Skip to main content

BUDAPEST TO ZURICH

We left Budapest on Helvetica Airways.


The sun was setting at 3:45PM.

Junk meal with red wine and Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey.
Flew into Switzerland.
Zurich Airport.
Marriott Zurich.
M Club.

Walked 3597 steps today.
Breakfast was universally European and adequate.

Zurich isl a  hub for both planes and trains.

  • Founded by the Romans, settlers were here from around the time of Jesus, although early settlements go back 6400 years.
  • Highest recorded temperature was around 100F in July of 1947, although the average low for July is 57F.
  • Zurich has long ranked high in world quality of life and similar ratings. 
    • Mercer's quality of living assessment has Zurich at #1 in Quality of Living.
Zurich rose to the top of the list due to its outstanding public services, low crime rates, lively cultural scene and commitment to sustainability.  However, Zurich is also ranked among the most expensive cities in the world.  Zurich #3 to Hong Kong #1 and Singapore #2.
  • The 2024 Economist world livability index has this country at #3, with Vienna #1 and Copenhagen #2. 
  • The highest U.S. city was Honolulu at #23.  
  • Our next trip will be in the spring of 2025, to the Osaka (ranked #10) Expo, followed by a cruise from Yokohama to Vancouver (#7).
About Zurich.
  • Buying bottled water is a waste of money.  Switzerland cities have the cleanest drinking water.  Zurich has 1200 drinking fountains.
  • A bowl of breakfast here is Muesli, which has apples, oats, nuts, lemon and condensed milk.
  • I one of the happiest cities in the world, at #2 to Aarhus, Denmark.  Berlin is #3,  Minneapolis the highest U.S. city at #18.
  • Has a museum dedicated to nothing.
“In this age of information, where daily we are flooded with images and noise, moments of quietude, emptiness, and self-chosen silence become more and more important. Many artists respond to this mass-media sensory overload with a range of strategies that reduce, empty, decelerate, or take on an attitude of complete refusal that is more than just a mere artistic gesture. Better NOTHING than such a thing!”

  • Has the largest church clock in Europe.  In the heart of town is St. Peter's Church.  The diameter is 28.3 feet.
  • Zurich's cuisine includes Swiss specialties like Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (sliced veal in creamy mushroom sauce), Swiss chocolate, and an array of Swiss cheeses. Also, fondue and raclette are famous traditional Swiss dishes you can enjoy in Zurich.

  • Two famous people are Albert Einstein, who spent his early career here, and James Joyce, who is buried in the city's Fluntern Cemetery.
Tomorrow our walk through the Christmas market os Zurich.

-

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more