I’ve only one day to get my trip posted up on here, and
there are Tons of photos, so I’m just going to dive in. First will be a little bit of detail for your
reading enjoyment, then I’ll just start hammering away with the pics and adding
little blurbs to them as I go
Vacation Time!! I’d
left my Jeep at work, gotten a ride to the airport shuttle from Lori, and had made
it to Logan with plenty of time to spare.
The folks at the American Express currency exchange booth were kind
enough to give me a full colonoscopy when I exchanged my USD for the currencies
I’d be needing overseas - man, the US Dollar is getting hammered!!
(And speaking of foreign currencies – why do other countries
have a different sized bill for each of the different denominations? I was told it’s to quickly tell them
apart. I could be mistaken, but isn’t
that what the big numbers in the corners are for?)
Still having some time to kill, I opted to find a quiet seat
and do some reading. I’d been smart and
had bought a paperback book beforehand, figuring it’d be much cheaper to buy it
at Target than at the airport. So, imagine
my joy when I’d spotted the same book at an airport kiosk for $6 dollars
cheaper than I’d paid earlier that day…
But enough about that – I was on vacation! And I wasn’t going to let a mere $6 dollar
loss on a paperback, or a staggering 35% loss on my currency exchange dampen my
spirits! Time to board? Let’s get this thing rolling!
I was off! And too
tired to sleep, despite the late hour in the day. Oooh, each seat has it’s own viewing screen –
free movies? Nice! I chose Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Meh, it was pretty decent. Decent enough for me, anyway. Ok, I’d better get some sleep – I keep
hearing about this thing called jet lag.
(shrug) Not really sure how it’ll
affect me, but whatever. So with eyes
closed and my seat fully reclined a full 10 degrees (I shoulda upgraded my
seat!!), I headed off to slumberland…
…and was repeatedly awakened by the gentleman a few rows up
who kept retrieving things from his overhead compartment and then slamming the
door shut. Why do you need to slam the door,
sir? The stewardesses closed many, many of
those overhead bins during the boarding process – a process which you were
witness to, and not one door was slammed.
Yet you feel the need to open and slam the door many times. Why, sir?
Why? (Idiot!!)
Touching down in Reykjavik, I’m sure I looked a bit out of
place. Ya see, when I travel (car or
plane), I like to wear light clothing.
So there I was; walking off a plane into 46 degrees and a decent wind…in
a t-shirt, shorts and mandals. Good
plan!
I figured I should snap some pics of Iceland while I was
there, right? But from the airport, of
course, since the layover was only a little over an hour and I wasn’t about to take
a chance on getting lost, or denied re-entry to the airport. So how did Iceland look? Well, from the airport at least, it looked…barren. Barren, as far as I could see.
A quick bathroom break and then I’ll be…whoa, this bathroom
stinks. It smells like…what the…is that
shit on the floor? Yep; shit. And guess who stepped in it? Moi! Who
the hell shits on the floor in a bathroom?
You’re in the bathroom already!!
Ugh. Welcome to Iceland.
After giving my mandal a thorough washing, I was back out
and kicking back in the lounge area. And
by the lounge area, I mean the corridor.
With seats long the sides. Ok, I’ll
just sit here and do some reading. Hey
now, check out that stewardess. She’s
hot! And that one is, too! And that one…and that one…and…holy crap, they’re
all gorgeous! Tall and blonde –
everywhere! Hey ladies, any interest in
a middle-aged, slightly overweight, balding short guy from Boston? Hello?
Bueller? No? Ok, I’ll just sit here and read my book then….
Oh yeah – I got my first passport stamp! The lady at the customs booth was all kinds
of friendly. She reminded me of Large
Marge from that Pee Wee Herman movie, but with less personality. I’m guessing she’s never been a stewardess.
On to the next leg!
Zurich, here I come! That flight
was uneventful so I was able to grab about an hour of sleep. Deplaning and doing my best to follow the
signs (how come folks don’t speak English around here?), I was finally able to
locate the baggage section. I had to
keep an eye on the time, because I still needed to find a train to take me to
downtown Zurich, where Erin was going to meet me. I had an hour and a half – certainly enough
time to find one little train, for one little short hop, right?
The luggage started flowing out almost right away – Mint! Uhhh…but where is mine? Hello, anyone seen a black, non-descript
piece of common, everyday luggage around here?
Thankfully, I recognized some of the other folks who were
standing around with me, as having been on the same flight, so I just waited it
out. Finally, after almost 45 minutes,
there was mine. I think it literally was
the last piece out, but no time to dwell on that, gotta get moving!
Let’s see, let’s see…if I were a train, where
would I hide? Uhm…let’s follow that sign
that says Tram. Ok, tram it is…just
gotta go down these stairs….along this corridor…up these stairs….take a right….down
some stairs…up these stairs….whoops, not up these stairs….ok, back down….another
corridor…cool! A bunch of track
entrances! Uh-oh, I hafta buy a ticket…from a kiosk….in a
different language. Wait! There’s an English option! Sweet!
Ok, click this button, select “1”…uhm…I don’t know what it’s asking me
now…I thought this was supposed to be in English? Ok…this looks like the button I want…press it…put
in some funny sized (but colorful) foreign currency…and voila! A ticket!
And another piece of paper…(shrug) must be a receipt. (Erin later informed me that I'd bought 1 adult ticket and 1 child ticket. D'oh.)
Ok, let’s find the right track…this one says Zurich HB, that’s
what I want, so off I go. Down the stairs,
and…uh-oh…two sets of tracks, each have a bunch of destinations listed on them.
Uhm, pardon me, do you speak English? No?
Ok, thanks.
Hmmm…let’s try this person…
Excuse me, do you speak English?
No? Ok, thank you…er…Merci’..uh…Danke...(ugh). (I’m beginning to have a different perspective on the whole “Learn
The Language” thing…)
I finally found someone who spoke my language and she
directed me to the correct track. I was
able to navigate the tram map well enough (staring at the T maps in downtown
Boston finally paid off!) and found the correct stop. Yay!
Now I just need to find the big blue woman, suspended from the
ceiling. That’s the landmark that Erin
said to meet at. Ok; time
check. 2:15, I gotta get moving!
Let’s see…let’s see…nope, no ceiling hanging
woman around here. Let’s wander around
some more. Man, this place is huge! But no hanging blue ceiling woman! Wait, there are some stairs…nope, these bring
me out to the street. Ok, back down I go…more wandering…more stairs…nope, another
street. Aargh! Time is running out! Wait, another set of stairs…these bring me up
to street level, but I’m inside an Enormous train station! Huh…and look; a giant blue woman hanging from
the ceiling! I made it, and it’s 2:30!! And
here comes Erin! Ta-Daaaaa!! Whew!!
Ok, first things first; let’s get a beer! Wait – Erin, being the voice of reason suggested we go find the Harley place and
make sure that I’ve got a bike lined up.
Ok, we found it (pretty cool little place), they don’t speak much
English, so thank goodness Erin was there to talk to them. Yes, they have the Road King reserved for me,
and yes, they will see me next Tuesday (pun intended for those in the know).
Ok, off to get a beer and a bite! Oddly enough, Irish pubs are the only pubs
open this early, so off I go to an Irish joint, in downtown Zurich, for my
first out-of-country beer. Mmmm, tastes
just like back home!
After that, it was
off to the local grocery store for supplies, then back to Erin and Jack's place for dinner (home
made pizza with fresh grown herbs – mmm!) and more beer. Jack arrived home from an after-work event he’d
attended, and we all caught up. It was
kinda late now (approaching midnight, their time), and Erin commented on how
well I was doing, considering the jet lag.
There’s that phrase again; jet
lag. What’s the big deal about jet
lag? I feel fine! (But maybe I should do some math in my
head) Let’s see…I’d been up since 5am Tuesday morning, my time…that meant…holy
crap…I’d been up for almost 37 hours!
Well, I did get the ~4 hours of sleep on the plane rides, but still…I felt great! I don’t even feel
tired! I don’t…wait, why am I hearing Jack’s
voice in my head, counting down from number 10?
And with that, I woke up.
Seems I’d dozed off immediately after saying that I didn’t feel
tired. Ok, time for some bed! Erin said she’d knock on my door @ 9:30 the
next morning. 9:30? But that’s over 9 hours of sleep! There’s no way I’ll sleep that long in one
stretch!
So the next morning when I opened my eyes and looked at the
clock, only to see that it was 9:30…
Huh. This jet lag shit can be a
bitch! But no matter; it’s time to get
the real vaca going – today; off to Gruyeres and the HR Giger Museum!
And there you have it; the beginning of the European vaca. Now to speed things up with pics...
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