THURSDAY IN ZURICH

I took the train into Zurich yesterday, and got off at

a different stop than the one I'm used to.  It's about

a 15 minute trip - or maybe not even that.  The train

goes along the lake - Lake Zurich, or in Swiss German

Zurisee (the "u" should have an umlaut above it) 

and on a sunny day is a gorgeous little journey.  

Getting off at Stadelhofen, there is a confusing 

spaghetti-like merging of tram lines, and I couldn't

quite see which direction to take, so I did what any

tourist does, which is to follow the general flow.

It took me to the Quaibrucke, which is one of the

many bridges linking south to north.

Standing on the bridge, looking south

I had a couple of errands to do in town, and if I 

had just done the errands I would have been there

for about 45 minutes.  Five hours later…..yup.

I just wandered around, losing my way and then

finding it again, looking at the people, the shop

windows, the architecture, the menus posted outside

cafes and restaurants.  It was such a gorgeous day,

and the city is so beautiful, with so much to look

at, that the time just raced by.

This is actually a fairly steep climb - I went up and up
and up, with some stairs at the end of it, coming out
to the Lindenhof, which is a great big space full of trees,
and a couple of those giant chess boards with chess pieces
3' high, and people eating lunch, and taking photos, and
texting and talking on their phones.

This is one of the views from the Lindenhof, making it worth every step of the climb.

Just after I took this photo, I realized there was a man in one
of the upper windows looking at me, and I was a little
embarrassed - maybe he thought I was taking a photo of him?
or maybe I was a potential burglar, staking out the place?
Anyway, I pretended I was talking on my phone - in German.
Lots of Ja, ja and Nein, nein.  Then I walked away briskly
as though I were late for a meeting……sheesh.  What
an elaborate cover-up…..

I eventually realized that I was getting light-

headed from hunger, and that I'd better decide

what and where I would eat.  I chose a take-away

place, because there was a square just behind me,

and I could sit and eat and people-watch.  What I

didn't realize was that it was pay-by-the-weight,

and I was so hungry that each thing she offered I

was saying Yes to….and so I ended up paying 

20 Swiss francs for a big container of take-away -

which is more than $20.!!  I couldn't eat it all,

though, so it ended up being two meals worth.

It is an expensive city, and eating out is always

pricey.  But I didn't think a container full of rice

and chicken and some veg would add up to that

much!

Today has been a drifty sort of day - I haven't got

much done in terms of reading or researching.

It was a sunny day again, which is always a bit

distracting - I just want to be outside.  So I 

walked to the lake - a 7 - 10 minute walk from

here, and sat in the sun.  This is what I was 

looking at while I sat there….

Sort of hard to concentrate on your "studies" when this

is just down the street.

OK, now I'm going to do some reading….and this is

what's looking at me:

Good night, talk to you later….