yakety yak

I'm certainly not the first person to complain about this, but I really can't stand it when people talk incessantly on their cell phones while riding on public transit.

The violators fall into two categories: the first type is the passenger who has nothing to say but never stops talking. Usually this person boards the train with lips already flapping and one shoulder hunched to hold the cell phone tight against the ear. This breed of cell phoners NEVER gets off the phone for the entire ride, even if it means calling every single person in their address book. This person needs a babysitter. Luckily, these motor mouths usually disembark before the train reaches the city, probably to go to a shopping mall.

Type 2 is basically "Type A." This cell phoner turns the entire train car into his or her office space. The work day begins on the train and all of us get to share in this person's business matters. The device is typically a Blackberry, but beginners will use a Razr. Forget confidentiality: we all know by the end of the call exactly what you think of your clients!

One of my friends in Switzerland told me that the Swiss solved this problem by creating a train car just for cell phone yakkers. These train cars must resemble the glass-boxed "smoking room" at airports, where people pace back and forth in a smoke-clogged room with cigarettes in their hands. Maybe the cell phone IS the new cigarette.

Don't most mobile-phone service providers allow text messaging now? Use 'em.

Back to bad habits

Well, there's no denying it: I'm definitely back, and back to my old tricks, as well. Today I walked to Amoeba Records to peruse the wares. I know--it's a compulsion. I have plenty of music. But you know how it is when you're into something....it's never enough.

Astonishingly, I don't walk out of Amoeba any more with an armload of CDs. Times have changed. I have a lot of what I want already, and the stuff on my wishlist is largely available only on special order from Europe or by digital download from web-only sellers. And like any record shop -- used or new -- even Amoeba has a lot of what I DON'T want: rack after rack of awful circuit-music CDs with ugly 3D cover art on them, and a seemingly endless supply of chillout compilations from 2001 with basically the same tracks on all of them but different bimbos on the cover.

Well, OK....I did buy three CDs. But I went in with a wishlist, and the chances of finding any of them was pretty remote. I guess I just couldn't leave empty-handed.

re-entry draws nearer

Well, I'm wrapping things up in Switzerland. Today I started out with some clothes shopping....the clothes in Switzerland are awesome and they could also empty my bank account rather quickly....and through an extreme act of self-discipline as well as a nod to the burgeoning size of my suitor bag, I bought nothing.

Nothing, that is, except for a nice, folding black umbrella when the rainstorms started up this afternoon, which was promptly lifted from me by a restaurant patron a few hours later when I foolishly left it in the public umbrella bin with everyone else's. (Funny how every time I do that, my umbrella disappears,)

During the afternoon, I met Nicola and we walked around a bit in the rain, then settled into a trendy-looking lounge with low, leather sofas for some tea.

Later, all four of us -- Tanja, Michael, Nicola, and I -- went out to a traditional Swiss dinner, followed by a visit to another Zurich landmark in a 500-year-old converted munitions building for drinks and dessert. Here's a few photos: the bow and arrow on the wall is yet another reference to the legend of William Tell, Note the size of the beers, which are being prepared with whiskey or something that was first set on fire. And though I'm not a beer drinker these days, I had to try it.

I'll miss Switzerland and really miss the superior quality of life in Europe, but I also look forward to being home and getting back to my life, my states-side friends, my crazy, lonely cat, work, and my interests, too.

finally, nice weather

Sunday turned out to be really warm (24 degrees celsius), so Nicola and I spent the day walking around Zurich, first along one of the rivers and past the park that was once filled with drug addicts but is cleaned up now...and then down to the section of Zurich that's supposed to be dangerous, at least compared to the rest of Zurich, but during the day didn't look so dangerous to me....and then we went to an outdoor African fair and ate some food. We sat outside at cafes -- easy to do here, because there's outdoor seating just about everywhere -- and then we walked down to the lake.

Lots of people were out and lots of baby strollers...has anyone noticed how BIG baby strollers are getting nowadays? These strollers were like SUVs.

Then I went to a music event that evening in a club where Nicola was DJing, and met some of her friends. One spoke English and one spoke French, but the others spoke only German or another language, so I wasn't able to chat with all of them.

Anyway, it was a lovely day. Weather-wise, I might not be so lucky on Monday.

day tripper

So today I went to the alps. Tanja and Michael came up with this great idea: we could take a train to another town and catch the ferry (the ferry and the train station are next door to each other, conveniently), take the ferry through a section of the alps to Lucerne, walk around Lucerne, and then take the train back to Zurich. Then we planned to have a rooftop barbecue for dinner back in Zurich with our friend Nicola.

Being -- you know -- foreign, I wondered if it was possible to do so many things in one day, and without a lot of hassle, and still have time to do a roofdeck barbecue that night. Indeed, there was no hassle at all. We walked in the morning to the train station in Zurich at a leisurely hour -- 10 a.m. -- and I bought a ticket for the whole day: the train (both ways) and the 3-hour boat ride, which came to 82 Swiss francs. And after a day of adventuring, we were back in time in Zurich to make a barbecue on the rooftop, and we did.

Now, mind you, if in the USA there was such an offering like this: you know, a comfortable train, a 3-hour ferry ride, alps, medieval town to walk through at the end, etc. -- it would be a huge hassle. You'd probably have to order tickets through Ticketmaster weeks in advance, stand in long queues for hours, drive in horrible traffic, go through a metal detector, get served hot dogs and stale pizza on the ferry if you were lucky, and then be greeted by horrible knick knack shops and beggars and people dressed like Heidi trying to sell you plastic Matterhorns. But it wasn't like this at all. It was really, really cool...

The ferry was indeed a 3-hour drive on Lake Lucerne, and through the alps, or some of them. It wasn't crowded....there were plenty of people, but not a mob scene. And the ferry stopped many times along the way in tiny alpine villages where people hopped on board to go to Lucerne. Each of these villages had features that made them seem really interesting to visit: you could ferry to them, or train to them for an evening (dinner) or a longer visit in a hotel on the lake. And these hotels looked splendid in a very elegant and distinctly European kind of way. These kinds of getaways are entirely do-able if you live there.

In addition, the ferry had a restaurant where we were served wine and salad and strong cheeses and ham and so on...it was affordable and good. There was an outside deck where we could look at the scenery, or we could sit inside. It was a great day for someone like me, who likes trains and boats.

Then we arrived in Lucerne. I'd never been there before. Villages like this must have been the inspiration for Walt Disney, who made a fortune from building fake castles.

Totally cool city. We walked across the ancient wooden bridge and along the lake front, where --like any European city with a waterfront-- restaurant after restaurant served people at tables outside, right along the water. After we walked through old town for awhile, we walked uphill to the towers of the old city wall, and climbed inside one of them to look at the landscape of Lucerne. Then we went back to the waterfront, had a drink at one of the cafes outside, hopped on the 5:10 train back to Zurich, and we were back at the apartment in time to barbecue and eat salad and wine on the roof with Nicola. It was a cool day...very special for me, but normal, I think, if you live here.

Friday: the digest version

The short version of how I spent Friday:
Early in the day: Kunsthaus museum, the Peter Fischl/David Weiss exhibition. Very whimsical, funny, unexpected. Everyone was chuckling at the different exhibits in the show. Fun!
Next: Lunch at Globus
Then: walking around on the "other" side of the river, where all the name-brand shops are located... and where I saw limo drivers waiting for their employers to finish their shopping sprees
Next: walking in the outdoor theatre by the lake with Tanja and Michael....from what I understand, this is an annual event that features magicians and people who do fire tricks, and outdoor food and entertainment.
Next: eating at a hidden "alternative" restaurant in an old factory by the lake, known as the "red factory," or "rote fabrik." We sat outdoors on benches for dinner, though it was kind of cold. It was the best of alt-Zurich culture.
Then....back into the main town on the tram because we were cold and tired.

Tomorrow: Lucerne.

walking around

When I got up on Thursday, there was a lot of action going on outside my window. Have I mentioned before how all my vacations usually include a construction project going outside my window? Well, this one fits the pattern. However, one pleasant difference is that the building I'm in is constructed really well, so the sawing, jackhammering, and --look in the photo -- this crane outside, hoisting construction materials to some men who are standing at my eye level -- wasn't that intrusive. Amazing! Compare that to my experiences in Paris, where I heard everything on my street and the adjacent ones, and of course, suffered from that awful grocer.

So what did I do on Thursday? I walked around. Even though I bought a tram pass, I decided to walk. The danger of that, of course, is that I drifted into shops along the way and bought things. One of the things that I bought was a pair of long pants. Nothing exciting, but something that actually fit and will give me something clean to wear on my trip home.

However, I made a discovery: unlike in some countries when you try on clothing in a shop, in Switzerland the closed curtain in your changing room is no barrier to other people, whether it's the helpful shopclerk or another customer. I was surprised when the saleswoman barged unexpectedly into the changing room shortly after I pulled up the zipper on the first pair of pants, but after that, I was expecting her....and she arrived behind the curtain again and again. So did another customer, who began taking off her clothes inside there with me. If I did this at home I'd set off screams and probably get shoved from the room or even get thrown out of the store, but that's what makes changing cultures so much fun.

After spending a lot of money for very few items, I decided to use the public restroom in the train station. I have to say this is the cleanest public restroom I've ever seen in my entire life. The name says it all. You have to pay to go inside through the turnstile. While it's not uncommon in parts of Europe to have to offer change to someone to use the toilet, this place was entirely different. Once inside, there was a huge fountain area for washing up, and behind that, several doors with red or green lights over them, indicating their availability. The bowls inside were sudsy from just having been cleaned. And when you're done, an employee rushes inside after you and scrubs it down again. A bit neurotic, I agree -- I felt almost guilty for having bodily functions -- but I nominate Mc Clean for being the cleanest public bathroom in the world.

Oh, but a word about the pricing. There are two entrances: one for men and one for women. On the men's side, the pricing on the window says that it costs 1 Swiss franc to use the toilet. On the women's side, it costs 2 francs. Women have to pay twice as much. So, sit for a moment with your favorite beverage in your hand and ponder the social, biological, and political nuances of this pricing scheme.

And now about the trams. The trams are everywhere....they come often. They're comfortable. And if you're in the area of Central, you have to be really careful. They're coming from every angle and as a pedestrian or even a passenger, you have to look carefully and move quickly to avoid being hit by a tram or a car. I've bought a one-week tram pass that I'm apparently supposed to punch once for every 24-hour period that I want to use the tram. However, I'm not using it as much as I thought I would so far, and after I punch my pass, I feel like I should be riding the tram as much as possible to get the maximum benefit from it. Now here's something else you should know about the trams in Zurich: you have to push the button on the outside of the car to open the door to get in, and there's a button on the inside that you need to push to get out. If you don't, you'll be staring at a closed door and get left behind.