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greenbagjosh · 29 days

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Days 13 to 15 06 August 2004 - not so hot day for Street Parade 2004 unlike the previous time (08/2003) - short visit to Bern

Friday 06 August 2004

Hi everyone! After a couple of days in Zug, it is time to move a bit north, to Zurich, for the 2004 Street Parade. As I cannot check into the hostel before 2 PM, I thought it would be a good idea to go visit Bern. My last visit to Bern was November 2002. I go see the Zytglogge and Federal Assembly buildings and get a sneak peak at the Street Parade in the meantime. I spend most of Saturday afternoon walking through the parade route, which will seem a daunting task, as will be explained later on. Sunday the 8th August, I go to Munich via Schaffhausen, Stuttgart, Ulm and Augsburg. Hope you will join me.

Dia duit gach duine! Tar éis cúpla lá i Zug, tá sé in am bogadh beagán ó thuaidh, go Zurich, le haghaidh Paráid Sráide 2004. Toisc nach féidir liom seiceáil isteach sa bhrú roimh 2 pm, shíl mé gur smaoineamh maith a bheadh ann dul ar cuairt chuig Bern. Ba í Samhain 2002 an chuairt dheireanach a thug mé ar Bern. Téim a fheiceáil ar fhoirgnimh Zytglogge agus an Tionól Feidearálach agus faighim buaicphointe ag Paráid na Sráide idir an dá linn. Caithim an chuid is mó de thráthnóna Dé Sathairn ag siúl trí bhealach na paráide, rud a bheidh cosúil le tasc scanrúil, mar a mhíneofar níos déanaí. Dé Domhnaigh an 8 Lúnasa, téim go München trí Schaffhausen, Stuttgart, Ulm agus Augsburg. Tá súil agam go mbeidh tú páirteach liom.

Ciao a tutti! Dopo un paio di giorni a Zug, è tempo di spostarsi un po' a nord, a Zurigo, per la Street Parade del 2004. Poiché non posso fare il check-in all'ostello prima delle 14:00, ho pensato che sarebbe stata una buona idea andare a visitare Berna. La mia ultima visita a Berna è stata a novembre 2002. Nel frattempo, vado a vedere gli edifici dello Zytglogge e dell'Assemblea federale e do un'occhiata in anteprima alla Street Parade. Trascorro la maggior parte del sabato pomeriggio a camminare lungo il percorso della parata, il che sembrerà un compito arduo, come verrà spiegato più avanti. Domenica 8 agosto, andrò a Monaco passando per Sciaffusa, Stoccarda, Ulm e Augusta. Spero che vi unirete a me.

Bonjour à tous ! Après quelques jours à Zoug, il est temps de se déplacer un peu plus au nord, à Zurich, pour la Street Parade 2004. Comme je ne peux pas m'enregistrer à l'auberge avant 14 heures, j'ai pensé que ce serait une bonne idée d'aller visiter Berne. Ma dernière visite à Berne remonte à novembre 2002. Je vais voir la Zytglogge et les bâtiments de l'Assemblée fédérale et je jette un œil à la Street Parade en attendant. Je passe la majeure partie de l'après-midi du samedi à parcourir le parcours du défilé, ce qui me semble une tâche ardue, comme je l'expliquerai plus tard. Le dimanche 8 août, je vais à Munich via Schaffhouse, Stuttgart, Ulm et Augsbourg. J'espère que vous me rejoindrez.

Hallo zusammen! Nach ein paar Tagen in Zug ist es Zeit, etwas weiter nach Norden zu ziehen, nach Zürich, zur Street Parade 2004. Da ich nicht vor 14 Uhr im Hostel einchecken kann, dachte ich, es wäre eine gute Idee, Bern zu besuchen. Mein letzter Besuch in Bern war im November 2002. Ich schaue mir das Zytglogge und die Bundesversammlung an und bekomme in der Zwischenzeit einen kleinen Vorgeschmack auf die Street Parade. Den größten Teil des Samstagnachmittags verbringe ich damit, die Paradestrecke abzulaufen, was eine gewaltige Aufgabe sein wird, wie später erklärt wird. Am Sonntag, dem 8. August, fahre ich über Schaffhausen, Stuttgart, Ulm und Augsburg nach München. Ich hoffe, Sie begleiten mich.

Friday 06 August 2004 I woke up about 6:30 AM, hoping to have a quiet breakfast. The Ichthus Reizen group had not come down to breakfast yet. I had breakfast, then took a shower and checked out of the hostel. I went to the bus stop, was able to buy a short trip ticket to the rail station, and was there in time for the 8 AM train to Zurich HB. About 9 AM, the train arrived at Zurich HB, I was able to put my wheeled bag in a large locker, and then took the 9:20 train to Bern. The train arrived in Bern about 10:40 AM. I alighted and walked towards Kaefigturm, and subsequently Zytglogge. I was there in time for the noontime chimes. I walked back to the Bundesplatz, and there was an exhibition, including barnyard animals. I distinctly remember there being at least two dairy cows in their own pens. I did not go inside the Bundeshaus at the time.

About 1 PM I was getting hungry. I remember from my previous visit to Bern, that along Bubenbergplatz, there was a place that sold Doener Kebab and Lahmacun. I ordered a lahmacun, served similar to a burrito. I had one with lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt sauce. Also I bought a small container of ayran, an unsweetened yogurt drink. It cost more than in Germany by about 40 %, so maybe 10 CHF, as compared with 6 Euro in Germany for both items.

About 1:30 PM, I returned to the SBB rail station and returned to Zurich about 2:50 PM. I had collected my wheeled bag, bought a day pass for the next day, and boarded the line 7 tram at Bahnhofstrasse / HB, and rode it to Morgental to catch the line 33 to the hostel stop. I think it was 3:30 PM when I checked into the hostel. It's the mauve - dull purple - 5 story building on Mutschellenstrasse. I had a room on the north side, facing Uetliberg. It was a four person dorm room, with a shared sink. The showers and toilets were down the hall. I had a bunk on the bottom, close to the window.

Around 5 PM I went into downtown. I wanted to see the spot, where on 24th July 1998, I had stood at the place where there was a webcam from a building along Limmatquai, where my father also stood, some months earlier on a visit. I did not know about the Bierhalle Wolf at the time, so I did not go in. Also I saw a few interesting cars, that normally would not be driven in Europe, due to their size. One was a Chevrolet C/K series shortbed, with the Adidas logo, with German registration. In order to comply with ECE regulations, it was required to have yellow rear indicators fitted.

I am not sure what I did or where I went after doing a bit of window shopping, but I may have gone somewhere along Niederdorferstrasse and had a snack. About 7 PM, I took the tram to Stadelhofen rail station to catch an S-18 train, one that uses meter gauge and the city's direct current all the way to Esslingen ZH. I rode only to Waldburg station in Zollikon to see the interesting street lamp along Bergstrasse near Forchstrasse, which was both a mercury vapor at one end and low pressure sodium on the other. In 2006 or so, those were replaced with high pressure sodium lights. I went back to the hostel on the S-18, changed to an S Bahn, then at Bahnhofstrasse / HB, I changed to the tram line 7, and rode the trolleybus line 33 to the hostel. It was about 10 PM, and there were still people around, a couple sleeping in their bunks, but another where they checked in but had not returned for the night - I think the last person came in about 11:30 PM or so.

Saturday 07 August 2004 This was the day of the 2004 Energy Street Parade. I woke up about 6:30 AM, took a shower, and had breakfast. The Zurich youth hostel on Mutschellenstrasse 114 has the best coffee machine for breakfast. You can make regular coffee, cappuccino, espresso, just about anything, even hot cocoa and tea, but you have to put the ingredients in your cup, unlike the coffee. Breads, jams, cold cuts and cheeses were available. I think they also had rice and miso soup, for the Asian guests.

I took the bus 33 to Morgental, changed to a tram line 7, and rode into downtown. Slowly but surely, Zurich HB was trickling in with Street Parade visitors. I walked along the Limmatquai up to Rudolf Brun Brucke, back to Bahnhofstrasse by Uraniastrasse. At Uraniastrasse and Bahnhofquai, there was the police station that had a unique ceiling, designed by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti. At that time, Alberto Giacometti was featured on the 8th series 100 CHF banknote. 100 CHF was worth around 105 US Dollars, or 97.5 Euro. I wanted to be sure I was well provisioned, so I took an S-Bahn train to Baden in Argovia, called Aargau in German. In Baden at the rail station, was a Migros grocery store, with prices a little cheaper than in Zurich. I was able to find some grapefruit fizzy drink, as well as some film for my 35 mm camera. The year 2004 would be the last time I would use a 35 mm camera for Street Parade, as I was in a transition to digital photography, hence my Sony Handycam that had about a 640 kilopixel resolution. I did not need to buy any more Digital 8 tapes, I had probably one or two in reserve. About 1:30 PM, I took the train back to Zuerich HB, and walked along the Limmatquai all the way down to Faerberstrasse. This was on the east bank of Lake Zurich. This would be the start of the parade, starting around 2:30 PM. The parade route was basically Utoquai from Hoeschgasse to Bellevue, left on the Bellevuebruecke, past Buerkliplatz and the Schanzengraben canal, westward along the General Guisan Quai to somewhere around Bahnhof Enge and the FIFA World Cup Museum, ending somewhere around the Swiss Life building on Mythenquai on the west bank of Lake Zurich. A memorial stone to Dr. Arnold Buerkli is located close to the lake bank in the Rentenwiese park. A competitor to Lake Geneva's Jet d'Eau is about a few hundred feet south, on the northwest corner of Lake Zurich, close to the Seebad Enge waterfront bar. It has a few jets but it does not go as high as the Jet d'Eau in Geneva.

At 2:30 PM, the parade started its anticlockwise journey. On the parade route, big flatbed trucks with floats, called "Lovemobiles", are flanked by security guards, and their main purpose is to keep the spectators a safe distance from the trucks, so that they won't get trampled. Usually Lovemobiles are punctuated by a few spectators dancing, and it can be difficult to cross from one side of the parade route to the other. The worst chokepoint is around Bellevue, where the sidewalks are barricaded and the crowds are horrendous. Another chokepoint is Buerkliplatz. It is a good thing, that VBZ decided to suspend service for most of its central city routes up to 9 PM that night. Central and HB are not affected, but the routes using Bahnhofstrasse are suspended, and curtailed around Enge and passing by the south exit for Selnau rail station and the Boerse / stock exchange building, home of the SSMI, comparable to the CAC 40, DAX, Dow Jones, FTSE, Hang Seng and Straits Times. It can get very crazy, considering that there are a six-digit count of visitors. There are food stalls here and there, and the Street Parade staff ask, that each visitor buys maybe one or two drinks at 6 CHF apiece, including the 1 CHF deposit (not refundable during the Street Parade). The soap bubble machine was working, and I think it was somehwere around Stockerstrasse and General Guisan Quai. Everyone seems to walk through the bubbles that end up on the street. At least the soap bubbles smell nice. Buerkliplatz was quite the nasty chokepoint, trying to cross General Guisan Quai would take maybe two minutes, because so many people want to dance. This is the major challenge of the Street Parade. The Love Parade I went to in July 1998 in Berlin, was similarly crowded.

I managed to walk back to Bellevue, and walk north of the Limmatquai. I think it was about 4 PM by then. On the Muensterbruecke next to the Helmhaus, there were many food stalls. It was a bit quieter, but the closer to Bellevueplatz, for example, the Sardonabrunnen at Wiener Platz, there was much activity. I think I saw two dance stages with professional dancers on stage, and the general public dancing along. It was as crowded as could be expected.

The afternoon turned into evening, and even at 7 PM, there were still more Lovemobiles on the route. I was not particularly hungry at the time, but I had my grapefruit soda bottles with me. Now and again I was feeling a bit tired, and found some place along Bahnhofstrasse to sit and have a drink of grapefruit soda. Bahnhofstrasse a bit north of Buerkliplatz was relatively quiet. I went for maybe another hour before the sun started to set. Slowly I made my way back to HB, I went underground to the S4 platform, what is now platforms 21 and 22 (used to be 1 and 2 before the Loewenstrasse underground platforms were constructed years later). I took the S4 to Manegg, and then took line 70 to Morgental, and a line 33 to the hostel to go to sleep. I have no idea, what I ate for supper that night, I don't think it was either at the Brasserie Johanniter or the Bierhalle Wolf. I went to bed, maybe about 11 PM or somewhat later. I was only one of two in the room.

Please join me tomorrow, when I take a train ride to Munich through the Black Forest and Stuttgart. I'll also go to downtown Munich to explore around. Gute Nacht!

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greenbagjosh · 2 years

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Tuesday 12 November 2002 - breakfast on the train - view of the Berner Oberland - revisiting the yodeling station of September 2000 - lovely Spätzle supper with Hürlimann-Mass

12 November 2002

EN Hi everyone! I had taken the night train from Hamburg Hbf to Zürich HB via Bremen, Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Baden in Aargau. I arrived too early to check in at the hostel in Mutschellenstrasse, so I went to Bern for a few hours and returned to check in.

DE Hallo allerseits! Ich war mit dem Nachtzug von Hamburg Hbf über Bremen, Basel Badischer Bahnhof und Baden im Aargau nach Zürich HB gefahren. Ich kam zu früh an, um im Hostel an der Mutschellenstrasse einzuchecken, also fuhr ich für ein paar Stunden nach Bern und kehrte zum Einchecken zurück.

DK Hej allesammen! Jeg havde taget nattoget fra Hamburg Hbf til Zürich HB via Bremen, Basel Badischer Bahnhof og Baden i Aargau. Jeg ankom for tidligt til at tjekke ind på hostellet i Mutschellenstrasse, så jeg tog til Bern i et par timer og vendte tilbage for at tjekke ind.

SE Hej allihopa! Jag hade tagit nattåget från Hamburg Hbf till Zürich HB via Bremen, Basel Badischer Bahnhof och Baden i Aargau. Jag kom för tidigt för att checka in på vandrarhemmet i Mutschellenstrasse, så jag åkte till Bern i några timmar och återvände för att checka in.

FR Salut tout le monde! J'avais pris le train de nuit de Hamburg Hbf à Zürich HB via Brême, Bâle Badischer Bahnhof et Baden en Argovie. Je suis arrivé trop tôt pour m'enregistrer à l'auberge de Mutschellenstrasse, alors je suis allé à Berne pendant quelques heures et je suis revenu m'enregistrer.

Guten Morgen! Good morning! About 7 AM I woke up in my first class train compartment on the EuroNight train from Hamburg Hbf to Zürich HB. The train staff gave my passport back and then served me breakfast, about the same as what I would expect to receive on an inbound transatlantic flight, namely pastries, yogurt and coffee, and I do not remember if a hard boiled egg were included. The train stopped at Baden AG (I would stay at the youth hostel near Wettingen, the following August), before proceeding through Spreitenbach, Dietikon and Schlieren before terminating at Zürich HB, which at the time, did not have its Löwenstrasse underground station built, so it had to stop at the head-station platforms. I exited the train, withdrew some Swiss Francs, took my wheeled bag, put it in an old locker that still took coins, and left it there for the morning. It was only 8 AM and it was too soon to check into the youth hostel, it started accepting travellers about 2 PM.

I looked for a train that went to Bern, as I wanted to see the Zytglogge, Bundeshaus and SNB buildings there. The train I found, a "Dosto" SBB train, was a direct train to Bern. I had my first class ticket, valid in all of Switzerland until the 19th November, so I went to Bern, and arrived in about one hour. I think somewhere between Lyssach and Burgdorf, there was a new rail tunnel constructed, and the train went about 120 km/h or 75 mph through it. Eventually the signals would be recalibrated so that a journey from Zürich to Bern would take only 45 minutes.

Around 9:15 AM, I arrived at Bern SBB station. I bought a day pass for around 7 CHF, for unlimited local transport. I took the tram to Zytglogge where I saw the astrological clock. There is another similar clock close to the Bundeshaus. I walked to the Bundeshaus. The SNB building is almost next door. I did not go inside the Bundeshaus, but I did go to the terrace, and was able to see the Berner Oberland mountains, including the Matterhorn. It looked like it had a nice coating of snow. I decided the next day to go to Brig, and come back through Geneva.

I went back to the tram stop, Bundesplatz, and took a tram in the direction of Muri. I just wanted to see what it looked like. Somehow I was interested in the traffic signal setups, they looked like they dated back to the 1970s as I remember from my first couple of visits to Zürich and Glarus. I took the tram back to Bern SBB. I think it was close to 11 AM, so I took the train back to Zürich HB. I may have returned there by 11:45 AM, almost lunchtime. I took the S Bahn to the Migros close to the Stadelhofen train station. Stadelhofen is one of the many structures designed by Santiago Calatrava. I remember in Dallas he designed a vehicle bridge across the Trinity River. I bought some food and drink, and then took the S-18, not a regular S-Bahn train line, but one that used meter gauge and the Zürich tram electricity, namely 750 volts DC. I took the S-18 to Maiacher, where, on 10th September 2000, I did a bit of yodeling. Sadly I did not have an Alpenhorn to go with that. Maiacher was still the same underground station that I remembered from back then, was not refurbished until the late 2000s. I went back again in February 2012 and it looked much nicer, with a decent color scheme. I exited the station, to eat my lunch.

About 1:30 PM, I returned to Zürich HB, collected my luggage and took the tram line 7 to Morgental, passing by the Enge commuter rail station. Then I transferred to the trolleybus line 33, and rode it one stop to the Youth Hostel stop which was next to a Migros florist. I walked to the hostel and arrived about ten to fifteen minutes later. There was much construction going on at the hostel since early 2001. The former entrance and the breakfast room had been swapped as a result of the renovation. I was given a bed in a four bed room. The room had a sink, but the toilet and shower was in a large room on the floor.

I left the hostel around 3 PM. I took the trolleybus from the hostel stop to Morgental, changed to the line 7, and went to HB. I walked along the Niederdorferstrasse doing a bit of window shopping. I had dinner at the Brasserie Johanniter. I had a full liter of Hürlimann beer, and Spätzle with ham, onion and cheese. It was very good.

After supper, I went back to the hostel. At the time, I did not have my own laptop computer, let alone even a smartphone (a Siemens S40 triband does not count), so I had to use the internet terminals at the hostel for a reasonable fee. I needed to find out, what were the schedules for tomorrow's train journey, to Brig, Sion, St. Maurice, Geneva, Frauenfeld TG and back. I had to go to sleep soon, and be ready to wake up for breakfast which would be served starting 6 AM.

Please join me for tomorrow's journey to Brig through the Lötschberg tunnel, then to Sion, St. Maurice and Geneva, and also to Frauenfeld, the cantonal capital of Thurgau. The weather will be fairly nice for spotting the southern side of the Berner Oberland.

Good night! Gute Nacht!

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