The Last Day in Switzerland...

December 24 2005

The day when I am finishing my winterthur trip. Interesting thoughts though.

The flight connection to India is through Austrian Airlines and we have to change at Vienna. The first part is from Zurich to Vienna starting at about 7:30. For this we had to be in airport at about 5:30. we woke up at about 3:30 in the morning. The train tickets had already been bought the last night only and therefore we had no problems with respect to that.

The journey to Zurich airport was uneventful. Though we saw lot of snow still occupying the roadsides. I had to get a little rebooking done on my ticket and that ended up being the small event on the check in counter. Once that adjustment was done, the check in went fine.

The flight from Zurich to Vienna was very nice. Lot of nice views of mountain tops from the plane windows… Lots of photos again J

It seemed that it has been snowing in the high hills of Switzerland the previous days since everything was snow covered. Or perhaps we could only see the higher parts (from the plane) and obviously they were snow covered. I took many photos but I still wanted one more photograph.. one of some little village in the lap of the mountains. Like cradled in the lap of mother earth. I could see that a few times, but couldn't’t capture in my camera. L

We landed in Vienna at about 8:40 in the morning. And there was this news waiting for us. The flight to Delhi was delayed and would now leave at 1600 hrs instead of 1040 hrs. That meant a lot of wait for us.. lot.. actually about 5+ hrs.

I wondered whether we could go out in the city and have a look at Vienna. It would have been an additional feather in the trip since I have never been to Vienna myself. Though I have heard a few nice things about the country, I was never enchanted enough to plan a trip exclusively for Vienna.

However, my request was denied since I do not possess an Austrian visa. The Swiss visa that I have already does not entitle me to enter Vienna. So, I was forced to spend my time inside the airport only. Then I thought, “may be I would spend time looking at the duty free shops”, but no, not that also. Since we were secluded in a very small transit area within the airport. Unfortunately, this area has only a few common shops and nothing worth interesting (for me).

So, here we are, killing our time by doing all sorts of things, except flying home. Right now, writing for the blog.

Shall update later.

The time did not go by easily. I guess usual stuff for me. However, I managed some pages from Time’s Eye (one by Arthur C Clarke …). Felt like sleeping and therefore had to stretch over on the benches. Didn't’t like the experience.. huh.. J

Then there was this special lunch provided by the airline. It was my first experience with such a delayed flight and therefore being provided with this sort of lunch. It was not quite a lunch I liked or for that matter one of my vegetarian colleagues liked. It was probably the last thing we would have chosen had we had any option. And, to add to that, the desert was actually sour not sweet, for a change … !!!

So, that’s about the stay. That expenditure of time brought about 3 pm in the day and then we headed to the boarding area. As we expected, after the long wait, everybody for the flight was in a big-big hurry. All rushed up, a colleague suggested that we better get in early in the plain to reserve some nice space for ourselves on the cabin luggage area. His advice proved very useful. Actually, we found people who had trouble finding their way past the already crowded cabin luggage area.

Finally, it took off, and we were airborne.

After a movie and a quarter and not finding enough space for my legs, so as to be able to relax enough for a sleep, here I am, adding to the blog again… J

With all the news about fog in Delhi (the original reason our flight couldn't take off in time) we were concerned as to what would happen at the time of landing in Delhi. The landing was expected at about 3 in the morning, and lot of fog was expected at that time.

Luckily, the flight and the landing all went uneventful, and we landed in Delhi at 3:15 in the morning hours of Sunday 25th December.

Here comes a conclusion to my Winterthur trip account. I guess no more text will be added, but photos will be.. sure..