Summary (if you don't want to read the whole post)
During our layover in Zurich on Wednesday, the lovely Andrea Strommer gave up her time to collect us from the airport- she took us back to her beautiful Swiss home, allowed us to take much needed showers, naps and then join her 4 quads (Arthur, Benjamin, Daniella and Oli) for a wonderful lunch (Hungarian Meatloaf, roasted yellow potatoes, steamed broccoli, and mini salad capresses, followed by carrot cake or cupcakes and tea).
Full Post
After the 8 hour skip over from JFK, Steph and I arrived early at Zurich Int. Airport and took a few hours to refresh ourselves, and send an email to our families.
At this point, we were both fairly tired, Stephanie especially, since she hardly slept at all on the plane (which she has stated on various occasions, is customary for her and her traveling voyages). Despite a sleep mask, travel pillow and warm Swissair blanket, the conditions she faces on airplanes, time after time, (and she has certainly done her share of traveling (as she will quickly tell you) having lived in more than 5 countries during her childhood), are simply not conducive to her gaining any zzz's- and, well that is understandable. For the record, Steph (again, in what is no secret to those that know her) is not a "big fan" of medication- so the option of a sleeping pill or similar aid was just not on the table in this instance;)
I was doing alright- I hadn't had much sleep on the plane either (that leg room is a BIA for tall peeps) but then again, all of those late night stay-ups for: studying, working, etc paid off in this instance and I was on a morning wave of excitement to see Andi, the kids, leave the airport, etc. But I did know that a crash was imminent (stay tuned..)
Andi arrived at 10 to pick us up from the airport (as she said she would). Note- quick little tangent story that exemplifies Andi's kind nature: she sent me an email a few days before to ask me if it was OK if she arrived at 10am instead of closer to when we arrived at 8 because she had a German lesson until 9:30 am and had already tried to have the time changed, but wasn't able to). Sigh. Andi, Andi. End Note. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Andi during our car ride: I updated her on H4H (Andi was the H4H Fundraiser Director during 2009/2010 and rather amazing in the contributions that she made to the organization), Nassau's happenings and my own life developments (which I suppose have been many relatively speaking); she updated me on what the transition to Zurich from Nassau had been like, the kids' growth, etc.
Another note to Arthur Strommer if he happens to read this, Andi says that her dream trip would be to Mt. Kilimanjaro for a climb- just want to put that out there in case you don't have it arranged already;)
The weather was chilly and rainy in Zurich that day, not uncomfortably cold however (and this is me declaring that) but it did mean that going out for a walk around the neighborhood was going to be hard to pull off. In contrast, the inside of Andi's beautiful, cozy home was inviting, and after we gave Andi a token gift of a rum cake and some bennies for the household, Steph took a nap, (she was clearly tired as she had entered an almost silent state at that point), and I continued chatting with Andi while she prepared lunch, and then enjoyed a steaming hot shower;) Yes. Yes, Yes.
Sadly for us, Alexa, the eldest Strommer child, could not join us on the day- due to her scholastic obligations at the time, but we did see the swimming club that she swims at and the route she takes to bike to school some mornings;)
The 4 quads arrived back at home en masse promptly at 12 pm, filled with vigor and fascinating stories about their mornings in the classroom and, after Arthur retaught me how to play UNO, and he and Benjammin recalled some of their recent mountain biking adventures, Daniella came and beckoned us to the table for lunch. With great timing, Steph arose from her slumber at this point and, together we all enjoyed a spectacular lunch. The menu was as follows:
- Hungarian Meatloaf
- Roasted yellow potatoes
- Steamed broccoli
- Salad Caprese
- Carrot cake or cupcakes and tea
Steph and I greatly appreciated enjoying a warm, home cooked meal after 2 days of traveling fare (that included: Au Bon Pain and airplane offerings).
In addition, picking up an hour or 2 in a cozy bed (and the chance to lay out vertically) was another luxurious gift - and we have to thank the eldest Strommer daughter Alexa for this act of generosity since she lent us her bedroom for this purpose.
Seeing the kids was fantastic- they're all getting so big and were equally articulate in hosting Steph and I for the afternoon. Luckily for us in Switzerland, students have the option to come home during lunchtime (how awesome is that?? that can warrant another post I know). Daniella, Oli, Ben and Arthur all send their regards below:
Andi- we owe you a major one;)
At this point, you might find it helpful to refer to Stephanie's original post on this topic for context:
Later in the afternoon, well fed, and rested, Andrea offered to take us into Downtown Zurich for the last few hours of our stay (since we weren't taking off until almost 11 at night).
Now, this going into Zurich plan was something Stephanie and I had talked about weeks beforehand, when the idea was originally put forth by Andrea herself in our initial emails to arrange our day together. Let's review the evidence:
I can come and get you guys from the airport at 9.30 am and we drive back to our place. My kiddos come home for lunch every day ( this is the Swiss system) and we can have lunch together and you are more than welcome to hang out with us as long as you please. I can drop you later in the afternoon to the train station where you can take the train to Zurich to look around in the city and later from Zurich you can take another train to the airport. The public transport here is very very good and reliable so you will certainly have no problem to get back to the airport.Given that we would be spending the ENTIRE day in Zurich, and that we were intent on not overstaying the Strommers at their lovely home any more than we already scheduled to, this suggestion to head into town center seemed ideal- both to Stephanie and myself. It was still raining outside and nearly 3, so Andrea and I talked about the afternoon plan, and decided together that taking us into the city near the train station, which was opposite the library she had to return books of the children to in any case, made sense around 430pm. (Afternoon tennis was cancelled for the quads due to rain and Alesxa had swimming). While I was gathering my belongings (Andrea has also allowed us to use her home as a charging portal for our electronic devices so I had to round those up, in the hopes that I wouldn't have to concede losing a belonging on only Day 1 into the trip's duration), Stephanie and Andrea discussed the train departure times, both from the Ouster Station (where she was dropping us off at) and from the city center to the airport to ENSURE that our departure plans wouldn't be strained in any way. Remember now, it's currently 4:30pm and our flight departs at 10:45pm at night. Given my past record with cutting flights close (occasionally missing them, etc), even I am set on us arriving at least 3 hours ahead of time (and ps- at this point we both think the departure time is 10pm, so that means we are planning to arrive at airport (a 15 min train ride away from city center) at 7pm.
I could tell that before we left the house, Steph was feeling some apprehension about carrying out our heading into Zurich plot, but I also knew she was still exhausted and not in her usual "go get em" spirit and I also couldn't imagine spending another 6/7 hours seated. And so, we all headed into the station, purchased our tickets from the kiosk (20 Swiss Francs for a one way) and said goodbye to Andrea and the kiddos, armed with the train schedule in hand (in addition to the solid, well-founded confidence in the Swiss publication transportation system).
So, we arrive in Downtown Zurich- it's a bustling site, but not too overwhelming- people are heading home from work, there are cars, bikes, lightrails, buses, etc, and Steph is hungry, so first priority is getting some food (since being tired is one thing, hungry another, but tired and hungry quite a combination, as we all know). Thankfully, our large backpacks were checked through to Johannesburg from JFK, so we are only carrying our Daypacks and carryons ( a sleeping bag for me, cooler for Stephanie). Steph didn't want Starbucks, because she likes to visit "local" places only (fair enough and I support that sentiment too), so we walked around for about 15 mins trying to locate a quick serve cafe of some sort. The cooler became an issue at this point, because, since we had it loaded to heavily with requested gifts for the Parkers (I'll get to those in a subsequent post), so Steph and I began to alter carrying that to share the load. It was also ripping in various places so the straps were non functional at this point. Finally, we spot a grocery store on the "Bahnhofstrasse" strip (apparently the 5th Ave of Zurich), and, (by this time I am hungry too and we both want to ensure we secure a nice meal before entering back into airport territory), we both head inside, to find a mad frenzy of people (also shopping). It was chaotic slightly, but after selecting our dinners, we managed to pay (this is when Stephanie was pushed and grabbed while waiting in line) and escape to a nearby bench to engage in a heart to heart and savor our meals overlooking a river.
One of our aspirations of the outing was to make it to the Lindt Headquarters Store (for obvious reasons) and so that we could stock up for our 3 months with a nice stash. At 6:20pm, post dinner, we realized (or so it seemed to me anyway and I am usually the impractical one) that this part of the journey would have to be eliminated since we didn't know where we were going and we only had 40 mins left to get to the airport (in order to make it back by 7ish). I got the impression that Steph seemed to think this final quest was still a possibility (which baffled me), but she wasn't in a combative mood per se, so we returned to the train station. Point being, back in the grocery store, I purchased my chocolate there (umm. $2 for a lindt dark chocolate with seasalt bar- that is $3.50 min in Fl and at least $7 in Nassau).
The station was also humming with human activity- there was an indoor market set up, and people zooming in all directions, as part of their own individual daily expeditions. As well, all the signage was in German only (Zurich is the German-speaking part of Switzerland) which made it harder than usual to decipher. After asking a few English speaking bystanders about which of the upcoming trains would safely take us to the Airport Station, we both decided to get tickets to the 6:47 train leaving from platform 22. So, I purchased these from the kiosk as quickly as I could and then we made our way to the platform, after stopping to ask for directions to 22, since there was no visible indicator (that I could see of where to go). When we learnt we had to descend the escalator several floors, we accelerated towards the departure floor, intent on making it there in time. During this procession, Stephanie says to me "Alanna we have to get moving" (as if I didn't already KNOW this- I did just pay the 20 bucks for out tickets thanks v. much), and as though I can say respond with an answer that will magically change this fact. I said, flustered, "Well Stephanie, what do you want me to do?" (we are already speed walking as quickly as we can). We zealously jump down to the final floor platform, only to see and hear the 6:47 train departing without us at exactly 6:48pm (these things do happen and since we purchased our ticket at 6:30 something, it seemed fully plausible that we would be able to get there in time at the moment we decided to commit). Although Stephanie didn't express any concern to me about selecting this 6:47 departure time slot, she seemed to blame me squarely for the fact that we missed it (a fact that still baffles me;) This is when, and only at this time, did she then bring up some reference to me stopping to ask for directions to Platform 22 (which is why she suspects delayed us) and how all the while, she knew where to go and was stating this to me (also inferring that my failure to listen to her and follow her advice was a contributing factor to our misfortune). Since I genuinely had no idea where Platform 22 was, can't read German and did NOT hear Steph utter anything about knowing where we were going, I figured that stopping to ask someone where to go was a prudent choice....but ahhh...this conclusion is left to the reader to decide!
In short- we regrouped, I bought another set of tickets for the 7:07pm train, this time leaving from Platform 8 on the upper level and boarded this one without problems, where we then sat in stubborn silence and heartily pouted, avoiding eye contact with each other for 15 minutes. (Regression to childhood is still possible- for all of us right?)
At the airport, we first attempted to check-in using the self serve kiosks ( does anyone ever have much luck with those things btw without having to call over at attendant in any case??), but this required some detail of information we didn't have handy on us at the time (despite all the itinerary prep we (well mostly Steph) had done ahead of time). So, with now 3.5 hours to spare (I was loving this new experience), we lined up in the regular que, and swiftly made our way to the counter, where we collected our boarding passes and confirmed our checked bags were indeed going to be on their way to Johannesburg with us (they were;).
You know the stories about people in Nassau complaining about the "long walk" back to the baggage claim once they arrive at the new Airport terminal...? Our ensuing trek to the security gate made this sentiment seem even more laughable than it already is.
Then, once we finally did get there, the irony was that the shortest security line I have ever encountered awaited us i.e. 1 person before Steph and I, and yet, the process of derobing, being screened and then redressing again was the longest I have ever experience- 15 mins no exaggeration.
Anyway, we still had 3 hours to kill so this gave us some time to relax prior to the 10 hour flight ahead of us. (Anything over 5 hours in long to me so the differences become marginal after this stage). We took turns touring the abbreviated terminal- Steph got her chocolate here, I looked into picking up an adapter since my computer was dead and my int. adapter was packed away in my checked bag- but decided against this. We also touched base with Jebs to let her know how the first portion of our trip was panning out and hear about the gear she picked up the previous weekend in Montreal. I blasted off a few emails, spend some time responding to facebook comments and messages, while Steph stretched out on the waiting chairs and took a short pre-departure nap- she was still feeling significantly sleep deprived and "knew" this wouldn't change until she arrived in J-burg (because that is ALWAYS the case when she travels).
The plane boarded on time and we stepped aboard knowing that in the am, we would wake up to an African red sunrise;)
For other pictures cataloging our day in Zurich, take a look at our Picassa album below:
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| Africa: Summer 2011 |
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