One of the great things about visiting Europe is the extensive rail network they have.
This means you can easily travel the distances between cities and countries quickly and easily, without the hassle of driving, and without the hassle of airports and their multiple levels of absurdity and security theatrics.
Not to mention you get leg room, great views, can show up 5 minutes before the train leaves, have zero baggage fees, and at no time are you required to stow your laptop, or put on a seat belt.
Whats not to like?
So naturally I chose to take a train from Mainz to Zurich.
So come along... I am going on an adventure!
There was a lot of free space on this train.
The first leg was 3 hours, so I sat back and watched Germany scroll by my train window. The up side is you get great views at normal eye level. The downside is that the windows, being so large, have a lot of glare, so taking decent photos is hard. I managed to snag a few tho.
This one looks like a model.
A wind farm in the middle of crop farm country - seems appropriate.
When I hit Basel, a town on the corner of France, Germany, and Switzerland, I jumped off the train, grabbed some lunch, then jumped on the next train heading to Zurich. This is another nice thing about trains - often the ticket is not time based, so you can grab the train that matches your own schedule. Don't like the one at 9:40? Just take the 10:00 train. No muss, no fuss.
Once we left Basel it was a straight one hour shot to Zurich. This was my first real view of the beautiful Swiss countryside.
And my first Swiss church steeple.
One last shot of a compound on top of a hill. For some reason this was the first scene that made me really feel I had crossed into a whole new country.
Once I got to Zurich, I spent the next 9 days or so exploring Switzerland (mostly). The next few posts will be all about that experience. I got to take many more trains, which was great as I an convinced that they are one of the best ways to travel... you just need to
remember to take all your luggage when you get to the end (tho in Switzerland it may just work out OK)
See you next post!
