Day 2, 3 & 4 - Where Einstien ate and played

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Switzerland

Safety rules for tourists:

1.  Tourists are targets for pickpockets and scams, and American tourists are especially identified by their white tennis shoes.  It is recommended that you wear another type of shoe when traveling in European countries.

2.  Plan your route and know your plan.  Walk with confidence and direction...don't look lost and confused.

Swiss time peice...just like clock work
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3.  Don't walk alone, and stay on well lit and traveled roads.

4.  Be aware of your surroundings.

Once we arrived in Switzerland, we were told that the city tram 10 would take us to our hotel.  Having been directed to the tram station just outside the train terminal, we located the appropriate platform.  Not long thereafter, we observed tram 10 approaching the adjacent platform.  Confusion.  THAT wasn't the platform identified for tram 10.  Oh, well...no time to think!  We dashed across the street in a weighted scurry with our luggage, and jumped on board before the tram could leave us.  Wiping the sweat from our brow, we settled in and anticipated a short trip to the hotel as our conductor began his announcements.  Whew!  We made it!  Again, the announcement.  Looking around, we we slowly became cognicent of the fact that we were the only two people on the tram, and the conductor at the opposite end of the tram was looking directly at us as he repeated his statement.  It wasn't in English, but we eventually realized he was probably telling us to get off and catch an on-duty tram at the platform identified for tram 10.  (Yes, the platform from whence we came.)  As Christina gathered the smaller bags, Richard manhandled the heavy suitcase off the tram and the doors closed behind him.  How did Richard open the tram doors?  She looked for a button and found none.  She pushed the doors...she pulled...she tried to slide them.  No luck. Stuck and surely looking ridiculous and pathetic, she gained the pity of someone on the street who finally pushed the button on the outside to open the doors.  Back at the platform identified for tram 10, we decided to stay there until the tram came to us, which it did eventually and we were soon at our hotel.

Glass comes out hot...
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Zurich hotels don't have clocks, apparently, and since neither of us had a watch, we had absolutely no idea what time it was.  But, we did know it was time to eat.  The lady at the hotel desk gave us a map and directions to a restaurant in Old Town Zurich which she told us stays open until 3 am.  (Ah, a clue as to what time it was.)  Proceeding out the doors and down the street, we rounded the corner into the poorly lit, back alley way.  For three blocks, we proceed down the vacant stairs of the alley, which eventually spilled out onto a main street.  Now, standing under the spotlight of a street lamp, we consulted our map to get our bearings (which we did at least three or four more times in our quest for food, just in case a local pickpocket missed it the first time).  Never having found the recommended restaurant, we settled for a type of diner that, despite their menu selection, pretty much told us what we were having.  (It was close to closing time, and there were some things they needed to get rid of, you know.)

Christina creates her own glass art work
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It's a good thing we weren't wearing white tennis shoes, or we might have been spotted as tourists.

After what was probably 3-4 hours of sleep, Christina was up at 7am and unable to sleep.  Hungry, of course, she proceeded downstairs for the classic European-style breakfast buffet.  Planning to eat with Richard when he awoke, she only had a very  small breakfast.  The host offered her tea, and she engaged herself in conversation with a lady from Germany.  While talking, and without looking, she opened a packet that looked like it would be sugar and emptied the contents into her teacup.  As the conversation with her new acquaintance came to a close, Christina returned her attention to preparing her morning tea, only to find two small tablets in her cup.  Piecing back together the packet, she studied the picture and the words again, and still concluded that it must be sugar.  Sugar tablets, perhaps?  (Later, she learned it was saccharine.)  A few hours later, she joined Richard at the breakfast buffet, but was not offered another cup of tea.  (Apparently, you are only allowed one breakfast.)

Lucerne
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Christina rarely wears a watch, and since Richard didn't bring his because was in need of repair, we found ourselves in need of a timepiece.  "What better place to get a watch than in Switzerland," exclaimed Richard!  (Hmmm.  Do you think he planned this?)  So, we spent the first part of our day wandering around charming Old Town with it's cobblestone streets and tiny colorfully painted shops, and peered in the windows at a variety of watches.  Most of the shops were closed until "you guess".  (Many didn't have times of operation on the windows like we are used to in the states, but it seems that it's customary to close mid-day for a leisurely lunch.)  Eventually, we stumbled across one shop that was open, and Heir Edward Hans carefully listened to what it was that we wanted.  (We really didn't know, except that we desired a watch that was made in Switzerland.)  He sat us down and brought a tray with a wide selection of watches, but first showed us his own.  As he demonstrated all the bells and whistles, I knew it was over.  SOLD, to the guy with the guy with the "Christina-in-a-candy-shop" look on his face.   So, Richard now has an authentic Swiss watch.

more Lucerne
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What did Christina get?  Well, what else are the Swiss known for?  Chocolate!  Yes, she was just as happy with a selection of Swiss candies.  One delectable treat of Switzerland is the Luxemburgerli.  You can find these little delights in most Swiss pastry shops, and they look like tiny little hamburgers.  The "buns" are a semisoft meringue-type cookie, and the "burger" is a creme filling.  They come in all different flavors, and are not to be missed.  They would make the perfect gift to bring home to family and friends, but, unfortunately, they only last a couple of days.  (This comment is more in reference to their shelf-life than to Christina's weakness for sweets, but both apply.)  Y'all will just have to visit Switzerland and try them for yourselves.  If you don't like them, the trip will certainly not be a waste.  There are many tastey delicacies to choose from, and you are sure to find something you absolutely love.

Swiss Alps 1
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We had been invited to dinner by a friend of Richard's who recently moved to Switzerland, and we agreed to call him in the late afternoon to finalize plans.  Now, in this world of a cell-phones, we have little use for phone booths, and it's been some time since either of us has used one.  The first public phone we stumbled across was in a spacious cylindrically-shaped booth with a smooth-as-butter sliding door which played a soothing musical chime whenever opened or closed.  Perhaps public phones have advanced in technology the world over, but this was a far cry from the familiar klunky 10-cent phone booth we were used to.  Thankfully, phone use and payment instructions were noted in four or five languages.  Hmmm...unfortunately, none of them English (or even Spanish, which we may have been able to figure out).  So, how much?  No clue.  Not to worry, there is a slot for a credit card, and the appropriate amount will be automatically charged to our card.  In goes the card.  Beeping.  Out comes the card.  Dial tone?  No.  In goes the card.  Beeping.  Dial the number anyway.  Nothing.  Out comes the card.  Try again...and again.  Frustration mounts and we exit the booth.  Soothing musical chimes ease the tension.  We decide to buy a throw away phone with prepaid minutes, but the language barrier made it difficult to find exactly what we were looking for.  Back to plan A.  In goes the card and we try the process again.  After multiple attempts, Richard has mastered the skill of international public phone booth use, and we connect with his friend.  After a minute of explaining our difficulties and laughing about our experience, we are disconnected without having finalized our plans.  Hmmm.  In goes the card.  Beeping.  Out comes the card.  No dial tone.  In goes the card.  No dial tone.  Dial anyway.  Beeping.  Out comes the card.  Christina helps.  "Do what you did last time, honey."  Richard confesses.  "I don't know what I did.  I just got lucky."  Finally, he get's lucky again, and before we are disconnected, his friend quickly arranges to call us.  Good plan.

Swiss Alps 2
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In the delightful company of Marcus and his family - Pam (wife), Nicholaus and Julia (chidlren), and Cinnamon (cat) - we had a wonderful dinner, which we learned was typcial European fare of French influence.  On the table was placed a heating element, a basket of boiled potatoes, diced ham, a selection of cheeses, a variety of crudities and several seasonings.  Each person helped themselves, melting their choice of cheese under the heating element, and then pouring it over their potato topped with whichever toppings/seasonings appealed to them. Very fun and quite delicious.  During dinner, we sampled a drink that is available in this area.  I don't remember the name, but is is a type of wine that is stopped at various points before or during the fermentation process, so it maintains alot of the sweetness and sugar of the grapes.   Even Christina thought it was good enough to drink.  (She thinks wine is bitter and is just a good way to ruin grape juice.)  After dinner, we were treated to a delicious Marcus-made cherry pie (or was it cake) for dessert.  This is nothing like the syrupy, gelatinous, red die #7 cherry pie you might be thinking of.  No, no...this is a real treat of a custard-type filling thinly layered on a soft, cake-like crust and topped with finely chopped hazelnuts and red cherries that were so full of sweet flavor it was hard to believe they were frozen.  (They could have passed them off as hand picked from backyard cherry tree.  Marvelous!  A wonderful evening!

Swiss Alps -- 10,000 feet in the air
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Upon the recommendation of Marcus and Pam, we took the opportunity to tour a glass factory in Hergiswil.  This was a surprisingly well-presented and enjoyable self-guided tour for Christina, who has been through glass factory tours before, and even more fascinating for Richard who has never before seen the process of handmade blown glass.  Of course, the day would not be complete without taking the opportunity to blow some glass, so we now have a useless glass ball, personally blown by Christina.  On our way back to Zurich, we stopped in Lucerne and began a walking tour.  We were unable to finish it though, because days of little to no sleep began to catch up to Christina who could barely keep her eyes open during dinner.  In fact, after Richard's typical post-dinner bathroom ritual, he returned to find Christina had put her head down on the table and quite literally fell asleep.  Fortunately, we had been seated in a secluded room upstairs, so there were no other patrons to witness her drooling on the tablecloth.

Lucerne Lion
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Of course, we could not leave Switzerland without seeing the Swiss Alps.  So, on our last day, we left the charming city streets and traveled through the waves of rolling green foothills where the music of grazing cows filled the air (they really do wear cowbells.)   Chalets decorated with painted wood trim and shutters, and finished with blooms of red/pink spilling from the window-boxes, dotted the countryside.  The whole place looks like a postcard.  The Swiss are of agricultural heritage, and they truly love gardening, which is evident just about everywhere you go in Switzerland.  Further up, we entered the densely forested mountains and finally arrived at our aerial transportation point.  For forty minutes, the aerial carried us up through the clouds to the top of the world - or at least the highest point in Central Switzerland - Mt. Titlus.   The views were absolutely spectacular!  While at the top, we walked through a glacier, and had some laughs watching each other sled down the hill.

Back in Rome waiting to get to the ship
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Time to return to Zurich and catch the sleeper train to Italy where we will embark on our cruise.  (Sleeper train - HA!  That's a laugh.  It was presumably "nonstop", but it stopped and started all night long.  Each time it did so, we felt like we were nearly knocked out of bed.)  Next stop:  Rome.