Arriving in Zurich

We've arrived in Zurich finally and I'm struck by how familiar it feels - although we can't hear English spoken around us, people respond as soon as they hear us speak- they flow effortlessly between languages. We caught the train from the airport to the centre of Zurich and then ventured out for some excellent coffee and tart. We found a ''backerei' quick smart!  So many signs in English too! Fashions look the same as in Australia and everyone is glued to their phone. There are bikes everywhere; of course almost no one wears a helmet, and there are rows and rows of them in various spots as people head off to work. I'm struck by how quiet it is- even just before 9:00am on a Thursday morning it is quiet.
And now we're back on a train heading for Lucerne. The beginning of autumn and everything is so green- it looks like the end of a very good winter in the Adelaide hills perhaps- certainly nothing like Canberra. I'm not sure wherever it's just along the train line but there are certainly lots of apartments, and more being built along the way. As we get further away from the city and into more rural areas there are lots of chalet style houses with deep tiled or slated roofs and wooden sides. In the distance ahead of us there is snow on the mountains.