We reached Zurich from Salzburg by way of a fantastic 5-hour train trip through the Austrian Alps, clipping the corner of Lichtenstein before gliding along the shore of Lake Zürich to the main station.
The RailJet train was fantastic (comfortable, clean, free wifi) and surprisingly cheap compared to high-speed journeys in other countries. Despite looking like a website from the early 00’s, The Man in Seat 61 has a fantastic amount of useful information about booking train tickets across Europe and beyond.
Being New Year’s day, everything in the city centre was closed so we decided to hop on a tram and visit the University of Zürich’s Botanical Gardens.
On a cold morning, the tropical “bubble” domes were the perfect place to escape the chill and we had the place almost entirely to ourselves.
There are three domes which are kept at varying levels of temperature and humidity to maintain the collection of around 7000 different plant species.
Nearby on the shore of the lake, there is a Chinese garden but it was closed so instead we enjoyed a walk along the water’s edge and then whiled away the time before our flight in a cosy cafe.
Reply