Arrival in cold Zurich – April’s 1st weekend

April arrived on Saturday morning after much postponing of her flight. Our new home is looking very nice and cosy.

   

 

April had her 1st Swiss breakfast at our nearby grocery store at Migros.

    

We went out shopping around town and April discovered that Nike really do produce underwears!! And they are dri fit! (for those of you who are not familiar with the term dri fit, check out with Nike) April would like to post the pictures here but am afraid that wordpress editor would ban her for indecent exposure!

 Since we can’t show too much skin, April decided to showcase her winter collections.

    

And so, these wraps up the 1st weekend in Zurich..

Arrival in Switzerland

With the last short hop from Berlin to my home town Basel/Allschwil came my journey “Singapore2Switzerland” after many thousand railway kilometers to an end. I brought back home unforgettable memories of interesting people who I met during my journey as well as beautiful landscapes which passed by on the train window during the past 2.5 months.

   

The first part in South East Asia with its simple accommodations is still outstanding in beauty of the landscape. I love the paddy fields, palm trees, the warm climate and the fabulous food, which is available at every corner. The whole journey was dominated by daily organization (When is the next train leaving? Where can we sleep and eat?), what sometimes was very tiring.

   

Positively surprised I was from the high standard of the hostels in China. In this country the trains were the most comfortable ones on the whole journey. Fasinating are the contrasts between the multi million cities Beijing and Shanghai compared to the inner China villages, where you still can find the simple life without Starbuck’s coffee shops! The air polution throughout the country is a big minus point on China – there is still much to be done until the Olympic Games in Beijing next year.

Within miles of the crowded streets in China was the barely inhabited Mongolia. The endless steppe with the ger tents of the nomads, who are herding their livestock was one of the most impressive lanscape along this journey. Riding horses and camels and living the simple life as a guest of a nomad family was a highlight.

   

Crossing Siberia I recall as only eating cucumbers and tomatos for several days, the food selection was very limited in this area of Russia. The scenery with its endless forests was getting boring with the time. The two major cities Moscow and St. Petersburg are a modern contrast to the rest of the Russia which I have seen. I was impressed and had a good time in this two modern cities. A new experience were the White Nights in St. Petersburg, where it didn’t get dark at all. In good memory I also have lively Berlin, which offers a lot to tourists.

   

After five years in Singapore I will go back to work in Switzerland already next week. Therefore this travel blog is coming herewith to an end. Many thanks to all of you who have send us e-mails or posted a comment on this blog during our “Singapore2Switzerland” journey. We are looking forward meeting up with you guys in the near future. In the meantime please stay in touch with us under kian_april@yahoo.com or marc.schurch@yahoo.com

     

Before we part, please keep this blog marked as April might be doing something exciting for her ‘goodbye Asia, hello Europe’ tour.. We will not reveal anything now, so take a peek once in a while before she leaves for Switzerland in mid-October.

Wonderful Berlin

Berlin – the capital of Germany - is looking back on a turbulent past 100 years. Two World Wars followed by dividing the city Berlin and the reunification in the early 90’s took their toll on the biggest German city.

10 years back when I visited the city, everything was under construction. Now, Berlin is an attractive, multicultural city, which is throwing up new architecture so fast, that there is a lot to discover.

    

The main sites of this 3 million inhabitants city can easily be covered while walking through Berlin, some of the most interesting history anyway can only be reached by foot. I was impressed by the newly arranged government area with the Federal Chancellery, Reichstag, German Bundestag and the nearby Brandenburger Gate.

   

The most famous attraction in Berlin is definitely the remains of the Wall, which came down in 1989. One of the latest opened attraction is the ‘memorial to the murdered jews of Europe’, with a touching information center about the Nazi’s policy and the development that led to the Holocaust.

    

   

I also covered Hitler’s bunker, Postdamer Square, Victory Column, Museum Island, SS Headquarter and much more.

    

   

The longest tourist queue was in front of Reichstag, to get up into the new glass cupola which provides a great Berlin panorama view. It was worthwile waiting 1.5 hours.

    

A visit to Berlin is only complete with a river cruise on the Spree.

   

Berlin was a great stop in a wonderful city. Where else can you find islamic gardens alongside holocaust memorials. And which other capital city has a gay mayor? I also met up with Sandra, a friend from Singapore who left Asia only one month before me.

   

It’s nice to be able to read all the signs again. It reminds me, that I am now very close to Switzerland, where my train journey will come to an end soon.

   

Via Belarus and Poland to Berlin

I decided to transit at Belarus – it´s ok if you have to look on an Europe map where this country is – and Poland without sightseeing. My two days train journey will bring me directly to the German capital city Berlin.

At the train station in St. Petersburg I first time realized that Switzerland is coming closer! To my surprise the railway clocks are the same as we have back home.

   

I shared the train compartment with two Russians who were travelling to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where the train was reassembled with carriages which arrived from Moscow. During the stop, women were selling berries and pre-cooked food (mainly potatoes) on the platform.

   

I was lucky once again with the weather during my journey, but the scenery in Belarus was quite boring. There were a lot of old factories from the old Soviet time along the railway track, which were looking really run down.

   

In Brest, the border city to Poland we had to change the railway boggies to the smaller Western Europe gauge. Even  I had witness this process already at the China – Mongolia border some weeks back, it was still impressives.

   

Back at the railway station the passport control took place, what took an other hour. I got some serious trouble with the custom officier, who told me that there is no registration in the computer system with the tourist police from St. Petersburg, what means that my hotel didn´t register me. He wanted to bring me to the local police where I should pay a fine of 400 Euro. I was not worried as the officer gave me my passport back after it was stamped. Luckily the time was on my side and the officer had to leave the train as it started to roll off slowly. I guess he tried his luck on me to earn some extra pocket money.

While approaching Warzawa, endless agriculture land was passing by my train window. The train attendant asked me to close the cabin compartment with all three (!) locks on the door while being in Poland.

   

When I woked up the next morning, the train reached the German boarder. I thought great, only three more hours to Berlin. Unfortunately the German loco driver were on strike that morning and nothing was going any more. Without information we were waiting at the boarder for hours. The Russian travellers joked about the western democracy and called the Germans lazy…….

With several hours delay I finally reached Berlin, only to find out that my hostel gave away my bed because I didn´t show up earlier.

   

St. Petersburg

The night train conveniently ferried me from Moscow to Northern Venice – St. Petersburg!

My mum joined me for a few days here, where we could make most out of our days as at the moment the ‘White Nights’ are ongoing in St. Petersburg. This is the season when it never gets dark in the city. Even at 2:00 am it’s still bright enough to read a book without any lamp. Really fascinating and most enjoyable after five years in Singapore close to the equator, where it gets dark every day at 19:15.

   

The city was built from scratch with many lovely canals by Peter the Great in early 18th century. It has been known by several other names (Petrograd, Leningrad), before it renamed itself to St. Petersburg after the Soviet Union came tumbling down in 1991. But whatever it’s called there’s no denying that St. Petersburg is one of the most glorious cities in Russia.

   

Walking along the Neva River and the many canals that meander through the heart of the city is a seamless showcase of hugh palaces of 18th and 19th century architecture. Winter Palace, the former Royal residence of the Romanov family, houses nowadays the Hermitage, one of the most magnificent art collection in the world. The rooms where these art pieces are showcased were equally impressive.

   

By hydrofoil speedboat, we made a trip 30km outside the city to the Palace Peterhof – the Russian equivalent of Versailles. The centerpiece of the palast is its garden with 140 fountains and canals. Being a tsar 300 years back during the immensely rich Russian Empire time must have been a good life.

   

We also set aside some time to explore the Yusupov Palace, Vasilyevsky Island and the Peter & Paul Fortress. My mum also liked the Cathedral and Churches. As the sightseeing days were long - thanks to the White Nights - we were quite tired in the evenings.

   

   

It took me five (!!) hours at the central train ticket office to get my ticket via Belarus and Poland to Germany. Sometimes it’s extremely frustrating as English it not spoken in Russia outside the main tourist spots. Travelling in Russia was not always easy!

   

Metro Moscow

As a tunnel engineer I have to dedicate a special chapter to the Metro in Moscow. It’s the easiest, quickest and cheapest way of getting around in this city. Many of the older stations are marble faced or frescoed – real art pieces.

   

You rarely wait longer than two minutes on the platform before the train arrives. Nonetheless, it may get packed during rush hour. Up to 9 million people a day ride the metro – more than the London and New York City system combined.

   

Moscow

With the arrival in Moscow comes the official Trans-Siberian train journey to an end, but not yet my train adventure!

Sunlight glinting off golden domed churches. Blond tall women emerging from black Porsche Cayenne cars. Uniformed military at every corner around the Kremlin and Red Square - This is Moscow!

   

The Kremlin is the place, enclosed by a high wall, where the autocratic tsars, communist dictators and democratic presidents have done their best (and worst) for Russia. Inside this ‘City within a city’ are many covernment buildings (closed to public) but also ancient cathedrals where the Tsars were crowned and buried.

   

Within the Kremlin I visited the Armory, an opulent collection of treasures accumulated over time by the Russian State and Church. It’s called the Armory because the collection is priceless, and it’s housed in the most secure building within the Kremlin, the former weapons store!

   

As famous as the Kremlin is the Red Square, outside its wall. I had the chance to visit Lenin’s tomb there – the father of Soviet communism. Humourless guards ensure that visitors remain respectful while passing by the embalmed Lenin. On the impressive Red Square you will find beside Lenin’s tomb the history museum, GUM shopping center (nice glass roof structure) and Basil’s Cathedral.

   

   

Lot of locals enjoy the warm weather and the late sunset around the lovely Aleksandrovsky garden, where also the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located.

   

There is much more to explore in Moscow: The Metro with its beautiful stations, Arbat, Museums, and much more. Also the quality of life is back, as the food selection in Moscow offers more than cucumbers and tomatos.

   

Even I’m only 2500km away from home, I am heading towards north to St. Petersburg tomorrow.

Ekaterinburg

Ekaterinburg was found as a factory-fort in 18th century as part of Peter the Great’s push to exploit the Ural region’s mineral riches. Later military equipment factories were set up here, as the raw material to cast these products lays in the Ural. Up to today Ekaterinburg is a major military city.

   

The city was closed to foreigners until 1990 because of the many defence plants. I enjoyed strolling through this lovely city with its many outdoor eateries.

After eating cucumbers and tomatos in all different variations throughout Siberia, I was pleased to find fruit boothes along the streets. It’s a small city which can be explored by foot within one day.

   

Ekaterinburg is also known as the place where the murder of the royal Romanov family took place in the early 20th century. On my second day, I went out of the town to the monastry, where their bodies were discovered. For Russians this is a pilgrim place deep in a peaceful birch forest.

Still on the Asian continent, I took the chance to cross over to Europe at the Asia-Europe border; one foot in Asia and one in Europe! This is a symbolic meeting of East and West where clash of continents is the real deal.

   

Tomorrow I will definitely cross over to the Europe continent as I will board the train to Moscow.

In 50 hours through Siberia

This was my longest nonstop train ride so far – over 3300km and passing three time zones. You must know, that all long distance trains run according to Moscow time. That’s mostly not the time zone you are in, so you have to stay alert and do your own maths to keep up to time!

     

The train stops every few hours for 20-30 minutes to change the locomotive. That’s your time frame when you can catch some fresh air and buy some food – the locals stock up on beer. This was more than necessary as the restaurant car was lousy on this train. Everything I pointed out in the menu they said NYET (no). On big stations you find food kiosks, on smaller ones babushkas are selling snacks on the platform.

   

Honestly, the scenery was quite boring throughout Siberia. I saw birch forests after birch forests and once a while the train crossed one of the many rivers. There were many villages along the track before and after the bigger cities datcha compounds (weekend houses) could be spotted.

   

Even so the scenery reminded me of the Swiss Jura, it was not boring at all, as my cabin mates changed about every 6 hours. They were always Russians with zero English knowledge (my Russian is not much better…), but they tried hard to get thto know the foreigner better. One guy even called up his friend on the handphone, who was then the translator for 30 minutes.

On any long distance Russian train you will soon learn who is in charge; the Provodnitsa (carrage attendant). Apart from checking your passport and train ticket before boarding the train, handing out linen and shaking you awake in the middle of the night when your train arrives, the provodnitsa’s job is to keep her carriage tidy. They also can provide coffee, tea and snacks for a small price.

   

The south of the track marked every kilometer with a km sign showing the distance to Moscow. Thanks to my travel book, I knew what to look out for at different km. With lesser Lada cars (more Japanese cars) I spottedout of the train window told me that I was leaving Siberia behind..

The landscape became more hilly as the train entered the Ural region. After 50 hours, I got off the train at Ekaterinburg, the economic and cultural capital of the Ural.

Irkutsk – The Paris of Siberia

I had to leave Lake Baikal to get back to the Trans-Siberian railway route. Irkutsk is the old trading and administrative center of Siberia. In fact it was the gold rush which made the city rich, and it aquired the nickname ‘The Paris of Siberia’ for its high quality of living – but that was long ago….

It is the first city where the Asian population gets lesser and the typical blond Russian ladies appear on the streets. Europe, I am coming closer!

I spent one night here before the train take me across Siberia for over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg later today.