Home Bound

Due to the lack of foresight, I booked a return ticket to take advantage of a price discount, and hence the limbo in Europe for another week.

 

Closer to departure, I again received an offer from Finnair, this time round for an upgrade on the Zurich - Helsinki leg.

While I might struggle to make a decision had it been an offer for the Helsinki - Singapore leg, it was almost a no-brainer to turn down this offer.

1. It is a 2 hour short-haul flight
2. Business class on most intra-Europe flights is essentially economy class with a blocked middle seat
3. Hence it would be ridiculous to pay EUR69 for such upgrades, given that an one-way trip would probably cost less than that.

Day trip: Zurich

It all started with an errand to buy a watch, and given the boutique in St Gallen only has a fairly limited selection, I decided that I might as well visit Zurich on a day tour.

Coming out of the Zurich Main Station

As the restaurant was a fair distance away from the city centre, I took the tram back to the train station, and strolled along the canal in the bright afternoon sun.

 

Not forgetting that the mission for today, I headed down to Bahnhofstrasse for the Bucherer boutique. This is where Google maps failed to work (or I failed to understand its directions). So I approached an elderly gentleman and asked for the directions. It turned out that he was half Scottish and spoke fluent English.

 

He was heading in a similar direction so we walked along the cobblestone pavements, and along the way he kindly introduced some of Zurich's sights as we walked.

 

 So after traversing a few alleys, I arrived at Bahnhofstrasse, a street filled with boutiques. 

 
In the "Mission Accomplished" mode, I guess a cup of coffee is in order  :)

 

Counting down

As we thread into May, my days in Switzerland is essentially on a countdown mode, whihc is hastened by the upcoming exams.

So I am actually quite torn. On one hand I am really looking forward to return to Singapore. Heck, if not for the fact that I made the mistake of booking a non-refundable return ticket I would have just flown back as soon as the exams are over. On the other hand, since the exams are over, I was actually able to slow down and enjoy the tranquility of this small country and even smaller city.
 

Whether it was the elderly couple in traditional Swiss costume that I bumped into at the train station; 

 or the clear blue sky and the lush canopy on the uphill climb to the university;

or the beautiful sunrise when looking out from the window in my flat at dawn

 

or the equally beautiful sunset when looking out at dusk