I had brought a map of Switzerland from home - that was a country I would like to visit. Mark, Stephen and Dana were catching the train to Munich, Jeanne was going south via Verona to the Genoa area and Julian and Wendy were heading for Venice. I can't recall where Tony and Virginia were going.
On our last morning I woke up early and decided on the spur of the moment to catch the early bus from Campitello to Vigo Di Fassa (1.80€) and from there to Bolzano (6€). I asked Jeanne to say goodbye to the others on my behalf and walked up the road for the 6h45 bus.
Farewell to the stunning Dolomites!
There was a short walk from the bus station to the railway station in Bolzano Bozen and a train was leaving at 9h00 for the Brenner Pass on the Austrian border. I bought a ticket for €13.50 and we were soon heading north.
The scenery was not as stunning as I had expected - possibly since it was summer and there was no snow.
By this time I had decided to head for Zurich via Innsbruck and then to catch a coach to London via Brussels.
When we arrived at Brenner we were all ushered onto a bus, I still don't know why. It took us all the way to Innsbruck station where I bought a ticket on the 11h57 train to Zurich arriving at 15h21. This turned out to be a luxurious train with free wifi and a power point run by OBB Railjet.
In each carriage a display showed useful electronic information - coach no, speed, stations and times and a map. It showed expected arrival time compared to scheduled time.
The ticket cost 62.80€ and we arrived bang on time.
Again we saw no snow, we passed railway trucks loaded with timber.
The free wireless lasted whilst we were within Austria and then didn't work in Liechtenstein or Switzerland. I expected to see stunning scenery as we neared Chur but again it was mostly green pastures in a valley.
On arrival in Zurich I went immediately to the nearby coach station to the Eurostar ticket office and bought my ticket for the 19h30 coach to Brussels for 80€. The ticket seller was not able to sell me a ticket all the way to London so I still had to worry about getting on the London coach in Brussels.
I had 3 hours to kill and there was nowhere to leave my suitcase so I went back to the railway station and put my case in a coin operated left luggage locker and went to explore. I walked up the main shopping street and decided to look for a black cashmere cardigan for Claire. In the end I was unsuccessful but managed to find one for Myriam.
I was surprised to find many people smoking in the streets! Also the currency was Swiss Francs although they did take payment in Euros. There were many flags on display.
I bought some cheese and chocolate for the journey, collected my case and made my way back to the coach station.
From Zurich the coach headed up the A1 to Basel about 60 km to the north west. I expected us to head into Germany but although we ran alongside the Rhine we actually crossed into France and headed for Mulhouse.
It soon became dark but we could make out distant hills to the west. At around 23h00 we stopped at a huge fuel station called E. Leclerc. We were heading for Strasbourg and passed through an area where every church was lit up. Road signs were not lit and difficult to read as we flew past. I think we passed through Luxembourg heading for Liege and then arrived at a very wet Brussels at around 6am.
At the coach station I needed to buy another ticket for €39 to London. The bus left at 7h10 and made its way up Leopold II Street. Ahead in the distance was a large domed building.
From Brussels we stopped at Lille which had many very modern buildings close to the Gare Lille. There were clearly marked cycle tracks everywhere. On the road to Calais and Dunkirk we became embroiled in rush hour traffic before heading out to the country which has many farms, fields of white flowers, wind farms and solar panels.
At Calais we got off the coach and went through both French and English border controls. The coach drove onto a train which was not much wider than the coach. As it parked roller doors came down in front and behind us, apparently they are safety doors. Once we were on board the rest of the train soon filled up with cars and we were on our way to England.
We headed towards London on the Sidcup Road and via Peckham and Shooters Hill. We followed Greenwich South Street passed New Cross Station, Southwark Town Hall, the Kennington Oval and Vauxhall station before crossing the Thames and heading into Victoria Coach Station.
The a tube from Victoria to Earls Court, West Brompton and finally Kensington Olympia. The journey had cost around €205 and had taken 31 hours.
Location:Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and on to London...
No comments:
Post a Comment