In Europe at last.
Sorry that I haven't posted anything until now; I have had neither the time nor the desire to sit down at a computer. Isn't that funny coming from a computer addict like me. Can you believe how long it's been since I've been on messenger?
So anyway, getting to Europe was not without its hiccups though it went pretty smoothly overall. The first issue occurred at check in when it seemed that they coulnd't find me listed for a flight from London to Zurich, though I had all my confirmation info in my hand. I'm not sure what the problem was but eventually gave me a new e ticket number and I was on my way. The flight to London was long and annoying with the screaming infant in the seat in front of me but I managed to get a little bit of sleep. We were half an hour late getting into London but I still had plenty of time to make the connection. I arrived in Zurich at 6:30 and in keeping with Thomson family tradition, my bag did not. It seems that in the confusion about my Zurich flight, they got confused about where it was supposed to go. I'd have been more annoyed if I was going to a hostel but as in was it was only minorly inconvenient and it was delivered to me the next day. Come to think of it, it was nice not having to carry it on the train and tram home. Later on, I had birthday cake with Swiss chocolate in it. That's three cakes in total this year.
But enough of that boring stuff. What have I done so far? On Thursday I slept late then Phil gave me a walking tour of Zurich. We saw three churches: Fraumunster, St Peterskirche and Grossmunster. The view from the tower at Grossmunster is really nice. We walked along the Limmat, which is the river that runs through the city and sat my Lake Zurich for a little while. It's a beautiful city. Everything I read about Zurich raved about how you HAVE to walk down Bahnhofstrasse but it was nothing special, just a lot of really expensive stores. I'm sure there's lots more that I saw but I need to look at the pictures to remember. There are lots of pictures though.
On Friday I took my first solo train journey into Luzern. Not too big a deal, I managed to find the right train and all that and Luzern is a pretty hard city to get lost in. First I went to the Jesuit Church, which looks kind of like a wedding cake on the inside. I walked around that neighbourhood for a while, and went to another church whose name I have now forgotten but it had an interesting cemetery. I took some pictures of Speuerbrucke (brucke is bridge) and walked across Kapellebrucke. Both are really neat covered bridges. A lot of the buildings in Luzern have artwork on the walls which for an art junkie like me was pretty neat. I meandered my way over to Hofskirche and tried to get some decent pictures despite the cranes in the way. It took some doing but I managed. In the afternoon I went to my first art gallery in Europe, the Luzern Kunsthaus. It wasn't that great, a lot of very postmodern art that I'm not a big fan of and probably not like what I'll be seeing in most of the art museums I visit here.
Saturday was a very cool day. Since I'd taken the Vancouver Kayak Club beginner's course last weekend, Phil thought it might be fun to take me on a river here and we were lucky enough to be able to arrange to borrow not only gear but also a car. He eventually decided on the Vorderrein, probably the most beautiful class 2 river you could hope for. It's called the Grand Canyon of Switzerland and when I get around to posting pictures you'll understand why. It was a really nice river, though I was very nervous about it. Not only did I not swim though, I didn't flip and Phil and David did a really good job of guiding. I don't think it was too boring for them either. And I finally have pictures of me kayaing, video too. The drive to the river was beautiful too and I got my first look at the Alps. You think we have mountains in B.C. ha! No comparison. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to try a combat roll (that's rolling when you need to) but I guess it's better not to flip at all. Definitely not a bad place for one's second ever river run except now I'm spoiled.
That's all for now. Off to Basel today.
Love, Megan
Sorry that I haven't posted anything until now; I have had neither the time nor the desire to sit down at a computer. Isn't that funny coming from a computer addict like me. Can you believe how long it's been since I've been on messenger?
So anyway, getting to Europe was not without its hiccups though it went pretty smoothly overall. The first issue occurred at check in when it seemed that they coulnd't find me listed for a flight from London to Zurich, though I had all my confirmation info in my hand. I'm not sure what the problem was but eventually gave me a new e ticket number and I was on my way. The flight to London was long and annoying with the screaming infant in the seat in front of me but I managed to get a little bit of sleep. We were half an hour late getting into London but I still had plenty of time to make the connection. I arrived in Zurich at 6:30 and in keeping with Thomson family tradition, my bag did not. It seems that in the confusion about my Zurich flight, they got confused about where it was supposed to go. I'd have been more annoyed if I was going to a hostel but as in was it was only minorly inconvenient and it was delivered to me the next day. Come to think of it, it was nice not having to carry it on the train and tram home. Later on, I had birthday cake with Swiss chocolate in it. That's three cakes in total this year.
But enough of that boring stuff. What have I done so far? On Thursday I slept late then Phil gave me a walking tour of Zurich. We saw three churches: Fraumunster, St Peterskirche and Grossmunster. The view from the tower at Grossmunster is really nice. We walked along the Limmat, which is the river that runs through the city and sat my Lake Zurich for a little while. It's a beautiful city. Everything I read about Zurich raved about how you HAVE to walk down Bahnhofstrasse but it was nothing special, just a lot of really expensive stores. I'm sure there's lots more that I saw but I need to look at the pictures to remember. There are lots of pictures though.
On Friday I took my first solo train journey into Luzern. Not too big a deal, I managed to find the right train and all that and Luzern is a pretty hard city to get lost in. First I went to the Jesuit Church, which looks kind of like a wedding cake on the inside. I walked around that neighbourhood for a while, and went to another church whose name I have now forgotten but it had an interesting cemetery. I took some pictures of Speuerbrucke (brucke is bridge) and walked across Kapellebrucke. Both are really neat covered bridges. A lot of the buildings in Luzern have artwork on the walls which for an art junkie like me was pretty neat. I meandered my way over to Hofskirche and tried to get some decent pictures despite the cranes in the way. It took some doing but I managed. In the afternoon I went to my first art gallery in Europe, the Luzern Kunsthaus. It wasn't that great, a lot of very postmodern art that I'm not a big fan of and probably not like what I'll be seeing in most of the art museums I visit here.
Saturday was a very cool day. Since I'd taken the Vancouver Kayak Club beginner's course last weekend, Phil thought it might be fun to take me on a river here and we were lucky enough to be able to arrange to borrow not only gear but also a car. He eventually decided on the Vorderrein, probably the most beautiful class 2 river you could hope for. It's called the Grand Canyon of Switzerland and when I get around to posting pictures you'll understand why. It was a really nice river, though I was very nervous about it. Not only did I not swim though, I didn't flip and Phil and David did a really good job of guiding. I don't think it was too boring for them either. And I finally have pictures of me kayaing, video too. The drive to the river was beautiful too and I got my first look at the Alps. You think we have mountains in B.C. ha! No comparison. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to try a combat roll (that's rolling when you need to) but I guess it's better not to flip at all. Definitely not a bad place for one's second ever river run except now I'm spoiled.
That's all for now. Off to Basel today.
Love, Megan
posted by Megan at 12:28 AM
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