Europe Day 9 & 10 Switzerland

Yesterday we checked out of our hotel in Munich and made our way to the train station, where we boarded a train to Switzerland. It was a nice, fairly new Swiss train, and we were able to store our luggage without much trouble and sit together.  

We again headed out of Munich through the German countryside, but this time to the southwest. We passed south of Lake Constance, briefly traveling though Austria, and after about three and a half hours we arrived in Zurich. We were hoping we could see the Alps from the train, but we couldn’t. The parts of Switzerland we traveled through looked a lot like Germany and Austria. After grabbing a quick lunch we boarded another train, which was a bit more crowded and could only accommodate about half our bags on racks, so we had to go the final hour with bags at our feet. 

When we arrived in Bern, we considered trying to figure out how to use the light rail but decided to take a taxi to our hotel, which was located in a fairly new commercial area north of downtown. However our room included a pass to use public transportation so after dropping our bags in the room we jumped on the light rail back to the main train station.

From there we walked east a little over a mile through the Old Town and across the River Aare to the Bear Gardens, stopping in a few stores to purchase souvenirs. After watching the bears and taking in the view of Old Town, we decided to try to take the city bus back to the train station, as it was getting late and we were getting cold and tired. No one ever checked our pass and everyone seemed to just get on and off the light rail and buses without paying or showing passes. We ate some dinner then grabbed the train back to the hotel and had a drink at the bar before getting ready for bed.

This morning we continued our journey southwest through Switzerland. The train between Bern and Geneva was a double decker and there was no place to store luggage and very few seats so we stood for twenty minutes until we got to the first stop, when we got off and waited for the next train. It was also a double decker and all the bag storage was full but at least there were seats for Susan and Jenn. I stood with the luggage until the first stop then dragged much of it up the stairs to the rack there. 

When we got to Lucerne some people got off and we were able to sit together as we traveled along Lake Geneva. We got off at Geneva about two and a half hours after we departed Bern, and after a brief wait boarded a train to France.