As a traveler I think the most important phrase is “Thank you.” That was what I learned to say before each country we traveled to. Even if you can't speak the local language and talk in English or gestures, it is nice to be able to thank someone in their native language. Second most important for me is “I'm sorry” or “excuse me”. That is very useful when on crowded buses or trains and you have to push by someone to get off. Third is probably “where is the bathroom?” or simply “toilet?” which gets the message across.
Anyway, here is how to say “Thank you”, in every country we visited, at least how it sounded to me. Please don't get too offended if I mangled your native language, I was trying 🙂 :
Taiwan (mandarin), China: Shi-shi
Korea: Gamsameeda
Egypt (Arabic): Shockram
Zurich – Switzerland, Vienna – Austria (German): Danke
Geneva – Switzerland (French), France: Merci
Spain: Gracias
Italy, Vatican City: Gratzie
Hungary: Kusonome
Czech Republic: Dekuji
Poland: Dziekuji (very similar to Czech)
Norway: Takk (pronounced like talk)
Denmark: Tack (like tact)
Iceland: this is the one I didn't learn. Supposedly it is similar to Danish (tack) but they add several syllables to differentiate from Denmark. Just saying “tack” is frowned upon, so I went with “Thank you” which everyone understood.
At around 11am we left our place in Thalwil and caught the train back to Zurich main station. There we activated our Eurail pass. We should have activated it when we arrived the first day because I think it counts for local trains, so we could have saved a few francs on the train from Thalwil. We couldn't activate it in Thalwil because it is an automated station, there is no ticket agent. The agent has to stamp the pass to activate it.
We have 10 day global passes, which covers most of Europe. The way it works is we pick 10 days in a two month period and we get unlimited travel on those days. You have to write the days you use it on the ticket (in ink) and the places you travel. For some trains you need to reserve a seat, which costs extra and isn't covered by the pass, but for Zurich to Geneva we could just jump on the train. We just missed the 12:32pm train, so we stored our luggage in a locker and walked back to Hiltl for another veggie buffet lunch. Yanmei wants to open a restaurant like this in the US now.
We leisurely came back and got on the 2:32pm train. The ride was very pleasant. There were stops at Bern, Fribourg, and Lausanne along the way. If we'd planned better we could have got on an earlier train and then got off and looked around in each of those towns, and then got on the next hourly train. Something to keep in mind when we plan our future train rides.
The countryside was the idyllic Swiss countryside you read about. Green fields and rolling hills spotted with small towns, with a backdrop of the Alps.
We were going to take it easy today, to relax after Egypt, but we ended doing quite a lot. We're staying in a town called Thalwil, which is a suburb of Zurich located on the west bank of Lake Zurich. Zurich downtown is located at the northern tip of the lake. The house we are in has a great view.
View from the house of Lake Zurich
I seem to have lost my ability to sleep in because I woke up early as usual even though I was very tired from the previous day of travel. First we went to a nearby grocery store to get a few supplies. The morning weather was lovely, clear, cool fresh air and sunny.
After breakfast we decided to take the ferry to Zurich. The ferry was scheduled for 9:50am and we planned to leave the house at 9:20am, but somehow ended up leaving at 9:30am. This resulted in us running a good portion of the way to the dock, luckily it was all downhill. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare, and fortunately you buy your ticket on board.
View from the ferry
When we got to Zurich we headed a few blocks in to where there was a free city walking tour at 11am. There ended up being a large crowd of people for the tour. I guess that is what happens when you are one of the top ranked things to do in Zurich on tripadvisor.com and free.
Walking tour group
The tour was pretty informative. I like this more than just wandering around ourselves because you get little tidbits and anecdotes about the locations that otherwise you wouldn't necessarily know about. One thing that surprised me was our guide said women only got the right to vote in Switzerland in 1971. Seems a little late for a country that is supposed to be a human rights advocate.
Zurich was actually governed by women in the 11th to 14th centuries when the abbess of Fraumünster abbey was the ruler. She was overthrown by an alliance of trade guilds when they became powerful. The 13 guilds and their guild houses remain today, and although they no longer have monopolies the guild families remain wealthy and influential.
Clock tower on St. Peter's church from Lindenhof hillOverlooking Zurich from Lindenhof hillA guild house with guild flag, opposite Starbucks
After the tour we went to a restaurant called Hiltl for lunch. It was recommended by our Bnb host as well as the tour guide. It is a vegetarian restaurant that has been in business since 1898. They have a buffet or a la carte, and we decided on the buffet, which was quite extensive. The food was very good.
After lunch we decided to go up Uetliberg mountain, which is a small mountain overlooking Zurich. It was about a 20 minute train ride and then a 15 minute hike to the top. The view was pretty spectacular.
Above Lake ZurichSnow topped alps in the distancePanorama of Lake Zurich, tap to enlarge
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