Switzerland: Welcome to the Good Life

Just one day in Switzerland with only Mom, before Dad arrived on Wednesday. Tuesday was spent going for a nice bike ride, then enjoying my grocery store curcuit (we went to 4 that day), doing laundry, etc. More of a 'get shit done' sort of day, but we topped it off well with some shrimp veggie pesto pasta & a bit of wine. On Wednesday, before picking up Nick from the airport, we went up the Uetliberg, walked around a bit & enjoyed the views of Zurich. It was a bit hazy, but enjoyable none the less. Dad was doing just okay after his flight, so we enticed him to stay awake by imbibing in a few beers at the outdoor 'Octoberfest place.' It does have a real name, but of course, we neglect to ever entertain it. It was a beautiful afternoon, topped off perfectly at Eisenhof (steak on a stone, another favorite place to take guests). Thursday, Mags & I accompained Nick to Olten where he was meeting with some distributor. Not too much to do in Olten, but we walked around the town, stocked up on some Jack Wolfskin gear & enjoyed another beautiful day. Mom & Dad headed to Luzern & Mt. Pilatus by themselves that afternoon & I headed home to prepare for our little party we were hosting the following night.

Friday we went down to Neuchatel while Joe again slaved away to fund all this fun. Mom & I spent the entire time on the Areuse Gorge hike (which was much more intense than I recall from last fall, but still absolutely beautiful) while Nick spent his afternoon at an outdoor cafe along the lake drinking a few beers. I am not sure which party got the better end of the deal, but we were all content & comfortable enough to doze on the train (something I am always comfortable enough to do). Friday night, a few of our friends came over for an apero, so we threw together a few appetizers, Joe prepared a few margaritas & we enjoyed a great, if not crowded, evening in the living room. Saturday's events deserve a blog post all of there own, which will follow later once I gather some incriminating videos & photos. Sunday we left early for Bruges, Amsterdam & Brussels, all of which I will include in their own post as well.

However, as you can see at the end of the Switzerland photos, we topped off Mom & Dad's time here this past Saturday (15.08) with a trip to the Berner Oberland for some time in the mountains. We hiked the same path that we did with Ron & Mary in June. It was so impeccably beautiful, we could not help but feel guilty. Here we were, enjoying yet another cloudless day in Switzerland, compared to their soggy, rain & fog filled Swiss adventure. The cows were all out to pasture (their stench filling the air), and there were a heck of a lot more people (we had to stand for a good part of the train ride with all the crazies & their bikes), but it was worth the 3+ hour commute each way. We basically did the walk, then came back down & met Nick in Interlaken. We boarded the DB (Deutschbahn) for the first leg of our journey home. Nick had scored us a compartment unit (whose heating/cooling system was working perfectly) and we all relaxed into our journey home. After the first stop, our train came to a sudden halt in the middle of the tracks. They began making some announcements in German, French & finally English (if you can call the jibberjabber that the person spewed English). Turns out there had been an "accident," code in Switzerland for suicide, we later learned. We were told to remain calm & stay in our seats, which we did without question for the first hour. Boredom & hunger began to set in, so Dad went in search of the restaurant car. We decided on a few hot items & just as the first one came out, another announcement came on, stating we were being evacuated & had to all walk to car nine to walk onto another train. Almost 2 hours later, after having scarfed a few sausages & a crummy mini pizza, we were on another train that was hot as hell, heading for the next town, just to dump us all off there & have us connect to yet another hot train that would finally take us to Bern. Everyone was aggitated, hot & hungry. So, I stood up & opened the window right above our seats. A huge no-no in the Swiss world. They hate the breeze & they really hate the noise. An elderly woman in the adjacent four-seater, gave me death stares while making endless comments to her husband in German. She even went so far as to cover her ear with her jacket (as if it's hideous, flimsy red material would be capable of blocking out some of the noise). The Asian tourists in the seats behind me were struggling to open their window as well, and finally asked me to assist them. Unfortunately, it was stuck, as I was really in the mood for ticking the old lady off even more by opening additional windows.

A total of 6 hours post-departure, we arrived in Zurich, sweaty, cranky & hungry. We all showered in record time & ate dinner (for the first time) in the restaurant (Cafe Pergola) across the street. Nick could not live with the fact that we hadn't eaten there yet, so we all complied. The menu was in Italian, convenient, right? So Joe & I both ended up ordering some dishes that basically burned our tongues off, whilst simultaneously tasting good. Nick's cordon blue was by far the best one I have ever encountered, but there is just something about simply walking across the street for dinner that doesn't sit well with me. We felt like tools just getting up, and walking over, then being capable of spying on our fellow diners from the apartment window. So, although the food was good, I just don't think we'll be rushing back across the street anytime soon.

Way to co-operate this time Switzerland!