain - starting to get into the snow. Amazing how green it still was. The trees had lost their leaves though, so we knew it was winter (that and the cold temps...)
Waterfall along the train route:
Just a tad bit snowy and cloudy at the top of Rigi:
Skiing here was very different from what I've seen in the States. These skiers skied the entire mountain - winding their way through the trees, crossing railroad tracks... It was more like cross country skiing - except it was downhill. It definitely looked more interesting than skiing down the mountains in New Hampshire! There were also numerous people that were going hiking down the trails, and others who were going sledding down the mountain.
Snowboarders getting ready to tackle the mountain. The trails weren't obvious - you definitely had to know where you were going.
Heading back down the mountain. Notice all the cables? Rather than the ski lifts with chairs, they just had cables that you would grab onto - these would carry you up the mountain. The cables were everywhere.
Back in Arth Goldau - taking a walk to the lake:
Photo of the valley around Arth Goldau - amazing seeing the snow line so defined. I love this picture - it's my background picture on my computer.
Arth Goldau
Saturday night - back in Zurich, and on the hunt for dinner! Fortunately, Zurich has a lot of Italian restaurants - pasta & pizza - yum!
Dessert! (we bought some as Christmas gifts)
Sunday, was spent just relaxing and walking around Zurich. 1st stop was Starbucks! Then we were off (bundled up - high of only 30).
The walk along the Limmat river:
Big a#@ bus - triple!
View of 'old town' Zurich
I love seeing the signage:
Grossmunster: the most recognized building in Zurich:
Grossmünster is a 12th-century Romanesque ex-cathedral with a fascinating history of Catholic saints and Protestant preaching. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne after his horse bowed down on the spot marking the graves of three early Christian martyrs. (it's the building with 2 towers...)
At the steps of Lindenhof:
is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Kaiserpfalz. The Lindenhof remained a place of civil assembly into modern times. In 1798, the citizens of Zürich swore the oath on the constitution of the Helvetic Republic on the Lindenhof. In the present time it serves as a recreational space, a green oasis (not in the winter...) and automobile free public space of the old historic city center. Its elevated position makes it a favorite point for tourists to get an overview of the geography of old Zürich.
The views from Lindenhof:
In the lower part of Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse lies the Paradeplatz, with the palatial headquarters of the Schweizerischen Kreditanstalt (1876) and the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville: also the main banking center of UBS & Credit Suisse:
Love the churches and old buildings. On Sundays, the church bells toll off and on all day long - very beautiful sounds.
The Limmat river - flowing into Lake Zurich. Lots of swans in the area.
Imagine that - we found a running race! Too bad we didn't know about it ahead of time, else we would have joined in!
After we were well frozen, we stopped at an art museum. They had a special exhibit of Georges Seurot. I'm sure this picture looks familiar...
He has painted some amazing pieces - it was a great exhibit. The museum also had some paintings by Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Manet.... It was the perfect break from the cold.
Then it was time to head to back to the hotel, collect the luggage, and head to the airport. I was flying back to Massachusetts. Chris was taking a train to Austria for his week of board meetings. Short trip, but well worth it!
1st view on Sunday morning
New England is always prepared, so the roads were already plowed. Many stores still didn't open though, as the snow kept falling most of Sunday. There's always Dunkin Donuts of course. 
And fortunately, our health club was open (although the pool was closed). So, we were able to get to the gym, and fit our 1 hour bike ride, 1 hour run, and 1 hour strength training session in. Then it was off to breakfast - yum! Chris spent the rest of the afternoon shoveling snow out of Toules outside area, and shoveling out the mailbox, so the mailman could deliver our mail. Our driveway is long, so we pay a neighbor to plow it.
