And I’m back….
So the hubby and I went to Zurich Switzerland this weekend… took a day to fly out there, stayed for 2 days and flew back. The flight there wasn’t so bad - 3.5 hrs to atlanta, 8 hrs to zurich..but the flight back is always hellacious because of the headwinds…10 hrs to atlanta, 4 hrs to phx.. ARGH! 14 hrs sitting in a plane plus 2 hrs of layover and having to go through our lovely TSA security/customs check is enough to make anyone ralph!
Getting into Zurich, they didn’t even stamp our passport - just looked at them, asked why we were there and we moved on. No having to go through security clearances, taking our shoes off or anything like we have to do at home!
We have a friend who lives in Zurich now, so we met up with him after we’d checked into our hotel (Swissotel). We’ve stayed at the Swissotel before and we’re again pleasantly surprised with how the room was laid out.. the tub/shower was a little narrow (maybe a foot across at the bottom) but the temperature and the pressure were just great! that’s what really makes the trip for me.. If i can check in early and take a shower, then the hotel has an A+ from me!
The hotel had a Lavazza espresso maker - our favorite since using it while on our last germany trip. so the room was pure heaven in my eyes!!
our first stop was meeting up with Christian and getting a bite to eat…we were late, so we grabbed a bretzeln at the main HBF (hauptbahnhof) - train station - and walked over to Christian’s place. Then we went and walked around town, stopping here and there to watch the swans in the lakes, take in the historical sites…by about 3pm, i was dog tired and had to go take a mini nap… so we napped till bout 5 and then walked back to Christians as he offered to make us a fondue dinner… can you imagine having fondue with a swiss guy who doesn’t even like cheese?? yup…we sure did! then he brought out his homemade apple schnapps and the party was off! …we headed for the Expovina, which was the major wine festival in town…The expovina is an international wine festival that takes place on 12 different boats (all next to eachother). wines from all over the world can be tasted for 15CF (swiss francs)..like $12/person…talk about heaven! each booth had at least 10 different wines, 5 reds, 5 whites or more… each vendor would give you a full 1/4 glass and you could stay there till at least 11pm…
so anyways, we finally left the expovina around closing time and we really hadn’t drank muchl, so here i am, walking down the street.. my foot catches on a cobblestone and poof - down i went! hard too…bruised up my right side a bit to where i though for sure i had broken my boob (no, i don’t have implants)…but i scraped up my left hand some, bruised my left shoulder/arm and my right knee - could i do anymore damage? sheesh….so here i was walking around in pain, no aspirins or anything with me talking about how my boobs broken! hahahaha
so, we went into this bar (a gay bar since our friend is gay) called Cranberries and it was WAY cool….i had something to drink to numb my body a bit and from there on, it was just nothing but good conversation, meeting new people and trying actual swiss/german jager shots (again, to numb the pain as much as i could). we ended up going from Cranberries to another tiny(!) gay bar, where we closed the night…
Woke up the next morning around noon (yup, time difference can be difficult if your not well rested!), i was hurting pretty bad and so that slowed me down a lot more than i thought…not so much that i was hungover cuz i wasn’t, just cuz my body felt like it’d be hit by a truck! so, we met up with christian again, walked around town some more and over to the oktoberfest that was going on - listened to the oompah band, had some beers and met up with a guy that is American, living in Zurich - soon to move on to Kuwait City for work.. apparently, he’s a travel journalist for the japanese newspaper, selling advertising and writting articles. so, we hung out with him and he decided to come with us to the expovina after oktoberfest closed down…ended up staying out till late in the evening again only to get up at 5am to head for the airport…
so, that was pretty much it - the trip in a 2 day splatter filled with good times, bad times and a few really good learning experiences!! until tomorrow….
