From London to Zurich

 

Wednesday Melody and I got to meet up with my other friend Rob, who had also come with us from the USA.  The three of us continued to roam around London and didn’t do much besides hang out with my friend James at his work called The Cock’s Tavern.  We also tried to go into a pub for lunch but weren’t allowed in because a giant football (soccer) game was happening and they said “Chelsea fans only!”  So whatever, if they didn’t want our money then I didn’t want to go there.  I also got to sit in the original dangling plastic sphere shaped chair from the movie “Austin Powers” which I found to be pretty entertaining.  On our way back to the hostel we decided to check out a store called Primark, which was to be a giant and cheap clothing and accessory store.  Well, giant and cheap it definitely was.  It was horribly disgusting though in the sense that it defined everything that is wrong with consumerism.  Customers rushed through the crowded racks of clothes, grabbing and shoving at everything.  I gave up on the store when I saw a woman with her arms of full of clothes just throw everything down on  the floor in abandonment.  I did end up buying some underwear with the British flag on it and some neon orange fake hair to clip into my hair for when the next San Jose Sharks hockey season would begin back in the states. Ha!

Upon returning to our hostel, we were convinced by Alex the Canadian and Mark the Scotsman to go wander the streets and get a beer.  We ended up at a cool place the Notting Hill Arts Club, a underground bar/club with a nice display of artistic drawings of meat on  the walls.  A live band was playing and it made for a cool dose of British nightlife without being too annoying.

The next morning we left our crowded hostel for Zurich, Switzerland where we were excited to have our own guest room waiting for us.  I had made arrangements before the trip through a wonderful website called Couchsurfing that connects travelers with locals so you could hang out with them or even be lucky enough to stay at their house for free!  I connected with a man named Johnny who loved America, country music, and our spacious houses and he had invited us to stay with him.  I felt safe because the website shows you reviews of all the people who he had met before and had stayed with him.  He had over 20 people so I figured he would be safe.  Johnny ended up being the most generous and kind man I think I have ever met!
Melody and I landed in the Zurich airport and were immediately impressed by how clean the airport was. The train in between terminals even had soft nature music and an occasional cow moo!  It was so FUNNY!  Johnny picked us up from the airport which was great to not have to deal with the public transportation again after four days of the stinky London underground “tube”.  On the way home he asked us if we celebrated Easter and I joked about how I was worried that the Easter bunny wouldn’t be able to find us… Well apparently the Easter bunny had come early because we walked into our GIANT bedroom to find he had decorated the bed with chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, and a GIANT bunny as well.   He even had Swiss tourist info on the desk for us.  Melody and I knew right away that Johnny was our angel on this trip and immediately felt so comfortable and appreciative for him.  He made us a great first Swiss meal of eggs, potatoes, and pickled purple cabbage.. not something I would normally like but Johnny made the cabbage great! The rest of night was spent drinking the best wine I have ever had,  a 2005 red wine that was in a golden wrapper from Italy, and watching a creepy yet intriguing movie called Perfume.

Since it was Easter weekend, everything was closed.  We spent our next day, which was Good Friday, walking around downtown Zurich and appreciating the empty streets since we didn’t have to deal with the rush like there was in London.  I got to have the BEST SAUSAGE OF MY LIFE along Lake Zurich and also got a taste of Melody’s AMAZING chocolate ice cream.  Switzerland was quickly becoming my favorite country yet!

On Saturday we went to a small town called Chur, about an hour and a half away from Zurich.  We wanted to visit a place called the Giger Bar, a uniquely designed bar by Swiss artist H.R. Giger.  The bar was probably the coolest I had ever been to and we all got a kick out of sitting in the bone like chairs and admiring the art surrounding us. The drive to Chur was gorgeous and while it was quite cloudy, I still could see some of the mountains… they probably were not nearly as big as they would’ve been without all the clouds on top.  That night we went out to dinner with another friend I had made on the internet beforehand, a Swedish guy named Emil.  Emil is a tall blonde, blue eyed, nice and muscular man who is from Stockholm but had lived in San Francisco and was now living in Zurich.  The two men treated us out to a vegetarian buffet (because Emil and Melody are vegetarians) that ended up costing about $30 a plate… they measured the food by the ounce!  Could you imagine what that would be like in America at Hometown Buffet?  The food was great but still, so expensive!  Emil and Johnny both said that we should not worry about them paying for us because “if visitors have to pay for their things in Switzerland then they will never want to come back because of how expensive it is!”  They were right… I was very happy not to have to pay for that dinner!  Switzerland ended up being my least expensive country too because of everything being closed and Johnny’s generosity with us staying with him.   It was an amazingly beautiful country to visit and I am eager for my chance to spend more time exploring there.