Zic Zac and Zürich!

I'm currently sitting at my computer, waiting for my album to load onto Snapfish.com so that I can order prints of pictures. Then with that done, I can begin my next adventure which is perhaps almost as expensive as traveling abroad, but perhaps a tad more time intensive...scrapbooking. My grandparents and parents bought me a scrapbook and the materials I need so that I can have a hard copy of my memories.  It will be a wonderful thing when it's done I'm sure (I hope).  Also, this waiting allows me the perfect opportunity to write the next section in my adventure towards home.  I had left Venice and was now on my way to Zürich, Switzerland.  This was on June 19th.

We arrived in Zürich around 5 p.m. and the first thing that instantly secured my heart to Switzerland, was the fact that I was back in a German speaking country (that and it has amazing chocolate...).  I had missed German so much while in Venice (even though it was only one day) and going back to a German speaking country felt like going home in a way.  Then add a beautiful lake view, fresh air, friendly people, gorgeous mountains in the distance, and free ketchup, and I'm sold.    Zürich really took my breath away (well, I mean, by this point I was still feeling ill and breathing was a little difficult through a stuffed up nose anyway).  The first order of business was to find our hotel room.  See, usually when traveling through countries in Europe, a person stays at what is called a Hostel. It is like a hotel (just take away an "s"), but much cheaper and not quite so luxurious (depending on where you go).  Rooms are set up so you can share a room with three other people, or 7 other people, or even 15 other people.  That's how it stays so affordable for travelers (who, let's face it, have no money usually).  Unfortunately for us, all the hostels were booked for that night, so I booked a room in a cheap hotel for the night using the internet on my phone.  We eventually find our way to the hotel, Zic Zac Rock Hotel.  Oh my.  Each room, is themed, with a famous person.  For example, there is the Prince room, or the Bon Jovi room, and then of course there was our room....the Bob Marley room.  Apparently, in my hastiness, I had requested a smoking room...apparently in my hastiness I had also booked the room for the 24th of June....which was 5 days later...The two gentlemen at the desk were nice enough to allow me to switch the room reservation to the current day, but did not do so without laughing at me a little first.  

We explored the hotel a little, and then I opted to shower and sleep since I was not feeling well.  We called it a night and prepared to explore Zürich the next day.  I woke up feeling quite a bit worse, probably because I was in a Bob Marley themed room...and the air was not the freshest...but none the less, we ventured out and found that God had blessed us with a beautifully gorgeous day.  The air outside thankfully, was crisp and fresh and clean, and the city, amazing.  We walked around all day, going into shops, buying souvenirs, sitting near the lake and lunching in a grand park.  We visited a few churches and did a few touristy things, but not much otherwise...I was content to simply be in Zürich and enjoy the general beauty.  Honestly, out of all the places I went to in Europe, Zürich is my second favorite city (after Salzburg naturally), and I would love to go back.  The people are nice and very helpful, and the city is industrialized, but not in a dirty, smoggy sort of way.  It was a very pleasant city with old buildings mixed in with new buildings and shopping streets with all varieties of stores and people.  I wish I had more to tell you, but with me being sick and us only having a day, all we really did was walk around.  Our train was leaving at 6 something in the evening to take us back to Salzburg so we headed to the train station.

We sat for a while and a train pulled into our gate about 40 minutes before ours was supposed to leave, and it didn't have Salzburg as its destination, so we sat some more til that one would leave and ours would come.  Well then it got to be about our departure time and the train was still there, in our gate.  Quite confusing.  I then heard over the intercom that it was the last call for the train to board and we looked at each other, then looked at the train, jumped up, grabbed our things, and flew to the nearest door of what we now understood to be our train.  What I didn't fully realize at the time is that not all trains list every single stop...and some minor stops are left off and it is to be understood by the supposed all-knowing traveler, where his or her stop is.  Thankfully, I asked someone on the train and he alleviated my fears by saying that yes, the train did in fact go to Salzburg.  Happy day.

Sure enough, we pulled into Salzburg around 10:00 p.m., we grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald's, then I caught the very last bus going to my house that night.  It felt like going home.  It was going home.  And next time, I'll write about my second homecoming...Back to the US I go (but not without trouble of course)!!

Victoria