Day 1: Zurich Arrival
I thought the same thing flying into Switzerland as I did Germany: Looks like Ohio. The similarity disappears the second you step off the downtown train, as there's no mistaking a Europeon city central for an abandoned American one. That excitement created by the mix of hinted familiarity and something unknown hit me as I walked around in the train station. Zurich promises to be a beautiful city, with the swan-filled green river running down the middle past old Gothic Buildings.

It's a bit too organized here though. I got off the train at 8:30 and by 9:15 I had: Navigated my way to my hotel where I arranged to stay one day later; Bought a train ticket for Vienna and; Bought a power adaptor for the Mac. This presented a bit of problem since I couldn't check in til 2PM, time I was hoping to kill with some of the menial tasks. Thankfully, the hotel let me drop off my bags and told me something should be ready around 11AM.

Of course, there is always time to eat something in a wrap. I hunted around for somewhere that was selling a coke for less than 4 francs and eventually found a kebob place under the train station. Not bad, and the coke helped wake me up after the long day of traveling.

I slept a bit longer than I had hoped too after checking in. I blame that on the hotel being so thoughtful as to include large portable fan for the room. For someone that has had to have some sort of noise-maker for naps since I was 11 or so, this is normally a godsend, but I was hoping to get some sight seeing in today. It may not have mattered, as it rained to be the band all afternoon. Then again, that didn't matter to me, as it's been so long since I've been rained on, I couldn't resist hiking around for an hour or so after I did wake up. This led to Kabob #2 (still not as good as the German ones, but I'm hoping the university area will offer some improvements) and beer #1. I love Europe.

Tomorrow, I'll try to check out a few things before the meeting starts at 2Pm. Also, I 'll try to master my new digital camera and have a few shots up.

cheers,
mars