Day 1 – Williamsburg To Brienz

May 25, 2013

Today’s Blog Entry

Our outbound travel day started with a short hop from Norfolk to Atlanta and then the long 4700 mile flight across six time zones to Zurich. From Zurich we took Swiss Rail to Brienz, a small lakefront town about 12 miles from Interlaken.

On Friday afternoon we flew from Norfolk to Atlanta to connect with our Delta flight to Zurich, Switzerland. We left Atlanta at 4:30 PM and after a reasonably pleasant 8-1/2 hour flight and a six hour “forward” time change we arrived in Zurich at just before 8:00 AM on Saturday, May 25. The flight landed a bit ahead of schedule thanks to strong tailwinds (as much as 140 MPH) over much of the northern Atlantic. Of course we knew that we’d probably pay the price for that boost going home because we’d have the potential for those same winds on the nose instead of the tail …

P1030710 Each time that we pass through Flughafen Zürich (the Zurich airport) we are impressed that the lobby is much more like an upscale suburban shopping mall than a major transit hub. After efficiently going through Passport Control, claiming our checked bags, and clearing customs – the US could take lessons in all three areas – we went into the lobby of the airport to take care of some travel business.

First of all we had to find the SBB (Swiss Rail) office and activate our rail passes. We had purchased these passes ahead of time from RailEurope and had them delivered to our home, but they still need to be activated at an SBB office once you’re on the ground. It’s a simple process; they just confirm your passports vs. the information provided on the passes, mark the starting date for your 15 day window, and then help you decide on the best itinerary for your first day’s rail journey.

Next we found the Orange cellular phone store and purchased a pre-paid mobile phone for emergency use during the trip – see the Tech page for more information. We had researched our options for this ahead of time via the web and decided that the pre-paid option made the most sense for us vs. activating one of our existing mobile phones for international use. Because we’d done our homework ahead of time via the Orange website (see the Links page) we were in and out of the store in less than 15 minutes – and they even gave us some free Lindor truffles as a welcome gift to Switzerland!

P1020306 With those details taken care of we went to board our train for Brienz. One of the real attractions of both the Zurich and Geneva airports is how closely they’ve integrated rail service into the main air terminal … just ride the escalator downstairs and you’re on the platform ready to board the train. This nap-filled leg of the trip took about three hours including a single train change in Lucerne.

We finally arrived in Brienz around 1:00 PM local time, roughly 21 hours after leaving our home in Williamsburg. The owner of our apartment had left the front door open for us (we had called her from Zurich to confirm our arrival) so we were able to walk right into the apartment and drop our bags. After a quick check of the apartment, in particular the kitchen and whatever supplies were already there, we headed out for a little grocery shopping before the stores closed that afternoon. Most stores in Switzerland do not open on Sunday so it was important to get enough groceries to tide us over until we could do some more serious shopping on Monday.

Once the groceries were put away we managed a quick nap before Cindy fixed us a traditional Swiss dinner of bratwurst, spätzle noodles, a green salad, and some fendant wine from the Valais region of Switzerland. We timed this meal as best we could to local dinner time so that we’d adjust to the new time zone as quickly as possible … mission accomplished as we both slept through the night and awoke at a reasonably normal time the next morning with only a slight case of jet lag.