Next leg of the journey: Take the train to Zurich via Brussels for an overnight
I'm a big fan of train travel and love to do it while I'm in Europe even with the understanding that it may be more expensive and could take longer. But alas, in this case, the journey was part of the adventure, not just the destination.
We took an early morning. 7:04a Eurostar 9110 train from London St. Pancras to Brussels ($130/each) and had about 20 minutes to change trains to Frankfurt. Being an avid airplane traveler for years and years, I still get anxious about any connection, regardless of how long it may be. That anxiety started creeping in a little bit, knowing that we only had 20 minutes to get from one platform to the next once we got to Brussels Midi station. In hindsight, I should have known better because air travel ≠train travel in Europe. I understand that delays still happen on the railways but you're not having to go from one extremely large terminal at an airport to the next when you're at a train station. You don't have to worry about weather delays or mechanical delays (as much). My anxiety was tempered quickly once we pulled into Brussels Midi and had a short, 5-minute walk to hop onto the next train, Deutsche Bahn ICE 15 ($160 each), from Brussels Midi to Frankfurt Main HbF. Easy peasy.
I want to shout out to my go-to travel site for train travel in Europe.
Seat 61 has a large volume of travel information if you want to get anywhere in Europe via train. Which train to take, the various options, the costs, pictures of the insides and outsides of the carriages, explanation of the different classes, pictures and videos of the scenery, best seating options, how to book, etc. Everything you would want or need if you want clarification on how to get between two points. Simply amazing. I discovered this site many years ago and go back to it constantly whenever I travel to Europe to ensure I get the best information on the how/when/where/how much. I also have Seat61 to thank for making me aware of the Bernina Express, which is the whole reason we are taking this slightly longer, and scenic to our ultimate destination on this leg, Sorrento, Italy. The Bernina Express was definitely worth it, highly encouraged, and provided a little more excitement than we expected, but I'll get into more of that during the next installment.
I also utilized a variety of booking methods for my train travel including trainline.com, Eurostar.com, DeutscheBahn.com and SBB.com (Swiss Federal Railway). I can't remember the exact reason why I didn't book it all on Trainline.com but it may be due to the additional functionality that I could get (e.g. detailed train information & individual seat booking) by booking direct. Regardless, it was pretty easy to keep everything straight by making sure I had the apps loaded on my phone. Paper isn't used much anymore, so just bring up the QR code on the appropriate app and have it scanned by the conductor. It was pretty easy.
We made it to Zurich around 6:00p and took a short, 5-minute walk to the
Ibis Styles City Center ($308/night). This was a hotel booked out of convenience, not necessarily any sort of luxury. It is a fairly common, tourist-grade hotel but that's all we really needed because we were just staying one night and it was close the the Bahnhof. I had originally booked one room that could accommodate the three of us but when we checked in, the front desk agent indicated that they didn't have any rooms available for three people and ended up giving us two rooms right next to each other. It wasn't an issue for us, and I think my son actually liked having his own room. I was also a little concerned when I heard the people in front of us at the front desk complaining that their room was too hot and the AC wasn't working. Granted, it was warmer than usual in Zurich for this time of year and many European hotels just weren't built with central air like we Americans take for granted. Despite my concern, it didn't end up being an issue and we were fine.
I also want to point out that other than London (booked directly with Marriott) and Paris (booked using points through Chase Travel), I used Booking.com for the rest of our accommodations. Being a little late in the booking season for summer meant that we didn't have quite as many options, or get any really good deals. On average, our hotels averaged $350/night all in (room rate, taxes, fees), and this was for what I consider to be mid-range options. Not luxury (except for the last few nights in Paris I will explain later) but also not budget accommodations either. When I first started looking at hotel options in Europe, I did realize that I was going to have to adjust my budget a little bit to make sure I had reasonable expectations for what was needed to make sure we were comfortable and staying in decent locations. I had originally assumed $250/night would work until I started looking. That's when I adjusted to $350/night.
I do have an affinity for the Germanic countries of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and their alpine regions. There's just something about them that I enjoy. Also, a reason why I like the Pacific Northwest of the US/Canada and the Rocky Mountains. Growing up in the Midwest and now being in Miami, having mountains around is just comforting to me as it's not anything I live around in my daily life. That being said, despite being stupid expensive, I do enjoy Zurich immensely and could spend more time there exploring the mountains, trails, and small towns all around the country. Maybe on our next trip.
As we tend to do, we decided to walk around and check out the city. We dropped our stuff in the room and decided to head out and find some dinner. I was looking for something traditional and local and found the
Rheinfelder Bierhalle. It was perfect. It was a 10-15 minute walk from our hotel, and despite being somewhat touristy, the food hit the spot. We started with a local sausage and cheese salad that was recommended by the locals who were sitting next to us. I didn't get a picture of it but it was a good start to the meal. I ordered the
Schweinsbratwurst an Zwiebelsauce mit Rösti /Pork sausage with onion gravy and hashbrowns (sorry, I had to include the German/Swiss name just because), my wife had the
Oberländer Rösti (mit Speck, Spiegelei und Alpkäse) /Rösti with bacon, melted cheese and a fried egg and my son had
Kalbs-Cordon bleu mit Pommes frites und Gemüse / Veal Cordon Bleu with french fries and vegetables. As you can see, my son enjoyed the Cordon-Bleu but was also enjoying the fact that the drinking age is 18 in Europe and he just got a kick out of ordering (and drinking) a couple of beers with dinner. Beer choice:
Quöllfrisch Naturtrüb
After dinner, we walked around picturesque
downtown Zurich and called it
a night.
The next day, we would board the
Bernina Express, which would take us through the Swiss and Italian Alps and eventually get us to Milan, Italy.