Home again...

I'm back home and sad to be away from Switzerland - I love it there... it's one of the few places I've been to when I'm not looking forward to coming home even at the end of the trip.

Tuesday I mis-read my itinerary and missed my flight, but fortunately got a flight the next day at no charge (thank you US Airways)!  

Sprüngli and a boat

From Europe 2009

Today we met Jory and Philippe at Sprüngli (a famous Swiss chocolatier and cafe) for brunch. It was expensive but pretty good. Meats and cheeses, pastries, müsli, and your choice of drinks. It was hot and humid today so we hung out there for a while (one of the few air conditioned places).

Jose had a great idea of going out on the Zürich lake on the boat, so we did a round trip round the lake. In the sun it was really hot but in the shade it was breezy and nice.

We stopped at the Rail Station mall (the only stores open on Sunday) before going back to the apartment. The only thing I can think of that stinks about Switzerland (aside from the lack of air conditioning) is that everything is closed on Sundays except restaurants.

Tomorrow's my last full day in Switzerland =(.

Konstanz and Luzerne (kinda)

From Europe 2009

I got up this morning and took the train to Konstanz, Germany. Jose thought about coming but all the walking around in the sun would tire him out for the opera tonight, so he skipped it. Good thing too, because it was HOT.

It's a nice town - VERY touristy. The fire department was lifting people in cherry-picker type things just for a view, there were people dancing around in costumes, people sunning themselves by the lake.

From Europe 2009

I found a pair of pants I kind of liked but they were 30's (my size) and TOO BIG?! Either I'm losing weight with all the walking or they were running kind of big. Anyway, I almost bought the 30's but they are pretty funky and I would have a hard time finding occasions to wear them. I'm planning on doing some more shopping on Monday. I wish things weren't so damned expensive. But, I have been very good with my money so far, so...

After the 1000th Swiss town I got kind of bored and decided to go to Luzerne and go to the top of Pilatus again. I got all the way there and guess what? The upward lifts were closed. I missed the last one by like 2 hours. I thought I was going to be able to see the sun set from up there. Boo. I just got back on the train back to Zurich.

I looked around for a place to eat but being Saturday night, everything was mobbed. I got McDonalds.

Freitag

Jose and I thought and thought about what to do today... but we just ended up going downtown to do a little shopping (and bought nothing). I was hoping we'd be able to find something in our size - I did find a shirt I liked but it was about $170 or so... too expensive... That's Switzerland!

We had lunch just as it started raining hard - we both got chicken cordon bleu with fries which was very good. I almost got the hashbrown thing again because it was called something totally different on this menu!

So we've spent most of the day lounging around the apartment... surfing the net and Jose reading and practicing. It's been beautiful and sunny since we got back to the apartment but I don't feel like going all the way back down. Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Konstanz.

Zurich and Zug

Today was a Swiss holiday so everything except restaurants were closed. Jose had an early afternoon performance so I was on my own until about 5:30.

I went down to the old town area (Niederdorfer) and had some Italian for lunch - veal scallopine with egg noodles that was all right. Then I took a train to Zug to check out that small town/city. I decided to bring back "Dan" and chatted with the girl across from me to see if she knew about the town, and she gave me a mini-tour of the city while on her way to the office (she had to work part of the day since she works for an international company).

From Europe 2009

From Europe 2009

So she showed me the city, the lake and the old part of town. It was a pretty town, but small, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time there - just a couple of hours.

I met Jose at the opera house and we got some gelato (it was a hot day today too), walked back down Niederdorfer and had spaghetti bolognese for dinner. It was not bad but it looked a lot better than it tasted.

From Europe 2009

We just missed the Dolderbahn so we decided to walk to the apartment (major uphill walk) and that was dumb. We're pooped now but should sleep well. Tomorrow we're not sure what we're going to do on Jose's free day... we're considering a whole bunch of things.

Cities of Heroes

Today I went to Bern to meet in person for the first time a friend that I've played an online game with for months. I forgot everything I should have brought with the exception of my Swiss Pass: My wallet, Swiss Francs (although I had dollars, euros and pounds), and although I brought my camera, my battery remained charging in the apartment. Curses!

But I met Justin (Zhoos-tan), who lives in France with his wife, at the bahnhofplatz. We wandered somewhat aimlessly a bit while we got our bearings (which took quite a while)... we went to the Cathedral, went down to the Aare... took some cool photos. While at the Cathedral, there was a man waving a scarf, ranting and seemingly talking to unseen people near him. Justin wanted to take a picture of the famous doors, but was afraid to go close! But then the man was distracted by a woman and Justin swooped in for a couple of shots.

Then we took a long freaking hike UP to the Rose Gardens, which had surprisingly few roses, but the view from up there was beautiful. We sat there and rested our feet for a while before taking a peek at the Bear Pits (no bears though). Lunch (shweinshnitzel) and then deciding to go to Murten (Bern isn't the most exciting town but is nice).

The rail station was INSANE. The non-Bern soccer fans, dressed in red, were holed up in there surrounded by police since they are not apparently allowed to mix with the Bern fans before a game to avoid trouble. They were screaming, chanting, singing and lighting flares inside. We had to squeeze between some ticket machines and the wall to get to our train.

Murten was awesome - great weather, great views and some great chats as well. Fortunately, Justin had his camera so eventually I'll get copies of the photos we took with his. We had dinner at the middle eastern place (actually I've eaten there before) and had a really good doner kebab pizza! Doner meat on a pizza. It was really good!

Murten was even better than my last trip - lots of young people playing volleyball, a very outgoing little boy (maybe 2 years old) that would swing by for visits... we never did make it up on the walls of the town, though.

I got back to Zurich about 11:00 pm...

Appenzell

I wanted to see Ebenalp near Appenzell - it's high up on a mountain with a tiny hotel carved walkway into the side of a cliff. So I took a two-hour train ride to find a sign of the lift station door saying they were closed (I think it said until the 20th. Tomorrow). But, there was an interesting view from the bottom and there a bunch of bell-wearing cows munching on grass and clanging.

I took the train back to Appenzell and got out there. It was a cute but VERY touristy town with lots of shops with swiss army knives, thimbles and spoons. I got a cool lunch - Appenzell hash browns smothered in cheese and onions topped with a fried egg. Tasty and massively rich. The cheese smelled... interestingly (but not bad) and was very good. I poked around the shops for a bit before training on back to Zurich.

I saw a poor boy get his hand caught in the door of a tram - he was fine but did he scream. And people just walked past him to get off.... hrm. Only a couple of people yelled at the operator to open the doors.

I was sooooo sleepy when I got back to the apartment. I could have easily slept for the night at 7 but forced myself to stay up until 10.

Londres

Friday afternoon I went to the enormous Zurich airport (which is really a shopping mall with some airplanes) and took my flight to London's City Airport. Swiss Air - it was pretty hilarious that they had business class seats but they were absolutely no different except that they were 1) the first three rows and 2) they got bottles of water before take off. I was surprised we got a little orange muffin though - we don't get snacks very often on US flights any longer without paying for them.

London's City Airport was great actually - it's smaller and things went much faster than they probably would have at Heathrow. Some people tried cutting in line at immigration, and this one guy berated another for cutting, which everyone was secretly very happy about. The damn guy never moved back, though. Some people did...

The trains were soo crowded - it was rush hour - and I was about to pass out or become impregnated by someone if I had to ride for a few more stops. But, I got to Russell and Peter's, we had a delicious chicken dinner and chatted for the night.

From Europe 2009

Saturday I was planning on taking a fast train to Cambridge, but the Circle line was completely closed and the District line was closed in my area, so I tried to walk to Victoria Station but didn't make it. So, I waited until Philippe got in and we walked around quite a bit - I met him back at Victoria (after going back to Russell and Peter's for a while) and we walked all through Hyde Park and took time to smell the roses, and then back to Russell and Peter's.

We all went out to Phoenix, a pub that was very loud due to a bachelorette party in the back room but I had my first alcoholic cider (not bad!) and I got a shrimp and clam salad for dinner. It was not bad either - the clams were itty bitty ones - I had never had those before.

From Europe 2009

Philippe headed back to his hotel and Russell and Peter and I watched the voting results for the Eurovision contest. Norway won...

Jose should be getting from Paris sometime soon, and we'll all go to the London performance of Agrippina.

Basel and Augusta Raurica

Back to Switzerland for us - although not quite as early as yesterday. We both took the train from Paris, but when it stopped in Basel, I got off and Jose continued on to Zurich for another performance of the opera.

It took me a little while to get my bearings and a lot of looking at maps and furrowing of my brow, but I started off visiting the cathedral, which was OK. Basel isn't as picturesque as some of the other cities I've been to, but by the end of the day I liked it and it seems like there's more to DO than in Zurich.

After the cathedral I went down Freiestrasse, which is kind of like Boston's Downtown Crossing. I got my usual at Starbucks (my third time here) - Iced Soy Caramel Macchiato and a ham and cheese croissant (sooo good here). After I snarfed my croissant and people watched for a bit, I went to the Botanical Garden at the university, which was really great. Lots of photo opportunities there.

From Europe 2009

Next stop was the sculpture hall (I'm always up to see sculpture) - but this was kind of an odd collection in kind of one big room just sort of scattered about. Some were even made of Styrofoam. I'm pretty sure all of them were replicas, but I'm not sure. Hey, it was free with my Swiss Pass.

I continued my cultural streak with a stop off at the Kunstmuseum (art museum), which was MUCH better. Dali, Picasso, Van Gogh... lots of nice paintings and a larger, special Van Gogh exhibit that I didn't go to. I found that I really liked one painter - Arnold Böcklin. So I got some postcards to maybe put up at work.

From Europe 2009

Finally I returned to the visitor's center at the bahnhof and got directions (from the very nice woman that helped me at the start of my Basel visit) to Augusta Raurica. It was similar to my trip to Avenches last time - Roman ruins plopped in the middle of a regular town. Or should I say, a regular town plopped on and around Roman ruins? Thankfully the rain held off until I got back on the train. I would have visited the part of town near the Rhine but my feet were sooo tired. So I just came back to Zurich and the apartment... so I've just been updating my blog and Facebooking.

I still can't believe I am here for 11 more full days! I'm going to be able to do so much unless I spend all my money (which is a real possibility here), but I'm very glad I got the Swiss Eurorail pass before I left.

One Night in Paris, sushi, a flood, snobs and a church that was hiding from us.

One Night in Paris

Jose and I got up early early to catch the first train to Paris so he could attend a rehearsal for Arpeggiata and I could visit with some Frenchie friends. Four and a half hours later we stepped off the TGV and checked into our hotel which was thankfully very close to the train station.

We had some time before Jose had to go to rehearsal (it got delayed a bit) so we had a good lunch at Marine - we had the best appetizer - tartare of shrimp and avocado. The two were chopped and formed into a patty and served with a salad. Yum. I ordered filet mignon but ended up with pork. The waitress WAS distracted when she took the order but she was sweet and the pork was good so I didn't mind. Jose had a piece of steak with bleu cheese sauce.

Our friend Philippe met us out after that - Jose had to head off so we had some coffee, chatted and walked around ending up at the museum des arts et metiers. He had to take off so I switched off to meet Florencia there.

Florencia and I walked all over the damned planet, mostly looking for La Madeleine. We started off to eat sushi at a place Florencia really wanted to go to, but it was closed. So then we went to see the Opera house, but we couldn't take a look inside because there was a concert coming up.

So then we start hunting for La Madeleine, had trouble finding it and Florencia was getting so hungry she was going to start gnawing on pigeons, so we found a sushi place that didn't look crappy or wasn't too hot (we almost ate at a traiteur chinese buffet thing but it was 100000 degrees inside and humid). The food wasn't bad but it started pouring outside and the roof and windows started leaking, so we had to move tables twice to avoid drowning or our fish coming back to life.

Once the rain let up, we resumed our search for the church and finally found it after asking directions a few times. We got one of those cheesy coins to remember the day and then set off to search for Laduree macarons. Florencia knew it was near the church, but not exactly where. She essentially pointed at it while explaining the lovely view as we were standing on the steps, but of course we went all the way around the church before finding it.

From Europe 2009

We purchased a box of 8 and decided to eat them at Notre Dame. We were on a bus that was going the wrong direction when that occurred so we got off the bus and took the metro to ND. We sat on the steps trying to act snobbish and took pictures of ourselves. We noticed afterward that in our photos, behind us as we were decadently eating luxury desserts, there was a quite possibly homeless guy sleeping in our photos. Florencia thought he was dying (not really) just like she thought all the snails were dying near us. You had to be there.

From Europe 2009

Jose finished with rehearsals and he, of course, wanted to eat at the very area that was started our world trip, so we met our friend Florian and went to a place called Ave Maria. Florencia and I didn't really like the food but Florian and Jose loved it. The atmosphere was cool, though. We heard/told some hilarious stories, Florencia burnt her finger on a candle and I wanted to kick the butt of a woman that bumped into me as she was leaving, but then decided to wait for something and stood right behind me so I could barely get out of my chair. I essentially just pushed her aside.

Alas, the day ended there with goodbyes at the metro.

Mini Thoughts - Swiss Tidbits

• Macarons are amazing but too many will make you vomit.
  
• Swiss fountain water is apparently the quality of bottle mineral water.
  
• Starbucks food in Europe is way better
• Lots of people drink Redbull (it IS a Swiss product)

From Europe 2009

Sleepless in Zurich but a good day anyway

From Europe 2009

Last night I went to sleep at a normal hour, but I ended up waking up fairly quickly (I think it was Jose snoring) and couldn’t get back to sleep until about 4:00 am. I went outside for a quick walk and sat outside on the steps for some fresh air, but there was a fox that kept appearing that I had to startle off a couple of times, so I went back inside. Eventually after that I fell asleep and slept until 11.

Jose and I went downtown and went to the Switzerland National Museum, but much of it was under reconstruction and there was a special exhibit that was devoted to Swiss jokes, of which we couldn’t understand most.

From Europe 2009

From Europe 2009

Then Jose went to get his hair cut and I sat with him and chatted (sort of) with him and the stylist. She could really only speak Italian, but I understood most of the conversation, but couldn’t even repeat what she had said. She was sweet and cute.

We wandered around for a little bit and took some photos before heading back to the apartment to get ready for the second performance of the opera. Right now I’m sitting in the dressing room and I am taking photos of his costumes.

Tomorrow we're getting up early early to take a train to Paris for one night so Jose can rehearse. He'll do that and I'll hang out with Florencia and maybe Jory and Florian too. Then the next morning we'll get up early again - Jose to go back to Zurich for another performance and I'll stay a while in Basel to poke around for the day.

Tie Dinna with JorJor

Jory, Jose and I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner that everyone enjoyed. I had chicken with cashews and they had Thai fried rice. We started off with fruit drinks with a kind of Thai whiskey (Mekong) that was very good. After that we got some yummy gelato (pistachio for me) whose flavor was slightly altered by the animal-heavy circus that was set up temporarily nearby. We rounded out the evening chatting by the river near the opera house. Nice night...

Shopping

From Europe 2009

After Jose got some practicing in, we did some shopping downtown after swinging by Starbucks for my favorite drink - soy Caramel Macchiato - and a delicious ham and cheese croissant.

Ironically, we spent the most time in stores that can be found in the U.S. (like H&M and Zara) but it's MUCH easier to find our sizes here. Sometimes we're even mediums! *GASP* I found a jacket I quite liked but I wouldn't wear it enough to justify the price tag. The exchange rate is decent but everything here is more expensive. So it's almost a 1-for-1 exchange but lunch costs $12-$15 for a cheap version. Meh.

So we did a lot of walking in OK weather - sprinkly and rainy at times. In a bit we're meeting Jory out for some dinner.

Pretty much the rest of the week is mapped out. Tomorrow is a performance, so I have during the day to do whatever, then I'm going to take pictures of Jose's costumes. Wednesday we head to Paris for a day, then we come back to Switzerland Thursday morning. Jose'll head back to Zurich and I'll hang around Basel for the day. Then Friday I head off to London.

Opera and Party

From Europe 2009

From Europe 2009

The folks in the opera were nervous because several people were sick recently, but the audience loved it and had them coming back out for tons of bows. I enjoyed it thoroughly as well - it was a funky staging with a huge syringe and lots of blood and "dead bodies" lying about.

There were these cool evil-looking nurses in black vinyl dresses and masks, dancers, gymnasts...

During the intermission I visited Jose in the dressing room for a little bit and took a couple of photos - I'll take more at another performance when I'll be backstage the whole time.

After the opera was a reception with a ton of people and food and drinks... I got to see Jory of course - it's always a ton of fun to see him - and meet some new people. I totally fell in love with the woman that played Poppea - pretty, great body, even better voice and a fun actress. I told her I wanted to marry her if she gave me these shoes she was wearing in one act... they were awesome.

Europe 2009: Outward Bound

Well, I got to Zurich in one piece. The flights were all very smooth, although I wasn't impressed with US Airways on international flights. The flight from Philly to Zurich left two hours late because a tire needed to be changed and the jack broke, they needed more nitrogen...

It took them forever to do the meal service and I just wanted to try to get some sleep. The food wasn't the worst I've had - I had some cheesy pasta dish. I was on a 767 so there weren't TV's in each seat or anything and my favorite - the little map with the plane marking the current position - was nowhere to be seen either.

Yes Man was the in-flight movie, although I only watched bits... without headphones - I don't know if they ever got the sound working.

But now I'm in Jose's small one-room apartment that the Opernhaus owns which is in a very attractive (though a little out of the way) neighborhood. To get there from downtown, you take a train, then the Dolderbahn (almost like a funicular) up the hill a couple of stops.

Jose's making some pork stewy thing for dinner...

Tonight is the opening of the Opera Aggripina - I'll attend this performance and we're going to a party afterward.

The only mask-wearing weirdness I saw was generally foreigners in the Philadelphia airport. And, generally people seemed less airport-stupid than I've seen on previous trips. So far, so good!

What's Next?

Besides a long weekend in Charleston, my next big trip takes me back to Switzerland and London. I'm also planning on visiting Italy, Germany and France! So check back for updates...

I've already purchased by EuroRail Swiss Pass and my flights are booked!