When we got to the Renaissance Hotel in Zurich, our room wasn't ready so we headed to a cafe nearby for a roast been sandwich. Our hotel was in more of a suburban area with not much to see. So, we decided we should try to explore Zurich. We went to Simon, our tour leader, and asked him how to get to the heart of Zurich. "It's easy, "he said. "Take Tram 51 to the Hauptbahnhof and you will find "Hop on Hop off" buses."
Full of confidence we headed out ----I knew "hop on hop off" from previous trips to Europe and I know German. After 500 days of Duolingo to brush up my ancient German, I felt confident we could manage. Besides Rebecca had technology on her side with maps and Uber.
We got off at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), looked around for any sign of "Hop on, hop off". None. So we decided to go into a local market and ask people there. ... .most people shrugged, but one of the employees thought he could help. He pointed to the train station and said triumphantly, "Hauptbahnhof!" Noooo, not Hauptbahnhof but Hop on Hop off! We left to try someplace else. There was a Bus Depot nearby---we went over there and saw lots of Zurich tour buses but none that said "Hop on, hop off"
Meanwhile Rebecca discovered she had no cell service so we had no maps and no Uber. I was getting tired, and sat on a bench while she went off to the bus depot office, where she asked the same question. No one knew what we were talking about. But meanwhile I discovered a port in the storm---Starbucks!
We had coffee, tried to use the wifi but finally gave up and returned on Tram 51 to the Technopark Station where our hotel was. We felt bruised, battered and not very confident having failed at seeing very much of Zurich on our first day (other that what was on Tram 51 line). My Duolingo was failing me, Rebecca had no cell service. Oh, well we had another day to conquer Zurich.
PS: the photo at the top of the page is a "hop on hop off" bus----we probably saw them at the Depot but had no idea that's what they were.
No comments:
Post a Comment