Wednesday, April 29, 2009

My first day at Zurich

The way it looks for our drawing room





Flowers my DIL brought fro me on the airport to welcome me, arent they beautiful?

Yesterday is tarted at 5.25 from Chennai, quite a peaceful flight from there to London. But as soon as I reached there , i came to know that my connecting fliught to Zurich has been cancelled due to the fog and for the next flight ZI had to wait for3-4 hrs and even then they made us sit in the plane for one extra hour. I thought that if the same thing had hapopened with Air India, all of us Indians would have said so easily that theya re very irregular, dont take care etc etc.But here British airways did the same thing and we took it quitely. I have seen that in inflight services, no asirlines can match to our maharaja, its only their desk people who spoil the image.Our flight people are all so nice, sweet and caring, whereas i have travelled with AA and now BA, none are on the par at all.
Terminal 5 of the London airport is like a big shopping mall, with so many shops and restaurants and ample space for seating evrywhere and the facilities for internet and phone.But I wish that atlease there should be one phone both Manned, becuase with these automated ones, lots of travellers like me were more puzzled than able to make a call.
I went to take some tea and asked what is that spiced tea or what type of spices you put..and a very pleasant voice told me in Hindi...le lo, bilkul indian jaisa ha..with sugar inide....and I was so happy to see a helping Indian on the counter. That way even in the flight from chennai there was hardly any foreigner. Even while scanning the hand baggage..one britisher said..Namastey:), I had heard that britishers have a stiff upper lip, but was pleasantly surprised to see them talking jovially...but even their desk people are also sometime not very helpful:(. My flight was at 4 PM and till 3.15 they didnt show any details regarding the gate or anything....talk about their efficienciy..isnt it giving the stress to travellers?
I breathed in relief when I took off from London and we reached Zurich by 7 PM....wasnt I happy to see my children:):)..This is a beautiful city so much so that it looks like a dream. Tram goes from just outside our house. Its so beautiful to watch the view outside, sitting in your home.



30 comments:

Sandhya said...

Good to see your post, Renu. So, enjoying Zurich. Beautiful photos. Keep sending them.

Last year we had to wait at the London airport for 2 hours. My husband made me to sit in one place with our hand luggage and said that he will go and get good coffee for us. He came back with 2 HUGE CUPS of coffee. We had quarter cup of each!

Pixie said...

wow!! Awesome Renu!!

The pics are lovely!

Yea, BA service has been criticised more than once by my friends and colleagues also...
But, recently a couple of them flew and it was pretty good it seems!!!

Bhargavi said...

pics r beautiful .. zurich is a lovely place, i ve heard ! ..have a wonderful time with u r children !

Destination Infinity said...

While you are there, learn some German :-) Also Switzerland is very famous for their integrated public mass transportation system where different mode of transports like trams, busses, trains and even boats, cable cars are integrated in one system. You just need to purchase one ticket to reach your destination - via multiple mode of transports and all of them are dot on time to the exact minute. We need to learn how to organize mass transportation efficiently, from them.

Destination Infinity

Anya said...

bloggers doing major trips

cezz
and now its you

chriz

Rohini said...

Wow! Zurich looks like fun.. enjoy ur stay! :)

Reflections said...

What a lovely surprise....here we were thinking Renu will not be seen for the next 1 month;-D

Beautiful flowers Renu & so happy to hear u reached safely:-)).

Anonymous said...

the flowers r beautifullll :)
have a gr8 time in Zurich

Hip Grandma said...

Yes I totally agree.We Indians criticize everthing that is Indian but quietly bear it when the same thing is done by a foreign company/citizen.Glad you were able to gey some desi chai in London airport.You're right abt. London airport resembling a shopping mall.We just looked around buying nothing.The Zurich pictures were beautiful.Have a nice stay with your son and DIl

Jiggy said...

:)
Good to know that you reached safely. And put up some pics of the Zurich high street na. :)

Solilo said...

Aaa Renu. That's beautiful. Have fun with your kids and enjoy the place.

Shrutzz said...

Enjoy ReNu!!!! WOWWWWWW, sounds soo nice and good pics! Your children live there?

J P Joshi said...

Firstly, have a great vacation and enjoy the upcoming weather in Zurich.

Agree with you that we Indians are very patient with everything white skin but generally the opposite with our own. I have not been able to decipher why this is so. I have noticed this trait in me too. We probably expect the moon from ourselves, our kids and people of our skin colour.

I too have found that service in most Asian airlines is much better than the European carriers - Emirates is the best, as per me. Air India ground staff is bad and takes away the pride of the Maharaja, even though the cabin crew are comparable to any other airline.

Kanupriya said...

U in Zurich now? Oh lovely...& yeah have heard from friends its a lovely city. Have a great time there, enjoy :-).

BTW me the 1st one to comment today :D

indyeah said...

you are off on a holiday?:))to Zurich?:)
enjoy yourslef and have fun:)click loads of pics for us:D:D
take care:)

Renu said...

Sandhya: will keep sending:)

I dont know why they have such big cups, even I opted for smaller one then it must be 400ml, we dont drink tea in that quantity.

Pixie: Their service was just Ok, but our maharaja is very good:)

Renu said...

Bedazzled: Whole of the europe is very beautiful, I am so happy to be with my children:)

DI; Even my children have been hardly able to pick German, though they need to:(..yes here transport system is very different and efficient, going to blog it in one of my posts.

Renu said...

Chriz: Since my son is here, its my annual trip:)

Rohini: Thanx:)

SWATS: Thanx:), flowers are beautiful, just like my DIL:)

Renu said...

Hip Grandma: See most of the people take pride in everything own, but Indians deride everything Indian..thats the irony.

I didnt buy anything there , as it was quite expensive and since I will be going to US also, will do shopping there.

Reflections: I couldnt stay away from blogging as my trip is long for 4 months:)

Rebel: Europe is so different from US..much more beautiful and stylish.

Renu said...

Solio: yeah we are but this Flu scare is dampening the spirits:), though today we are going to Vienna.

Shruti: yes, my son stays here:), every year his residence changes and I get to see different city or country:)

JP Joshi: In my family also everybody says that Singapore and emirates are very good, But I like our Maharaja the best:)..me a true blue Indain:)and I think thatw e are pretty good in evrything given the circumstances, facilities and population.

Renu said...

Indyeah: So you are back from the weddings, going to chk ur post now:).....I will update my blog with every place I visit:)

Ordinary Guy said...

Enjoy your stay!!!!! photos look great

Smitha said...

Wow! lovely pics! Zurich is a nice place - we visited Zurich last summer - and had a lovely time!

Looks like you are having a great time there! Do keep posting snaps! And your thought provoking posts :)

Amrita said...

have a greatt time thr renu!! how long is ur stay gonna be?

Mystic Margarita said...

Wow! pics look awesome, Renu. Enjoy your stay and keep us posted!

Sparkling said...

Wow! Beautiful and serene. I'm glad you're having a good time. Sorry, missed some of your posts.

If you're staying in Switzerland long, do take time and visit 'Interlaken', it's an awesome place, you'll love it! And have cheese fondue coz I know you're a vegetarian :D

P.S: I hate BA and Air France flights, both of them lost my luggage.

Deeps said...

Snaps look great,Renu!I'm sure the trip is proving to be a respite from the scorching heat of Chennai!
Have fun:)

Renu said...

Smitha; yeah Zurich is a beautiful city, i visited 30 yrs back and now, it is still the same beautiful place.

Amrita: if everything goes according to the plan, its a 4 months trip.

Still thinking: Are you busy with something?

yeah Interlaken is on my son's list to show me, we shall go when my H comes here:)
I dont like the cheese much:)

Deeps: yeah Chennai was getting to be unbearable:), weather is really good and so pleasant.

Niedhie said...

Hey Renu.. You were in London?! Oh wish I had your number... could have chatted during the time you waited for your flight to Zurich. Seems like you were at Heathrow? Yes it is not the best international airport that I have seen, so all your complaints are quite justified. Enjoy Switzerland!

Renu said...

Nidhie:yeah then I would have passed my time so well:).

Actually i dont have any complains withthe airport, I just wanted to say that they are also not so perfect whereas oif anything happens with AI we start crtiticising immediately.Hiccups happen everywhere, and we are if not better than as good as anybody else.

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