greetings from Switzerland

Well the train journey from Hamburg to Zurich was a long but interesting trek. I had reserved a seat and ended up in this small compartment that seats 6. From Hanover to Frankfurt, there were 3 other people in the carriage. I find it amusing how they must say hello and goodbye when the come and go. I think the man next to me was gay and was trying to strike up a conversation, but I just buried myself in my book.
Then from Frankfurt, we had a new conductor…and he kept coming to talk to me. I suspected something was unusual when he dootzen to me.. This is when he used the informal Du instead of the formal Sie.. And I noticed him consciously change. At first I thought it was just because we were of a similar age and maybe because im a tourist he felt he could.. But now that I think about it.. You use du to indicate that you like someone too. Anyway.. He came back again to have a chat, and asked where I was going.. And who I was meeting there and if it was an internet friend… then he asked where did I chat online.. When I said gay romeo… oh, you gay??? He asks.. Yes, I reply….oh me too he says..im a bear. Very cute. I cant believe he was actually chatting me up…. I would never have expected it.
Anyway it was a nice diversion from the 7.5 hours of boredom.
The countdown had begun, I was 30 mins out of Zurich when I started to feel a little nervous, but was also very excited to finally be meeting up with Marius. I got off the train.. Looking around.. Not sure which way to go.. And suddenly through the crowd I saw little Marius appear, smiling widely and probably feeling as nervously excited as I was.
Wow.. He speaks excellent English and I feel I can talk almost normally.. In fact I hear my aussie accent start to re-emerge. Its actually quite weird to hear your own accent on certain words.. Anyway.. We are speaking a strange mixture of English, German, and French.. And I was right, I cant understand a word of Swiss German. Actually it sounds more dutch than German. Anyway.. I have learned something already of the language.. In that to make something small. Instead of ‘chen” on the end, you add “li’ so its all very cute. Here in the land of Muesli !
We spent a lot of time chatting and finding out what my itinerary is going to be in Switzerland.. Seems Marius is going to show me so much of the country (its only small you know) he was telling me about how he is going to take me to a “ho-ley’ which luckily I understand how a lot of germans speak the words and figured out he meant a “hole” and he then says.. Yes. A hole in the mountain ! Well I kept thinking in my head.. What on earth is a hol ein the mountain.. Anyway we kept talking for a bit and suddenly it dawned n me that he meant a cave.. Not a hole.. Well if you think about it..a cave is a hole in a mountain.. I laughed to myself for ages at how stupid I was.
Zurich is so pretty but fuck me if it isn’t so expensive. Yesterday we went for coffee.. And it cost me AUD11.00 for a long black and a latte !
We walked around the city for most of the day looking at this and that…. Then we went on a boat ride around the lake, and then for another coffee…. Before heading for a wonderful dinner of Fondue..
Finally I had another Swiss fondue. The last time I had that was in a little barn near Geneva. Ok, I was doing so well.. But near the end I dropped my bread, so we had to skull a shot of kirsch. By the time we finished I was a little tipsy from the wine we drank, the kirsch and the alcohol in the fondue. Anyway.. We went to a bar after, and sat outside watching the world go by.. Was funny, the bar was outside the hotel I stay at the last time i was here… back in 1999. We had a beer… which seemed to send Marius on a hyperactive spree of cheekiness and we had a lot of fun getting back home which him bouncing around like a little puppy.
Sunday… I cooked my signature scrambled eggs with spinach and feta, and typically, it was raining. At least yesterday was beautiful weather just to prove that “when angels travel the sun shines / wann engels reisen, der sonne schient” so I ask if we could go to the movies… and finally I got to see Xmen 3 .. In English !! Ok so it had German AND French subtitles.. But I ignored those. But I was a bit puzzled in the middle of the movie when it stopped….turns out they still have intermission here.. Which seems so strange to me for a 2 hour movie. But I got a cigarette break at least. Poor Marius isn’t into such films so he had to sit through 2 hours of boredom… but at least he got a little sleep as he was a bit tired. I thought it was a brilliant movie.. With so many little homages in it.. Even Stan Lee was in it.. But I reckon only the true die hard fans of comics would know him. Was a little disappointed not to see jean with Phoenix fire but hey, it was still a good movie.
On Monday… we drove to Bern for lunch. Bern is such a pretty city.. Actually the whole of Switzerland is so picturesque and every turn presents a new wonder to behold.
We arrived in Lausanne, and arrive at the hotel that Marius has arranged. Well.. it’s a leading hotel of the world.. You can imagine my jaw dropping as we pull up at the unbelievable opulence that now surrounds us. The interior was incredible. And the view from our balcony actually made me cry. It was the most unbelievable surprise, that took my breath away. What has really amazed me, I havent heard or spoken french in over 10 years and im understanding nearly all that is said to me. And im astounded how much I remember when I want to speak it. What’s most hard is trying to speak french I keep slipping into german.. Hashanah.. And when I hear French it takes my brain a second or two to tr to figure out what language to respond in.. im finding it most amusing.
This is really is the adventure of a lifetime and I will cherish every moment for the rest of my days.


More news to come… but there’s new pics of Zurich and Germany in my online photos.
Tschussli muesli !