Zurich

I woke up at a normal hour today and felt a bit better, so I repeated yesterday's breakfast but added an extra egg. Afterwards, I sat around feeling kind of bad, then I showered and decided to blow off Geneva and extend my stay in Zurich for two days before I leave for Venice. I needed to take it easy but didn't want to waste a day, so I took a train out to Uetliberg which was west of town about 60km.

Once at Uetliberg, I followed a little bit of the Planet Walk starting at the sun, but I only got as far as the earth since I was on the way up to the Top of Zurich. I walked up the trail and then climbed the lookout tower for a nice view of Zurich and the surrounding area. On the way back down, I started south on a little hike, but I was too worn out from being sick, so I headed back via the S10 train to Zurich Hbf.

On the way back to the hotel, I went over to Jelmoli department store and checked out the below ground food court. Although it looked great with a nice selection of cheese, wine, prepared foods, meat, and fish, I decided to use the day pass I bought for the Uetliberg train to take the #31 bus/tram to Neumarkt. At Kantorei, not far from the Kunsthaus, I had the veggie special--white asparagus with hollandaise and new potatoes. It was pretty good.

A cute little girl was running around the fountain and making funny faces at me. I copied her and made her laugh. Her name is S---. I know because she kept running around the fountain, shaking the umbrella near my table and talking to her parents who sat next to me. It's 6 PM now, and not everything is closed for Easter as I worried it might be.

Zurich

I woke up at 11:30 and thought I'd missed breakfast but didn't. After I ate, I slept and read. Breakfast was pretty nice. I'm getting spoiled in this place. They have a great fruit salad with mango, pineapple, orange, apple, grapefruit, and kiwi. The waitress cooks your egg for you how you like it (boiled, medium). They had good bread too with butter, jam, and cheese. I was still exhausted from the plane and night train, so I slept more and tried to fight off a cold, but it didn't work.

Zurich

From the Zurich main station I walked to a few different hotels before deciding on Hotel Kindli and got it for 165 Swiss francs per night because everything will be closed tomorrow through Sunday for the Easter holiday. Apparently, Easter is big 4-day affair in Switzerland and other parts of Europe. The hotel is right near two of the churches and Lake Zurich, and there's a park with a great view of everything a half block down the road.

After I got settled in, I made a to do list of rest, email, postcards, food, and museums, then went out and found the Sprungli chocolate store and cafe. Across the street, I had to buy fifteen postcards to cover the minimum purchase at a knife store that carried Swiss army knives, refrigerator magnets, and other knicknacks. Afterwards, I walked to Fraumünster and saw the stained glass by Marc Chagall. There is more lovely stained glass by Augusto Giacometti in Grossmünster which I also saw, but I skipped the tower tour. Afterwards, I went to Kunsthaus Zürich and saw Alberto Giacometti sculptures, an excellent Rodin exhibit and the permanent collection which consisted of some modern artists and many Swiss artists. Outside the museum, I also took in the Henry Moore sculpture along with Rodin's Gates of Hell.

Then I went to Restaurant Zeughauskeller and had the Wurst of the Month, the Basserdorfer Landwurst. It came with a kind of zesty potato salad and I ordered a lemony iced tea along with it. I was starving, and it was a great meal. They brought large rolls and good mustard with horseradish in it. After that, I sat in the restaurant and wrote postcards. For dessert, I walked across the street to the Sprungli cafe where they were about to close up for the four day Easter holiday. After one "sorry", the waitress felt bad for me and let me have one grosse tasseshokolade at the bar. I was so excited, I burned my mouth a bit as I started writing a postcard card to S---, without whose recommendation, I might never have gone to Zurich. Afterwards, it was back home to the hotel and a hot shower.

Copenhagen to Zurich

The first thing I noticed was that the Copenhagen airport has an odd-looking unenclosed smoking area. It reminded me of a row of phone booths in the terminal, but instead of talking on phones, the people standing there were smoking. Next, I tried to take the train from Kastrup to the Copenhagen central station, but I went the wrong way and ended up in Malmo. I got that figured out and made it to the Copenhagen Hbf. to catch the train to Hamburg.

The Hamburg train went on to a ferry at one point, and we had about a 45-60 minute ferry ride on the Scandlines ferry to Germany. The wind must have been about 40-50 m.p.h. on deck. I didn't get the name of the boat, but I noticed 1541040 printed on the deck and also saw plenty of 50-person inflatable lifeboats while I walked around the boat. A young man from England or Northern Ireland sitting across from me on the train seemed angry and scowled the whole trip as he read his book. A Danish couple nearby had a cute little boy who was happily playing with his toy cars.

We got to Hamburg exactly on time and had 8 minutes between our 20:16 arrival and the 20:24 departure of the City Night Line from Hamburg to Zurich. I made it to Zurich fine the next morning, but I didn't really sleep on the train.

Seattle to Copenhagen

I took a cab to the airport. The driver was from Addis Ababa. He said he was Christian and that I should watch, listen, take notes, and pay attention when I was in Turkey. I got to Seatac very early and had over two hours before my flight. My backpack exceeded the SAS carry on limit so I checked it and, unfortunately, my earplugs. I also forgot to take my pocket knife off of my keys. Security confiscated my bottle of water and didn't notice the pocket knife. Maybe they were afraid of rust or mildew. The flight was uneventful, with the usual annoyances of a seat back in my face and someone occasionally bumping the back of my seat.