JustJess
The day of my departure finally came. I had my 4 pieces of luggage packed, I said goodbye to my family and my friends. I made selfies with most of them and I was ready to go. Of course I choose to go by train. Because well… this is ME we are talking about! I always go by train.
I admit, the train is not the cheapest way of traveling but it is definitely the most comfortable one. And by the way, the plane to Geneva would cost me the same as the train did and I wouldn’t even reach my final destination yet. Not to mention that if I had to pay for 4 pieces of luggage in a plane, it would cost me a fortune.
I naturally chose the train route I already knew (and the one that makes sense of course). I took the RailJet train from Brno to Vienna, then NightJet to Zürich and then, in the morning, IC train to Lausanne. I know most of this route already because when my mum used to live in Switzerland, I always took the train to Bregenz – and that is the same train route. I must recommend this train route to everyone, whether you are going to Zürich or Bregenz. Because the scenery from Salzburg further, is breathtaking. The train is going through the mountains and you might even catch a glimpse of small waterfalls on the way. I personally fell in love with this route. But this time I knew I wont see it, because I chose to travel at night. So most of this beautiful scenery will be in the dark while I am on the train.
The Czech RailJet train was late… as always. But it was no problem for me, because I bought separate train tickets and chose to go the train earlier than was necessary. Well because I know the Czech Railways and if I wouldn’t, I would have only 10 minutes to transfer which is not very much. Just to explain what I mean by separate tickets: If you are searching for the whole journey at sites of carriers, you can buy one ticket for the whole journey most of the time. But the problem is, that the system chooses the fastest way and will give you the trains which are going the first. Which in the case of late trains, causes lots of problems. Especially if some of the trains are obligatory or you paid for couchette. That’s why I buy tickets separately most of the time. So I bought one from Czech Railways, one from OBB, one from SBB and chose later trains, to make sure I won’t miss any train in case of delay.
The late train also gave me a chance to spend some more time with my friends, who came to say goodbye to me at the train station. So we talked, I snapped a few more selfies and then… twenty minutes later then I should, I boarded the train. One of my band mates took a photo of me, boarding the train and I think it speaks a lot by itself.
I was present, I was at the moment and I was on my way. Finally. After more than four months from my first thoughts about leaving the country, I was finally doing it. I was moving on. Was I happy? Not entirely, to be true. Because part of me still couldn’t understand how everything could change so fast. How can life throw you in a completely different direction, in just a few months? So I was leaving and I felt a little bit empty. That surprised me. I thought I would be happy.
Anyway, the first thing that happened to me on the way was related to face masks. They were still obligatory on trains in Austria. It was not a problem for me but, a few seats away were two people from Asia who didn’t know and had no face mask. As they were discussing it with the train staff, I was a bit shocked to hear that the penalty is 40 Euro per person. That’s not exactly a little money. So in the end, I gave them two of my own and I told them to keep them because they were made by my granny. 😀 So maybe my grannies face masks are somewhere in Asia now. 😀
The rest of the way to Vienna was without any complications except… for my luggage. Because getting off the train with so many and so heavy belongings was not exactly as easy as I expected. That moment, I really regretted that I have so many hobbies, because I was almost unable to carry all the things. And getting to the toilet with everything would be impossible, if it wasn’t for the employee there, who helped me and looked after my things for a few minutes. Next time, I am not taking so many things with me. I swear.
My NightJet train arrived on time and “Wien Hauptbahnhof” was already litten up by night lamps. But not even the night trains were taken off the covid precautions. The face masks on the train were still obligatory and the couchette coupe was only occupied by four people – normally it’s six. But that fact was extremely lucky for me, because if we were six there, I wouldn’t be able to fit in with my luggage. Even so, I had to sleep with my guitar in my embrace. I don’t know why, but I thought the space under the couchettes was a little higher – I thought I would stuff my luggage under, but it was an impossible task.
I was in a coupe with 3 other people. With two of them, a young pair, we got into a small talk later at night. The woman was from Vienna and her boyfriend from Zurich – they both were heading there and were interested to know why I chose Switzerland etc. After a few minutes of talking we got on the topic of rivalry between deutsch speaking and french speaking part of the country. The woman said that there is not really anything like that, that it is mostly a myth but the man was laughing and said that there definitely is. He mentioned the term “Röstigraben” (Rösti rift). That immediately got my attention because Rösti is actually my favourite Swiss dish. It is basically a potato pancake, but it tastes a little different than in the Czech republic. And it’s not so soaked in oil. The man explained to me that the country is culturally divided by this “Röstigraben” and the german part is eating Rösti and the french is not. Which got me by surprise because I was looking forward to eating Rösti. I was also smiling internally, because this little mental rivalry reminded me of home. I come from a small village which is divided into upper and lower part. The relationship between the two parts and people is friendly ofcourse, but there are some local events that we celebrate separately and when these events are occurring, the rivalry is more than palpable. And ofcourse, officially, no rivalry exists here.
So except for this little Rösti shock, the rest of the night went very calmly. I love sleeping on the train – the rocking of the train is very soothing and couchetess are comfy and still quite economical. And the lights of night cities in the motion blur is getting one into a creative mood. It’s a great time to think and prepare for change. Or sleep!
Theoretically, we should have face masks on all the time, but sleeping in it would be crazy, so naturally, the masks went off as soon as the doors of the coupé were closed. But of course, in the corridors, on the way to the bathroom, we had to wear it. I forgot once on my way to the toilet and the train staff was protesting loudly. Well I can’t blame them.
In the morning I woke up the sight of the sign “Bludenz” behind the window. I couldn’t help but smirk. Because I knew where we were – already out of the mountains, in the lowlands, near Lake Constance (Bodensee). I got very excited because my train would soon take the different route then I was used to. So in just 20 minutes my train was heading to Lichtenstein (only for a few minutes) and then straight to Zürich. It was also a good sign to turn of mobile internet, because as Switzerland is not in EU and most of EU mobile tarifs are not valid here. For example with my EU tarif I would have to pay aditional 2,50 Euro per 1 Mb…. which is not exactly economical.
So my train left EU and at this part of the way my face was practically stuck on the window, because I just love new sights. So I was enjoying the view, got my breakfast (ha, I love this about NightJet trains) and I finally spoke a little with the 3rd men in my coupe, who was mostly silent till now. So we talked about the view and enjoyed the rest of the journey.
In Zürich, I had one hour before another train departure. But I only managed to get all my luggage to the platform and wait there because… well I got too many things. And I was really cursing myself for that… again and again. But fortunately, I was in Zurich two times already, so I didn’t really miss anything.
My last connection, InterCity train arrived and I was thrilled that I was going with such beauty! And in the first class – because the first class ticket was cheaper than the second class, when I was buying the ticket. So I got on board (with difficulties) and enjoyed another 2,5 hour with my face mask on. The view from this train was not as amazing as the route to Zürich but I would be lying if I said there is nothing to see on the way. There is Lake Neuchâtel and that is definitely a pretty view.
As I found out later, there is another route you can take to reach Lausanne and it’s going through mountains. But I didn’t know that so I chose the route that was a little more economic. So if you are going to take this route, try to go through Bern, instead of Biel/Bienne. I am definitely trying it next time.
As my train was reaching its destination, I finally caught a few first glimpses of mountains and Geneva lake. Then, it was 11:45 AM, I got off the train in Lausanne and waited for my host mum to pick me up. The real adventure was just about to start.
Funny fact to end with:
A few days later, I was talking with my host family dad on the topic of “Röstigraben” and he explained to me that it’s mostly a fun term and they ofcourse eat Rösti too. Also the therm is pointing to the rift which is dividing french and deutsch speaking part and that rift is river Saane/Sarine in bilingual Fribourg. And a similar therm also exists for difference between deutsch speaking and italian speaking part: “Polentagraben”.
