European Adventure: Day 5: A Tradition is Born

Paris 10am CEST; June 2nd, 2018
I awake on the couch bed to the sound of swearing. Not what I expected to be woken up to, but life is full of surprises. Amidst the swearing, I learn that Jennifer somehow spilled coffee all over the bathroom (?) and got some of it on the dress she was going to wear to the wedding ceremony in less than two hours. David rushed in with a roll of paper towels to help her deal with this great misfortune. After some time, they reemerged from the bathroom with many coffee soaked paper towels, and Jennifer pointing at the stain in her dress. Which, I must be honest, I couldn't see. As Jennifer and David were leaving in less than an hour for their friend's wedding, Elizabeth and I took the opportunity to sit down, and have a couple cups of coffee as we waited for the bathroom to be empty.

During this time we worked out a plan for the day. We were in Paris, so obviously, we would go see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and walk up and down the Champs-Élysées. Not a massive itinerary for the day, but we were still quite exhausted from our adventures yesterday. As Jennifer and David left, we were able to get ready for the day. While waiting for my turn in the bathroom, I was looking at the map in order to find the best way to get to the Eiffel Tower. The Metro seemed like the obvious choice, but that is not always the case. This time it was, however, we would first have to go to a different station than the one we were used to, which proved to be rather eventful later in the day and indeed trip.

When the both of us were ready, we placed the key in the agreed upon location in case Jennifer and David got back to the Airbnb earlier than we did, and headed towards the other Metro station. Which at first completely confused my sister as she initially refused to walk the "wrong way to the Metro" before I told her that we were going to a different station. The walk to the station was uneventful until Google said "You have arrived" and we were nowhere near a Metro station. It took us longer than we'd like to admit to finally work out that the station was indeed at this location, but it was underground so we would have to look for an entrance somewhere. Most of the Paris Metro stations are clearly marked staircases down into the darkness below the city with a large sign overhead that reads "Metropolitan" however, some are hidden inside buildings so as not to be part of the scenery but blend in with it.

This station entrance, for example, was connected to the reception area of a large and relatively modern office building. It must be admitted that it took us a good ten minutes to find, however, in our defense the front of the building was being cleaned that day, and there were many things in front of the sign. Once we got inside the building, I told my sister to look for the sign for the "6" train, only to turn around and see that she had gone down an escalator into the lower area of the station. (Although not a theme, this does happen often enough to be rather annoying.) After looking at the signage, she ended up being correct, so I followed her down the escalator thinking that maybe she knew where we were going as well. All of my hopes were quickly dashed away as she asked me when I got to the bottom what train we were taking. 

I elected to ignore what had just transpired, and tell her the train number. We entered the station and went to the correct platform for the train. There were many other tourists on this platform so we knew we were on the right one. This part of the Paris Metro had stations both above and below ground, which I found to be rather interesting, but I don't think Elizabeth shared my queries. We followed the crowd to the correct station, and followed them onto a street filled to capacity with tourists, peddlers, and scooter traffic. Every so often, there was a break in the skyline and we could see it, the Eiffel Tower. Much larger in real life than it is when you picture it in your head. It towers over the local skyline at 81 stories tall. (Just to clarify how tall it is, it is the largest building in France, and was so until the Millau Bridge/Viaduct opened in 2004. It was also the tallest man-made structure in the world for 41 years, until the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York City.)

(The Eiffel Tower was originally built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, and was scheduled to be taken down soon after. However, the city fell in love with it and has kept it ever since. There are stories about people who have legally married the tower, and my personal favorite, the story of the man who ate lunch underneath it every day because that was the only place in the city where he could not see it, and he loathed its existence. Of course, the tower now has its practical uses as a radio and television broadcaster thanks to its great height, and during the war, it served as a communications relay for both the Allies and the Axis powers. Today, though, it is an entirely different story. Although it still sends radio and television signals, the main purpose of the tower is tourism, and it does its job well.)

As we navigated the steady but constant tourist traffic both going towards and away from the tower, we were able to stop and take the occasional picture. It was during this point where I remembered viewing the tower on my previous visit to Paris, and how few people there were at the spot we decided to view the tower from. As I tried to remember, we made our way closer and closer. As we were two people, and not a large tourist group, we were able to snake in and out of the crowds. When we got to the park where the tower is, we were in for a shock. The local powers that be in Paris determined that the Eiffel Tower was such a tourist attraction that they could charge people to enter just the park where the tower was. Of course, the reasons cited were terrorism protection, and while that may be a factor, you can protect a monument from terrorists without charging people.

At this point, I stopped looking at the tower, and across the river where I saw it. The place where I viewed the tower the last time I was here. I mentioned this to my sister, but she decided that we must first go to a cafe and eat lunch as it was nearing two in the afternoon. She took out her phone and found a relatively cheap and not too far away cafe for us to go for lunch. The cafe was only one street away from the Eiffel Tower, and compared to the throngs of people we spent the last 20 minutes with, it was completely deserted.

The Eiffel Tower from a comparatively deserted street.

After eating at the cafe, which was both delicious and cheap compared to the prices we expected from it being so close to a tourist destination, we continued on our tour of Europe's grocery stores as we went into one across the street from the cafe. I will spare you from the details of the grocery store as I am relatively confident my reader has been inside one before. The only difference is that the labels are all in French. We both picked out a liter of water, paid, and continued on our journey. (Always buy water bottles from grocery stores if you ever visit Europe. For the prices that they charge at the little kiosks for a small bottle, you can buy two liters of water for the same price at a grocery store.) While following the map to the location I had spotted from this side of the river, we encountered multiple street performers, and an overabundance of peddlers.

The Trocadero Gardens are, in my humble opinion, the best place to view the tower, and be able to do so while not being worried about having your pockets picked. The fountains in the garden are beautiful, and the mist from them is very refreshing. The park is filled with numerous shady trees and benches to sit and contemplate life. If you do not like tourists, like myself, this is the place to be.

Elizabeth requested an "artsy" pic of her near the flowers by the tower

and then complained that I didn't take it right.

The view of the tower from the balcony at the Trocadero Gardens.

Another view featuring this pigeon who couldn't be bothered to move.

But would look towards the camera every time you took

a picture of him.

One of the other great things about viewing the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero Gardens is that it is just a short walk (~10 min) from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. Both of which are must-sees for those visiting Paris. The Arc de Triomphe is one for France's monuments that are almost everywhere, but none, of course, compare to the original. As I had seen this beautiful monument before, I was more interested in the traffic flow around this great roundabout in the center of Paris. The flow of traffic is chaotic, but somehow flows together like a dance. All I could think of at the time was that if this were in Cleveland, it would be nothing more than a 100+ car pileup multiple times a day.

The Arc de Triomphe in all of its glory.

Following our encounter with the Arc de Triomphe, we headed down the Champs-Élysées, which clearly, until now, Elizabeth thought was just a street covered in monuments because as soon as we turned down the street, her eyes lit up. The Champs-Élysées is indeed covered in monuments, however, they are indeed monuments to capitalism. The entire street is one giant outdoor shopping mall with all the posh stores and chains you could imagine. From jewelers like Tiffany&Co. to fast food like McDonald's, to even car dealerships, everything was here. I knew I had one stop to make, and I knew Elizabeth would want to go in and out of many stores, so I settled myself in for the long haul. Luckily for me, the store I wanted to go into was one of the first we came across that either of us was interested in. The Swatch store. 

(I have a bit of history with this store, which I realize seems crazy given the city I was in and only really having history with a watch store. You see, the last time I was in Paris was in 2014. I was a Sophomore in high school, and we were in France for a French class trip. Back in these days because I was with multiple chaperones, and of course many friends, we did not include an international plan on my phone for that trip. Instead, I was borrowing my friend's plan, and we would reimburse their family after the trip. Because of this, I made sure to keep my phone calls short sweet and to the point. And this time was no different. I went into the Swatch store with a couple of my friends, and bought a watch. A very nice one without any batteries, and charged with the motion of your arm. Right after purchasing the watch, I called my mother and said "Hi, France is great, by the way, I bought an expensive watch. Love you, bye!" and hung up before she had a chance to answer. My friend Kenny thought it was hilarious and has been an inside joke ever since.)

Naturally, on a trip that was mostly Switzerland, I wanted to buy another Swiss watch, however, I did not want to pay Swiss prices for it. So I decided to purchase it at the same store that I bought my last Swiss watch. The Swatch store on the Champs-Élysées. My sister thought I was crazy, but I almost felt as if it were necessary for my return to Paris. So, thirty minutes later, I walked out of the Swatch store with the second watch I had purchased there, and a tradition was born.

The Swatch store on the Champs-Élysées featuring the watch I first bought there

(on my wrist) and the new watch I had just acquired (in the bag).

Following this, we weaved our way in and out of clothing stores and the occasional home goods store before we found ourselves rather tired from walking around all day. Just as we were about to turn around and head back down the famous street, we saw the Tiffany&Co. store. Elizabeth wanted to go inside, and as I imagined that they would have some really nice watches, I followed her inside. Let me just start by saying that there was a visibly armed guard who opened the door for us. I walked into the store and stopped. A rush of cold air hit me as I realized that this was the first store in Paris I had been in with air conditioning. (A lack of A/C is not uncommon in Europe. In fact, it is more uncommon to have it.) In front of me was a marble staircase that ascended for at least three floors, and a giant jeweled chandelier hung in the center of the spiral. We perused through the jeweler relatively quickly as we determined that we weren't rich enough to even breathe there.

As we made our way back to the Metro station at the top of the street near the Arc, we discussed what we wanted to do for dinner. We decided that both of us were tired of crowds of people for the day, and wished to stay close to the AirBnb for the rest of the evening. Soon enough we determined that we would get dinner at one of the outdoor cafes near the subway station in the neighborhood of the AirBnb which were both quiet and relatively cheap. A quick glance at our phones told us that dinner would have to wait as they were both on the verge of dying.

Once we got back to the apartment, it was closer to 5pm however, dinner for most restaurants in Europe does not start until 7. We took the time to put our phones on the charger and take a quick power nap as walking around all day in the heat and sun takes a lot out of you. We headed to the restaurant we had chosen around 6:30pm (18:30) with both ourselves and our phones recharged. When we walked up to the restaurant and asked for a table outside, the waitress told us that the kitchen doesn't open until 1900 however if we would like to wait at the table she would be more than willing to serve us drinks. Instead of walking back and forth, we took her up on her offer, and sat down at a streetside table. 

As we were in France, and were both of legal age here, we determined rather quickly that we should have wine while we waited for the kitchen to open. Elizabeth chose the local Rosé and I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The waitress first came back with a cup full of potato chips, which I found to be rather humorous, before coming back with our glasses of wine.

Regrettably, this is the only picture I have from that meal.

When the kitchen finally opened, we both decided on the House special of the night, the Ravioli. Although delicious and quite possibly the best ravioli I had ever eaten, a true Italian and noodle aficionado would tell you that the ravioli noodles were actually tortellini, but at that moment I could not care less. Over dinner we determined that we both wanted to get a bottle of the wine we were drinking, and started looking for (you guessed it) a grocery store on the map. We were so engrossed in looking at Elizabeth's phone looking for one that was close to us, that when the waitress came to clear our plates and give us the check, we were rather surprised to find one that was right across the street the whole time. We both decided not to mention this to anyone of course, but I found it rather hilarious, and figured my readers would as well.

After dinner, we went into the grocery store and purchased our bottles of wine. A rosé for Elizabeth, and a Sauvignon Blanc for myself. Initially, the plan was to go back to the apartment and pick up a bottle uncorker and some wine glasses to take to a park, however on our way back it started to rain. We decided to abandon that idea, and had a glass of wine at the table in the apartment instead. It was during this time that Elizabeth announced that she had found a gelato shop near the apartment and wanted to go. By this time the rain had stopped, and it had gotten rather dark, but we figured screw it, and went anyways. As she could not find the hours on the website, or couldn't read them as the website was in French, we were hoping that it would still be open by the time we got there. Luckily for us, it was. And, I must say, it was delicious.

Please ignore the Snapchat filters.

(Yes, lemon basil is one flavor, and yes, it is delicious.)

We took a different route back to the apartment, which really annoyed Elizabeth, however, I wanted to see more than what we had already seen, even if it was all closed and dark outside. When we finally did get back, however, there was not much that happened. We very quickly got ready for bed, and were soon fast asleep.

European Adventure: Day 4: Backwards Through Switzerland, Forwards Through France

Zurich 9:15am CEST; June 1st, 2018

I awoke to cheerings of "It made it! Its here! You can go to Paris with us!" It was clear what had arrived. The Eurail pass, that our mother so graciously overnighted across the world at a considerable cost, that allowed us to travel Europe at our leisure, had arrived on time. And not just on time, but just in time, as we were due to leave for Paris in less than an hour. As I packed my backpack for our weekend stay in Paris, the apartment was a hive of activity. All four people were getting ready. My sister and I for our tourist adventure, and Jennifer and David for the wedding that they were attending on Saturday.

The train was due to leave at 11:40am CEST, and this was Switzerland, it would leave then, no ifs ands or buts. Although it was late enough on Friday morning that we had missed the initial rush hour, we still had to walk to the tram stop, take the tram to the station, activate our Eurail pass, find the platform, and get on the train. All within the course of an hour and a half. Once again, thanks to the accuracy of Swiss timekeeping and transport, we knew we would be at the train station by 11am, but would the next 35 minutes be enough time to wait in line and activate our Eurail passes. Jennifer and David seemed confident that it would. My sister and I were not.

As we took the ticket to secure our place in line, we looked down at the number. 96. It didn't seem that bad, at least until we looked at the "Now Serving:" board, which displayed the number 72. 24 people were in front of us. By the time I worked this out, however, a ding went off and the number switched to 73. At least it went pretty fast, we might just make it after all. The ding went off again, and the number switched to 303. Oh no. There are multiple different groups all for the same area. The number of people in front of us went from 23 to 23 at the minimum. There could very well have been 230 people in front of us, there was no official way to tell. I spent the time trying to hack into the train station's wifi (unsuccessfully), and my sister was reading a book on her phone.

After what seemed like an eternity, our number was called. Five minutes later we had our passes verified and six minutes to find the correct platform and get on the train. Thanks to the many signs hanging from the station ceiling, it was not hard to find the correct platform and get on the train. That all being said, there was no time to spare, as the second we sat down, the train started moving. Que another major problem. Our seat reservation was facing backward from the direction of travel. Although not a problem for me and David, this was a monumental problem for Jennifer and Elizabeth, who are both very prone to motion sickness, and especially when travelling backwards. At first, we hoped that at some point the train would turn around, Basel was the first stop, so we hoped there, but that was still an hour away.

By putting on headphones and closing her eyes, Elizabeth was able to stave off her nausea for now, but that wouldn't last the four-hour duration of the trip. And I don't know about you, but I don't like dealing with that kind of thing in the slightest. So, Jennifer and I went to see if we could find a set of forward-facing seats that were free. We walked up and down the length of the train, but no dice. (As the train was travelling 150km/h I recorded my fastest and only marathon ever as it took 20 minutes to walk from the back of the train and back again. Which means that we walked 30.9 miles. (20min/60min =.33 | .33*93mph = 30.99 miles)) After we informed my sister of this terrible news, Jennifer had an idea: Maybe we could ask the train conductor to switch us seats with one of the other patrons. A fantastic idea. Once again we walked up and down the train (I don't know why people complain about marathons being hard, I did two that day and didn't even break a sweat!) trying to find the elusive conductor. Every assistant we found said he was in a different place.

Eventually, we stumbled upon him in the restaurant car. We explained to him the situation, and he did not look too pleased with the predicament that may befall him if he did not take action. Once again, we walked with him up and down the train. Nothing was said between the three of us during this. When we got back to the dining car, he opened the door marked "Staff Only" (I presume at least as it was in both French and German.)  There were two men, in the train uniform, sitting there playing cards. (It looked like a scene Agatha Christie would have described in Murder On the Orient Express to be honest. They were just missing the pipes or cigars.) They spoke for a bit, both in German and French, which made it a very confusing conversation to follow.

Finally, he turned to us, and told us that we could use the business car in the front of the train. However, we were not allowed to traverse the train, as we would be going through first class, and it might annoy the people who paid for first class that someone got an entire train car to themselves. We immediately agreed to these terms. He told us that we would be allowed to be able to change when we reached Basel, the first stop of the train's trip. We relayed this information to Elizabeth and David when we finally got back to our seats.

Basel 12:48pm CEST
We were waiting at the door of the train for it to open as we reached the platform. At the moment, we were the last car of the train, and in a few seconds, we would have to run between the crowded platform, full of people getting both on and off of the train. The train stopped, the conductors whistle sounded, and the door opened. We ran as fast as we could and made it onto the first car with just a few seconds to spare. We opened the door of the car, and were amazed. We had an entire train car, complete with complimentary wifi to ourselves. A few minutes after departure, the train manager came back to the car to check our tickets, and declared "Welcome to the business car. If you need anything, come and find me. Enjoy your trip!" Nothing of note happened for the rest of the journey, except for some of the scenery, which flashed by way to fast to take pictures of.

Paris 3:58pm CEST
Paris Gare de Lyon station is one of the three major train stations in Paris, and the one we arrived in. It also happened to be on the opposite side of the city from where our AirBnB was. Luckily for us, there was a Metro station at this station. Unluckily for us, it went nowhere near the stop that we needed. Luckily for us, David and Jennifer have lived a combined 8 years in Paris, and knew the city quite well. Three different trains later, we arrived at the station we needed. (The Metro that serviced this stop went to many of the major stops in Paris which proved to be quite useful, and will prevent the subsequent mentionings of the Metro in this series, except for later, but we'll get to that in due time.)

After some difficulty, and arguing over the map, (which was a phone map that almost walked you there step by step) we found the address for the AirBnB. We put in the password for the building, and made our way to the apartment. It was a very quaint two bedroom 1 bath apartment, with a small kitchen and living room. It was very nice, and very clearly someone's house, so we made extra care not to break anything. (AKA snoop too much into their personal lives from the pictures on the mantel and bedroom walls.) After settling in, we decided that Jennifer, Elizabeth, and I would go see the Louvre while David stayed back and did work for his upcoming conference.

When we got to the Louvre, we found it very crowded. More crowded than we figured it would be for a Friday evening. We later found out that it was because the first Fridays of the month are free admission for anyone under 26. Which two of us were able to capitalize on. The three of us also picked up the audio guide for five euro. (I highly recommend it, its a Nintendo 3DS that provides a live map of the museum, and offers multiple different tour options.)

We decided to go on the "Masters and Greatest Works" Tour, which showcased the greatest works in the Louvre, culminating in the greatest disappointment in art, the Mona Lisa. During the tour, we saw, well, the greatest works in the museum. All very pretty and very nice paintings and sculptures. And then we made it. The greatest painting of all time, supposedly, the Mona Lisa. (Let it be known that I despise the Mona Lisa. It is barely bigger than a 9x11 sheet of paper, and really is not that impressive.) However, if you really want to be impressed by art, go to the Louvre, walk to the Mona Lisa, Look at it for the half a second it takes you to turn 180 degrees, and appreciate the most beautiful painting in the entire museum. "The Wedding at Cana" by Paolo Veronese is a gorgeous painting that is absolutely giant. The attention to detail, and the execution of the scene is absolutely amazing. It is nice, however, that this painting is not the most famous one in the museum, because it allows you to walk right up to it, and see every brush stroke, and every detail.

The Venus de Milo in the Louvre

An artsy picture looking from the underground section of

the Louvre to the top of the glass Pyramid.

My favorite part of the museum, however, is the outside of the Louvre. It is completely free to walk around the courtyard, and is easily more beautiful than even "The Wedding at Cana." The outside is an architectural masterpiece, and the showpiece is the beautiful glass pyramid in the center of the courtyard. If you want to enjoy the Louvre, but you don't have the time to go and deal with the lines or the people, just go to walk through the courtyard, and take in the beauty that is all around you.

After leaving the Louvre, we walked through the center of the city to Ile Saint-Louis. This is where we were scheduled to meet up with David, and one of David's friends from school. He took us on a tour of the island, and then we met up with his wife before walking down the river Sienne toward the restaurant for tonight's dinner. At some point during this walk, mother nature decided that we were having too much of a nice time in Paris, and let the skies open. Within ten minutes all of us, well, those of us without umbrellas, were soaked.

The clock tower on the Ile Saint-Louis that showcases the two shields

that would later be combined to create the current French flag.

The quarter of the city the restaurant was in Le Marais, which used to be a marsh. Most of the land underneath the quarter is still very swampy, and because of this, they cannot build metro lines underneath this quarter of the city. Which means you have to walk everywhere. Very nice I presume on a beautiful evening, but not so much in the rain. When we got to the restaurant, because we missed our reservation, we had to wait until a table large enough was available. (Wow really? That's how restaurants work. Huh.) As we were waiting, Jennifer and David's other two friends arrived. As David and two of his friends were French, we crossed the street and watched the France-Italy friendly game at the bar.

Eventually, our table was called, so we were retrieved by Jennifer. The restaurant specialized in crepes, both sweet and savory. Personally, I preferred the sweet crepe to the savory, but they were both delicious. We ended up staying and talking amongst ourselves until almost 1am the next morning, however, I will end the story for today here, and pick back up tomorrow when we wake up. All there is to know is that I had some difficulty pulling the bed out of the couch, and then very quickly fell asleep.

European Adventure: Day 3: The Pink City

Zurich 11:30am CEST; May 31st, 2018
I awoke to the sound of my alarm, and my sister telling me to turn it off and get out of bed, which I was very reluctant to do. Our cousins had gone to work, and we had instructions to meet them at one of the tram stops by one o'clock. Seeing as I still had quite a bit of time, I took a shower while my sister made us both a double shot of espresso and warmed up two croissants in the oven. (A frozen croissant in the oven while preheating to 150C is just as flaky and delicious as a fresh one.) Over breakfast on the porch, and in between admiring the scenery we tried to determine our plan for the upcoming weekend if our Eurail passes did not arrive on time. We determined that we would rather not think of that scenario and hope that our plans would not be ruined by our colossal mistake.

After doing the dishes, we walked to the tram station to buy another daily pass. We spent more time than either of us would like to admit trying to decipher the German terminal before we noticed a button in the bottom right to change the language to English, which made the process much easier. By the time our tickets had printed from the machine, the tram was arriving. We could vaguely remember the tram number we were supposed to take, but we knew the name of the stop. After getting on the tram, we realized that there were three different ones that came to this station. So, we decided to gamble that this tram would end up taking us to the stop that we needed. Once again, we got lucky and saw our stop pop up at the bottom of the destinations screen.

We met up with Jennifer at the station, and she proceeded to tell us about the area we were in. It was the main university area of the city, and both the main campuses of the University of Zurich and ETH were located across the street from one another. It also turns out that while the universities compete for students, they share resources for the faculties and students. She explained this as we were walking towards the ETH library so she could pick up some materials she had requested. The building itself was almost classical Greek in architecture, but with a few differences that denote the almost universal style of architecture for universities.

The real treasure, from an architectural standpoint, was inside the building itself. From the outside, it looked like there were three different building, but from the inside, they were all connected to each other with what I consider an "inside-out" style courtyard between them all. It looked as though at one point they were not connected and instead of adding walls and a roof to each of the buildings to connect them, they just constructed one massive roof. (I realize this is rather confusing to visualize, but there is a picture below this paragraph which should sum it up.) In the main room of the center building was a room of columns that stretched from floor to each ceiling, with each floor culminating in an arch, to the top of the building, three stories above. All in all, it was a beautiful place to be.

The back of the building, leading into the green space.

Showcasing the old exterior of the building, the new windowed roof,

and the newer additions, such as staircases.

The columns and arches of the main room, with the gorgeous patterned

ceiling.

Leaving through the back of the building brought us into a beautiful courtyard, littered with students studying and eating lunch amidst the reflecting pools, and green spaces. One of these green spaces overlooked a good portion of the city below, and offered breathtaking views of the mixture of old and new styles.

The view from one of the balconies offered a view into one of the city's older districts.

As you can see here, a number of steeples dominated the older part of the city's skyline.

From here we walked to another one of Zurich's seibons, the UBS Polybahn. Named after the bank, this funicular is operated by Zurich Public Transport and offers rides ever quarter hour. It connects the main campus of ETH with the main tram station. At a grade of 23%, this little car carries around 1.6 million people a year up, or down, 41 meters Monday through Friday. In my opinion, the most interesting thing about this funicular is that because there are two cars that have to pass each other, there is a switch system for the track. This confused me for multiple rides until I finally figured out that one cable goes over one side and the other cable stays to the other side. Because the cables pull the cars up, they'll follow the cables which prevents the need for a mechanical switch device. Really interesting if you're into that sort of thing.

After we took the Polybahn down to the main tram station ("Central"), the three of us walked along the river, taking in the sights. There were swimmers in the river, and a few particularly brave souls jumping from the bridges into the river below to the delight of their friends. We followed the river a good distance before we started to get hungry. We stopped to look at the map and Jennifer realized that we were close to one of the more "hipster" areas of town which offered fresh produce and many lunch options.

From the outside, it looked like nothing special, except the vast amounts of people eating their lunches gave away the location's very obvious secret. Inside, however, was a completely different story. If you live in Cleveland, or have ever been to the West Side Market in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, you can kind of picture this. The only difference is that 3/4 of the stands on the inner ring are gone and are replaced with a flower shop at one end, and a fancy restaurant at the other. All around are lunch options, ranging from shepherd's pies to pizza to pasta, and to the sandwiches that we got. Of course, the occasional ice cream and chocolatier were dotted around the inside as well.

After lunch, we made our way to the Viadukt, an open-air mall that is built into the side of, well, a viaduct. What once carried water from one part of the city now houses the city's most hip shopping, dining, and nightclubs. We said goodbye to Jennifer, as she had both a dentist's appointment and a meeting to attend, discussed a meeting point for later, and then my sister and I set off down the street. Mostly due to her penchant for window shopping, we weaved in and out of stores for the better part of an hour before deciding to head back to the old town to check out a few of the churches that our cousins recommended touring.

Que another tram ride, and my sister continually questioning my sense of direction. (Another thing that would become a theme for the trip, but not exciting enough to mention. Just assume that when we are by ourselves and we head from one place to another, my sister is questioning my map reading abilities until we are actually inside the place we are looking for.) The first tram took us to the central station, and then a quick look at the lines told us we could have stayed on that tram for a few more stops to reach our destination. Because they come relatively often (at least once every 10 minutes during the busier parts of the day) we took the time to fill our water bottles at the fountain, and wait for the tram we just got off to come back again.

Although we could have taken the tram to the inside of the old town, we decided to get off on the outskirts, so we could walk through most of the area as possible. While following the directions on the map to get to the first of the three churches, we came across something that I would not believe actually happened if I had not taken any pictures of it. The entire square in front of this church was bright pink. And I don't mean entire square in a superficial and exaggerating for the enjoyment of my readers entire square, I actually mean the entire square. The keen-eyed reader will realize that the descriptions and pictures to follow give way to the title of this day's adventure.

What I presume used to be a stone square ringed in brick sidewalks, was now a bright pink astroturf square ringed in brick sidewalks. And I mean bright pink. At one end of the square (It was ovular in shape but they're still called squares for some reason) was a giant water fountain, both a nice showpiece, and providing drinking water for the public. At the other end of the not square square was a giant pink cube. It seemed to serve no purpose, save for its own existence. Affixed to every light post and building were white and pink banners which seemed to advertise the coming of some festival happening through the month of June.

The very pink not square square with its bright pink cube. Directly behind

this picture is one of the churches we were looking for. We were so distracted

by the pink square that we passed by it about three times before finally "finding" it.

The other end of the square featuring the fountain.

Showcasing some of the banners along with the fountain.

After our encounter with the bright pink square, we continued wandering around the old town "looking" for the churches. One ended up being closed, and we couldn't find the other for some time because it was right next to the very distracting pink square. However, we did end up finding a local chocolatier, and enjoyed their delicious gelato while contemplating where to spend the next two hours of the day before we were to meet back up with our cousins.

One of the smaller streets in the old town, proudly flying the Swiss flag.

After wandering aimlessly for about a half hour (which drew many complaints from my sister that we weren't actually going anywhere. Which to be fair, was entirely true. But our preferred types of travel are very different. I prefer to wander and explore randomly and at my own leisure, while she prefers to stick to a guidebook and major attractions. This will be another common theme for the trip, to each of our annoyances.) we came across a very small river leading into Lake Zurich. (After a quick look at the map, it appears to be a branch off of the main river.) There was a sidewalk/dock at the water's edge, which we did not know if we were allowed to walk on, but determined that if no one came to stop us than it was probably for public use. We followed this pathway all the way to the lake, and spent some time taking pictures, and admiring the views.

The secluded and possibly forbidden path down the river.

Instead of having pedestrians wait to cross the six-lane main road,

there was a tunnel underneath. Although you cannot tell from

this picture, the walkway was below the waterline.

Once you exit the tunnel you are greeted by Lake Zurich.

It seemed to be a good place to take some "aesthetic" pictures.

The view of the lake from here was beautiful.

This little tunnel also provided views into one of the city's

private harbors.

We stayed here for a good half hour, admiring the views, and of course, Elizabeth had me take some pictures of her for the "gram". We continued our wandering up the main river, away from the lake, and trying to stay away from as many main streets as possible. (One thing I highly recommend in any city as you might find your favorite things along these routes.) One of the breaks in the floodwall gave us some fantastic views of the other side of the river, and Grossmunster, a 12th-century cathedral.

Grossmunster from the old town side of the river.

One of the city's many clocktowers.

When we finally made our way back to the Central tram station we realized that we still had another hour before we were to meet back up with our cousins. We took this time to explore the other side of the river and take in what it had to offer. This turned out to be a lot of window shopping, and gawking at the prices in a city where the majority of its residents are extremely wealthy. To be fair, we did find a few things that we could afford at a small candy shop in which we were definitely the oldest people in the store aside from the cashier, who was very friendly, but spoke no English at all. (I was also a good two feet taller than most of the other patrons as well!)

After finally meeting back up with our cousins, we took the time to go grocery shopping for that evening's dinner. I believe it was a Greek salad that was delicous, but that may have been a different evening, I do not remember. After dinner, we took our final adventure of the day, a walk around the short hiking path near their apartment. The hills were steep, and we were very out of breath when we reached the top of the trail, but it gave us a glorious view of the city and the lake. It also showed us the impending rainstorm that was coming for us if we stayed too long looking at the view.

Altogether a beautiful view. Lake Zurich, the mountains in the background,

and the barley field in front of us all came together to form one spectacular sight.

As you may have expected, with a view like the one above, we stayed and admired it just a bit too long, and were caught in the storm as we made our way back down the trail. By the time we had made it back to the apartment, all four of us were completely soaked, not to mention exhausted. So we dried off, recapped the day, watched another episode of Arrested Development, and went to bed hoping the Eurail pass would be in the mailbox by the time we woke up.

European Adventure: Day 2: Part 2: Stop and Smell the Flowers

Zurich 2:45pm CEST; May, 30th, 2018
After leaving the Zurich airport, we plunged into the heart of Zurich's industrial district. The area looks sleek and modern, as if it was just built yesterday. Those who are used to the grimy-ness of even the newest American industrial districts would not believe the cleanliness of the one here in Zurich. We were not in the district long, however, because we immediately stepped on the tram. The tram system in Zurich is the city's main form of public transportation. There are some underground trains, however, the stops are few and far between, and are mostly meant to shuffle passengers from the airport to the main train station in Zurich so they can then go all over Switzerland and Europe.

My sister and cousin were deep in conversation about the plan for the next two weeks for the entirety of the first tram ride. I must confess I did not hear a word they were saying as I was constantly whipping my head left and right to take in as many sights I could see. As the tram continued along its journey, we transitioned from the industrial district to the old town. The stark contrast in architecture was immediate. From the sleek and modern buildings and warehouses to classical and turn of the century German architecture. I almost expected the tram to stop using the overhead lines and transition to steam power for this part of the journey to comply with the scenery. That was not the case however as the old city was dripping with 21st-century tech.

Our stay in this section of Zurich did not last long however as tram travel was quick and efficient. At some point we switched trams, however, I was still too filled with wonder for my surroundings to notice where. It was at this point our cousin told us she had a surprise in store for us in terms of getting to their apartment. Getting to this surprise allowed us to leave the old town, and progress through the new town. A beautiful mix of turn of the century, mid-century, and modern architecture, all laid out together and in perfect harmony with each other. The surprise came in the way of another of Zurich's public transport solutions, the seibon! Or as we later found out, the English translation: funicular. (Seibon is German and a very common name for the machine) The seibon/funicular is essentially a cable car that's constructed like a set of stairs. They are made to be quick and easy transport up even the steepest slopes. Our cousin informed us that her and her husband particularly enjoyed this funicular as it was a short walk from their apartment, and had a convenient grocery store at the bottom of the slope.

The funicular offered beautiful views of downtown Zurich as it made its way up the hill, and into one of the city's residential zones. This particular area where my cousins lived is well known for its views of Lake Zurich, the downtown area, and, on a particularly clear day, views of the surrounding mountains off in the distance. A short ten-minute walk or so from the funicular, which seemed to be lengthened considerably by my heavy luggage, brought us to their apartment building. A modern but understated affair that offered six residents spectacular views of the lake and all of its splendors. I will save you from the monotony that is unpacking and refreshing ourselves from the flights, and a quick lunch.

As it was Wednesday, our cousin, a Ph.D. holder in Psychology who teaches and works at the University of Zurich, along with her husband, a Doctor in Economics who also works at the university, informed us that it was lecture day. Every Wednesday someone from somewhere in Europe comes to give a lecture on what they are currently working on. However, it turns out that her office is in the University's botanical garden, which was one of the attractions in Zurich. Once we got to the botanical gardens, I did not expect to take as many pictures as I did! A selection of some of my favorites is below.

(Please note all pictures were taken by my Google Pixel XL unless otherwise noted!)

This is my sister photographing the white flowers below.

These were quite annoying to get a picture of, as they were very small

and the wind kept moving them around.

These were growing on the side of rocks and were quite large!

Along with these, there were many other flowers, plants, bugs, and bees around. I will not be posting all of the pictures here for the sake of space, however, I may be able to link the album at some point in the future! We spent a good hour or so walking around the paths of the garden before we headed towards Lake Zurich. We were supposed to go the way our cousin had described, however, we ended up getting rather lost looking for the "Picture of a fox on a pinkish-red building." Sometimes when you get lost you end up someplace much better than what you were actually looking for, and this was absolutely the case today.

While wandering around the smaller streets on the outskirts of the city, we (Elizabeth and I) came across an antique bookstore. Antique bookstores always seem to have a certain magic around them, and this one was no different. The small aisles in the corner store were made even more cramped by the stacks of new and old inventory that just didn't fit on the shelves. The door to a back room was open, and more large stacks of books could be seen. As we were leaving this shop, there was a younger woman at the register who I swear was not there when we walked in. She gave us this smile as if to thank us for stopping in, and not knocking anything over with our backpacks. However, her face looked much older than the person who was wearing it, and further deepened the questions I have about that mysterious little shop.

As we continued down the street, Elizabeth spotted a small child running with an ice cream cone. This made her very excited as she has a love affair with ice cream that cannot be satiated. Naturally, we spent the next 45 minutes of our evening looking for the elusive ice cream shop/stand. When we finally came across one, however, it had just closed for the day. (This annoyed her quite a lot and put her in a bit of a mood for the rest of the day.) As luck would have it, the hunt for the frozen treat brought us to a very peaceful alcove on the lake where a few people were laying on the grass, having picnics and swimming in the lake.

Not seen is the portly old man to the left, laying in the grass,

sporting a speedo that was way too small.

We spent a half hour exploring the public parks on this side of the city. Elizabeth brought her camera and was taking many pictures of the gorgeous lake and scenery. We met up with our cousin shortly after, and were discussing what we wanted to do for dinner when the rain hit. A small drizzle at first, it picked up rather quickly and was soon a full-on downpour and thunderstorm. As we took refuge under a few trees with a group of people, one of the street performers took the crowd as an opportunity to show off his craft. It was one of those moments that seem surreal but the occasional freezing cold raindrop down the back of my shirt kept bring me back to reality.

We decide to make a run for it during a break in the rain to try and catch a tram so we could go to where we decided to eat for dinner. Tibbits, a Vegetarian and Vegan cafe and restaurant that offered a plentiful buffet, and charged by weight of the plate. A clever idea, I must admit but I was not hungry at all. My sister and cousin both got plates of food, and will admit I stole bits from their plates. I was very enthralled by my iced vanilla chai latte. (I feel way too blogger-y typing that sentence.) We chilled in the restaurant for a good amount of time playing a new app on our phones. (The game is called SpaceTeam and I highly recommend it for groups of friends to play. Yes, it is cross compatible.)

After looking at the radar after around 2 hours we saw that it was going to rain for the rest of the evening. So we decided to make another run for it to the tram stop. The trip to the apartment was very uneventful, other than being soaked by the rain. (You will find this to be a common theme for this trip!) We ended the day welcoming our cousin's husband when he walked in the door, and watching the first episode of the new season of Arrested Development with our cousins. I have never seen the show before in my life, and I was thoroughly confused by the whole show. It was very good though. Finally, just around midnight we climbed into our beds (an air mattress for me) and fell into a much needed deep sleep.

European Adventure Day 2: Part 1: Hurry-Up and Wait

I am awoken to the bouncing of the plane in the turbulence, and by an announcement from the pilot. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be beginning our descent into Reykjavik shortly. There are light rain showers around the airport, so the descent may be a bit bumpy. The local time in Reykjavik is 6:30am GMT. Thank you for flying with us today! Hold on, what do you mean 6:30am GMT and we're still in the air. Boarding for our connection to Zurich starts at 6:45am GMT! Apparently, due to the turbulence, the flight ended up taking longer than the pilot anticipated. On top of the both of us forgetting the Eurail tickets, this made her stress like crazy. I was more calm about the situation, as there was nothing I could do about it, but I was still slightly annoyed.

Reykjavik 6:40am GMT; May, 30th, 2018
When we finally got to the gate after we landed at 6:40, my hope was dwindling and my sister's was non-existent. I was perpetually asked the question "Do you think they'll hold the plane if enough people aren't there on time?" My response was either the go to I don't know noise and shrug combo, you know the one, or 'Probably not.' The biggest problem with the whole ordeal was that we didn't know if we would have to go through passport control here in Iceland or in Switzerland. We hoped Switzerland for the sake of time, however that turned out not to be the case as we would find out in just a few minutes.

Thankfully, through the chaos of leaving the airplane and trying our best to decipher the hieroglyphics the Icelandics call words, we were able to make a quick phone call to our mother describing both the situations with the Eurail Pass, and the fact that we might not make our connecting flight to Zurich. However, as we were nearing our correct gate, we saw something that destroyed all the hope and time we made up while running through the airport. Passport control. Initially this made us worry that we had accidentally found the exit of the airport and were completely lost, but then we remembered that by landing in Iceland we had officially entered the European Union. Thankfully unlike the Department of Homeland Security officers at home, the Icelandics appeared to actually enjoy their jobs which made the endless task of stamping passports and making sure you weren't a serial killer or a fugitive much easier and quicker. All told we probably spent 15 minutes where we expected to spend hours.

We finally arrive at the gate for the connection with Zurich to find that the boarding had been delayed by 20 minutes. This was both fantastic for us as it meant that we were able to board the plane, but was also rather annoying as we just ran from one side of the airport to the other while trying to talk on the phone and figure out where we were going all at the same time. When boarding finally started, the might of Icelandic thinking showed again and we were in the air within 10 minutes of the gate opening. Thankfully, the only thing of note for this flight was that we were in the emergency exit row, which meant I did not have to sit with my knees at my chin for the entirety of the flight again.

Zurich 1:20pm CEST; May 30th, 2018
For the most parts, all airports look exactly the same. The type of place you don't want to spend too much time in because even the shortest amount of time can feel like an eternity. I was expecting more of the same when we landed in Zurich, but I could not have been more wrong. The buildings looked sleek and futuristic, as if they were ready to welcome the spacefarers and reopen as a spaceport. The gates were reminiscent of a giant living room, and the concourses appeared as if they were first designed as a shopping mall. There was even a gift shop you had to walk through to get to the baggage claim. A GIFT SHOP. Baggage claim is another one of those things that makes the whole airport experience nothing more than a hassle. You finally get to your destination, everyone rushes directly to the bathroom or baggage claim, and then you just sit there waiting for your bag to arrive.

Luckily, however, Zurich is in the German part of Switzerland, so everything is as efficient as humanly possible. It seems to be timed just perfectly so that when you make it to the baggage claim, wait in line for the bathroom, and then come out of the bathroom, the luggage starts coming out of the chute. It was a welcome surprise to say the least. Leaving the baggage claim while dragging luggage and trying to figure out where to go from there was the most stressful part of my day. My sister was texting our cousin that we had landed, but had not yet received any response due to the poor connection underground. We knew we were supposed to meet her there, but we didn't count on the airport being the size of a small suburb. Through what seemed like dumb luck, we made it out of one door and she was just standing there, arms open and waiting for a hug.

She asked us a myriad of questions ranging from how were the flights? (good), How was the airline food? (not provided and expensive so we didn't get any), Are you hungry? (more thirsty than anything). After that response she told us to follow her, so we did of course. While walking back into the airport and through sections we didn't even know existed she was telling us about the whole Eurail pass fiasco. Essentially, our mother, our aunt (her mother) and her were up all night (morning for her) trying to figure out how to solve the problem. The first thing they tried was to see if the paper pass was just for fun and you could access the entire pass online, which turned out to not be possible. They then looked into sending scanned copies, however, they only accept actual passes at the train stations.  They even looked into purchasing a new one while we were there, which ended up costing much more than the option they chose, overnighting them in the mail. However, as we were 6 hours ahead of home, they wouldn't be shipped till the FedEx at the airport opened in the morning. Which meant that before they even got sorted by their system it would be the start of Thursday here. And we had reservations for an 11am train on Friday to Paris. The estimated delivery was 9am, but it was not specified if it was EST or CEST.

Because the topic of the Eurail passes was so important I was not paying attention at all until we arrived at a grocery store. In an airport. And not a small one either, it was massive. I won't get into details about a grocery store mostly because you've probably been in one before. Just picture that and change all the English words to German and you've got the picture. After we purchased our drinks, we walked through what looked like a shopping mall mixed with a city center. It was all indoors and all part of the airport. Apparently, some people go there to do all of their shopping, or just even hang out. Finally, at 2:20pm CEST, we left the airport and plunged directly into the heart of Zurich.

European Adventure Day 1: Taking Flight

The day is Wednesday, May 30th, 2018. The time is 3:30pm EDT and I have still yet to finish packing. This is just the way I am, always procrastinating, and of course, making my mother insanely nervous as we need to be at the airport in two and a half hours. This would make many people nervous, as packing two weeks worth of clothes and necessities in such a short amount of time leads to many a forgotten item. However, I was not bothered by this as I continued to sit on the couch and finish my episode of Futurama. Fast forward two hours, and I had completely finished packing, and was waiting for my sister to return from the store to pick up a few things she had forgotten to purchase since January when we planned this adventure. Thankfully, five minutes later she got back and announced that she had finished packing for the trip. Good thing too as we were leaving for the airport as soon as she had returned.

Luckily, my dad works for the Cleveland airport, and because of this, we live within a five-minute drive from the airport, and we always know the status of flights, weather, security lines, customs, the lot. Additionally, we do not have to deal with the hassle of the departures drop off section of the airport, as he has parking privileges near the check-in counters. We arrived at the ticket counter to see the one thing that we did not account for. Golfers. If you have ever traveled with a set of golf clubs as luggage, you may know of the hassles associated with it. Golf clubs are actually pretty heavy, cumbersome, and worst of all, expensive, so you are keen that the airline takes the best of care with them so as not to break any of the clubs. Because of these bags of clubs, an estimated five minute wait time for the line to the ticket counter was immediately bumped up to 25, and the stress began. The time is now 6:30pm EDT, boarding starts in one hour and ten minutes, and we haven't even gotten through one of the biggest nightmares in modern travel history. Security.

(If you are familiar with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, you will know that it is not the biggest airport in the world, and after Continental was bought by United, it ceased operations as a major airline hub. This was bad news for the airport as its major customer had picked up and left within the course of two years. Revenue slowed, and because of this the airport started slacking on some of the major maintenance that had been planned, and was very much needed. After around five years of questioning whether the airport should keep one of its major concourses open, a new breed of airline arrived on the scene, and ultimately at Hopkins. The economy hoppers. Airlines such as Spirit, and Frontier which offered cheap flights and an a la carte method of pricing. These airlines were never predicted to last and were seen as the final hurrah of the airport before its eventual demise. However, once people started realizing that they could take cheap weekend trips around the country to see family, or have quick vacations, these airlines started to flourish, and more and more kept popping up. This gave the airport new money and allowed it to start working on projects that it finally had the cash for. Ultimately, this will be fantastic for the airport, and for its customers. However, currently is a different story as the airport is working at the fullest capacity it has had in 10 years while simultaneously fixing and upgrading itself for the newfound travelers.)

Security at any airport is always a... well... its a shitshow let's be real here. Security at an airport that is experiencing its highest traveler numbers in 10 years while working at the same time to accommodate them. Needless to say, Security took forever. As we are finally cleared, its 7:20pm EDT and boarding starts in 20 minutes. The absolute worst part though, in my opinion, was the fact that the gate where we were boarding did not have a view of the aircraft so we were not able to see if the airplane was even there. This was an issue, as the plane had been delayed the previous two days by 30 minutes. Granted, this was not terrible in terms of flight delays, however, our layover was only 50 minutes, and we had no time to spare.

There was a slight delay in boarding which caused quite a bit of stress, as the time of departure was supposed to be 8:20pm EDT, and Icelandair did not start boarding the aircraft until 8:10pm EDT. If you have ever been on an airplane before you know of the one thing that has stumped even the greatest thinkers of the modern age. Boarding. This is mostly because first class is normally boarded first to make them feel special, and business class is the next to board, to give busy men and women the illusion of doing things on time. and then everyone else basically boards at the same time and it's a crapshoot to get to the plane while inevitably being held up by either an old woman who can't lift her carryon to the luggage compartment, or a family trying to juggle three kids and the same amount of carryons. You've been there, you know how it goes.

Well, apparently, someone in Iceland has nothing to do and was able to come up with a solution that makes the most sense and takes less than 15 minutes. Why not load the plane from the back first? I know. It makes perfect sense, and who cares if rich people get snooty and the business types get stressed if everyone boards 20 minutes faster? Certainly not me, that's for sure. We left the gate at 8:22pm EDT and were in the air by 8:30pm EDT. Major crisis averted, still a little worried that we will miss our connection in Reykjavik, but at this point, it was out of our hands. As if he had heard my thoughts, an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, first in Icelandic, then in English: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Today's flight is from Cleveland to Reykjavik. We will be cruising around 18 thousand meters. We should have a smooth flight, except for a few patches of turbulence over Greenland. Tonight's flight should be around five and a half hours. The stewardesses should be around shortly with refreshments available to purchase. Thank you for choosing Icelandair. Five and a half hours!? We might just be making this connection after all. As I swipe through the screen in the headrest in front of me, looking for something to watch, my sister turns to me and says "Did you bring the Eurail pass? Because I didn't." Well. Shit.