This morning we woke up and had our last French breakfast in our small hotel. The baguettes, cheeses, and jams have been tasty every morning. We did have a few hours to spend this morning in Paris, so we decided to go to a little local museum within three blocks of our hotel. The Museum of Medieval Artifacts was currently under renovation, but they did have one floor open. This floor contained a charming exhibit about the Magical Unicorns of the Middle Ages. The crowning jewel of the display was the famous Lady and the Unicorns Tapestries. I’ve always loved looking at photos online of the famous set of 6 tapestries from ca. 1500. It was a treat to get to see them in person. The exhibit also had books and statues about unicorns in Christian mythology and also in secular stories.
The Unicorn was an early Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit. Often seen in portrayals of the Immaculate Conception when Gabriel visits Mary. The unicorn is seen sitting in her lap and represents the Holy Spirit descending upon her. Today the Holy Spirit is depicted as a dove.
Set of 6 tapestries depicting the 5 senses and then this last one which is called “The Heart’s Desire”. It is the most famous of the set.
At 10:45 a “family” taxi cab picked us up and drove us to the Gare de Lyon train station. It was too complicated to walk and ride the Metro there, so we took the cab instead. Once inside the beautiful station we had a warm drink at Starbucks (yes, they are all over Europe), and waited for our train. We departed on the TVA (French train line) at 12:25 and started our 4 hour ride to Zürich, Switzerland!
We arrived around 16:40 (4:40) and had about 4 hours to explore the city centre, We put our luggage in a storage unit and made our way up ot he main entrance to the Bahnhof. Unfortunately it was gently raining and cold, but we still ventured out onto the Bahnhofstrasse. This street is the 5th Ave. of Switzerland. In fact, it’s the most expensive shopping street on all of Europe. Looking for a place to eat was nearly impossible. Most of the street was filled with high-end shops and very expensive restaurants. Even the McDonalds was pricey! However, since we were in Switzerland, we did splurge and bought some really good Swiss chocolate at Läderach. Hungry and cold and really wanting to eat the chocolate we just bought, we found a nice little fast food Asian kiosk inside the train station. The rice bowl combos were actually very good.
These little raised paths are to help the blind find the street signal boxes. I had never seen anything like this before! Most European cities have beeping signal boxes that vibrate when the light changes, but this is the first time I saw little raised paths to help one find the corner!
Inside the open-ended multi level train station the air was cold. There were convenient “sitting rooms” randomly throughout the station that had seats and were warm. While waiting in one of these rooms eating our chocolate, three station ticket patrol officers came in and asked to see boarding passes. Within two minutes after they left three heavily armed Swiss police officers came into the room and asked to see passports of two men sitting in the room. Everyone in the room sat quietly waiting to see what would happen. I will say I’m very impressed with the Swiss Police. They were polite, quiet, and completely in control. Never did I or anyone else in the room feel unsafe. The men checked out and everything returned to normal. About 10 minutes later our train departure platform popped up on the screen and we left the nice secure warm room.
The kids have been excited for quite a long time about sleeping on a train. We had a “couchette” which has 6 bunks. The kids asked whether we would have a roommate or not. I didn’t know until we boarded the NightJet train to Austria at 20:30 (8:30). Yes we did have a roommate, a gentleman named Marcus who was from a small village just north of Graz. He spoke very little English, which gave me an opportunity to practice my German. He understood me quite well and I understood most of what he said too!
Mr. Marcus slept in the top right bunk and the rest of us found a comfy bunk too!
A few minutes after the train left the station we were all tucked into our bunks relaxing and ready for bed. The train was due to arrive at Graz at 7:00am. I will say it wasn’t the easiest night’s sleep because the train made several stops along the 11 hour journey to Graz, but it was a unique experience. I really enjoyed the haunting and eerie sound of the train moving along the tracks in the wee hours of the morning as it twisted and turned through the Alps. The sound was like a low rumbling growl with an occasional crunching noise as the wheels passed over snow-laden tracks.
6:00am and we were up eating a continental breakfast in our couchette. At 7:04 the train pulled into the Graz Bahnhof. Literally a few steps from the train door we were greeted with a friendly voice saying “Dr. Adams and family, welcome to Graz!” Turning around we met with the friendly faces of two women, Birgit and Anita. These two ladies have been instrumental in helping us with our move to Graz. They are representatives from FH Joanneum, the university Robert will be working at for the next 6 months! Birgit and Anita loaded us up in two FH Joanneum cars and drove us to 3 Nauerparweg, our new address in Graz. It was nice to see
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