Our flight from Atlanta was uneventful, and put us in Zürich just before nine am, local time. After the lengthy line and delay entering the European Union last year in Amsterdam, I was prepared for another lengthy process this morning. Instead we were whisked through immagration with nary a second glance at our passports (not even an entry stamp!), and we cleared customs in even less time as we had nothing to delcare. Compared to Amsterdam, Zürich is a dream as a port of entry.
The train from the Flughaven to the Hauptbanhof (airport to train station) was quick and efficient. By quarter to nine we were standing outside in Zürich. After exchaning some US dollars for Swiss Francs (they aren’t using Euros), we made our way to a nearby Internet cafe to check email, and make a couple of postings to our site.
We returned to the Bahnhof and strolled through a farmers market looking for some lunch. A grill with several different kinds of Wurst looked good to me, and so we each had a sausage with some mustard and a nice chunk of hard bread.
The Inter-City Express, or ICE, train this afternoon brought us north from Switzerland to Stuttgart. Riding the train in Europe is light-years beyond any train in the United States. They run on time, are clean, modern, and fast.
Although we were both pretty tired by this point, we enjoyed the scenery and the chance to relax. As an added bonus the train approached Stuttgart through Herrenberg, a medevial city we discovered last year. I was able to get several pictures of the onion dome church that sits high above the city on a bluff.
Knowing that exhaustion would overtake us soon, we checked our baggage into a locker in the Stuttgart Hauptbanhof, and headed up to Koingstrasse to get some fruit, bottled water, and a quick meal. The S-Bahn trains in Stuttgart were as efficient as ever and we reached Winnenden shortly before six pm. Sibylle’s mother was waiting for us at the station and gave us a ride to Hanweiler, a small hamlet, were we are staying for the first few nights.
After a brief visit with her mom we made plans to contact her in the morning. Showers, and a early bed time are all that’s left for today.
