My Trip to Switzerland Didn’t Quite Go According to Plan
Geneva with the mountains in the Background
I had been quite looking forward to our trip to Switzerland. I had never been to the country before and was pretty excited about the adventure. Our journey, while not specifically for photography, had the promise of lots of photo potential, but unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. We travelled to a little town outside of Lake Zurich and on to the City of Geneva, also on a lake!
I had done a bit of research before travelling, and both spots looked beautiful and scenic. What I didn’t realise though, was that apparently at this time of the year, both locations are frequently covered in low cloud. Luckily, we still got some hours of sunshine, and I was able to see some shots of the amazing scenery, but the low cloud and bitter cold had other ideas.
Journey to Switzerland
Boarding our Flight to Zurich (iPhone)
The trip got off to a good start, photographically speaking! We had a very early flight out of Dublin Airport, and it was still dark when we were boarding the plane. However, we soon ascended into one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen on a flight. As we were heading east, we were flying directly into the rising sun, and the colour of the sky was spectacular. I was shooting footage on my iPhone for most of this, and I forgot to really take any stills, but there are some grabs from the video below (and you can watch the video above).
As we approached Switzerland, the country was covered in cloud. What I wasn’t expecting, though, were the “islands” of mountain tops peeking out above the clouds. It’s such an unusual thing to see. I only snapped a few photos with my phone and they don’t really do it justice, but it was quite a sight.
We landed in Zurich on time, and from there, we got the train to our first destination. The train was pretty impressive and surprisingly busy. It first goes into the centre of Zurich before backing out to go down the side of Lake Zurich. On the way, we passed the Lindt factory which was very exciting with Lindt being my favourite chocolate - before reaching our stop, the beautiful lakeside town of Thalwil. We were only going to be here for 24 hours, so I didn’t waste any time.
Thalwil
We were pretty lucky as the cloud that had been down all morning had started to clear, and so as my wife headed into meetings for the afternoon, I headed out to the lake shore to get some photos.
The view from the lake is impressive, but it was still misty and the far shore was still shrouded in a light fog. This actually made photographing it quite difficult. It’s one of those things where your eyes automatically compensate, but your camera sensor does not.
There was a jetty where a ferry docks and from there a small park runs up by the lake for a short distance. I walked up along the park trying to get some interesting photos, but there was another problem I hadn’t really prepared for. It was absolutely freezing.
Now, I know what you’re thinking - how could you not be prepared for the cold. I mean it’s Switzerland in February. The thing was, the weather app on my phone said the temperature was 4 degrees, and I was well wrapped up with two layers of fleece, but what I didn’t account for, was the cold wind coming off the lake. It was like a knife cutting through you. I was really surprised by just how cold it felt. I had only ever felt cold like that before one other time and that was one winter in New York when it was -8 degrees celsius.
On the way back I was lucky enough to catch the ferry docking at the jetty and I got some nice photos and video of that, but I wasn’t really happy with the results I got from the rest of the walk by the lake. It was also really hard to process them. If you compensated for the fog too much the images just looked weird and over processed, but not correcting at least a little gives you washed out and boring photos. I actually spent ages on these trying to find a balance, and I’ll be honest, I’m still not happy with the results.
That was pretty much it for Thalwil. I went back to the hotel after that to get away from the cold, and we stayed there that night as there wasn’t really a huge amount of options in the Town for food. Which wasn’t a bad thing because the restaurant in the hotel was amazing. I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels over the years and this was by far the best hotel food I ever had. Every meal was fantastic. So big shout out to the hotel and restaurant staff at Hotel Sedartis.
The following day Thalwil offered us one more surprise. As we were getting our train back to Zurich, we noticed something amazing while crossing the bridge. What I had thought was a low bank of clouds in the distance was in fact a ring of snow capped mountains. The fog finally cleared enough to see them just as we were leaving. It was quite an incredible sight and very surreal. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie where you’re standing on a distant planet and another even bigger planet emerges in the sky. I’m sure people who live in mountainous regions are used to this but it totally blew me away.
Image from the train station bridge, with the mountains in the background (iPhone)
Journey to Geneva
When we got to Zurich we had a quick wait before catching the train to Geneva. It’s a three hour journey, but unfortunately it was dark so I couldn’t really see any of the scenery. The train was fast and comfortable, and of course, on time! One great thing about the trains that we used in Switzerland - they were all fully accessible without the need for a ramp. My wife, who uses a wheelchair was able to just board and de-board without any assistance. The entryway is level and a little automatic ramp comes out to make sure there is no gap with the platform. Such a simple and clever solution. Well done Swiss train company.
Incidentally, before I got my first Apple Watch, my favourite watch for many years was a “Mondaine” watch. Mondaine is the official time piece of the Swiss Railway company and there in all the stations was a huge Mondaine clock with it’s famous red second hand with big dot on the end.
The one funny thing I noticed was that the announcements switched half way through the journey. Because Zurich is German speaking and Geneva is French, when we left Zurich, the announcements on the train were German first, followed by French and then English. But somewhere along the way, they switched to French first, then German and then English. Unless I was imagining things !
I can only imagine that this journey is amazing during the daylight but there was no way to know as it was pitch black outside. We reached Geneva a few hours later and then got a taxi from the train station to our hotel. We were staying a little out of the city, but it was well served by public transport. The one thing I noticed as we got out of the taxi was how clear the night sky was. The stars and moon were really clear and the air was crisp and of course, cold!
Quick iPhone pic of the stars outside our hotel in Geneva
Photographing Geneva
We were in Geneva for a couple of Days, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t particularly cooperative. It was the same situation again, with a low cloud covering the city for most of the time. Luckily we did get a bit of a break in the clouds, so on the few sunny hours we had, I was able to get some photos of Lake Geneva and the surrounding areas. Once again though, it was bitterly cold, with the cold air coming off the lake and the remnants of the cloud making the air damp and colder than the actual temperature would suggest.
We spent a short time by the edge of the lake where the flower clock is (which I didn’t get a photo of because it wasn’t really blooming and looked a bit sad) but I was fascinated by the famous fountain and the boats coming and going. The colour of the water was amazing too, especially when the sun shone. It was a beautiful azure turquoise, and quite something.
And of course, once again, there was mountains. At first we couldn’t see them until the fog lifted, and then there they were, ringing the city like some kind of terrestrial guardian. It’s so surreal to see.
Heading home
I was disappointed in the photos I got from this trip but it was nice to visit both of these places. Hopefully, if we go again it will be warmer. I can still remember the feeling of the cold in my bones, even now nearly a month later.
Our way home was almost as spectacular as the journey out. Going up out of Geneva we emerged through the clouds once again into the Island mountains. It’s really something to see. I filmed a little on my phone, and you can see it in the video linked above. Landing back in Dublin was also nice. It was a lovely flight, except I made the joke on approach, as we were about to go beneath the clouds that it would be the last we’d see of the sun for a while. Little did I know I’d be right and we ended up having the longest period of zero sunshine in Dublin in something like 50 years.