I shouldn’t even pretend like I could sleep on a plane. Perhaps I got 10 minutes of shut-eye, though I didn’t really try too hard – just too difficult to get comfy in a seat. Surprisingly decent legroom though. Very glad I changed seats from the window to the aisle, I’d feel terrible bothering the poor girl next to me every time I wanted to get up as she slept 90% of the time. “Escape from Witch Mountain” was the in-flight movie – I bet Michael would like it. Watched most of it, but the sound quality through the airline headphones was so bad it was giving me a headache (I had tried my own iPod earphones but they generated some kind of feedback). Skipped the airline dinner, had a roll and a muffin that I bought in the terminal.
I had come back from my muffin purchase to find the plane already boarding. No hassles, everything as smooth as could be.
Read some Brit bike magazines I brought along, listened to some music and a little of the audiobook of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. Best part of the flight was hanging out in the galley with the crew and some other passengers for a while - it felt great just to stand up. One flight attendants were talking about “Boeing keeps on going”, and how she would go back to a 737-200 before working on an Airbus. Some turbulence sent us back to our seats, but it only lasted a few minutes.
When we finally broke through the clouds this is the first thing I saw
Descending into Zurich
I’m in Switzerland! We landed on-time, with a remarkably short trip from touching down to rolling up to the gate. Had phone service as soon as I stepped off the plane, even received an SMS text message “Welcome to Switzerland”. No problem getting my luggage or through passport check. No forms, no questions, no luggage checking.
This was a much cuter flight crew than what I had on USAirways
Jim arrived about ½ an hour later, and we caught the train to Oerliken station. No one checked our train tickets, which was slightly disappointing since it had taken us some time and effort to acquire them. Got our rooms at the Swissotel Zurich as soon as we checked in at 9:45am, figured we’d try to catch an hour or 2 of sleep to fight the jetlag before heading out.
Jim (left) arriving at ZRH
I got a wonderful corner room high up on the 26th floor, with a nice view of the train station and surrounding countryside. Having never been to Europe before, I didn’t understand why there was no electricity in my room. Every outlet seemed dead, and the lights didn’t work. I then noticed the slot by the door, so I put my key in there and tried the switch for the hall light – no go. OK, so no electricity for me. I’ll ask at the desk after my nap.
My corner room at the Swissotel in Zurich
My view of the Oerliken train station
Slept like a rock for an hour, and then met Jim in the lobby. I asked about my electricity, and was told about the slot for the key (which I had tried already). Went up and tried again, and turned out that the hallway light was out, which tricked me into thinking the slot didn’t do anything. Lesson learned.
Got a train to Zurich HB (Hauptbanhoff, the main train station), again no one checked our tickets. Walked around the old sections of town (Altstadt) for a while, and started to really “be in Europe”. I was taking in the sights and sounds, walking on the cobblestone streets, trying to make sense of the signs, listening to snippets of conversations around us, etc. I noticed lots of people walking dogs, even taking them in shops and restaurants. That was pretty cool. Can’t say I saw any police on the streets. Saw some interesting signs for sex shows, odd to see explicit pictures on a store window next to an ice-cream shop.
30 seconds from the Zurich HB train station
Walking around Altstadt
We got lunch at the Calypso Take-Away consisting of a $4 bottle of Coke (and 0.5L at that) and some large relative of the hot dog.
My first European meal
I should mention at this point that I am a picky eater. I wish I wasn’t, but after 40-something years it’s a hard habit to break. I like what I like, and I’m very hesitant to try new things. Other than the actual flying, the part of the trip I was stressing over the most was food. Everyone I talked to about the trip was so excited about the food I was going to get to eat while I was in Europe, while secretly I was almost dreading it. I’m not saying I was hoping to find McDonald’s on every corner, but the thought of ordering unknown food from a menu I can’t read was hanging over my head. This lunch was my first test, and I think I passed. I looked at what was on the grill, and pointed at something I vaguely recognized and said “that”.
So far, so good. The sausage was OK (tough casing though), and the bread excellent.
Called home for the first time and my wife said the phone sounded 10x better than it ever does in the U.S. It was very cool to say “hi honey, I’m just sitting here by the river in Zurich having a beer. How are your corn flakes?”
We walked around more, eventually taking the water taxi to Casino (after sailing up and down the river a bit). Most interesting part was passing some topless sunbathers on the way – not something you see much of in the states. Casino stop led us to an attractive park right by the water. Took our time walking along river back to the old part of the city (which, no offense Jim, would have been even nicer with my wife).
The view from the water taxi
I loved these cool rental boats - reminded me of bumber cars
A curbside table at the Café Felix in Bellevue Plaza was a great place for a few beers (4 CHF per, but very good) and watching the cars and bikes go by the busy intersection. I couldn’t believe the variety of cars I was seeing! I’m a certified car nut (as well as a bike nut), so it was great to finally see all these cars I’ve only heard of and read about – Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Citroen, Renault, Skoda, etc. The best part, by far, was watching the exotics. Aston Martins, Ferraris, Bentleys, it was like an episode of MTV’s cribs come to life. If I see one Ferrari a year it’s a big deal, so this was quite the treat. There were also scooters by the score, and some interesting bikes. I also got to hear my first “blues and two” in person as an ambulance sped by. It was like living in an episode to Top Gear.
Typical small European city car
Wow, a Ferrari! Little did I know how many I would see later on
Stylin'
Not sure if he takes that palm tree with him everywhere he goes to complete "the look"
Watching the cars and bikes go by
Not your typical US Harley rider
Um, OK....
Back to Altstadt in search of food, we found a nice little Italian place with outside tables (which almost every place has). We wanted to sit outside, so the waiter seated us at a table for four with two other gentleman. This again was something that would almost never happen in the states. I immediately headed for the WC, leaving Jim to ingratiate himself with our tablemates. Not to worry, I came back to find the table in full conversation. Turns out the other guys were from Detroit, and were doing a lot of travelling together. Good conversation, more beers, and my first ever European pizza (margherita) – which sadly was just OK and not spectacular.
More wandering in Altstadt
Now THAT'S a windscreen!
The Givi delivery guy?
Don't mind us, just passing through
Mmm, pizza
Our dinner companions from Detroit
After dinner we wandered into a “Pride Week” fair (not like we weren’t already feeling self-conscious), then got lost walking through bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping area, before eventually finding our way back to the train and the hotel (again, no ticket check).
Whoops, wrong street
Pride week fair
Bahnhofstrasse
Chilling by the river Limmat
Water taxi
No shortage of places to eat in Altstadt
Took us a few minutes to finally look up and see the giant schedule board to find our train back to the hotel
We used the hotel’s internet computer to check the weather for Arabba and Andermatt, and it wasn’t looking any better. We decided we’d stay in Arabba the extra day, and decide whether or not to even go to Andermatt later in the week.
The short nap earlier had worked well to get me through the day, but I was definitely ready to pass out by the time I hit the bed. Tomorrow the adventure begins!