Zurich for a Weekend

Thursday

I woke up around 6 am and caught a 7 am bus to the train station, I then boarded a train to Kassel-Wilhelmschoehe where I had to change to a different train and go to Bassel (a city on he boarder between Switzerland and Germany, I changed trains here and was on my way to Zurich where in met Sascha at the train station.

He took me with him to his work (yup, he works at a Swiss bank) and I got to meet some of his collages and he even showed me inside the vault there where I could see and hold more than 60,000 dollars in gold in one hand!

He finished working around 5 or 6 PM and we left and went to his favorite coffee house / bar where we had about 5 beers each and then went to buy takeout Asian food and went home where I got to meet Maite and Alex his wife and son.

We had our dinner and more beers, of course, this happens every time I visit the Kolb family! Then more beers and more yet and finally I went to bed around 1 AM or so.

Friday

Alex and I shared a room and when he popped up from his crib at 8 AM or so he yelled "good morning" and I was up and moving. After a long night of drinking, I was moving a bit slow but I showered and Maite and I had coffee. Alex and I even had pancakes for breakfast!

After we got Alex dressed and ready for the day we went into the city by tram and walked around the old city. I never have a plan when I visit a city as you all know by now so it was just good to hang with my family, even if I haven't seen my cousin since I was four and I had never met his wife or four year old child. It was nice to just relax and not have to hurry around everywhere like I usually do when I visit a city and have to see it all in one day. 

We did some shopping and I bought my souvenirs and we had lunch, salad from a salad bar in q canteen inside a shopping mall, very European. Alex, of course, is infatuated with Thomas the train engine and wanted to go to all the toy stores but that's OK, I'm still a kid at heart and had fun playing too. And again, more walking in the city lead us to a few churches.

Finally we made our way back to the house and I nearly collapsed on the couch from drinking so much the night before then all the walking in the city.

Alex, Maite, and I just sat together to watch TV for a bit while we waited for Sascha to come home from work. Maite decided to make pasta bake for dinner so when Sascha arrive home we ate together near the TV

We watched some shows / movies and I had a drink or two then we all went to bed.

Saturday

The day began with beer for breakfast with Sascha's 80+ year old friend and Alex back at the coffee shop from Thursday night. Maite met with us later and took Alex home and we then went to the Zurich Oktoberfest and I had one and a half mass' and a hexeln (pork knuckle.)After our drinking was done, we came home for a bit to sit and watch TV. 

I went with Maite to her friends' birthday party in a small town outside Zurich and we talked and had drinks there. It was a bit cliquey though and it made me uncomfortable because I didn't know anyone and everyone was in their own groups already. We wound up coming home earlier than planned because neither of us was really comfortable there. At least there was a really cute birthday cake! Then, after such a long day, it was bed time.

Sunday

We originally planned to go to church in the morning, there's a German mass at 10 AM and an English one at 11 AM but we didn't make it because everyone was dragging a bit and Alex, as all kids are, was being a pain in the morning.

Instead, we had an easy morning in and later in the day, Maite, Alex, and I went into the city by tram and went to the train station where we went shopping. Like Germany, in Switzerland nearly everything is closed on Sunday but the train station is open so there are some open shops there.

We took a train from one of the smaller stops to the main station just so Alex could ride on a train then looked around and even stopped at a McDonald's so I could continue my mission to try a McChicken in every country.

We then walked back home alone the lake side and I was able to see the mountains, the lake, some sail boats and lots of people out for a Sunday stroll.

We decided to have cheese fondue for dinner, very Swiss apparently. It was yummy but a warning, it rips your stomach apart. I had to drink a lot of tea to settle it and get to bed.

I said my goodbyes to Sascha and finally went to bed, overall, it was quite a relaxed day.

Monday

I got up bright and early and had a coffee and left for the train station where I had to get a train home. There were a lot more switches on this train than the one to Switzerland but finally I arrived back in Paderborn around 4:30 PM and went straight to bed. All these trips have been tiring and I had work in the morning.