Europe Winter Cruise

 14/12/2025 The flight from Singapore was comfortable and quicker than expected taking only 7.5 hrs. We arrived early and after a bumpy landing with some strong crosswinds, we had to wait for our baggage longer than normal because of our early arrival and lack of staff to handle the early arrival. It was  9 pm when we landed. Safely in a taxi to home I checked what was happening in Sydney, on my phone, and was dismayed to see the news of the Bondi mass shooting which had occurred not long before we landed. Not much detail was available but what a tragedy. Another low point in the track record of our government that.

 12th and 13th Dec 2025 Viking had  organised airport transfers so we found ourselves at Zurich Airport more than 3 hrs before the flight departure time of 10.30 am. after a short wait for the check in to open, we checked in and headed to departures. Zurich airport has a unique design feature, there are several levels/floors of security clearance. The general departure level was busy, so we were directed to go down 2 flights of stairs, past another level of security clearance scanners, to basement level to get screen and then had to come back up to the general level to make further progress.we wandered through stores, had some breakfast and then had to go through immigration. This was not a good experience. Non EU passport holder queues were long and only one booth was manned at the section we went through. at least it filled in time, but it was surprising how outdated the processing here was compared to modern airports. Finally at our gate, the only entertainment was a garbag...

 11/12/2025 On our way to our lake cruise this morning we get a brief bus tour along the way passing a few landmarks. The one below is the Gessnerallee Theatre, the performing arts theatre of Zurich formerly an army barracks.   Zurich Enge Railway Station We are soon at the lake in daylight, just, even though it is now around 9 am. We have a short wait for our cruise vessel which will take all four bus loads of us for a 1.5 hr tour of Lake Zurich. Our vessel approaching the jetty We can see the snow covered the Alps across the lake Each time we have arrived in a new city, we have always been told of the famous people that originated there. Zurich was no exception with our guide advising us that Roger Federer was a native of this area, so we expected to hear a lot more about this during the guided tours. This was not the case because he had been upstaged by Tina Turner who bought a property on the wealthy side of the lake and there was more interest from the guide about her res...

 10/12/2025 When we wake in Basel, we discover we are raftered up against two other Viking river ships on the outside requiring us to pass through them to get ashore. Our luggage had to be out by 7 am for collection and we disembark at 9 am, for a morning tour of Basel, before travelling on to Zurich this afternoon. Rafted up with 2 other boats The disembarkation was smooth, from a passenger viewpoint, the luggage not so smooth as we discovered later. Our buses left roughly on time to take us into Basel for a morning tour and we plan to then drive to Zurich arriving at around 3 pm. The major industries are Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals and Bio Science and financial services. International Pharmaceutical giants, Roche and Novartis are headquartered here. Both pharmaceutical companies have around 10,000 employees in Basel. Basel SBB Railway Station  The Childrens Hospital has an interesting facade that changes colour as you drive past it There is some interesting modern ar...