Ingleton to Zurich

We had an ok sleep considering we were so excited to finally be on holiday.  We were up early, it was cold, grey and raining - the Yorkshire Dales have reverted back to normal.  We packed up the last bits and pieces, had breakfast and then headed out in the rain to the bus stop.  

Now, this is the trickiest part of the journey.  The trains are on strike today which makes getting to London quite tricky! Initially we thought there would be no trains at all, so we bought tickets on the Megabus from Lancaster to London - but that didn't leave until 2pm and didn't arrive in London until 9pm!  However, doing some research on strike days we discovered that there was a skeleton service, so we thought we would risk it - but get the first train out and have Bob on standby just in case it all went wrong and we needed to get to Lancaster for the coach.  

The first part of the journey was the Ingleton to Skipton bus - that arrived on time - phew.  We walked to Skipton Station and found a train to Leeds, all good so far.  The train was empty too.  On getting to Leeds we found a train to London sitting on a platform with its doors open, so we got onboard.  It was empty.  I have never seen a Intercity train so empty ever before!  We settled down and just hoped that our tickets (which were now for a train service that didn't exist)  would be accepted.  They were, so we relaxed in to the journey and enjoyed how empty it was.

We got into Kings Cross early - the station was pretty much deserted which was lovely.  We nipped upstairs for some lunchtime sushi from Wasabi and then found our hotel (Premier Inn Kings Cross) just round the corner.  We checked in but our room wasn't ready, so we quickly re-arranged our luggage and I got completely changed (a good 10 degrees warmer in London and I was in jeans and a jumper - basically boil in a bag!)  

We then headed out to do some sightseeing (we were in London quite a few hours than we should have been)  Tom requested to see the Natural History Museum, so we got the tube to South Kensington and headed in.  Tom and Matt wanted to see the bears so we headed to the mammal room, with the big blue whale.  We saw elephants, giraffes, a musk ox, zebra, more elephants, but no bears.  We went round and round, still no bears.  We eventually found someone to ask... the bear room is closed to the public as they are restoring some of the exhibits - nooooooo!  Oh well, we went to the shop, Tom bought a soft toy Narwhal which he 'fell in love with' and then we decided to head somewhere else.  We walked up to Hyde Park, found ourselves outside the Royal Geographical Society where there was an exhibition of photos on display, we tried to get in, it is closed at the weekend - so sad, I've never been in the building and would very much have liked to do so.  Next time maybe?

We realised we were close to the Albert Hall, so took Tom to see it and the golden statue of Albert opposite it.  We then got the bus right into the centre and decided to head to Soho for some tea.  The place was buzzing - it always is, we decided on a restaurant, Dumpling's Legend, and went in.  As you would expect from a restaurant in Soho, the service was quick, very quick.  We had our order taken, food served and bill put on the table in under 20 minutes, no exaggeration.  We decided it was high time Tom had his first duck and pancakes, so we ordered ½ a duck and 2 sets of dim sum.  All very tasty.  Then, much to the waiter's frustration, we went to the loo, one by one, he, at one point was dancing behind us with a clean tablecloth, hoping we would leave a bit quicker.   Especially as Tom and I stopped by the viewing area where you could see chefs making the dim sum!

We then headed to Leicester Square, once again to show Tom where all the Premiers take place.  Unbeknown to us, there was a new Lego Store in the square, and we could see a huge Austin Martin DB5 on the ground floor that children could sit in...hum, the place looked interesting.  We decided to join the long queue to go in.  We are so glad we did, the queue moved quickly and the shop was a thing of wonder!  Tom got to sit in the car, there was a HUGE Big Ben covering 2 stories of the shop, a huge route master bus, Tom got to sit next to Bill Shakespeare, and there were loads of Harry Potter figures.  We didn't buy anything (we couldn't, we are just about to go on holiday) but we were all amazed by the place and very glad we joined the queue.

We then headed to Trafalgar Square - had to give Tom a mini lesson on Napoleon and Nelson.  I went there because I wanted to see the sculpture on the plinth. The plinth was disappointedly empty. By now it was getting late, so we decided to walk back to the hotel.  It was a little longer than we realised, but the temperature was pleasant and mainly it is flat, we got back to the hotel tired but happy.

Surprisingly we had a really good sleep in the hotel, it was on a main street, there were sirens going off and there wasn't room to swing a cat with Tom's bed as well, but we all slept like logs, must have been the walk.  We thought we would find breakfast outside the hotel, and found a local cafe with good reviews, the Cappadocia.  Tom was straight on to nutella pancakes, Matt had a smoked salmon omelette and I had avocado and poached eggs on toast.  

Tom and I then went in search for lunch foods whilst Matt caught up on his emails.  We headed to St Pancreas in good time for our train, the place was packed and the queue long but moving.  We were told to wait a while for our train so we headed to the mezzanine floor and found a cafe and table to relax in, before we went back down to the huge queue.  We joined the huge queue, it moved quickly and there was no hassle getting through.  For the first time in my life I got stamped out of the UK by the French border control!  Well thank God for Brexit - we get an extra stamp in our passport - makes it all worth while!!!!!

We got on the Eurostar and had a very pleasant trip to Brussels, we were sat with a lady from Oostende who was really chatty and make the time go quickly.  On arrival to Brussels we found the hotel without too much bother.  The area it is in is being dug up big time, a real mess and all the businesses on the street were very closed.  The hotel didn't look much from the outside, but actually it was really nice - huge room, nice and cool, safe in the room.  We quickly had showers and then headed out to the Grand Place.  

Brussels is a good place for all of us to visit: me for chocolate, Tom for waffles and Matt for beer.  First touristy place we came to was the Mannequin Pis, this is also where all the chocolate shops are so I was straight in.  Last time we came every shop window had rusty chocolate tools in it, hence my toolkit, but this time all the window displays were gone.  

I had a good look round, the trends:

+ Chocolate bars with things on them - just as I do, but lots with nuts

+ Dipped oranges (using all types of chocolate)

+ Dipped marshmallows of all different flavours (the flavours being on the outside, not the marshmallows)

+ Tea cakes of all different flavours (the flavours being on the outside, not the marshmallowy bit)

+ Discs of chocolate with fruits and nuts stuck on them

+ Broken / seconds of chocolates bagged up and sold 

I was quite pleased, because I think I am pretty much on trend doing what I am doing at the moment.  My chocolates cost more than the ones in these shops, but they are made en masse unlike mine.  I took plenty of photos and was a very happy bee.  I bought some tea cakes for research purposes, they were all different flavours, I thought the marshmallows were flavoured, but it wasn't the case - just some sprinkles on the shell.  A bit disappointing - I won't be making those -they are so fragile to make and transport.

We headed up to the Grand Place and wondered at all the gold and then headed away from the square to find some tea.  We were guided by Matt who wanted to check out an old restaurant, Chez Léon, he used to frequent in the days of Sumitomo.  We found it, he wasn't sure so we looked around some more, but ended up back where we started and decided to head in.  The restaurant was mainly for moules, but Matt found a ½ poulet roti to appease him.  The service at this restaurant was the complete opposite to last night - the waiters were very slow in giving us the menus, taking our order and then sorting out the bill.  Its was all very good though.  I had moules natural (with wine, onions and celery), and Tom had deep fried breaded moules - he's back on to them - yay.

We then had another walk around, I dived into some more chocolate shops and then we stopped for waffles (Tom managed to order his in French) and after that a taster plank of 3 beers for Matt in a pub.  All of us were happy bunnies, so we walked back to the hotel along a parallel street which was also dug up and collapsed on our beds.

Monday, not a good sleep!   Not sure why, we had a great big bed, it was quiet and the room cool, but none of us slept well.  I was glad to finally get up, have a shower and be on our way.  We headed back to Midi Station and found ourselves breakfast - Apple Turnover, Cherry Turnover and Apricot Turnover - all very nice.  We then went round in circles trying to find our train...it didn't exist?!  We asked someone, 'There is a problem with that train" and were given a piece of paper.  Basically our fast high speed train was cancelled and we had to get local trains across Belgian to Cologne.  No!!!!!!  We thought once we were out of the UK we would be ok when it came to train scheduling.   This meant (of course) all our seat reservations were useless and we wouldn't get to Zurich until after 8pm!  However, there was nothing we could do so we had to make the best of it.  To be fair the trains we did use were all comfortable and on time.  

We went:

Brussels to Verviers

Verviers to Aachen - here I noticed everyone was wearing a face mask!  Germany still requires you to wear one on public transport - just as well we brought ours!

Aachen to Cologne

Cologne to Basel

Basel to Zurich

Beginning of the day

We managed to get a 1st class compartment on the Cologne to Basel train which was a huge bonus - we were worried that we wouldn't get a seat, but it turns out that this train had been shortened so no seat reservations stood!  Phew.  We also managed to get hold of some freshly baked pretzels and a wurst in a bun for Matt as we passed through Cologne station so another bonus and big ticks for the holiday food wishlist.

End of the day

When we got to Basel - we decided to get off at the first of the two stations as the Zurich train was behind us and would be on the same platform - so an easy change and we would be more likely to get seats when lots got off at the main Basel station.  So we did...then as we sat on a bench ready for the Zurich train, a voice pipes up - "it says do not board this train" - arghhhhhhhh!  What now?  Matt went to find someone...the Zurich train had a problem and was terminating at this station.  Great!!!!!  So much for our grand plan!  We were told what platform to go to for a local train to the big station, we went over and waited.  The Zurich train arrived and everyone got off and headed for the same platform as us, great!  Then another announcement the local train was cancelled!  We were told to get the Interlaken train which was another 20 minute wait.  This was going badly...we decided to forget the trains and get a bus from outside of the station across to the big station.  Loads did the same.  We had no idea how to get tickets for the bus, we asked the driver, he did a shrug, so we just got on.  So the small station was on the German side of Basel and the big station on the Swiss side.  At no point was there a sign saying welcome to Switzerland or anything of note.  I find that so strange?  Why would you not put a mark on the land showing a change in country (or is that very British of me?).  Anyway we got to the big station, and missed a train to Zurich by about 30 seconds - argggggh.  However, we found a SBB train direct to Zurich in 20 mins, we found the platform, the train was there and waiting.  We got on, found the first class carriage - oh I didn't mention, we are travelling 1st class everywhere in Europe, it was only about 10% more to do so, so seemed silly not to!  The first 1st class carriage was out of action so we got on the second one - wow, it was a gorgeous carriage, huge floor to ceiling windows, basically a panorama coach and very very comfy!  We were so glad and no-one asked us to move - phew!  Matt went in search of refreshment and came back with some rather lovely and very cold beer - and relax.

Best train of the day - the SBB engine.

We arrived in Zurich at 9pm - 3 hours after we should have done!  We found our hotel, The Hotel Bristol without too much trouble, dumped our stuff and then went back to the station in search of food and drink.  We found a huge supermarket, the boys went for the warm bakery counter and ended up with chicken curry strudel each which they loved, whilst I did the girlie salad thing!  We found a lovely place to eat in - on a bench by a lovely building.  It was still quite warm.  We went for a quick walk around the block and headed back to the hotel for showers, and bed.