(Day 15: Tour Guide – Sarah Pagan)

Chur- Zurich: Four Points Sihlcity Hotel and Excursion of Zurich – Itinerary

6:00am: (Wake-up call for everyone)

7:00- 7:20am: Breakfast

7:20am: Meet in the lobby

7:22am: Group departure for bus station

7:29am: Bus departs for Chur (Arrive at station@ 7:42am, Platform # 9)

8:16am: Departure from Chur to Zurich HB (9:47am Arrive @ Zurich HB)

Visit Tourisms Office for Information and Take bathroom break

10:05am: 7min walk from Zurich HB to Zurich, Bahnhofquai/ HB

10:16am: Departure from Zurich, Bahnhofquai/ HB by Tram 13

10:28am: Arrive @ Zurich, Sihlcity Nord

11:00am: Four Points Sihlcity Hotel site inspection with Mrs Alexia Hungerbühler

11:45am: Site inspection Finish

11:45- 12:30pm: Lunch time

12:30- 2:30pm: Zurich Excursion: Swiss National Museum

3:00- 4:15pm: Street Parade

5:37pm: Depart from Zurich main station

6:52pm: Arrive @ Chur

7:00pm: Dinner in Chur TBD

9:00pm: Take a taxi back to Swiss School

Lessons Learned

1) When I was doing my itinerary it was not easy: I put a lot of effort into organizing everything. I called the hotel to confirm the appointment and to get directions of the place.

2) As a tour guide, I learned that working as a group was productive and it helped me through my learning process.

3) My experience taught me to start work earlier, and not wait for the last minute.

Wake Up…..It’s Friday the 13th….

Written by: Sarah Pagan

Yippee – I am the tour guide of the day. I woke up really early this morning – at 5:45am. I went to a couple of peoples’ rooms to wake them up, and some I called to remind them to wake up. I also reminded everyone to bring their umbrellas and to remove their bed linens and towels from their rooms, for the weekly linen exchange. However, when I went to Sasha and Shevy’s room, I saw an interesting letter taped to the door, I thought this was very cute. It said, “wake us up last.” Then I went back to my room so I could get ready to be in the lobby by 6:55am.

At 7:00am we were suppose to meet for breakfast, but I noticed that everybody was arriving little by little, which caused me to get a little worried. Therefore, I was going to call them, but the professors told me to eat and get my energy. So Gia, my assistant, went to round up everyone and I focused on getting the packed lunches from the kitchen. I was so happy and grateful that Gia was there to help me. Sasha and Gia assisted me in getting our lunch bags from the kitchen. It was very helpful of them, because it was 15 very heavy bags that we distributed to everyone at the tables. I went to finish up my breakfast and we all met at 7:20am in the lobby so that we could reach the bus at 7:29am. I gave everybody a brief overview about the Four Points Sihlcity Hotel located in Zurich, Switzerland, which is where we were going for a site inspection.

On our way to Zurich, Switzerland

Ready for Zurich, Switzerland (Left to Right, front row: Elliott, Adrienne, Sarah, Curtis, Mark. back row: Prof. Blake-Neis, Adele, Dr. Garely, Liliana, Andy, Gia, Shevy, Katherine, and Sasha.

So the bus came on time, and we took it to Chur, to catch the train to Zurich HB, on track nine. The train arrived around 7:55am, so I thought it wasn’t our train. We asked a porter and he said yes, it was the train to Zurich. But of course, I confirmed this with another person before we entered the train. We found seats and waited for the train to leave. The train left at 8:16am on the dot. Me of course, always giving an update on the stops and time of arrival. We were on our way to Zurich!

Chur Train Station Track 9 : Bound for Zurich !

Zurich’s busy Train Station: “Switzerland’s Penn Station”

We reached the city at 9:47am and then went to the tourism office to pick up brochures and maps of Zurich. We walked to the trolley station for transport Zurich, Sihlcity – our first destination. We reached the hotel. When I entered the hotel it looked so modern and beautiful. Since I was the tour guide, I went to the front desk with Dr. Garely and told the man at the front desk that we had an appointment with Alexia Hungerbühler. He said that he didn’t know who she was, and acted like he didn’t want to help us. He wasn’t very polite. But then he found out and we waited in the lobby for her because we were early.

As a tour guide, I was kind of nervous because I didn’t know how everything was going to turn out today. In the morning I thought I was doing things wrong. But then I was thinking that this is all a learning process. Before today, I never handled a group of 15 people, especially not on a tour! This was a very new experience for me, because whenever I have traveled before it was always by myself, or just me and my mom. This tour was different, and I am glad it was because we all worked as a team and everybody cooperated. I wanted to say thank you to everybody, and I appreciate all the hard work that was put in. I am grateful and I couldn’t have done it without all the team work.

Shearton Hotel Four Points Sihlcity

So let me go back to the hotel setting. Ms. Hungerbühler arrived and presented herself in a professional manner. Then she gave us a tour of the hotel. We went in the elevator to the first floor. She showed us around a “Deluxe” room – it was very beautiful with a colorful design. I was impressed because it was so modern and up to date. This type of room would cost 460CHF per night. Following that, we went to see a “Junior Suite” – it was so fabulous. The bathroom was stocked with amenities. The suite would cost 600CHF per night. The view of the river was amazing.

Prof. Blake-Neis, Ms. Hungerbühler and Dr. Garely

Then we went to see the spa. It was gorgeous, very big, and had a lot of room for different treatments. We saw three pools. One was a whirlpool, one a jacuzzi, and one a regular pool. The aroma in the air was nice. They had a lot of equipment to exercise with. I was thinking that my body’s muscles needed a relaxation moment. After being guided through the spa we saw the bar and the restaurant. I was so delighted when Ms. Hungerbühler asked if we would like tea or coffee. I felt so honored. I was also getting worried because the time was going and I thought the site inspection was only for a half hour and had passed its limit. I kept looking at the time constantly, but realized that the tram back (number 13) was running regularly, and we were not in such a rush because our next stop was not a scheduled appointment.

Tea @ Four Points Hotel (Lt. to Rt: Dr. Garely, Sasha, Adele, Sarah, Andy, Katherine, Adrienne and Ms. Alexia Hungerbühler, Director of Sales and Marketing)

So I relaxed, enjoyed my peppermint tea, and everybody shared their background about who they were and where they came from to Ms. Hungerbühler. We left the hotel and took the tram back to Banhofstrasse. Then we went through the park and had lunch outside. We sat near the beautiful scenery of the city of Zurich, with a view of the river. After lunch (about 1:15pm), we went to the Swiss National Museum, using our trusty to get in for free. We were given tickets and pamphlets about the museum.

Swiss National Museum

I was excited because we had an opportunity to explore the Swiss National Museum and experience the cultural history of the museum.

Group at the entrance of Swiss National Museum

I was touring with Dr. Garely and she was explaining to me the translation of the Italian words in the exhibits. I was happy for that because I couldn’t understand what the descriptions were saying. We walked around the museum and saw all the interesting things they had.

We all met up at 2:15 at the entrance to the museum and headed out to see the Old Town, but all plans changed. Because of the Euro cup, it was getting very crowded in Zurich, so we compromised and took an earlier train back to Chur. Then everybody split into groups for dinner at Chur. Curtis, Katherine, Lilliana, Adrienne and I went to a restaurant to eat together. I ate a beef burrito, it was delicious and and nice change of pace. We all shared from our plates, so I got to taste other varieties. Then we went back to SSTH and I started blogging myself away!

]]> http://switzerland.edublogs.org/2008/06/13/zurich-and-four-points-sihlcity-hotel-day-15/feed/ 0 http://switzerland.edublogs.org/2008/06/07/here-and-there-in-switzerland-day-9/ http://switzerland.edublogs.org/2008/06/07/here-and-there-in-switzerland-day-9/#comments Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:12:07 +0000 switzerland http://switzerland.edublogs.org/?p=82 Saturday, June 07, 2008

Peace and Quite in Chur, Switzerland

Written by: Shevarma Pemberton

Today marked the most rest that I have received in quite a while. Everyone was out on their excursions except for me and another colleague so there was nothing but peace and quiet. This time food was not served until noon and I was relaxed so I took out my sudoku puzzle book. All was right with the world.

A little later in the afternoon, Adrienne (my colleague) and I took the bus into Chur and went on an excursion of our own. We were pretty much wandering aimlessly along the streets for lack of a better activity, hoping to come upon something of interest. We were overjoyed to find a Natural Museum only to be disappointed at the fact that we would not be able to understand anything. Once again everything was in German. I am really frustrated by this language barrier issue. I was taught yet another lesson or at least made more aware of a simple fact: it is very important to be able to speak a foreign language. The more global we become the greater the importance.

After the disappointing blow, Adrienne and I went off to Migros, our supermarket, and picked up a couple snacks to get us through the weekend before heading back to the school. At the school we ordered a feast of pizza with nuggets and fries and chocolate mousse. There was a 30.00 CHF minimum for delivery and the total bill was 50.00 CHF. The order was a little messed up but the food was so good that I cannot complain.

After it all I was able to catch up on some work and make effective use of spare time. I went to bed a happy camper, looking forward to what will be in store for tomorrow.

Bernina Express to Tirano, Italy

Written by Sasha Munoz

Today was one of the most exciting days ever. Professor Blake-Neis, Elliott and I rode the Bernina Express into Tirano, Italy. We arrived at the train station by 8:00 AM with a departure time of 8:28 AM. We started to board the train and realized that maybe we should upgrade to First Class since we had Second Class tickets. We spoke to the conductor and for $19 CHF we upgraded to First Class. I am glad we upgraded because this made a big difference in our trip. The seats were leather and the leg room provided great comfort, considering that I have long legs and need to stretch. However, the train ride to Tirano was four hours long and amazing.

The view that I experienced through the panoramic windows was unexplainable. You would truly have to take the ride yourself in order to enjoy the experience. We arrived in Italy at 12:35 PM which is siesta time for the Italians; so we didn’t get to see much, but we did walk around and saw the locals and some closed shops. Sightseeing was a whole new experience considering that it is a whole different culture. We had lunch at a local Tirano Italian restaurant and thank goodness I took Italian 101 because that’s what got us through our lunch order. The food was great, very fresh and tasty. The meal was a bargain compared to the prices in Chur. We had lunch for $17CHF each. After lunch we headed back to the train station and took the 2:25 PM train back to Chur, which was another four hour train ride. Although we were on the train for a total of eight hours, I still could not get enough of the view.

Dinner “Disater” at Otello

We arrived in town at 6:29 PM and went to another Italian restaurant in Chur because we couldn’t get enough. We went to Hotel ABC to ask for a local restaurant, since we arrived in Chur and it looked like a ghost town. We were recommended to have dinner at Otello, an Italian restaurant. This was the worst mistake ever!!! We walked into the restaurant after carefully viewing the menu outside, and we were coldly greeted by one of the waiters whose name was “Melano”. We took a look at the menu once again inside and he came to our table to take our orders. We told him we wanted lasagna, a salad and a pepperoni pizza. Surprisingly according to them whom claim to be an Italian restaurant, a pepperoni pizza to them is a pizza with yellow and green peppers on it!!! Are they sure they are an Italian restaurant? We then ordered water and they charged us $2 CHF FOR GLASS SERVICE, in order to serve us water, which was absolutely absurd.

After having the supposedly Italian chef come out to discuss the pepperoni factor, the waiter had the nerve to never come back to our table! Talk about customer service negligence. I felt as though I was being discriminated against, because I noticed that the first waiter walked away from our table and a young African came to our table to continue serving us. He did an excellent job trying to make our experience better and I was appreciative of that but the dinner was already spoiled. It’s repugnant to see people’s attitude this way. But I bet he had no idea of who he was serving.

After we finished our dinner, I kindly told our kind new waiter who we were and that this experience was going to be shared with the world. Also, I told him that I was grateful for him trying to resolve the situation but his colleague had already spoiled my view towards the restaurant. He must have shared with the staff that we were attending SSTH and studying tour management, because they all waived goodbye to us as we exited the restaurant in the most an exciting manner. TOO LATE!! I will never go back to this restaurant and if I were you I wouldn’t either.

Please never eat here!!

.

EuroCup Weekend in Luzern, Switzerland

Written by: Asha Burton

I woke up in Luzern instead of the school and felt slightly relieved that I didn’t have to get up early for once. Gia, Adele and myself soon roused ourselves out of bed before 10 am to have breakfast in the hotel. We gathered our things and tucked in for breakfast. It was nice to see other foreigners (including Americans) getting ready for a new adventure as we were.

Breakfast of champions, Asha and Adele enjoying a bite, literally.

Once we checked out, we headed to the street market on the other side of the river. I noticed a museum and wanted to check out the exhibits. The girls were interested to so we headed in the direction. As we went inside, I noticed they had mini benches and stuffed animals to one side of the room. Adele pointed out a rack of small raincoats on the wall. I figured it was a kiddie museum, but was still into what it had to offer.

Adele giving the deer one big wet one.

A leopard in the museum

The boar hog a little on the funky side with Adele

Overlooking the river in Luzern

Adele looking at the array of items at the riverside flea market

After looking at the different animals and butterfly collections, we all ended up enjoying ourselves and had a good time. I then got a call from Sarah because she told me that Andy, Mark , and herself would be coming to Basel for the weekend. We already planned in our itinerary to meet up with each other once they arrived. We jumped a bus and headed toLuzern Rail Station. I was excited to see part of the group. I must admit that I miss them a little since we spent so much time together.

Adele. Mark, Sarah, Andy, and Gia in front of the Basel Zoo

One of the security guys at the zoo took our picture for us.(Adele, Andy, Mark, security man, Gia, Sarah, Asha)

Once in Basel, Euro Cup madness was already underway. I never saw so much red and white under one roof before, so the football madness was extremely infectious. After calling andtexting Sarah, we agreed to meet at Basel Zoo which was a 15 minute walk away. After about 19 minutes I heard Andy hollering my name at the gate.

In front of Basel rail Station for the coming games. (Asha, Gia, Sarah, Adele)

We all hugged and laughed at our fortunate weekend away from Chur. We agreed to go to France briefly, so we took a tram near the border. I asked at the border if it was okay for Americans and Nepalese to cross the border. They said okay and I screamed across the way to the others, “We’re going to France!”

The joke goes: How many Americans do you think can fit in a French phone booth?

(Andy, Sarah, Adele,Gia, Mark)

The gang in front of our next site inspection

We didn’t get very far but we checked out a patisserie and a winery. In both places the French people were very nice and patient with us, even with the language barrier. But in a meat shop, a french man could speak some English and had a nice chat with all of us. He helped with the purchase and was excited that we were from New York.

Collectively, we all had a good time being together to enjoy the experience. Soon, we walked and got our passports stamped to prove our 2 1/2 hours in France existed. We got back to the rail station and enjoyed a slice of pizza each.

Were taking a break after a not bad slice of pizza. ( Adele. Gia, Andy, Sarah)

Near the fan zone in Basel, Switzerland

Soon we had wave a dry teared farewell to the others and went back to Luzern for the backpackers hotel. After a little trouble finding the place, we eventually stumbled across the hostel. After hearing Elliot talk about hostels, I hope this wouldn’t be that type of situation. Once inside, I knew this hostel was legit. We checked in then dumped our bags on the bed in the room. I was beat tired but very hungry, so I roused the girls to get some food. Once we got outside it started to rain, but I wasn’t discouraged. I told them that we’re New Yorkers and we still find ways to get thing done.

We eventually got some food, then played pool at a local bar. Adele swears that she beat me. If you have to share the pool table with a bunch of raucous young people, it was easy to get distracted. We left sweaty but elated at a nice night out. As soon as we got back to the hostel, we ran for bed.

Everyone tried on their Gore-Tex shoes and except for one student – the shoes fit perfectly. Faculty not part of TTA 100 saw the shoes and wished they were joining us on our educational mission to Switzerland!

Thanks to Dr. Elinor Garely and GORE-TEX Outerwear we will be traveling and touring the beautiful and steep mountains throughout Switzerland in style and comfort.

Gore-Tex Men Hiking Shoe                    Gore-Tex Women Hiking Shoe

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