trains to paris

This entry is probably longer than it needs to be, considering it’s only about the five-hour train ride from Zurich to Paris. I’m kind of an airplane/train nerd, so if photos of my train ride aren’t your thing, just ignore this entry.

(BUT TRAINS ARE COOL! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?)

Anyway, we checked out of our hotel, and left for the Zurich HB (aka Zürich Hauptbahnhof, aka the train station).

I am seriously in love with these boards that have the spinning tiles. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I want to own one. So much cooler than the digital ones. When all the tiles flip at once, it’s like magic.

Looking fake impressed/unimpressed. Come on, we’re going to PARIS!

It’s our train!

Première classe, obviously. Where else would we sit? (Okay, so first class was actually only a few dollars more than second class at the time I bought the tickets.)

The seats are pretty posh, and the interior is designed by Christian Lacroix. Random seats are green.

I had a green seat! I was pleased to note the green seats had matching green tray tables. And outlets for my devices!

read the rest of this entry »

zurich, part zwei

I’m back from Paris, and have some picture-posting catch-up to do. I was only in Zurich for a couple days, but my overall impression that it’s a lovely, charming, and well-designed (HELVETICA EVERYWHERE!) city, but very expensive. The Swiss Franc is almost on par with my dollar, but everything was expensive. Almost every cocktail I had was around $20. A taxi from the airport was maybe 15 minutes… and $60. A tiny bottle of Pantene hair conditioner was $8.

But I had a fun time — and now, back to the photos. (Part one is here.)

I took these photos from our hotel bathroom. It always scares me when hotels have huge windows with no screens. I COULD FALL OUT AND DIE!

Again, looking down on to the cute little square from the window.

As mentioned previously, the hotel was Zurich-themed. Our room had this painting of Zurich, and a map of Zurich on the wall.

Time for a tasty, tasty Swiss specialty — FONDUE!

There can be nothing bad about eating a pot of cheese for dinner.

Thank you, Switzerland, for inventing the miraculous idea of dipping bread into a delicious combination of melted cheese and alcohol.

read the rest of this entry »