[BIT] April 29, 2006: Zurich, CH

X-TRA Hotel
Limmatstrasse 118, Zürich 8005

What you are looking at is a typical building in Zurich, directly across from the X-tra Hotel. The view from our room is this grand old building. We loved the location of our hotel but did not appreciate the discotheque with its blaring rock music all evening. Jet lag and rock music do not make a good pair.

[BIT] April 29, 2006: Zurich Bahnhof

The train station in Zurich. People travel by train a lot in this part of the world. And why not? It is very dependable, efficient - always on time and always clean. Mark and I love to travel in trains and the good looking guys around me only made this train station special!

[BIT] April 29, 2006: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen

The SBB or Swiss Federal Rail System (http://www.sbb.ch/en/) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Berne. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons. The network of the Swiss Federal Railroads which has been fully electrified since 1960, comprises about 2,900km/1,800miles.

[BIT] April 30, 2006: Lugano - The Monte Carlo of Switzerland

Hoping to see George Clooney, we stayed for about three warm days in Lugano. It is such a quaint town, with a strongly infused Italian culture within the ambience of the Swiss. Lugano lies at the edge of Lake Lugano (Lago di Lugano or Ceresio), which is situated between the lakes Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como, south of the Alps. The city is located where the river Cassarate enters the lake between the Monte Brè (925m) and the Monte San Salvatore (912m) mountains.

[BIT] May 01, 2006: Piazza Riforma, Lugano

My idea of pleasure in a foreign town is to stroll at leisure, peering in shop windows, buying postcards, having tea or a drink at a cafe. The Piazza Riforma is the main square of the town, with an elaborate fountain, benches, flowers and cafes. For just plain walking, the town of Lugano has interesting corners to explore, and convenient trolleybuses. There is an old quarter, whose cobbled streets and alleyways made me glad I wore my thick-soled walking shoes.

[BIT] April 30, 2006: On the Steps of the Lugano Cathedral

The Cathedral of Lugano is a church in Lugano, the canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, founded in the High Middle Ages but rebuilt in the late 15th century, with the façade completed in 1517. What is fascinating about this cathedral is its age.

High Middle Ages means like before the year 1000. The church is known on this site from 818. In 1078 it was made a collegiata, becoming a cathedral in 1888. Just a good 800 years to apply from a convent to a cathedral. The original Romanesque building was oriented the opposite way to the present church, as is shown by remains of the apse discovered under the current parvise. In the 15th century the church was expanded and the entrance moved to the present position, while the open roof was covered by a groin vaulted ceiling. Extensive renovations to the cathedral were done in 1905-1910, when some Baroque chapels were demolished and the interior received frescoes by Ernesto Rusca.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Cathedral,_Lugano

[BIT] April 30, 2006: Milan Train Station – A Digression & Adventure

Very, ever so briefly, Mark and I took the last train out from Lugano to Milano via the SBB- FFS (Ferrovie Federali Svizzere)-Terniatalia. We wanted to at least step in Milan before boarding the next train back to Lugano. But we missed our connections and arrived in the middle of the Swiss-Italian border, in a small town of Monza where we spent the night. It was good that we had the wherewithal to carry our passports as we crossed borders and we used it to book a hotel room for the night. We took the first train out from Monza back to Lugano the next day.

[BIT] April 31, 2006: Monza, Italy

QUESTION: Guess what Monza is known for?
ANSWER: Monza is known internationally for the Autodromo Nazionale Monza motor racing circuit, home to the Italian Grand Prix, and previously to the Alfa Romeo team. The circuit is inside the "Parco di Monza", a park that is double the size of New York's Central Park.

[BIT] May 01, 2006: Parco Paradiso, Lugano

For the most part I was happy to relax by walking around, sitting on a bench at the lakeside, or just enjoying the beauty of the lake and the mountains, some of them topped with fluffy-looking white snow, like dabs of whipped cream. The air was fragrant with the scent of oleander shrubs with their pink, red and white blossoms. We sat at the Paradiso section (photos in the future), where there were gardens in long, straight lines of asters, marigolds, zinnias, petunias, iris, scarlet-flowered salvia, different kinds of lilies - all in that exotic mixture that only nature can get away with harmoniously.

Forget George Clooney, I’ll take Lugano with or without him!

[BIT] May 02, 2006: Geneve

Geneva, geographically, is in the most beautiful of locations, centered around the point where the River Rhône flows out of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman in French) flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps, but for all that, it’s a curiously unsatisfying place to spend more than a few days. We usually are here for specific things to do such as connecting to Paris and other key cities in Europe and, more notably, searching for a good place to eat in the area!

Mark poses in front of an Art Deco building in the Rue de Rhone, Old Town, Geneva.

[BIT] May 02, 2006: Feeling continental at Gare Cornavin, Geneve

The city’s main train station – the Gare de Cornavin – couldn’t be more central, barely 400m north of the lake. The station is also a terminus of the French rail network. Mark and I found it irrepressibly efficient that if you’re arriving on an intercity SNCF train, the TGV from Paris or Lyon – which come in on platforms 7 and 8, separate from the rest of the SBB platforms – you’ll be directed to pass through both French and Swiss customs and passport control before joining the throng within the station proper. Is that cool or what? I feel so…continental.

I took a picture of the large murals on the walls of the station. There are two more (picture forthcoming) which I hope to post later. They are wonderful to view and only heightens one’s desire to see the Swiss countryside.

[BIT] May 02, 2006: To Zurich Flughafen

We leave Geneva satisfied that we have completed our tasks and return to New York very optimistic about our future. It took us three hours by train from Geneva back to Zurich where we boarded out flight back to New York the following day.

Happy Father's Day

Now that I can finally articulate what I have observed when growing up, I can describe my Dad as minimalist chic. Thanks for you being my fashion guide. May we all be sartorially appropriate at all times.