Activities last weekend

Will post a travelogue somewhere during the weekend, now busy at work.
But a teaser:

I DO know that view, details please :-) !!!!

Been there, done that. More please.

Ah yes, a trip to St. Gallen. ;)

Ok, as promised the activities of last weekend.

I took a day off from work on Friday and traveled to Basel on Thursday night to meet my girlfriend and parents in Basel. My parents already drove to Basel on Monday and spent the week at my girlfriend's place. They said it was to have a look at where she lives and works because they have never been there before, but as I later found out, they also seized the opportunity to tell embarrassing stories about my childhood. :)

Enjoying some reading in the train from Rotterdam to Schiphol airport

For those of you scrambling to look up the reference number on the watch (which I am sure are zero to none LOL), it is not an IWC (obviously :) )
When I first got interested in mechanical watches I tried to find out as much as possible about how they actually work. No source of information could satisfy my curiosity though and the physicist in me (I studied Physics) just had to know. I ran into this course and thought what better way to learn the inner workings of a watch then assembling one myself. So I enrolled and ordered the manual and watch kit consisting of a set of tools, movement, case, dial, hands and strap.

Some typical Dutch countryside with glass houses to grow crops.

At Schiphol, bought some more watch magazines

Arriving in Basel, to my amazement, I only found my girlfriend with my parents car.

She told me they had gone inside to "watch planes from the observation deck".
After some searching I finally found them wandering through the empty departures area.

We went home, had some nice drinks and then to bed, because the next day we had a busy schedule.

We started of with a nice morning drive through the Swiss countryside

Passing the largest Swiss beer brewery Feldschlösschen. My girlfriend arranged a tour for my birthday there once, becausue I was in a beer brewing club during my university time so still enjoy to have a look at how the "competition" is doing every once in a while. If you are ever in the area i recommend a visit. It is situated in a very beautifully built old monastery.

In Zürich we immediately walked into the Bahnhofstrasse.

My parents soon found out this was not just going to be a sightseeing tour but there was some watch watching to be done :)

As soon as I explained to them this was the newly opened IWC boutique, where they had most, if not all, IWC watches in the current collection they stormed in. They wanted to have a look what "all the fuzz was about" and before I knew it we were walking around, them firing questions and me answering.

Mohamad remarked I was doing his job for him and thus joined the conversation. We soon concluded this was a perfect opportunity for me and my dad to try the specials pilot's watches for father and son.

I must say I like the father's watch a lot better on me than the son's watch. The latter is a bit on the small side in my opinion.

A few weeks ago I asked how people end up spending so much time at the boutique and trying on all those watches, because at some places you are treated a lot less friendly as soon as the sales person finds out you wont be buying today. Now I completely understand, the staff are so nice and knowledgeable, taking so much time to explain everything and just generally joke around. Mohamad, thanks so much for the wonderful time!!

Unfortunately, we had to leave to so some sightseeing

and on the road again

as you all probably guessed, we were going to the Rheinfall of course!

We got currywurst from a lovely lady wearing a Portofino automatic on the mesh bracelet. Very good looking on a lady I must say! Unfortunately I forgot to ask for a picture...

Obviously, a trip to Schaffhausen would not be complete without visiting IWC
We were a little early, so had to kill some time

nice busstop!

No pictures in the museum, but we had a great time! I showed my parents around and they enjoyed it very much. We had a look at 8541's watch temporarily on display. Very beautiful and very special! We stayed a bit too long, so no more time for some touching and feeling in the boutique.

The next day in Basel some more sightseeing

and having a look at some other objects of my desire

Then my camera battery died so no more pictures.
We did some more sightseeing in Basel and had diner at a great restaurant in Germany just across the border. Sunday morning my parents left and I spent the day with my girlfriend hanging around the house, being lazy and watching some movies. All in all a perfect weekend! Thanks for reading and apologies for the long post.

Looks like a very enjoyable trip. Zurich is a great city and Schaffhausen, well what can one say, it's the center of the universe. :)

Weimar, thanks for taking us along on your weekend advanture. I agreed with you that the son watch wears a little small when you are used to wearing a BP.
Thanks for posting.
Regards,
Kevin

Nice travel-log. Thank you for taking the time posting.

Waimar,

Looks like fun. It's great seeing the watch ads everywhere you go.
Thanks for posting...

Super nice !

waimar, thanks for sharing. particularly like your shots with your dad trying on the father/son.

regards,
thang

Watch collecting conversations about IWC with ones parents is a rare thing. Thanks for sharing your special weekend.

+1!

Cheers, Waimar!

Thanks for the wonderful report Waimar. It's always nice to see people having a good time and enjoying IWC watches!

Kind regards,

Clemens

Thanks for sharing your travel-log. Very nice. I haven't yet been at the new Zuerich Bputique, but hope to visit it soon. Reading your post it sounds like it is absolutely worthwhile a visit.

Cool photo's. I would love to visit Zurich one day.

Great travelogue - and special that you could do this with your father too!

Great that you saw Black Beauty - and I'm happy that others can share in admiring the watch.

Thanks for all the kind replies!
It was indeed a very special occasion!