Trav's Travels: Yodelayheehoo...Switzerland

11/2

I arrived into Switzerland bright and early on Sunday. I took the trains out to Gaby’s flat where she picked me up at the train station. Gaby is a swiss gal that I had met while island hopping through southern Indonesia from Lombok to Flores. We had hit it off while traveling and had always said I was welcome to come visit her in Switzerland. Initially when my plan had been to come through Switzerland in the summer, she was going to arrange a hut to hut trek, but in the winter it’s not as possible without better gear.

She showed me her flat and cooked me some breakfast and then we met up with her friends Suzy (from Germany) and Krista. We went for a long hike along the foothills just outside of Zurich. The hike was nice (you just can’t hike in Kenya b/c of the wild animals!) and it afforded great views of Zurich, Zurich lake, and the glaciated peaks in the distance. We had lunch at a little hut up on top of one of the ridges with nice views. It was also nice to hike along the river and through the forests, which were turning red with fall colors.

In the evening Gaby made a nice traditional Swiss cheesey pasta bake and I got to meet her flat mate, also Gaby

11/3

In the morning I explored and walked around Zurich center, old town, and the lake with my friend Erik. Erik is actually Swedish but he lives in Zurich now for school. I met him while traveling through Tibet to the Chinese Everest base camp.

In the afternoon Suzy randomly contacted me. She knew someone who was going to be taking a 4 seater plane on a little sightseeing trip over the mountains and there was 1 seat left if I wanted to go. With my love for mountains, of course I said yes! After lunch Suzy picked me up in her fancy BMW convertible and we drove to the small airport which was near Zug. We went over a little pass and had fun crusing and winding through the little hills and villages.

The plane was a tiny 4-seater Cessna. The pilot took us over Lucerne and past and through several mountains. It’s always crazy to me how in Switzerland they build buildings and huts right up to the very peak of the mountain. Pretty impressive. But what is more impressive is the beauty of Switzerland, especially from the air. It’s so incredibly green with so many sparkling blue lakes. Then of course there are the glaciated peaks. I can’t wait to come back to Switzerland for an extended period of time at some point to do some major trekking. This was my 4^th time to Switzerland, but they have always been pretty quick trips. I spent a week once with my swiss college buddy David and roommate Dianna in St. Gallen and the Apenzell where we did some nice hikes. Then I did a week train tour with small hikes (in gimmelwald, grindelwald, and Zermatt) on one of my business trips to Europe. And the Jovial Bison and I drove through on my business trip from Germany to Belgium. We did a cool overnight trek to a hut by a glacier, which was really awesome. But anyways, flying was a really awesome way to see a lot of Switzerland fairly quickly and of course it was a really awesome experience to be cruising low right by mountains in a tiny plane.

For sunset, Gaby, Suzy, and I went and had happy hour along the Zurich lake. In the evening, Gaby and I went to Krista’s house were she made us a traditional swiss meal called Raclette. It’s where you melt slices of cheese on this special little grill thing and also grill mushrooms and tomatoes and then pour the cheese over the vegetables and boiled potatoes. Super tasty with such amazing cheeses!

11/4

I did some more exploring of Zurich city by myself and had a brat along the lake in the afternoon. Gaby took me out to a cool artsy and young type restaurant along the lake. Then we met up with Suzy and another German friend, Stefan, in an interesting, cheaper part of Zurich to hit some bars. We ended the night going to a bar with a concert for a dutch/finnish band. I think they were called Town of Saints, and they were very good

11/5

Got up super early and caught the train to Zurich airport. Then had my flight to Newark. My insect importation inspection with USFWS went well, but I still missed my flight due to Newark being a mess. But luckily there was a later flight to Denver.

It’s quite the interesting culture shock going from Kenya to Switzerland. Kenya of course runs on Africa time. If they say you’ll leave at 10, you probably leave around 1:30. In Switzerland, if they say they will leave at 10, the doors to the train might actually close 30 seconds before 10 so the train is moving by 10. Also, Kenya of course has trash and filth all over, especially in the cities whereas Switzerland is spick and span. Zurich is of course uber wealthy. Everything is so modern and everyone drives brand new fancy sports cars. Quite the difference from Kenya where every vehicle is on it’s last legs and falling apart. Then you have the dryness of Kenya to the green of Switzerland. And if was certainly nice to feel some brisk and cool air! It’s probably a bigger culture shock going from Kenya to Switzerland than from Kenya to the USA