Zurich at night

A full day of rail travel and cheese:

Train 1: Tulse Hill to King's Cross St Pancras
Cheese 1: absolutely delicious ham and cheese croissant from Beamish & McGlue

Train 2: Eurostar from King's Cross St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord
Cheese 2: ham and cheese toastie from Waitrose on the Eurostar, consumed just as the train zoomed out of the tunnel to France

Train 3: Metro train from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon - two stops, but we had to wait 16 minutes for the right train. I've noted that Metro trains are not as frequent as London Tube trains, but we had time to spare before our connection.
Cheese 3: panic-buy baguette from a small shop outside Gare du Nord station - not the best meal of the day

Train 4: TGV-Lyria train from Paris to Zurich.
We thought we had the small compartment to ourselves, but it soon filled up. One of our seats was double-booked, but the lady didn't mind sitting opposite. I had a laugh with the long-legged guy seated directly opposite me. We negotiated a shared leg space via mime and facial expressions after playing footsie for an hour or so (he didn't speak English and I didn't speak his language). Near the border, we were all shifted from our cosy compartment into the main body of the carriage. The shutters were pulled down around our former space and passport officials took over. We saw a few people being led in there, which caused a great deal of curiosity in the rest of the carriage. We've no idea what that was about. The folk they led in there seemed to leave with the rest of us at Zurich, and no one checked our passports.

We arrived in Zurich around 8pm and were impressed by the station with its massive, glittery Christmas tree. Sadly, the Christmas market wasn't yet in action. After a false start walking to our booked apartment, we found our way to a lovely video shop where we collected our keys. I miss video/DVD rental shops and this one was particular brilliant. I took note of several films I fancied seeing. The owner said that business was still busy, especially as he specialised in old archives so people make particular trips to borrow his films.

The apartment was up a gruelling amount of stairs with no lift, but it was all we needed for a night's sleep. The shower was amazing! I really rate a place by the quality of its shower.

Refreshed, we headed out for an evening in the city. We climbed steep paths, followed winding streets, were awed by the largest church clockface in Europe, and really enjoyed the lit-up buildings and quiet streets.

Cheese 4: we ate fondue outside with gluhwein, blankets and heated, handheld beanbags for warmth. We disappointed the waiters by not ordering seconds of the all-you-can-eat fondue, but we were absolutely stuffed with with what we'd been served! It was absolutely delicious.

Not one train was late or delayed.

More photos from the day are here.