Excursion to Switzerland: Day One 12.8.10

Posted: December 9th, 2010 ˑ Filled under: Random Banter ˑ No Comments

Being that it’s 3 a.m (4:30 a.m. now in finishing this post) in the morning and I can’t sleep, I figured this would be the best time to start chronicling my trip here in Switzerland. I managed to hi-jack internet here in my hotel by placing my computer right by the window. Plus, I got bored looking into the ceiling for an hour.

So instead of boring you with a minute by minute play of my day, I figured I’d give you a “Sports Center” type look of the highlights. Some weird facts I’ve learned here . . . some weird occurrences there . . . and then some random insight on all of it. One thing I did though for the first day was refraining myself from taking any sort of pictures. I have all week to do that. I’d rather get lost and take the scenery in. Got it? Good.

First off, one thing I’ve learned while embarking on these kinds of adventures is to bring a writing utensil and some paper. That’s what I did and here are the facts I’ve jotted down that I feel you should know.

While talking to Cynthia, my hostess/tour guide, she pointed out an interesting view that the Swiss people had about Americans. The view was that all Americans only eat hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza. My response was “NO WE DON’T!” But in my mind, I was more like, “Dammit, the Swiss sure have us figured out.”
The legal age of drinking beer and wine is 16. For hard alcohol, it’s 18. So word on the street, the youth are a little more tame when it comes to drinking due to the early exposure. But I guess they find more joy in other drugs. What other drugs? Not sure exactly. I’m thinking your regular greens plus some other drugs that make you hallucinate something like Wolverine prancing around on a white unicorn offering you a ride to your next destination.
For all the graff writers out there, there’s graffiti ALL OVER THE CITY. It’s crazy. From what I was told, it’s something that isn’t looked down upon . . . yet. But maybe because the fact that people are actually trying to throw up some dope pieces as oppose to the quick tags. One thing in my opinion though, I feel that their a little behind when it comes to the style and creativity. Maybe because I’m not a writer myself? Or maybe it’s just something that’s starting to become more mainstream here in Zurich? I don’t know. But I’ll take a few pics in the following days.
Their idea here of traffic is a slow down on a one lane street. I guess everyone takes the public transportation system, so not to many people drive. I can only imagine how a Swiss person would react being stuck in L.A. That’s grounds for suicide.
Speaking of the trains/trolleys/buses/whatever else they have. It’s pretty damn efficient. The only hard part is trying to decipher and remember the stops. It’s effin confusing. Check this. Their stops consist of names like Bahnofqual, Kanonengasse, Rudolfbrun-Brucke, Bahnhofplatz, or Bezirksgebaude. How the hell do you remember that? Keep in mind that there’s symbols somewhere in some of those titles I don’t even have on my keyboard. Even though you have a map in front of you with all the street names, it’s pretty much the equivalent of giving a 5 year old kid some crayons and asking him/her to draw out a blueprint of their house. The moment you look at it, you’re like “Ohhhh I get it . . . but what the f*ck is this.”
They have strip clubs near grocery stores and fancy shmancy restaurants. They don’t even look like strip clubs. You walk around and it looks as if it “belongs” like Starbucks or something. They even have a menu of girls outside of every strip club. So if I was a little boy full of bravado, yet unaware of the contours of a female. All he needs to do is just stand in front of the club and look through the pictures. Because yes, they’re all nude. A menu of nude pictures in front of the club for everyone to stop and look through.
Last thing for today. Their faucet water consist of bottled water we pay 1.50 for at the gas station. Wait. No. It consists of bottled water we pay 2.99 for. They straight up found a way to tap into and jack water from the Swiss Alps . . . literally. They have water fountains ALL OVER the city where water is constantly flowing. Think about it. You know how you have those miniature water fountains where birds can drink out of? Well, they have one for humans . . . all over the city. And the water even sparkles differently out here. It makes you want to cry at how beautiful it is . . . . . . .

Well, thats it. Now I’m bored of typing and I’m still wide awake. So I guess I’ll wander the hallways of the hotel in hopes of finding something interesting.

Now, a few “touristy” pictures from the phone.