Zurich Airport

 We arrived in Zurich about an hour late on Swiss. Apparently, that’s not bathing for this particular flight. Sarah says this flight a couple of days ago was 2-hrs late. 

So OTP is using the “It Could be Worse” model.

Onboard, they sell a chocolate plane. Flash box  

I know, right? So far, Sarah hasn’t inhaled it, but no promises. 

Because we were late, there were going to be issues with connections. These guys must have so many connections and connection issues, that they need to up the communication game. 

Unlike airlines we are familiar with, they have found a way to pass that info to the aircraft, to put up on the screens. This won’t be typed in by a waitress onboard. 

Nice. 

It just so happens that we were on an A321, where 10DE and 11DE don’t have an F. They are both officially exit rows, but it’s only row 10. In the position you’d expect to find 10F, there is a cabin crew seat, and in the position you’d expect to find 11F, there’s all the shopping from the guy in 12F. 🤷‍♂️

Leaving the terminal, I spotted a familiar coffee cart, like we see at Auckland. It’s a popular coffee cart theme. There’s also one at the home for the eternally bewildered, where Sarah’s god-parents now call home. 

We’re staying at the airport hotel, but it’s a bit of a hike. It’s in a precinct called The Circle, which is quite expansive. 

First out of the building with the arrivals hall. In a normal airport this is called the terminal. Terminal 2 in this case, although Terminal- is allegedly in the same building. 

Across a roadway and into another building. This is a busy place, with a food court and lots of escalators. Signage for an UP escalator says that The Circle and the hotel is up there. But we’ve got luggage, not recommended on an escalator. 

No problem, there’s a lift next to the escalator. Crisis averted. We load into the lift with some other people, and look for the right button. Everything is in German, so we’re a bit hesitant. In the meantime, someone hits a button and we head down. Once they get off, others get in and we hit up. We end up back where we started. There is no up beyond this floor. Goody. 

I go looking a someone who works here, and discover that any other lift goes up as well as down. We find one, and make it to the upper floor. It’s like being inside the Monument Valley game. 

As we head across the chasm spanned by the escalators, we look down. That lower floor, as well as being access to the car park and the train station, is also where you find the check-in hall. Different buildings? Odd. 

Once we’re on the upper floor, we are on what is once again ground level. Across a bus-only road, and then across a tram-only track, and we enter The Circle. Another winding walk, and a couple of lift rides up more levels, and we are at the ground floor of our hotel. 

Phew!!!

Just a random aside. We ventured back to Monument Valley for a look around. Had dinner in the food court. 

Do NOT convert the price of food here!

Had a wander through a supermarket. Sarah’s happy place. 

Found eggs. Nothing to see here, folks, you say. 

Check this out. 

I have no clue. 

I also saw a shop in The Circle selling these things.

Its an electric 2-seater. Based on something that should never have existed.

I remember my dad telling me about them. It was like a 3-cylinder or a motorbike engine, with forward gears but no reverse. Probably motorbike engine, in that case.

The peculiarity was that it was so light, it could be pushed back when required. As you can see, the only way in is through a door in the front.

Dad would tell me that the obvious mistake would happen often: drive into the garage, and park right up the end against the wall of workbench. Then what? You suddenly remember that you can’t reverse from inside, and you can’t open the door because of the end of the garage.

I don’t know how many owners without families starved to death in their garages