Zurich Airport
We flew to Brazil via Zurich airport, and I was amazed by the place. It’s like stepping into a clean and shiny future, where people speak with gentle, calm voices, and everybody can afford Rolex watches and Mont Blanc pens. Even the smoking rooms looked stylish (from the outside). Most airports seem to have a variety of cafés and shops, ranging from the downmarket to the upmarket, but everything at Zurich seems to be at the very upper end of the scale. There are champagne and caviar bars, endless shops selling designer goods, and glossy black temples stocking ruinously expensive Mont Blanc pens and accessories. Plush sports cars and motorbikes casually litter the concourse. The architecture is sleek and modernist, and even the lighting manages to convey luxury. If you can imagine someone translating a black MacBook into a building, that’s Zurich airport.
Given that none of us had any money to speak of, it was just as well that we didn’t have any time to shop. We just wandered scruffily through, goggling at everything like a bunch of yokels, drooling slightly as we went.
1
hmmm....either you were in a different Terminal, they're done a mjor revamp since June, or you and I have different tastes. I went through in June and thought it was pretty much like Schipol. Okay, to be fair the shops are a bit classier but certainly more limited in scope. Mind you I'll admit I'm not a big fan of Zurich city either. Try Stockholm Arlanda or Oslo's Gaardermoen!
Note to Self: don't post comments before 9 am (too grumpy before the coffees been absorbed).
by Ian @ 05/10/2006 5:11 am • Permalink •
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Ian: I can't remember which terminal it was now (an international one, obviously), but I don't think it was only a few months old. I haven't seen Schipol, so I can't compare. I think my impression was probably one of feeling that it was all a bit surreal
by bsag @ 05/10/2006 4:11 pm • Permalink •
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They just did it up a few years ago. I live nearby, so have spent way too much time in Zurich airport! It's kind of like the rest of Switzerland - lots of shops, yet somehow nothing you want to buy....
by shazza @ 06/10/2006 5:10 am • Permalink •
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Is Arlanda supposed to be a good/interesting airport? If so I´m an amazed swede. Pretty much all airports are boring and the shops are geared to other people than those of us travelling peasant class. I suspect the casual high priced surrealistic consumer atmosphere is to encourage us to get real jobs or feel intimidated that we´re losers who may actually have time to shop in a real store outside the terminal.
by john(jc.) @ 06/10/2006 6:10 am • Permalink •
5
Well, it's shiny for the first 30 minutes, but it palls after that. (We recently had 2 5-hour layovers in Zurich.) In addition to the shiny smoking rooms, they have lots of less formal smoking areas -- for instance, both the coffee bars at either end of the main terminal, which are overlooked by, and exchange air freely with, the non-smoking areas on both the first and second floors. Also, it was 6CHF for a bottle of water, which is a bit over the top even for an airport.
On the brighter side, where else can you find camomile-flavored toothpaste? And hemp-flavored iced tea in vending machines?
by Victor S @ 06/10/2006 10:11 pm • Permalink •
6
any body remembers the first class smoking lounge at zurich airport where it was heaven: to drink coganc champane and free intenet and moreover as many tax free sigarettes as you wanted. even with your economy ticket you rang the door and anwered yes ont the question : are you a smoker sir?" and you got in....
by gerrit six @ 26/10/2006 7:10 am • Permalink •
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