Zurich - Switzerland by Rail - Poking Around Europe 5.0 - CycleBlaze

October 12, 2018

Zurich - Switzerland by Rail

Innsbruck to Zurich

We had a successful day of train travel. We were delighted yesterday to discover there was no change of trains on our trip today. It meant once we boarded we really could just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. 

Our train left at 11:48 AM and that gave me a little bit of shopping time in Innsbruck. Just a little, but enough. The first shopping of the trip. Carrying everything on the back of a bike certainly discourages shopping. We really enjoyed our morning walk and popping into a few shops in the old town and it was another bluebird day. 

Those three puffy clouds were the only ones in the sky. This weather doesn’t want to quit.
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We met another bike tourer at the train station. He was also headed to Zurich, home for him. It meant at least three hands on deck when it was time to board and in the end there were five of us, the maximum the train can take. 

Bikes and buddies on the train. It was handy to have all those hands. It was very tight to hang five bikes in the space provided.
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Train photo. I kept thinking I would like to nod off but the scenery was too good.
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One more train photo.
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We arrived in Zurich Hbf at 15:30 and had a ticket on the S Bahn to Zurich Flughafen at 15:44.  We were ready to find the train, but the sun was shining, we had our bikes and we love to ride. Keith had the track on his iPhone and we looked at each other and started pedaling. Yahoo!  The best way to move a bike is to ride it. It was a brand new ride in the other direction. I was surprised at how short it was. From the train station to the airport was 12.4 km. It seemed longer in August when we ran into the two detours. Of course we also had to get all the way through to the other side of Zurich that time. 

Zurich in the sunshine.
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We were both in short sleeved t-shirts. I had put on my leggings for the train and I was cooking.
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Jacquie, this one is for you. Another amazing bike and pedestrian bridge.
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Jacquie GaudetI like it!

Our government may think it's promoting wood construction (grown in BC!) but there aren't very many wood bridges anymore. And the old ones didn't have such beautiful lines.
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5 years ago
Keith ClassenTo Jacquie GaudetWe liked it too! Beautiful lines ... one of our favorites.
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5 years ago

When we arrived at the hotel we had a celebratory photo shoot.  We grabbed a young couple and he took our picture. The bikes are now in their boxes so there won’t be any riding tomorrow. Instead we are taking the S Bahn into Zurich and meeting our friend Karin for dinner. We met and spent a day together last year. We are really looking forward to seeing her. We had dinner in the hotel tonight and were immediately reminded we are in Switzerland. We ordered a bottle of sparkling water...9 Swiss Francs!  Yikes. It is a good thing we weren’t wanting wine.  We thought that might make us a bit fuzzy headed for the bike boxing job. 

Another amazing bike tour. Time to start thinking about next year.
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Rachael AndersonGlad you had such a great trip. We look forward to following your next trip.
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5 years ago
Keith ClassenTo Rachael AndersonThanks Rachael ... it was a great trip! We will be tagging along with you guys for the remainder of your trip. We passed through Brescia last year on our way to Sirmione on Lake Garda. Unfortunately we just breezed through. I figure days should really be at least 36 hours rather than 24 hours for us bike tourers to give us more time to stop and enjoy. Keith
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5 years ago

Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 2,279 km (1,415 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesAn inspiring trip! The area is criss crossed by so many great routes - Claudia Augusta, Drau, Alpe Adria, Inn, Bodensee Konigsee, Munich- Venice, Munich-Prague, Prague Venice, Donau, Via Julia, Rhine Andermatt, etc. etc. Seeing you, Tricia and Ken, Suzanne and Janos, and Scott and Rachel swirling around them has fired us up for next season. Do you have an idea of where you will Poke Around for 6.0?
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5 years ago
Tricia GrahamWhat an amazing trip you have had. Makes us feel we need to go up Italy next year. One amusing thing looking ar your mileage I see you did 9km more than us!
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5 years ago
Kathleen ClassenTo Steve Miller/GrampiesWe spent dinner last night talking about it. We need to get together with you and Dodie so we can discuss some of your favourite routes. We are talking about France. Sounds dreamy, but we really aren’t sure. We just know we are going 😀.
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5 years ago
Keith ClassenTo Tricia GrahamIt was a great trip indeed. We are so fortunate. You would have had us on the milage count had we not ridden the 12 kilometers from the train station to our hotel near the airport. We had train tickets purchased in Innsbruke but couldn’t pass up the short ride in perfect weather...plus the hassle of jumping on the train for such a short trip.
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5 years ago
Tricia GrahamTo Keith ClassenYou sure beat us on the hills!! Next year will try the Alpes Adria but hope we will be able to cope with the climbing would also love to ride in the magical Adige Valley again
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5 years ago
Helen StarkThank you for another vicarious trip. I enjoyed every minute! See you this Wednesday, Kathleen!
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5 years ago