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greenbagjosh · 1 year ago

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Sunday 10 August 2003 - the rural towns of central Switzerland - Glarus, Biberbrugg SZ, Arth-Goldau, Erstfeld, Altdorf and Flüelen - the lucky arrow that missed the kid - lovely Geschnetzltes and liter of beer to end out the visit to Switzerland

Sunday 10 August 2003

Good morning! What a Street Parade yesterday. This one was hotter than the last one. Today we will visit some rural towns in Switzerland by town, particularly in the central part of the Deutschschweiz. First we go to Glarus via Ziegelbrücke, then Pfäffikon SZ, then Biberbrugg and Einsiedeln, then change trains at Arth-Goldau for Erstfeld and Altdorf. The last small town we visit is Flüelen, and then we go to Zürich for a relatively quiet(er) supper at the Brasserie Johanniter. It is my last full day in Switzerland for the year 2003, before going to Munich, Germany. Hope you will enjoy this story.

Guten Morgen! Was für eine Streetparade gestern. Dieser war heißer als der letzte. Heute werden wir stadtweise einige ländliche Städte in der Schweiz besuchen, insbesondere im zentralen Teil der Deutschschweiz. Zuerst fahren wir über Ziegelbrücke nach Glarus, dann nach Pfäffikon SZ, dann nach Biberbrugg und Einsiedeln, dann steigen wir in Arth-Goldau um nach Erstfeld und Altdorf. Die letzte kleine Stadt, die wir besuchen, ist Flüelen, und dann fahren wir nach Zürich für ein relativ ruhiges Abendessen in der Brasserie Johanniter. Es ist mein letzter ganzer Tag in der Schweiz im Jahr 2003, bevor ich nach München, Deutschland, aufbreche. Ich hoffe, Ihnen wird diese Geschichte gefallen.

Bonjour! Quelle Street Parade hier. Celui-ci était plus chaud que le précédent. Aujourd'hui, nous visiterons quelques villes rurales de Suisse par ville, en particulier dans la partie centrale de la Deutschschweiz. Nous allons d'abord à Glaris via Ziegelbrücke, puis Pfäffikon SZ, puis Biberbrugg et Einsiedeln, puis changeons de train à Arth-Goldau pour Erstfeld et Altdorf. La dernière petite ville que nous visitons est Flüelen, puis nous allons à Zürich pour un souper relativement calme à la Brasserie Johanniter. C'est mon dernier jour complet en Suisse pour l'année 2003, avant d'aller à Munich, en Allemagne. J'espère que vous apprécierez cette histoire.

Dobro jutro! Kakšna ulična parada včeraj. Tale je bil bolj vroč kot prejšnji. Danes bomo obiskali nekatera podeželska mesta v Švici po mestih, predvsem v osrednjem delu Deutschschweiza. Najprej gremo do Glarusa preko Ziegelbrücke, nato Pfäffikon SZ, potem Biberbrugg in Einsiedeln, nato prestopimo na vlak v Arth-Goldau za Erstfeld in Altdorf. Zadnje mestece, ki ga obiščemo, je Flüelen, nato pa gremo v Zürich na razmeroma mirno(er) večerjo v Brasserie Johanniter. To je moj zadnji cel dan v Švici v letu 2003, preden sem šel v München v Nemčiji. Upam, da vam bo ta zgodba všeč.

Dobro jutro! Kakva ulična parada jučer. Ovaj je bio žešći od prethodnog. Danas ćemo posjetiti neke ruralne gradove u Švicarskoj po gradovima, posebno u središnjem dijelu Deutschschweiza. Prvo idemo do Glarusa preko Ziegelbrückea, zatim Pfäffikon SZ, zatim Biberbrugg i Einsiedeln, zatim presjedamo u Arth-Goldau za Erstfeld i Altdorf. Posljednji gradić koji posjećujemo je Flüelen, a zatim idemo u Zürich na relativno mirnu(er) večeru u Brasserie Johanniter. Ovo je moj posljednji cijeli dan u Švicarskoj u 2003. godini, prije odlaska u München, Njemačka. Nadam se da ćete uživati u ovoj priči.

Buongiorno! Che Street Parade ieri. Questo era più caldo dell'ultimo. Oggi visiteremo alcune città rurali della Svizzera per città, in particolare nella parte centrale del Deutschschweiz. Prima andiamo a Glarona via Ziegelbrücke, poi Pfäffikon SZ, poi Biberbrugg e Einsiedeln, poi cambiamo treno ad Arth-Goldau per Erstfeld e Altdorf. L'ultima cittadina che visitiamo è Flüelen, e poi andiamo a Zurigo per una cena relativamente tranquilla alla Brasserie Johanniter. È il mio ultimo giorno intero in Svizzera per l'anno 2003, prima di andare a Monaco, in Germania. Spero che ti piacerà questa storia.

By the time that the other roommates returned last night, I was already asleep. I only woke up to use the bathroom. The room temperature was still hot during the night, and only at 3 AM did the temperature become comfortable. I woke up about 7:45 AM, took a shower and went to breakfast. There were not very many people in the breakfast room, so I could eat more peacefully.

After washing the dishes, I took my bag with me, and instead of walking up the steep path up to the bus stop, I walked under the Limmat bridge to a low covered foot bridge which was past the Landvogteischloss and the Baden historical museum. There was a mural showing sailors in court jester outfits, and the quote below the picture was a poem about the Narrenschiff, or the ship of fools. I was able to walk up the Grabenstrasse to Kirchweg and Mellingerstrasse, to turn right at Bruggerstrasse which led to the SBB rail station.

About 9 AM I boarded a Regional Express to Zürich HB, where I would transfer to another Regional Express to Ziegelbrücke and transfer again to a Regionalbahn for Glarus. At Zürich HB, there were a few people still in their costumes, waiting for their trains home. At least Zürich would shrink down to its usual population of about 800,000 inhabitants. My heart went out to the city workers who had to clean up the trash on the streets. They really worked hard to make Zürich look clean.

About 9:45 AM, the Regional Express, a Dosto, went on the route to Thalwil and Pfäffikon SZ, and went on to Ziegelbrücke. The train announcment went "Reisende nach Glarus sind gebeten hier umzusteigen", "Passengers for Glarus, please change to the connecting train". There would be a Regional Bahn train for Glarus and farther south to Linthal UR. Ziegelbrücke is right on the cantonal boundary in the St. Gallen canton next to Glarus, and is separated by the River Linth, which flows into Lake Zürich. Glarus is one of the original cantons, the other two being Schwyz and the other being Uri. The confederation began in 1291. Over the centuries, parts of adjacent land joined Switzerland, and the last canton, actually carved out of the northwestern part of the Canton of Bern, was Jura, in 1979.

At 10:30 AM, the train departed Ziegelbrücke for Glarus. The ride took less than 15 Minutes. Once I left the rail station, I walked south, towards Ennenda, crossing the Linth. I walked through the park next to Kirchweg. Kirchweg crossed the Linth into Ennenda. The mountains were very beautiful to see on a summer morning. At some stage, maybe when I was just six years old, so in 1978, my parents took me to see Elm in southeast Glarus. In that area, there is a point where St Gallen, Glarus and Graubünden meet. Also, one product that comes from Elm is the sparkling water. There even is a sparkling lemon drink called Elmer Citro, similar to 7 Up and Sprite. I was six years old when I first drank Elmer Citro. Somwhere I have the photo of me with a bottle of Elmer Citro.

At 11 AM, I walked back to Glarus and rode the next Regional Bahn to Ziegelbrücke and Regional Express to Pfäffikon SZ. I then changed to a train for Biberbrugg. I alighted at Biberbrugg to have a look at the rail station. It was one of the few stations on the SBB network that still had level rail crossings that people could legally cross. I suspected that Einsiedeln would be more of a modern station. Eventually years later, Biberbrugg was modernized and there is now an underground passage for pedestrians, and use of the level crossing is no longer legal.

The time came around to 12:30 PM. I boarded a train at Biberbrugg for Arth-Goldau. The train was a Regional Bahn train like the last one, and went through Rothenthurm, Sattel, Steinerberg and finally Arth-Goldau. The train arrived about 1:30 PM. The next train to Erstfeld would not arrive for another half hour, so I managed to explore the station. At Arth-Goldau, there are some cable car trains going southwest to Rigi Kulm. Rigi is just northeast of the cantonal boundary with Luzern. At 2 PM, there was an Intercity train to Erstfeld before it would climb the mountain to Göschenen, so I took it. The train went through Schwyz, Brunnen, crossed the Schwyz-Uri cantonal border at Sisikon, passed through Flüelen, Altdorf and stopped at Erstfeld. I waited on an S Bahn to take me to Altdorf. I arrived at Altdorf about 3:15 PM. The way to the city center was about a half mile long. At the end of Bahnhofstrasse was the Telldenkmal, or the William Tell monument. William Tell was a revolutionary in the Habsburg Empire, fighting for indepencence, and somehow he was forced to shoot an arrow at an apple on the top of his son's head without killing him. The son was not harmed but an apple was perforated. That incident led to eventual independence from the Habsburg Empire and in Altdorf, a monument was erected. It was a good walk from the SBB station to downtown.

There were some busses running on that afternoon, so I boarded a bus, paid a fare of about 4.50 Franken, and rode it to the Flüelen rail station. Flüelen is a lakeside resort on the southeast end of the Vierwaldstättersee, or Lake Lucerne. The lake is shared by the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Nidwalden and Luzern. On the lakeside next to the station, the flags of all the Swiss cantons can be seen. There is also a marina with space for thirty yachts in total. I spent about twenty minutes enjoying the scenery, before taking a train to Arth-Goldau and a faster train to Zürich HB. For years I had only passed through Flüelen, and on 10th August 2003, I had finally managed to stop there and spend some time.

It was just a little past 4 PM when the train arrived at Flüelen. The train arrived about 4:45 PM in Arth-Goldau, and about 5:15 PM there would be a connecting train which would get me to Zürich HB by about 6:15 PM. At Zürich HB, I walked across the Limmat to Central, and found the Polybahn station. On Sundays the Polybahn does not operate, and I did not have any need to visit ETH Zürich. Note on 24th July 1998, I made a selfie with my striped hat between the plant science center and where the Clausiusbar is located. Instead, I went to Niederdorferstrasse and entered the Brasserie Johanniter. It was good to be back, and my last visit was Sunday afternoon on 9th August 1998. This time they did not have the "Rösti Pizza", so I made do with a local Geschnetzltes and Spätzli. I also enjoyed a full liter of Cardinal beer. The beer really tasted good, just about like a Spaten Helles or Hofbrau Original, of which I would drink much of in Munich. That was a really good meal. I think it cost around 35 Franken with tip.

After supper, it bacame about 8 PM, and I walked around before returning to Zürich HB. I think I returned to Zürich HB about 9 PM. Then I took the Regional Express train to Baden, walked to the hostel and went to my room. I listened to some music before going to sleep. I would have to check out of the hostel in the morning and go on to Munich. Will I get to ride an ICE VT, that is, a diesel-powered Deutsche Bahn ICE tilting train, or will I have to ride the same type of train that I rode on 9th August 1998, namely a locomotive pulled train, called Lokbespannter Zug, in German?

Please join me tomorrow when I make one last walk along the General Guisan Quai, ride a conventional train to Lindau and Munich, ride the U Bahn to Messegelände Ost, then a train and bus combo to Studentenstadt as in Percy Adlon's "Sugarbaby" film, and watch TV in the hotel before going to sleep. Good night!

Bitte begleiten Sie mich morgen, wenn ich einen letzten Spaziergang entlang des General Guisan Quai mache, mit einem konventionellen Zug nach Lindau und München fahre, mit der U-Bahn zum Messegelände Ost fahre und dann mit einer Zug- und Bus-Kombination nach Studentenstadt fahre, wie in Percy Adlons „Sugarbaby“-Film. und vor dem Schlafengehen im Hotel fernsehen. Gute Nacht!

S'il vous plaît, rejoignez-moi demain lorsque je ferai une dernière promenade le long du quai General Guisan, prendre un train conventionnel jusqu'à Lindau et Munich, prendre le U Bahn jusqu'à Messegelände Ost, puis un combo train et bus jusqu'à Studentenstadt comme dans le film "Sugarbaby" de Percy Adlon, et regarder la télévision à l'hôtel avant d'aller dormir. Bonne nuit!

Prosim, pridruži se mi jutri, ko se še zadnjič sprehodim po General Guisan Quai, se vozim z običajnim vlakom do Lindaua in Münchna, se vozim z U Bahnom do Messegelände Ost, nato vlakom in avtobusom do Studentenstadta kot v filmu Percyja Adlona "Sugarbaby", in gledajo televizijo v hotelu pred spanjem. Lahko noč!

Molim vas pridružite mi se sutra kada budem zadnji put šetao General Guisan Quai, vozio se konvencionalnim vlakom do Lindaua i Münchena, vozio se U Bahnom do Messegelände Ost, zatim kombinacijom vlaka i autobusa do Studentenstadta kao u filmu "Sugarbaby" Percyja Adlona, i gledati televiziju u hotelu prije spavanja. Laku noć!

Per favore, unisciti a me domani quando farò un'ultima passeggiata lungo il General Guisan Quai, prenderò un treno convenzionale per Lindau e Monaco, prenderò la U Bahn per Messegelände Ost, poi un treno e un autobus combinato per Studentenstadt come nel film "Sugarbaby" di Percy Adlon, e guardare la TV in albergo prima di andare a dormire. Buona notte!

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greenbagjosh · 1 year ago

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Saturday 25 July 1998 - through the old Gotthard tunnel and Polenta line - don’t feed the birds at Duomo - Keglevich is the vodka that “voleviches”

Saturday 25 July 1998

Guten Morgen! Buon Giorno!

Today, twenty years ago, we go to Chiasso 🇨🇭 and further on to Milan, Italy. 🇮🇹 Here is a summary of today's journey, before going into detail. - breakfast at the hostel 🧀🍞☕🍽️ - tram ride to Zürich HB 🚈 - Catch 8:30 AM train from Zürich HB platform 12 to Chiasso🚊 - Arrive 12:30 PM in Chiasso, explore until approx 1:45 PM - Take 2 PM train to Milan, arrive about 3 PM. Arrive at hostel at 4 PM - Go into town, buy a temporary replacement camera - Go to Duomo, feed the pigeons with bird seed. - Buy a music tape (this is 1998 and tapes are still for sale) - Take metro to San Donato just to see - nighttime adventure along the M2 to Crescenzago - and what happens at the hostel at 11:45 PM That was the summary for Saturday 25 July 1998.

And now the details of Saturday 25 July 1998 I woke up around 6:30 AM, as the hostel in Zürich started breakfast at 6 AM. Two interesting points for breakfast, one there was an espresso machine that could dispense a variety of drinks, and was free of charge for breakfast, 2 Francs a cup otherwise. Two, the camembert cheese offered was excellent. Other things were similar to what I had before, even corn flakes in case guests from USA get "homesick". They did not start serving the miso soup and rice as breakfast items until at least 2011.

Because I was in a pre-renovation 6-bed dorm, I had to use the shared showers. The water flow was controlled by a button, you have to press it in and it gives water for about thirty seconds.

Checking out was straightforward. I had a Hostelling International booklet for hostel stamps and I received a stamp for Zürich. Since my bus pass was still valid until 12:30 PM, I took the tram 7 to Zürich HB with both my day bag and clothes bag. Also I marked my Eurail pass as 25 on top and 07 on the bottom, so it would be valid. On track 12, was the train for Chiasso in the Ticino. Chiasso is immediately at the Italian border. The train I boarded did not have air conditioning, as SBB did not standardize it until about 2010. It was still possible to pull down the window using handles. The car looked something like this: http://www.railfaneurope.net/.../00.../120206-106.jpg.jpg

On the camera situation, the Samsung Evoca 115, was up to 24th July 1998 a very good 35 mm camera. It had the most use from 26th May to 24th July. I took a few more photos of places I passed, using the 115 mm focal length and the "macro" focus setting, it worked for a while but finally it gave up. I decided later that day to get a cheap one in Milan.

The train was medium-fast. It did not stop everywhere. It stopped only at Zug (I think it was around 9 AM when the train reached there), Arth-Goldau in Kanton Schwyz, nonstop until Bellinzona in the Ticino, Lugano and finally Chiasso. Between Zürich and Zug, at least in 1998, the train passed by the west bank of Lake Zürich before crossing southwestward to Zug. After Arth-Goldau and Erstfeld, the train made its climb to the Gotthard pass, with some nice scenery. At Göschenen, the train went into tunnel for about 15 minutes, and emerged at Airolo in the Ticino, then it did a ten-mile step down. For example, at Lavorgo, the train makes two clockwise loops before continuing. It is a flat journey until Bellinzona and Giubiasco where there is a ramp to the Ceneri step-up, stays flat to Lugano and eases down to the eponymous lake and Mendrisio, close to the road that leads to the Italian external territory of Campione, Mendrisio and finally Chiasso. Chiasso is where many trains turn back, and there are one or two tracks there, that use the Italian electric feed, others use the standard Swiss voltage.

The last time I had visited Chiasso, was late June 1987. This time in 1998 it did not seem like much had changed. While exploring Chiasso, I took note of the prices. While they seemed a "bargain" compared to Zürich, they seemed high compared to Italy. Most places from 12 to 2 PM are closed in Chiasso, following the Spanish/Italian customs. There was a Manor store that had a grocery department, so I bought a bread roll, prosciutto ham and cheese, and a Schweppes lemon tonic water to drink. As for the camera, it was on its last legs, I managed to get photos of the Chiesa parrocchiale San Vitale martire and the FFS rail station, but not much else. When it was time to head to Milan, I had to go through the customs hall and board at track 1. The border guards did not stamp my passport at the time, they usually reserved that for those entering and exiting on a visa. When the train arrived about 2:05 PM, I boarded the first class panorama cabin and sat on the left side. It had large curved windows and was air conditioned. The train took a few minutes to reach Como San Giovanni. After Como San Giovanni, the train only stopped at Monza, then Sesto San Giovanni before terminating at Milano Centrale. Between Como and Milano, the terrain is generally flat, hills here and there.

The last photo I took with the camera before it died, was a view of Como. Then it was time to rely on the Aiwa HS-JS 475, to get audio footage, I think I used three C-90 tapes for live recording and FM broadcasts. Some songs I remember along the way from Chiasso to Milan, were "Ho messo via" (I put away) by Ligabue and "Half a minute" by Matt Bianco. Since I would not start learning Italian until August 1998, I had to guess what I was listening to, and pretend that I could understand. I did not have much opportunity to listen to the news that day, but I heard that Italy’s 🚲🇮🇹 Daniele Nardello won the yellow jersey in that day’s Tour de France stage.

Upon arrival at Stazione Centrale, I bought a day pass for 4,500 Lire. Same as Zürich, the Milano metro pass was valid from the time of first stamping. Reentering the metro, requires going to a desk and showing the official the valid ticket and they let me in. Note, the conversion rate is 1 Euro to 1,940 Lire, so about a 1:2000 ratio roughly. US Dollars were about $1 = 1,650 Lire, Swiss Francs a little less, say CHF 1 = 1,480 Lire. I did not have much cash left over, so I had to be careful - and no suppers at Biffi!

A couple of things happened between July 1997 and July 1998. First the 1,000 Lire note that I remembered from June 1987, no longer had Marco Polo. It was replaced by the image of Maria Montessori. Second, a new underground suburban rail line had been completed, metro tickets were valid inside Milan. Basically to see how useful it would be for future visits.

Since I had previously visited Milan in July 1997, I thought I could make a more direct journey between Centrale Stazione and QT8 near the San Siro ⚽ stadium where the hostel was located. To do that, I would need to take the metro line 2 to Cadorna and then change at Cadorna to a line 1 for Molino Dorino (Golden mill), not for Bisceglie. The hostel was almost halfway between QT8 and Lotto. This hostel was the same one I visited on 5th July 1997. I had arrived minutes before the hostel was to be opened, as it was open only from 4 PM to 12 AM, and again from 7 AM to 10 AM. Once it was opened, I checked in, got my bed assignment, left the clothes bag, and about 4:30 PM I went back into town, walking to Lotto instead of QT8 as it made more sense.

In Italy, stores are open until about 9 PM on Saturdays, to make up for being closed between 12 PM and 2 PM. At somewhere close to the Duomo I found a camera shop that sold fairly priced cameras. I found one for just 26.000 Lire, others were over 40,000 Lire. It was a simple point and shoot and manual advance camera, flash required two AA batteries. I think one detail I missed, was that the film has to also be threaded so that the spindle would catch. It would take me a few tries to get it right, and even then, not until Friday 31st July. For that reason, between 25th and 31st July there were no photos available. For the time, I pretended that everything was fine. I visited also in September 2000 to make up for the lost photos, and again April 2001, August 2003, August 2004 and September 2011, so I think everywhere I went in July 1998, I have photographed in those later times. And I at least know where the Pirelli building is in relation to the Centrale Stazione

I went to the Duomo, where feeding the birds was technically legal. I did not plan to feed the birds but some man put bird seed in my hand for 10,000 Lire. Probably a thousand pigeons jumped up on my bird-seed filled hands and grabbed the seeds. The more frightening thing were the pigeons claws, and so many of them. Since 25th July 1998 I have not done that anymore, as I thought, one time like that is enough.

After the pigeon feeding, there was still the Virgin Megastore open to sell music CDs and tapes. Since July 1997 I liked to buy Italian music. Already I had Pooh and Jovanotti. This time I bought the eponymous cassette tape for about 16,000 Lire "Lisa". It was on sale as most everything else was 20,000 Lire for tapes, 25,000 and up for CDs. Photo: https://i.imgur.com/9Gp0yyr.jpg Lisa looked like Britney Spears in her "Hit me baby one more time" period. The tape has ten songs in Italian, one of which a cover version of Smokey Robinson's "Just to see her" called "un fiore in te". Video of one of the songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NoISIe1r2Q That was the only one I bought in Italy, though a few weeks later I bought "Lei, gli amici e tutto il resto" by Nek and "Le cose che vivi" by Laura Pausini. I thought about going inside the department store La Rinascente right next to the Galeria Vittorio Emanuele, but could not think of anything to buy there that day.

I wanted to do some more metro adventures. To see the Castello Sforzesco, I would need to take Metro Line 1 to Cairoli. That has a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi on a horse. The castle has its typical Lombard style of narrow-square on top of wide-square, sometimes with a little overhang. If you know about the Torre Velasca, it is a half mile south of Duomo and is built similarly like the tower of Castello Sforzesco, a short wide on tall narrow design. I took the M2 from nearby Cadorna, to Centrale Stazione, took advantage of the McDonalds 1,000 Lire deals, hamburger, soft drink and soft serve cone at 1,000 Lire each - not my idea of cusine but when you are a week away from payday, you may have to make do with McDonalds. One new item they had was the McPink, basically a hamburger made out of mild pork sausage. I had one for 2,000 Lire and it was good. After that, I wanted to see the south end of the M3, namely San Donato, as I had already been to Zara station in July 1997. The M3 trains were at the time the latest and greatest, most of the M1 and M2 stock were either the originals from the 1960s or refurbished. And they were compatible with the M2 and M1 lines in general, due to the connections between Repubblica, Caiazzo, and Pasteur, completely bypassing Centrale and Loreto. San Donato turned out to be just a park and ride station, but the ride was interesting. Also I took the M3 back to Centrale Stazione and transferred to the M2, so I could see the apartment building flats between Cimiano and Crescenzago. Both stations still have the central platform so I could easily turn back with no problem. It was getting around 11 PM, so I would need to head back soon to not miss the curfew at 12 PM. I made a pit stop at Centrale Stazione, took the M2 to Cadorna, M1 to QT8 and made it inside the hostel about 11:40 PM. I washed up and went to bed. The room light was still on until about 11:50 PM when it shut off aside from a dim night light. Then everyone inside had to be quiet until about 7 AM, when it would be time for "la colazione". 🍽️🍞🥐☕

I went to bed and had the radio record some Italo-dance station. I think I recorded about an hour of it. That is the extent of that youth hostel entertainment, bring your own radio and enjoy. Oh well.

Tomorrow will be a long day, train leaves at 1 PM for Verona and on to Bolzano and via Innsbruck back to München. There will be at least some pizza eaten but not much.

Buona notte! A domani!

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