// JSpot //

A proper pint and plate sort of place

Wednesday ended with Nicole departing for the airport and the three of us chilling in the apartment for a while. The weather was getting worse, and only the moderation of the Zürichsee was preventing a total snow storm.

About 21:00, we headed to a proper English pub - Oliver Twist. They had proper pints, proper football, and proper fish & chips. It was almost certainly a local joint, so we felt a bit out of place, but we made out best of fitting in. These folks were here to watch a game and we were clearly in their way. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves.

The city is awfully photogenic at night in the rain

After food and drink, we took our leave, and so did Ted. Brian and I continued hunting for a “happening scene”, but we quickly realized that it would not be found in Zurich on a snowy Wednesday night, and this was not a haven for two guys to get lucky.

We pit stopped at a few bars along the way, looking for action, but found nothing, so eventually, we just turned in for the evening. After sleeping two nights on the hardwood floor, I booted Brian and Ted to the futon and took the double bed to myself. It was a very welcome change of accommodations for all of us, and as a result, I slept the best night of the whole trip right then and there.

We went out last night, and we went all out. We started the evening with a few drinks in the apartment, but as Ted learned, it’s okay to bring your pre-game with you (pay attention to what’s going on in the background):

So we did. But before we went, Brian explains a little bit about the local beverage selection:

Later, we left Big Ben’s and strolled down the street, looking for another place to continue our evening. We stumbled into a place called Forecast Bar. The bartenders here were a bit different. Not that we didn’t have a good experience, but it was expensive. The barman refused to serve Ted almost immediately, saying he was too completely hammered to handle anymore. Of course, that might have been true.

Eventually, we decided it was time to end the evening and stumble home. Brian and Nicole split without hesitation, and Ted and I, staggeringly intoxicated, raced to keep up. “Warten Sie auf!” we shouted. But Brian’s navigational intuitions could not be slowed.

We got to the hotel, and it was only minutes before everyone was collapsed in a bed. Except me. Where was my camera? What had I done with my new camera? I had been so careful to keep it tucked in my pocket all night - it had to be in the apartment! I reasoned that I had perhaps left it at the last bar, so I reluctantly donned my coat and headed back out for a search and rescue. Interestingly, the entire time I was gone, I spoke only German. I walked back into the bar, right up to some people, and asked them if they had seen a camera. No, they hadn’t. Or maybe I was drunk and they thought I was crazy. Either way, I went home, depressed. And then I realized that I did in fact have my camera. I don’t know where I came up with it, but I did. So that’s good.

I returned to the apartment to climb in bed and discovered Ted had completely covered the futon, sprawled out and conked out. I decided not to bother him and spread my hostel bag - for which I am infinitely grateful I brought - on the floor and passed out.

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Hey that’s me in Zurich! Right there on the river!

Right now as I’m writing this, it’s about 21:15 +0100 GMT. (Zurich is six hours ahead of Atlanta, if you don’t like math, so it’s 3:15 PM EDT).

We spent day one - which has been incredibly long thus far - walking around the town to see. Let me reiterate how long the day is: rise and shine, 8am to meet Bess and Moe for breakfast. Depart six and a half hours later. Sleep a total of nil hours on the plane, arrive Zurich 07:45 local time, goof about all day. Total time awake: 31 hours. And we’re about to go out for the evening.

Okay, that’s a lie - I did get a short power nap when we reached the apartment we’re staying at. But it was short! Our friend Nicole arrived from Köln, and we headed out on the town for dinner and tour. Once again, I got nerdy and brought along my little GPS friend - but that’s cool, because you can see where we went.

More pictures and maps after the break!

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Today is the day. Our adventure starts now! I spent most of the day Saturday getting things laid out and packed. And this morning I met Bess and Moe for breakfast before departing.

I couldn’t help but feel like, when we left, that I’d forgotten something. My bags weighed in at just 33 pounds total - far less than Brian’s 51 lbs.! I guess this round, I get to harass him about luggage.

The three of us, Ted, Brian and I, made our way to the airport at about 2:00 PM EDT. We would have left sooner, and probably should have, but no less, we made it in time.

Brian insisted on getting his boots polished once we reached the airport. Whatever.

After going through security and such, we headed for the duty free shops, where I picked up a bottle of The Glenlivet. I figured that would be a fine thing to share on a cold night in Zurich!

And then, at pecisely 4:45, as scheduled, we took off. I had hoped to get a good sunset view, but I was surprised how quickly the sun vanished after take off! By the time we reached 10,000 ft. there was almost nothing to look at, and the haze was rather thick, which is unusual for a cold day like today.

I brought along a little gadget of mine - a GPS receiver for my BlackBerry. I set it at take off to track our flight, but unfortunately, it lost sync with the satellites shortly after lift-off. So I missed the first 20 minutes or so of our flight, but it has resumed operation now, and we’re cruising at 32,780 ft. Since I’m logging this on my phone, I should have a KML file to plot in Google Earth, which will be neat.

With the sun completely gone now, and the landscape dark, the cities we’re flying over are beginning to light up, and from here, it’s easy to see two or three towns at a time! Sadly, my window isn’t very clear, so no pictures.

Also, if you’re wondering, I ate all of the peanuts at once. It was a big bag.

NOTE: I wrote this entry in my notebook, and uploaded it later, once we reached Switzerland.

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