"let us not go to London City Airport, it is a chilly place"
as a wise man nearly said at some point.
I booked a few days in Switzerland, a country which I've not seen in the snow. Last time I went in December, there wasn't any. On Wednesday night it snowed, and I thought things might be iffy, and it turned out I spent Thursday enjoying the wonders of east London. I did go to City airport to discover it had just abandoned any pretension of being open, booked onto an early flight from Heathrow the next day, which was more likely to be open.
An early start, and a first trip on the Heathrow Express, with an on-time arrival in Zurich. All the way across France was white. Double-decker train to Bern for a night. I recommend Bern, any town with a "do not throw snowballs at the bears" has a certain style. Went to Fribourg for a morning (again, nice town), and then had a look around Bern museum, before catching the slow train to Lucerne through Emmental. It being St Nicholas' weekend, Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) turned up regularly throwing gingerbread around.
All that day had been clear. The day after was grey, so I went up Mount Rigi (1798 metres I think). Although it wasn't possible to see the far distance, the view of the snowy mountains was really stunning. Then is was up to the small village of Einsiedeln, home to an enthusiastic market (seemingly the whole village goes), and an enormous monastery. Upsides? Gluhwein available within 10 yards from most places; downsides, if in the hotel nearest to the monastery, expect a lot of bellringing.
Then yesterday, had a look inside the amazingly decorated Benedictine church, and then left as it was raining. Shame, as I would have liked to go for a walk and to see the Lebkuchen museum. Back to Zurich (still raining, half the tourist stuff closed, boggled a bit by Zurich station having 54 platforms). So off to the airport early, to discover (as I walked through security/x-ray) that the City flights were being cancelled (fog apparently). A snap decision got me on a flight to Birmingham, from which I got home at about the same time as if on the right flight (and cheaper than a night in Zurich).
All in all, positive, although lacking in gnomes. Now to see if the luggage shows up at some point....
I booked a few days in Switzerland, a country which I've not seen in the snow. Last time I went in December, there wasn't any. On Wednesday night it snowed, and I thought things might be iffy, and it turned out I spent Thursday enjoying the wonders of east London. I did go to City airport to discover it had just abandoned any pretension of being open, booked onto an early flight from Heathrow the next day, which was more likely to be open.
An early start, and a first trip on the Heathrow Express, with an on-time arrival in Zurich. All the way across France was white. Double-decker train to Bern for a night. I recommend Bern, any town with a "do not throw snowballs at the bears" has a certain style. Went to Fribourg for a morning (again, nice town), and then had a look around Bern museum, before catching the slow train to Lucerne through Emmental. It being St Nicholas' weekend, Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) turned up regularly throwing gingerbread around.
All that day had been clear. The day after was grey, so I went up Mount Rigi (1798 metres I think). Although it wasn't possible to see the far distance, the view of the snowy mountains was really stunning. Then is was up to the small village of Einsiedeln, home to an enthusiastic market (seemingly the whole village goes), and an enormous monastery. Upsides? Gluhwein available within 10 yards from most places; downsides, if in the hotel nearest to the monastery, expect a lot of bellringing.
Then yesterday, had a look inside the amazingly decorated Benedictine church, and then left as it was raining. Shame, as I would have liked to go for a walk and to see the Lebkuchen museum. Back to Zurich (still raining, half the tourist stuff closed, boggled a bit by Zurich station having 54 platforms). So off to the airport early, to discover (as I walked through security/x-ray) that the City flights were being cancelled (fog apparently). A snap decision got me on a flight to Birmingham, from which I got home at about the same time as if on the right flight (and cheaper than a night in Zurich).
All in all, positive, although lacking in gnomes. Now to see if the luggage shows up at some point....