So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Other than making watches it’s obvious the Swiss know how to party. Where most cities were recovering from the sore heads of New Years Eve parties the night before, Switzerland, as well as nursing its sore head was preparing for an even bigger New Years Day party. After all, New Years comes but once a year, might as well make it count and have double the fun.
The first day of 2013 in Interlaken saw the main street blocked off for pedestrian traffic only. Stalls were set up down one side of the road, and restaurants on the other extended their floor space to the street curb with extra tables and chairs and outdoor bars. At the end of the street a large stage was being assembled spanning both lanes of the main road while across the road in the park land (yes, there was a perfectly good park parallel to the street but they decided to block the street off) firework technicians were making preparations to ensure the new years day party would end with a bang.
Although part of me would prefer to have stayed closer to the mountains, our hotel was perfectly situated for the New Years Day festivities as you can see from the fireworks below:
We left Interlaken on the 2nd of January bound for Zurich where we would then be flying out of the following morning heading towards Singapore. With the luggage checked into our hotel we decided to spend the afternoon having a casual look around.
It was clear that the trip was coming to an end, and after having such an enjoyable and relaxing time in Interlaken we decided to continue with the trend and not rush ourselves crazy in the half day we had remaining in Zurich.
Zurich looked beautiful, with water ways running through the city, a mirage of classical Victorian and contemporary modern architecture competing for the skyline. The streets busy with an influx of trams, cars and busses.
In search of a no-fuss lunch and a few quiet beers we came across the Zurich Hooters, located at the back end of the city centre. The establishment appeared quite a bit larger than Interlaken with a far modern interior, but the food was still the same and with the same friendly service. Better still, the Zurich establishment had my favourite beer that I had begun to appreciate while in Interlaken.
After a good lunch and a few beers on, we did a final walk through the old district before heading back to our hotel. Umming over where we were going to go for dinner, we stopped into a local Coop (an equivalent to Woolies) to pick up some final supplies for the night and the flight the coming day. Not only do these stores have a very well established alcohol section, ranging from a wide selection of wines and spirits, but to my surprise this one also had a very good selection of ready-made hot food items – had we of not been surrounded by restaurants, I would have quite happily come back here to grab dinner.
Hopefully both Coles and Woolworths have this already in their future plans to roll out!
