14th June
So today was going to be the last day of our beautiful trip. It was a bittersweet feeling.. Part of us wanted to stay back but a greater part wanted to be back home soon with our near and dear ones. I for my part was very worried about the way Vineet looked - tanned and almost dehydrated... He had also been skipping his daily one glass of milk in the evenings as dinner was early all these days...😒
So at noon we said goodbye to our hotel in Olten and moved towards Zurich. I was not surprised when we were told that our new driver would be a lady, coz earlier on one of our drives I had seen a girl as young as in her twentys driving a big bus as ours easily in her red cold-shoulder- top 😍My eyes had widened at her- we have yet to see something like that in our country....
However our lady driver was more experienced and must have been in her 50s (?) and she drove very well and took us for a short tour of the city of Zurich before dropping us off for a short time near the station for lunch.We had lunch in Burger King at Zurich station and since we still had some time left, we rushed to catch a tram and go towards the lake as our Tour Manager had advised us. He even told us the Tram number ☺. The tram was very accessible and it was a wonderful ride up to where we were supposed to embark. A fellow traveller helped us as to where we should get down, and then we were supposed to walk a short distance towards the lake.
As we were walking towards it, we saw a church ⛪ on the left hand side and walked towards it. Only to be told at the entrance that we would have to pay 5 euros for entering and a short tour!! What the heck??!! To pay to enter a church is the WEIRDEST thing that I've ever come across in my whole life as of now! I don't think those guys at the counter have read the Bible wherein Jesus himself beat and drove out all those people who had made the Temple (Church during the days of Christ) into a marketplace for their stuff. Read - JOHN 2:16 And here they were taking money to let in people?!! I was so shocked and angry that I forgot to mention this part, but I told them they were doing a horrible, miserable thing. And I refused to pay them any money and walked out with a vow to report this to higher church authorities. I asked them the name of the church, but they deliberately told me the Dutch name so I couldn't remember it (but they're wrong, I will hunt it out and make my point soon😠)
Okay!! Grand update! GUESS WHAT! GOOGLE HELPED ME FIND THE NAME OF THE CHURCH - "FRAUMUNSTER CHURCH " IN ZURICH. YES. THATS THE ONE, THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE!
And I thought I heard them vaguely making an excuse to the extent that they needed money for the maintenance of the church as it was a heritage site (I could be wrong here, nevertheless). As far as my little knowledge goes, a heritage site is taken care of by the government. Secondly, in the Cologne Cathedral, entry was free and if anyone wanted to opt for a guided tour of the whole church right upto its highest floor, only then they needed to pay a small amount. That was so so OKAY. And THIS was NOT OKAY AT ALL!! I even felt ashamed to see a couple of Asian (maybe Chinese or Japanese) tourists paying to enter the church... 😑
Anyways, still smarting, we moved towards the lake and what do we see on the road? - three guys on motorised wheelchairs roaming about the streets and basically having a good time! 😊 Oh it was such a heartwarming sight.... Then there was this guy playing the bagpipe near the lake while a small boy was making huge water bubbles with the help of his grandfather. There were the words "PEACE" written on a small board behind them. And I thought what a perfect way to end our wonderful trip! PEACE! Much needed in the world today!
So now it was time to head back to where our bus was waiting to take us to the airport. And soon it was time to say goodbye to Zurich, Switzerland. We went back the same way- via Oman Airways and Muscat. This time we didn't get Vin's wheelchair wrapped as we had learnt our hard lesson while coming. It was a good decision.
It was a difficult journey while returning as we were already jet-lagged and spent most of the hours sleeping away and thereby missed dinner, and we didn't have time for breakfast also the next day. By late noon we reached New Delhi Airport and then rushed to catch our evening train back home. Only when we had seated ourselves comfortably in our coach that we heaved a sigh of relief. But by then Vin looked weak and dehydrated. I immediately took care of him and made him feel better as much as I could. We all longed to be in the comfort of our home and with our near and dear ones soon.
And so it happened the next morning! 😃
NO PLACE LIKE HOME SWEET HOME !!!! 😊☺
Watch our video here -
 |
| On the streets of Zurich |
So today was going to be the last day of our beautiful trip. It was a bittersweet feeling.. Part of us wanted to stay back but a greater part wanted to be back home soon with our near and dear ones. I for my part was very worried about the way Vineet looked - tanned and almost dehydrated... He had also been skipping his daily one glass of milk in the evenings as dinner was early all these days...😒
So at noon we said goodbye to our hotel in Olten and moved towards Zurich. I was not surprised when we were told that our new driver would be a lady, coz earlier on one of our drives I had seen a girl as young as in her twentys driving a big bus as ours easily in her red cold-shoulder- top 😍My eyes had widened at her- we have yet to see something like that in our country....
However our lady driver was more experienced and must have been in her 50s (?) and she drove very well and took us for a short tour of the city of Zurich before dropping us off for a short time near the station for lunch.We had lunch in Burger King at Zurich station and since we still had some time left, we rushed to catch a tram and go towards the lake as our Tour Manager had advised us. He even told us the Tram number ☺. The tram was very accessible and it was a wonderful ride up to where we were supposed to embark. A fellow traveller helped us as to where we should get down, and then we were supposed to walk a short distance towards the lake.
 |
| Beside Lake Zurich |
As we were walking towards it, we saw a church ⛪ on the left hand side and walked towards it. Only to be told at the entrance that we would have to pay 5 euros for entering and a short tour!! What the heck??!! To pay to enter a church is the WEIRDEST thing that I've ever come across in my whole life as of now! I don't think those guys at the counter have read the Bible wherein Jesus himself beat and drove out all those people who had made the Temple (Church during the days of Christ) into a marketplace for their stuff. Read - JOHN 2:16 And here they were taking money to let in people?!! I was so shocked and angry that I forgot to mention this part, but I told them they were doing a horrible, miserable thing. And I refused to pay them any money and walked out with a vow to report this to higher church authorities. I asked them the name of the church, but they deliberately told me the Dutch name so I couldn't remember it (but they're wrong, I will hunt it out and make my point soon😠)
 |
| FRAUMUNSTER CHURCH, ZURICH |
Okay!! Grand update! GUESS WHAT! GOOGLE HELPED ME FIND THE NAME OF THE CHURCH - "FRAUMUNSTER CHURCH " IN ZURICH. YES. THATS THE ONE, THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE!
And I thought I heard them vaguely making an excuse to the extent that they needed money for the maintenance of the church as it was a heritage site (I could be wrong here, nevertheless). As far as my little knowledge goes, a heritage site is taken care of by the government. Secondly, in the Cologne Cathedral, entry was free and if anyone wanted to opt for a guided tour of the whole church right upto its highest floor, only then they needed to pay a small amount. That was so so OKAY. And THIS was NOT OKAY AT ALL!! I even felt ashamed to see a couple of Asian (maybe Chinese or Japanese) tourists paying to enter the church... 😑
Anyways, still smarting, we moved towards the lake and what do we see on the road? - three guys on motorised wheelchairs roaming about the streets and basically having a good time! 😊 Oh it was such a heartwarming sight.... Then there was this guy playing the bagpipe near the lake while a small boy was making huge water bubbles with the help of his grandfather. There were the words "PEACE" written on a small board behind them. And I thought what a perfect way to end our wonderful trip! PEACE! Much needed in the world today!
So now it was time to head back to where our bus was waiting to take us to the airport. And soon it was time to say goodbye to Zurich, Switzerland. We went back the same way- via Oman Airways and Muscat. This time we didn't get Vin's wheelchair wrapped as we had learnt our hard lesson while coming. It was a good decision.
 |
| At Zurich Airport |
It was a difficult journey while returning as we were already jet-lagged and spent most of the hours sleeping away and thereby missed dinner, and we didn't have time for breakfast also the next day. By late noon we reached New Delhi Airport and then rushed to catch our evening train back home. Only when we had seated ourselves comfortably in our coach that we heaved a sigh of relief. But by then Vin looked weak and dehydrated. I immediately took care of him and made him feel better as much as I could. We all longed to be in the comfort of our home and with our near and dear ones soon.
And so it happened the next morning! 😃
NO PLACE LIKE HOME SWEET HOME !!!! 😊☺
Watch our video here -
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