Day 12 - Salzburg to Zurich

On the morning of Day 12, we woke up to this absolutely beautiful view out our B&B window. Amazing. Then, we went downstairs and had a wonderful breakfast and then went back to our room to get ready.

As I showered, Don started packing up the room. He got out his wallet to go down and pay for our room (they'd asked to be paid in cash).

When he opened his wallet, the 100 Euro note (about $145 dollars) we pulled out at the ATM was gone! We tore the room apart looking for it and couldn't find it anywhere. We'd rushed on to the bus the night previous and hurriedly paid the bus driver. Don thinks the bill must have slipped out then. The wonderful woman at the B&B tried to call the bus line and see if the money had been turned it, but of course, it hadn't. We just hope whoever found it really needed it. 

We ended up giving the Reichl's our credit card number and they figured out a way to charge us through pay pal.

Then, we rushed off through the gorgeous, chilly morning to the bus stop. The beautiful views helped assuage our grief at losing so much money. I wasn't upset about it but Don beat himself up over it for a long time. Poor guy. 

Then, we rushed off through the gorgeous, chilly morning to the bus stop. The beautiful views (see House Riechl, our B&B looking so cozy and gorgeous!) helped assuage our grief at losing so much money. I wasn't upset about it but Don beat himself up over it for a long time. Poor guy. 

A couple more views for good measure.

Because we had been frantically rushing around looking for the money, we missed our bus and as a result, missed our train. We ended up having to wait at the train station for another hour and then caught a train to Innsbruck rather than the train we'd intended on taking to Munich. It turned out to be a really good decision to go through Innsbruck because we traveled through Alps the entire time. We saw the most beautiful little towns and had such great views of the craggy Alps. Here are a few views I particularly loved...

A lake outside of Salzburg

I tried to take pictures of all the castles we saw but this is the only one that turned out. There were so many! 

As we were riding, we saw this glacial river flowing. It was the most beautiful turquoise color. We had a terrible time trying to capture it and I don't think these pictures do it justice but they give you some idea...

Glacial rock flour, sediments ground into a fine dust as the glacier carves it way through the bedrock, makes the river this color. 

The Alps are so much younger than the Rockies or other mountains in the western United States and are so jagged. They were breathtaking.

As we came into Zurich, we rode along Lake Zurich, a long, skinny lake that stretches for miles. We also rode by the Lindt chocolate factory and if the beautiful surroundings weren't enough, seeing the chocolate factory convinced me completely that I would love this place.

When we arrived in Zurich, my good friend Michaela Donner, who I got to know in Family Housing, met us at the train station and took us on a blitz tour of the city. She had actually come to the train station several hours earlier to meet the train we were supposed to have been on only for us not to show up. I had tried and tried to call her but had some issue with the country code and couldn't get through. When we finally crossed into Switzerland, I was able to get ahold of her just after she'd given us up for lost. Even though she'd already come to get us once, she came again and was the most gracious and knowledgeable of tour guides. Michaela grew up in Zurich and knows the place like the back of her hand. Despite the cold weather, we had a fabulous time catching up and walking around the city.

This is Don with the flower clock on the shore of Lake Zurich. Michaela said that all the tourists take pictures with the clock, so we had to, too!

A view of the city across the lake.

Michaela and Don, bundled up.

Some more views across the lake

Across the way, there is a bathing house floating on the river that is exclusively for women. It has a spa and in the evenings, they have entertainment there. 

This is a night view of the Grossmunster church, which we saw more of the following day. 

The Grossmunster has beautiful, modern stained glass windows. The window above is composed of thin slices of precious stones and were created by Sigmar Polke in 2009. They were so bright and colorful and so unusual. We loved them.

We walked downtown and found Cabaret Voltaire where Dadaism was started. The height of the movement was between 1916-1922 and was based on anti-war sentiments expressed through art, poetry, and other literature.  

A big hug for Michaela.

Walking up to look out over the city. 

A view down on Zurich and the lake.

We loved the swanky little streets full of expensive shops and restaurants. We thought about eating out (getting some classic Swiss fondu) until we looked at the prices and saw that an average plate was 40 Swiss francs. We decided to go back to Michaela's for spaghetti instead. We're so cheap and Michaela was so nice to cook for us.

And here is the Fraumunster. Michaela told us that this clock face is the biggest in Europe. 

We then headed home to Michaela and Toby's beautiful old house (five minutes away from the main train station! So convenient) and had a wonderful meal and talked 'til late. It was fun to see their two kids, Lisa and Emil, again. Michaela had just had Emil when they moved away so he was an entirely different person that the little peanut I met last June.

More on Zurich to come!