From Zurich to Berlin by Night Train

A couple of months ago the great ash cloud over Europe forced me to quite radically change some of my travel plans – fortunately for the better. I was in Zurich for a couple of days for business. As it happened I had caught one of the last flights into Zurich Airport before the airspace was shut down. I wasn’t too concerned since it seemed that there are many far less pleasant cities to stay in. And I discovered the lovely Hotel Adler. But after a pleasant few days with my Air Berlin not able to give me any idea when flights would resume I decided that if I waited for a plane I might end up waiting for weeks. I looked into hiring a car but they were already all booked out so I thought I’d try the train.
Now there are plenty of fast train services between Zurich and Berlin that take about half a day and I’m sure would be really pleasant. But I decided that for a change I would try the night train (or City Nightline, as it is called by Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company). We got onto the train at about 7 pm or so and because we were travelling as a family with our two kids were given a 6 sleeper coach for the four of us. This was economy class so there were no frills. I looked at the first class sleeper coaches and they looked really great.
But I had no complaints about our coach. The beds were neatly made, it was spotlessly clean and the members of staff were friendly. After a quick supper in the dining car we tucked the boys into bed and they passed out. Our 3-year-old was in a state of absolute rapture as he loves trains and this was, for him, the most exciting way to travel. I’m sure most kids would love the night train. The movement rocked them both to sleep pretty quickly and my wife and I also had great sleeps.
It was also an incredibly beautiful trip as we travelled first to Basel along the river and through the mountains before crossing over into Germany and going on our way. The train travels relatively slowly and also pulls into a siding for a little while to give you more time to sleep. That way they time your arrival so that you get in at about 7 a.m. in the morning. After doing the trip once I’m determined to do it again. For business journeys between Berlin and places such as Munich, Zurich or even Paris it seems for more sensible to get onto a night train, have a good nights sleep and arrive refreshed rather than get up at 4:30 or 5 in the morning to catch the first flight.
The trip was marred by one unfortunate incident. A winter coat was stolen from our compartment while we were out for supper. Unfortunately it is impossible to lock them from the outside (first class may be different) and although our bags were locked we didn’t think a coat would be nicked.
The second lesson was that if you want a table in the dining car you should book in advance. We were lucky to get one as some people didn’t arrive. But apart from that we would have been in real trouble as all the tables were reserved.
Apart from those grumbles, it is hard to think of a more civilized way to travel than by old style train.

Revolutionary Tourism in Berlin: Die Yuppie Scum

This is great. I've just come across a bunch of people doing a revolutionary tour of Berlin's famous May Day rally sites. Every year anti capitalists from across Germany gather to do battle with the police and the few neo-nazis who dare to show their faces in one of Berlin's working class districts. What once started as a genuine expression of outrage has now become something of a day out for revolutionaries. This is not shaking the heart of capitalist power but ends up burning a few cars in a working class neighbourhood.
Now, to add to the air of unreality, are the walking tours. It feels kinda circular. Revolutionary tourists travelling from rich parts of the old West Germany to burn barricades in Berlin with more normal sorts of tourists coming to watch. The mere fact that there are now people making a living giving these tours has also outraged the left, who complain that even their protests have been comodified. ouch

The Hotel Adler in Zurich

This is a bit off the beaten track from Berlin, but I happened to be in Zurich for a couple of days and experienced one of the city’s nicest hotels. As it happens I never planned to be at the Hotel Adler but after a rather unfortunate night at the charming but smoky and noisy Otter Hotel quickly decamped. The Adler is slap bang in the old part of town in Zurich. Its just a couple of minutes walk from the main train station, about 15 minutes walk from the lake and it is surrounded by quaint little shops and restaurants.

The hotel itself was one of the friendliest and nicest I’ve been in for a long while. It was just big enough to be professional but still small enough that it felt family run with attentive and helpful reception staff who went out of their way to make my stay pleasant.

The rooms were nicely furnished and spotlessly clean and spacious enough to stretch out in or to set up the computer for work. If in Zurich in business you can get access to the Internet through a Wifi connection. My only gripe though, is that it is a third-party provider that charges a rip-off price of about 30 CHF for 24 hours. I don’t see why hotels don’t just stick in a couple of wireless routers and make free Internet access a perk of the hotel. So many do these days that when travelling on business I often choose the hotel purely on that basis because paying an inflated rate for something that is free down the road at the McDonalds just irks me.

Right out the front of the hotel is lovely little square that really gives a feeling for Zurich’s old town. And out the back is another square, this one semi-enclosed and leading down to the river. On the Saturday that I was there, the square filled up with hippies selling everything from scarves and jewellery to massage balls and incense. It was a great and festive feeling. I sat outside drinking a beer and drinking in the atmosphere as the market people played on guitars and packed up for the evening.

Downstairs in the front of the restaurant is the Restaurant Swiss Churchi. The smell of melted cheese from all the fondues going on was a bit overpowering, and truth be told it seeped all the way up to the second floor of the hotel, but the food was great. I had a fantastic salmon risotto one evening and an excellent pasta dish another.

There is also no shortage of things to do in Zurich. The shopping is fantastic, although every third shop seems to sell camping gear and hiking boots (the Swiss do love their mountains) and, needless to say, it was impossible to miss the touristy shops selling Swiss Army Knives.

The main museum has a great section on Swiss history with a fascinating display on immigration and ethnicity that takes a poke at the fact that in the 1930s even the Swiss became obsessed by the racialism of the period and tried to determine (by measuring the skulls of army recruits) whether they classified as a race of unique alpine people.

Album launch of Eric Eckhart's "This is where it starts"

Last night we went to the launch of a new album by our friend Eric Eckhart and I was really impressed. I always knew he was talented but it was amazing seeing his stuff. Over the years I've lived with and known loads of musicians so know all about the heartaches and tribulations of trying to make a career in music. It has to be one of the toughest games out there. But I also came away thinking that Eric has a real chance as he has awesome talent. He's also the nicest guy so I really hope the album does well

It was also great seeing some of out other friends playing alongside him. What a night and also what a great little venue that we'd not been to. Cafe Hilde  is a cafe/bar owned by an Irish guy that is close to but off the main drag in Prenzlauer Berg. It has a really nice vibe and also had a great selection of current English newspapers and magazines so I can easily see myself spending lazy mornings having coffee there.
Enough about that. Here's some of Eric's music:

Finding Cheap Flights to Berlin With Low Cost Airlines

Getting to Berlin is really not as expensive as you might think because it is well served by a network of discount airlines offering a whole range of cheap flight. Your starting point will be to look for cheap airline flights coming into Schoenefeld Airport. This airport has worked hard over the past couple of years to attract carriers such as Easy Jet and Ryanair. Easy Jet uses this as a major hub so has flights coming to Berlin from all over. The best connections are to London with a couple of flights a day going each way between Schoenefeld and Gatwick, Luton and Stansted. A rough guide is that each of these airports has two to three flights a day to Berlin with an early morning slot that gets you into Berlin central by about 11:30 a.m. and the last flight gets in at about 10:30 p.m. That leaves quite a few options.
Ryanair has a smaller presence with fewer flights but they still have a couple from London to Berlin each day. If you book well enough in advance and don't travel just before or after the weekend you can find flights for about €20 each way including taxes. If you are really smart and watch out for regular special offers you can drop that by half.
British Airways also has a great schedule between Heathrow and Tegel, but these flights costs quite a bit more. Lufthansa also flies between London City Airport and Tegel. If you can afford the airfare you can't have a more convenient flight as both airports are pretty small so you breeze through security without a backward glance. If you are travelling from further afield it still pays to look around for deals offering cheap air travel. A cousin recently came out from Dallas, Texas and found a great deal that included her hotels and all by browsing the various travel sites.

Snow Sleds Ahoy: Our Davos has Arrived

The snow sled we ordered a couple of weeks ago has finally arrived and this past weekend we had great fun heading out. At this time of year the whole of Berlin is full of skids being pulled about by their parents on sleds. Even really little kids are being taken to school this way. And most parks have to set aside dedicated sledding areas for the kids to go charging down the hill on.
The sled we bought was a classic wooden one called a Davos (like the one pictured to the right). It seems sturdy and simple and was half the price of some fancier models. Okay so it isn't a folding sled, but I can live without that. It also seems really long-lived. I mentioned in a previous post that our friend still has her childhood one (33 years old) and it is in great shape and is now used by her kids.
So far I've just taken our three-year-old out on the sled for his first proper experience on it. A couple of days ago we went out with friends and their small kids and the women pulled out her childhood sled - but our little guy was a bit frightened. He hopped about demanding to be on the sled, but then when we put him on it he would shriek.
Anyhow, having the sled in the house for a day gave him a chance to get used to the idea of sitting and lying on it. He spend all evening trying out different positions and nagging to be taken out. So yesterday I had the baby in a buggy in front of me and the little fellow in a sled behind and he had the time of his life.
Today I piled him back onto the sled and took him to school on it. He loved it. It was the quickest exit from the house I've seen yet. But unfortunately despite some snow overnight the Berlin city was on the ball and had gritters out early this morning. Most of the sidewalks had already been cleared so we had a bit of a tough ride. He loved it, but I was feeling the strain of having to pull him bump by bump over the cobblestones. I'm praying for a bit more snow and another nice cold snap this week. The weather is promising just that but who knows. The heavy snow this winter was, I'm told, unusual for Berlin, so I'm hoping I won't have to put the snow sled into storage so soon after its late arrival.

Winter weather and dreaming of a sunny summer holiday

Berlin is still absolutely covered in snow and it remains a gorgeous wonderland of white. Almost everywhere one sees kids being taken to school on little sleds in the mornings and in the afternoons every little hill has a snake of small children climbing up and zooming down, the air resounding with their calls of "Pass auf! (look out)" as the little daredevils race along.
Unfortunately all the stores sold out of sleds on the first day of heavy snow. I'd seen a couple and foolishly delayed buying one right away before the snow. Since then I've tried about 10 places. Even Amazon.de had sold out. We found another company that promised to dispatch one right away and two weeks later we're still waiting and promising our 3-year-old little boy that it will come any day. Let's hope so. It is a traditional wood sled known here as a Classic Davos and I'm sure the kids will love it. I think they also last as we took the kids sledding with some friends a few days ago and our friend brought along her childhood sled that is 33-years-old and still giving great use to her two little boys.

Still, with the snow thick on the ground, it is hard not to let one's thoughts turn to warmer climates and start planning for the summer. Since we're going a bit native I wonder whether to take the plunge and holiday where the Germans holiday. Spain and the Canary Islands are among the most popular destinations for German tourists in the summer. We love Spain but we've never been to the Canary Islands. Some of my German friends and work colleagues are already busy planning Lanzarote holidays, something they do just about every year. They tell me they love it as the people are relaxed, the food is great and the sun and swimming are just fantastic. The flights from here are pretty cheap too Air Berlin has a regular schedule and other airlines such as Iberia do too. You can also construct a route using discount airlines such as Easyjet if you are prepared to fly via Madrid (a great place to visit anyway) or London. 
Just thinking of seafood there is getting me hungry.