Two lakes, one day. The reprise.

The last time I saw two lakes in one day was when I went to Pandin Lake and hiked to see the view of Yambo Lake. That is, until I went to Switzerland. And on my first afternoon there, no less. 

After I've checked in the hotel, I caught the train to visit Pogs in Zurich. All I knew then was that it would take about two hours to get there by train from Lausanne. The train ride proved to be a picturesque trip on its own because I saw a bit of the landscape of this side of Switzerland. Plus, I was amazed to hear the language switch from French to Swiss German as the train traveled further north. For instance, I kept hearing the next-stop announcement say prochain arrêt when I was still close to Lausanne Gare; but as the train approached the Zürich Hauptbahnhof, the words became different.

Anyway, back to the landscape...

For this scenic tour of Switzerland, the first lake I passed by (that I noticed) was Lac de Neuchâtel. It was memorable for me because the train passed by a castle along the lake! This is Château de Neuchâtel, another thousand-year old establishment just like Château de Chillon. I wish I could stop by because of the view. Since I've started riding a boat on a somewhat regular basis, my interest in exploring lakes was piqued... and there were a LOT of boats on the water that day. Then there were the vineyards, the villages, and the mountains. Alas, I was on my way to Zürich; I couldn't stop this time around. Definitely someday, I'll be back AND I'll explore the places I passed by all I want.

Honestly, I didn't know that there's a lake in Zürich until I got there an hour later. (That's how much I didn't think about my side trips on this adventure.) But when I saw the lake, I was amazed! There were a lot of people along the shores of the lake! People were queued for the ferries, were walking along the boardwalk, were jumping into the water, or were basking in the sunlight of the early evening... 

It was a foreign concept for me, this spending free time by the lake. Yes, I live quite close to Laguna de Bay but I cannot imagine myself spending time by the lake shore because it's heavily polluted. Ferries don't seem to be the main mode of transportation on Laguna de Bay. There are no boardwalks as I far as I know (but I can be wrong, too). I can say, however, that I've been to a park by the lake and I've been at a rice field near the lake. In addition, I've always associated time at the lake as adventure time because I've gone wakeboarding on both Taal and Caliraya, swimming on Pandin and hiking to the Yambo view point... never just relaxing by the lake side.

Oh well, there's always a first time. But not this time in Zürich. There's so many things to see in so little time. I'd chosen to explore the rest of the place than just visit the lake side. Besides, there's Lake Geneva, which is way closer to my home-away-from-home this week.