Paris to Zurich April 4, 2023

 A New Adventure!  Switzerland to Paris: Paris to Zurich April 4, 2023

After a good night's sleep, we woke early to have a delightful breakfast before heading down one level to the TGV (train de grande vitesse) station, where we boarded the train that took us to Strasbourg, France.  



The scenery along the way was quite beautiful with many large farms dotted with small villages in the distance.  Occasionally a village was within 500 yards or so of the train.  Just beautiful!





We arrived in Strasbourg shortly after 11:00 am.  The station is a beautiful old station that has been encased in a kind of greenhouse.  

I loved this image of a Mom and her daughter riding into the station on a chilly day!


Decorations of the old station!

You can see the old station enclosed by the "greenhouse"!



We had a couple of hours before boarding the regional train that took us to Basel, Switzerland, and then a local train that took us to our final destination: Zurich, Switzerland.



A bit of breakfast for lunch - Perfection!

We worried that the strikes and protests in France might upend some of our travels, but that didn't seem to be the case as all of our trains were on time and relatively seamless.  However, we did see a sign that made us realize how lucky we were to escape France when we did.

Basically, the sign says there will be transit disruptions on April 5th - tomorrow!  Whew!

After a bit of a wait, we made our way to our train from Strasbourg to Basel.






Again, our train was on time in Basel, and we had a short 20-minute time to make our way to the platform for our last train from Basel to Zurich.




Coming into Zurich

Our hotel, the Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel is about two miles from the train station, but there is a local train that runs from Zurich HB (the main train station) to Hardbrücke, across the street from the hotel. However, we opted to take a taxi since we had carted our suitcases onto and off of trains all day long. We were very glad to get into our hotel room (which we arranged to keep once we "transfer" to the Viking cruise, which begins with a two-night stay in this same hotel.

The Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel

Our hotel room

The view from our room

After a bit of a nap and rest, we headed downstairs to the Equinox Restaurant for dinner - a whopping 32 Swiss Francs (about $35.50) for hamburgers!  They were very tasty.

Equinox Bar and Restaurant

Light fixture in the restaurant

Our hotel by night

It was a long day of travel, but instead of being exhausted, we were exhilarated by the simple sights we saw along the way, as well as by the sights and sounds of young families traveling together.  It is such a wonderful way to see France and Switzerland!

Tomorrow ... we go exploring the Old Town of Zurich on our own and then "embarkation" for our Viking Cruise!
Guten nacht aus Zurich!

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