Half way point: 2 months down, 2 more to go

And so it has been more than 2 months since I first arrived in Switzerland, officially crossing the half way point of my exchange in St Gallen.

Positive takeaways

Flying: Air France A318 Economy Class Paris to Zurich 2015

As I took too much time writing postcards before catching the metro and the RER B to CDG airport, I was rather pressed for time. In addition, I had underestimated the time needed to get from Gare du Nord to the airport. As I had arrived in Paris at night, the train from airport to city was a non-stop service to Gare du Nord. On the return trip however, the train stopped at every station along the way, effectively adding another 10 minutes to the train ride.

Despite that, I arrived at the airport at 11:55AM, an hour before the departure time, which would have been sufficient if departing from Changi, Zurich or even Kuala Lumpur. Yet I again underestimated the travelling time from the RER station to terminal 2F, where my flight was departing from. 

While the signage was sufficient to guide me to terminal 2F, it took a breakneck rush down several escalators and travellators to get to the terminal, only to realise the check-in desks for my flight was all the way down at the other end of the terminal.  

Air France 1614
Paris (CDG) – Zurich (ZRH)
Tuesday, Apr 07 2015
Depart: 12:55PM
Arrive: 2:10PM
Flight time: 1hr15min
Aircraft: Airbus 318
Seat: 23C

After I got the boarding pass, it was already 12:25PM, leaving me with only 10 minutes to get to the gate, since boarding stops 20 minutes before takeoff. 

Looking at the long line queuing for security checks, I knew I could not clear security within 10 minutes and would almost certainly miss the flight. I rushed to the priority lane for first and business class passengers, showed my boarding pass to the airport personnel and explained that my flight will be departing soon. Thankfully they waved me through the queue.

This time round, boarding was from a remote stand and we had to take a bus to get to the plane. As I flashed my boarding pass to the gate agent, I asked her whether I am the last passenger to appear, to which she replied,"There are four more". Well done!

While the Airbus 318 is the smallest in the Airbus 320 family, it still looked huge from the boarding stairs.

I was the last passenger to step into the aircraft at 12:52PM, and the doors closed shortly after I sat down on my seat. 

The captain welcomed us onboard, announced our flight time of approximately 50 minutes. We pushed off at 12:59PM, had a quick taxi and took off at 1:09PM. 

It was a fairly full load, with all but a handful of seats filled. Although it was a short haul flight, it's still interesting that Air France managed to achieve such a high load factor given the stiff competition from high speed trains and budget carriers. 

Then again, no budget airline was serving the Paris-Zurich route direct, or even the Paris-Basel for that matter, and Geneva is really too far from Zurich, so perhaps airlines still have a niche competitive advantage on this route.

The Seat
Perhaps it's just me, but somehow the seat at the rear felt more spacious, with slightly more leg room than the seat I had in the middle on the outbound flight.

Food
Service began shortly after takeoff. Unlike the outbound flight, where service was from both the front and the rear of the cabin, this time round, service was only from the front.

Again it was the familiar tomato mozzarella sandwich, though this time round I had it with an apple juice instead. I was really tempted to try the red wine they offered, though decided against it since it's only early afternoon and I still had work to do when I get back in Switzerland.

Soon after the cups were cleared the captain announced that we would be beginning the descent to Zurich. The final descent was amid heavy turbulence, and I can feel the plane rolling and yawing even as we approached the runway. Thankfully the crew managed to land in peace.

We landed at 1:59PM, had a quick taxi to the terminal, where we parked between a KLM Cityhopper Embraer and an Aeroflot Airbus.

Since I had no check-in luggage and no immigration to clear, I quickly made my way to the airport center, where I grabbed a quick drink and waited for the train back to St Gallen.

While catching up on the news after I landed, it seemed that I just had a close shave with the huge cancellations sparked by a strike of the French air traffic controllers.

BBC, 8 April 2015, French air traffic strike prompts hundreds of cancellations

Wow, if only I had left Paris a day later, I might seriously be stranded at the airport, and probably would be incurring hefty expenses. Thankfully I was spared of that fiasco, and I made a mental note to check out such news before leaving for the airport, not after landing.

Easter in Paris

The trip to Paris was essentially a last minute shopping trip with the Intention of snapping up s

Review: Best Western Premier Opéra Faubourg

It took a brisk walk from the Le Peletier metro station to arrive at the hotel, which was conveniently located on Rue La Fayette.

Apr 3 2015 to Apr 7 2015 [4 nights]

As I stepped into the lobby I was greeted by this bulldog, to which I can only reply, "Bro, are you sure it's a good idea to emblazon an Union Jack on French territory?"

The room was fairly small, with the beds occupying most of the space available. Even the entry way felt narrow.

The mattress was a little too soft to provide sufficient lumbar support, though was still comfortable.

I didn't really liked the fact that the shower area only had half of it partitioned, since I often end up with large puddles outside the shower.

At night, it was a beautiful, albeit incomplete view of the Eiffel Tower. 

Flying: Air France A318 Economy Class Zurich to Paris 2015

Arriving from St Gallen on the 6:48PM train, time was tight as I got off the train at Zurich Airport at 7:41PM.

As I had selected my seat online, it would have been more convenient to collect the boarding pass at the self service kiosk. However, I made a silly mistake of entering my frequent flyer account wrongly and had to get that corrected at the counter instead.

Air France 1315
Zurich (ZRH) – Paris (CDG)
Friday, Apr 03 2015
Depart: 8:55PM
Arrive: 10:15PM
Flight time: 1hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus 318
Seat: 18D

Since there is no immigration passport checks for Schengen travel, it left me with a fair amount of time to roam around the terminal. As I was really tired after a longhaul flight on my flight from Singapore to Zurich via Helsinki in February, this was the first time I managed to examine Zurich airport in greater detail.

I was pretty attracted to the black marble tiles and soft lighting, which somehow managed to add a classy touch to the decor.  

It was a quick walk to gate B34, hence I had some time to charge my phone before boarding and snap some photos.

The Airbus 318 really looked minuscule as compared to its A320 sister that I was so used to in Asia.

We boarded at 8.25pm, and were greeted by the purser and the copilot.

Seat
Looking sideways the seats are razor thin. In fact, the seats looked thinner even when compared to budget carrier Ryanair. Nevertheless, there is a good amount of support at the back when I sat down, and the thicker padding at the neck area, together with a reasonable (though not fantastic) amount of legroom made the seat comfortable enough for a shorthaul flight.

Boarding was completed quickly but due to an absent passenger, the crew had to offload his or her checked-in luggage, which took a a few more minutes. Soon the purser announced that we are ready to go. The cabin door was shut and we pushed off from gate B34 at 8:54PM.

During the safety demonstration, we paused at the apron for a few minutes, supposedly waiting for permission from the tower to taxi and takeoff. We continued to taxi for another 10 minutes or so before taking off at 9:11PM. 

Food
After a short climb the seatbelt sign was turned off and service began. Since it was a shorthaul flight, only a light snack consisting of tomato mozzarella sandwich and drinks was served, though Air France did better than many other airlines by serving alcoholic beverages even on an one hour shorthaul flight.

After the snack service, we began the descent and landed at 10:04PM. After a quick taxi, we arrived on time at gate F52 at 10:15PM.

Conclusion
While most European cities are fairly well connected by rail and air travel might not always be the fastest way to get you to your destination, the revenue management on some of the high speed trains can make the airfare look competitive in some cases.

Easter in France: Introduction

Easter break, Spring break, was one of the thing I looked forward to during this exchange.

Transport
Due to a last minute cancellation of my bus ride to Paris, I was scrambling to find alternative transport. As a matter of fact, trains are actually the most convenient way to travel between Zurich and Paris, with the TGV making the trip in about 4 hours. However, while TGV tickets can be as cheap as EUR68 for a one way trip if booked in advance or even EUR40 if booked with promotions, the asking price was upward of EUR115 as the departure date drew near.

God never disappoints the studious, I was able to snatch a return flight from Zurich to Paris on Air France for EUR143. While that was still a 50% premium of what my friends paid for their flights, I had the convenience of flying from Zurich, instead of the Basel, where most of the budget airlines fly from.

Accommodation
After the less than ideal experience in London with youth hostels, we had an unanimous agreement that we will stick to proper hotels this time round.

So my friends booked the rooms at Hotel 

Day Trip: Geneva

One of the cost cutting measures is to make full use of the Swiss Gleis 7. The St Gallen to Geneva route is nearly the furthest trip one could make on the Swiss Railway, covering about 350 kilometres, and probably the most expensive, with even a half-fare ticket costing CHF53 and even a deeply discounted supersaver fare (which restricts you to a particular train) costing CHF31.80.

So it makes perfect sense to exploit the Gleis 7 on this route, both for the outbound and return.

Geneva Cornavin Station

I took the 8:48PM train which involved a change at Lausanne, although there are also direct trains. It's worth noting that whether for direct trains or trains involving a change, sometimes only half of the train will proceed beyond Zurich while the other half stops in Zurich. Hence, it's important to sit on the correct half. 

Coming out of the Geneva train station, the first stop was to the tourist information centre, a quick 5 minute walk from the station. I grabbed an English map, and prioritised the places I wanted to visit.

Jet d'Eau

I must say the weather was really beautiful, with clear skies and a warm sun, just the ideal lighting for photo shoots and an idyllic stroll along the lake and around the old town.

After a quick lunch by the lake, I headed to the old town. While the lady at the tourist office suggested exploring Geneva on foot, which would probably be the same for most European small cities (I understand that Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland, but it is probably minute by most Asian standards).

Nevertheless, I was quite tired after the long train ride and since I had bought the Geneva One Day Pass, there was no incremental cost to taking any public transport.

Geneva has a fairly well connected public transport system, with trams and buses plying the routes in intervals of about 5 to 10 minutes. While the tram system would not be the most efficient form of public transport for the busy commuter, it is great for a sightseeing traveller.

As Geneva is a fairly small city, and sightseeing can get a little boring after a few hours, I decided to head to some of the museums.

My first stop was the Maison Tavel, the oldest private residence in Geneva. While the exhibits are not fabulous per se, they offer an interesting insight to the lives of the nobility who used to reside here, with many artifacts of daily life, such as silver and pewter ware, as well as a copper and zinc model of Geneva in the 1800s.

There was a short trailer about the model available on request, though unfortunately it is only in French, so I have to give it a miss until I mastered the language or they offered a translation.

The next stop at the Museum of Art and History, however, was somewhat a hit and miss. While the facade was beautiful, the same cannot be said for its exhibits, especially the sculptures and the archaeological exhibits. Perhaps it is my lack of understanding of the history and artistic value behind them, but the collection pales in comparison to those of its counterparts in Vienna and London.

To be fair, there are many interesting paintings in the fine arts gallery, one of which I had even used to illustrate an essay on perception for a psychology module.

Raphael (1510) The School of Athens

Of course a trip to Geneva would not be complete without paying a visit to the United Nations main office. While not a tourist attraction per se, Geneva is famous for the many intentional organisations that chose to base their operations there.

UN Office in Geneva, complete with a petition

A passer-by saw me fumbling with my phone, trying to take a proper selfie, and graciously offered to help me with a photo.

The return trip was again courtesy of the Gleis 7, this time involving a change at Biel/Bienne instead.

Conclusion
While the four hours train ride to Geneva had been really tiring, the city was really worth a visit. It is a really clean city, even by Swiss standards, and possess a idyllic yet elegant vibe. Given the long train ride, it might actually make sense to cover Geneva together with either Lausanne or Biel on a two day trip, so that the travelling time can be broken down into more manageable periods.