Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Sleepy in Chur

Well, I have safely arrived in and found an un-locked-down WiFi spot in Switzerland! I am not exactly sure what the rules about using other people's WiFi are here, but I'm not sure what they are at home either so I won't let it worry me too much. I have to sit right in the window of my hotel room to get it to work, but it's a very nice window so I'm not overly bothered, except the radiator digs into my knees a bit.

I had a fairly miserable flight from Boston to Paris -- my seat was next to the galley, and it was loud and bright all night long. I will definitely be checking Seat Guru or something similar for the way home. Also somehow my seat contrived to be even more uncomfortable than most airplane seats, AND my feet swelled up to the point where I nearly couldn't get my shoes back on after we landed. But enough whining! I did actually get some sleep, and many thanks to my lovely roommate for the loan of the fancy noise-cancelling headphones, which did help, although I swear it was the loudest plane I have ever been on in my life.

The flight from Paris to Zurich was fine, although I was momentarily worried when I couldn't find the gate -- it was one of those little downstairs deals where you take a bus to the plane, which is how I got confused. I had three whole seat to myself, though, which was fabulously luxurious. When we arrived, we had to get on another little bus, which took us about 100 yards to the terminal. It's cool how different the farmland around Zurich looks from the farmland around Paris. And of course I'm used to flying out of Boston and DC and New York and things where there is no noticeable farmland around the city at all. I remember flying out of Denver, where the farms are these huge round fields (something to do with irrigation? someone explained this to me once but apparently I forgot). Mexico City was the most amazing city I've ever flown into, because it seemed like you were flying over the actual city for an hour before you actually got there. It is incredibly huge.

Now I'm in Chur, which is a charming place that I have seen very little of -- yesterday I was a sleep-deprived zombie (I also spent a couple of hours walking around Zurich yesterday, which is now just a blur -- I probably would have been better off lying down on a park bench and taking a nap), and I have spent most of the time I've been here asleep.

No pictures yet, because I don't know where I put my memory card reader, although I am very nearly sure I packed it. But today I am taking the Glacier Express to Zermatt, so I will have lots of pictures soon, I'm sure!

3 comments:

jackie Hutchinson said...

Kyle:
Keep up the entries. It is great to hear what you are doing and I would love to see pics (if you can find that memory card).
Not looking foward to that looong flight to Australia. I'll just focus on seeing Ashley to get me through.
Have a great few weeks!
-jackie

cindyhutch said...

Hi Kyle,

Love the blog! Please keep it coming! Hopefully, you are over your jet lag now and thoroughly enjoying yourself!

Love you,
Mom

Amy said...

Yay, Kyle! You made it!

You are going to have some fondue while you're there, right? I'm sure both Rick Steves and Samantha Brown would agree it's a great way to make friends.

Love,
Amy