Day 12, 6/22: We took another train to another mountain 45 minutes from Zurich where the views were, of course, spectactular. After a brief hike to the top, we could then walk up the long stairs to a super high viewing tower that gave views of basically the whole country. Pretty incredible. What most of us remember, though, is the heat. It has been unbearably hot. Imagine hiking/walking in scorching heat up a mountain. I was dripping in sweat, shirt soaked all the way through. And without my trusty Cliff Bars, the associated hunger would have been unbearable. That afternoon, back in Zurich, we had our first German crash course. It seems a little underwhelming this late in the trip - would have been better earlier on. We learned a few words, but it's hard to remember much. Luckily, I took the train home before the entire country's train system went down (first time in history...stranded hundreds of thousands).
Day 13, 6/23: Another early start, and scorching heat by 7:45 AM. Today we were to visit the International Watch Company in Schaffhausen and then check out the Rhein Falls. An hour train allowed some good reading. Schaffhausen is a very pretty town close to the German border. In fact, a history teacher from the school who came with us informed us that this town was bombed a lot by Americans during WWII who thought it was part of Germany. We spent a couple hours at the watch company, it was fun. Got a personal tour through the manufacturing areas, shining areas, etc. All these high-end watches have hundreds of different parts that are assembled by hand and by complex machines. The prices for IWC watches start at 3,000 CHF (Swiss Franks) and go up to 330,000 CHF. Who would spend that kind of money on a watch?! At the end, I tried on a $225,000 watch.
Next we went to the Rhein Falls where there is an amazing waterfall. It gave some slight relief to the heat, but not much. After taking a bunch of pictures we got onto a boat and we were taken across the river right in front of the huge waterfall and then climbed up the big rock in the middle. Pretty neat.
Now, home, preparing for my weekend trip to Geneva and Zermatt.
Next we went to the Rhein Falls where there is an amazing waterfall. It gave some slight relief to the heat, but not much. After taking a bunch of pictures we got onto a boat and we were taken across the river right in front of the huge waterfall and then climbed up the big rock in the middle. Pretty neat.
Posted by: iwc buy | December 17, 2005 at 02:36 AM