Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 11 - Zurich

Well, I don't have access to the internet with my laptop so I don't know if I will be able to post anymore photos from this point on. I will see if I can find an internet cafe that will let me plug my computer in, but I don't know if I will.

Yesterday was a relatively light day. We left our hotel for the center of Zurich at about 9:30 and met our tour guide, Patricia, at 10:00. She took us for a tour of part of the city that lasted until about 11:15 and then we had time on our own until about 2:30, at which point we began our journey for Como.

The city of Zurich is extremely clean and very safe. The equivalent of their president (there are 7 of them) can walk around the city at any time without the need for a body guard or the secret service. The canal leading towards Lake Zurich was so clean you could see to the bottom of it. There are a ton of fountains in the city and the water coming out of them is actually so safe you can drink right from the fountain. On part of the tour, we were on a hill top that overlooked the canal, Lake Zurich, with the Swiss Alps as a backdrop. We had ample opportunities for team photos, spending roughly 20 minutes in the park. Some of us even drank some water out of the fountain that was at the park.

With the free time, most of us did some shopping along Bahnhastrauss, which is lined with store after store - some chains, but a lot of watch/jewelry stores and chocolate shops.

After getting on the bus, we headed south through Switzerland for the Swiss Alps and Como, Italy. The ride was long, but provided some fantastic scenery. For most of the drive, we were on winding and narrow mountain roads that brought us around, up and down the Alps with steep cliffs below us during some of the ride. We also drove through many tunnels that went through the mountains, some as short as 30 seconds, others as long as five minutes. We had beautiful weather - blue skies, white puffy clouds - on the first side and then we came out of one of the longer tunnels to grey skies and pouring rain. It was cloudy & rainy the rest of the drive, all the way into Como.

We had about 10 minutes after checking in before heading to the dining room for dinner. Now back in Italy, the dinner was four courses with salad, pasta, meat, and dessert, which was a cup of fruit. But, before the fruit was served, our waiter delivered an apricot tart big enough for the group with a single candle in it for Shelley's 30th birthday. We all sang happy birthday to her and then each had a taste of the tart.

We were able to sleep in a bit today, with no wake up call for the first time since arriving in Europe. We have free time in Como until 2:15 when we will meet for our private boat cruise to Bellagio. Tonight will be another early night with dinner at 7:30

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