Saying
Good-Bye in
Zurich...
Good-Bye in
Zurich...
| View of Zurich from the Jules Verne Bar. |
September 30, 2007
When I used to think of Zurich, I thought of big, shiny buildings in a modern skyline. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
Who knew that a city that is such a financial hub would be filled with such charming architecture? I didn’t. Every street we
walked up was cuter than the one before. Beautiful bridges where you could see the lake with the snow-capped mountains in
the background. Ahhhh.
Little did I know that this was also new to Lorenz.
We had a ‘tour guide’ for Zurich. He isn’t a real tour guide…but he played the role for a couple hours while we were in this city.
He is actually Michael - a good friend of my good friend. I had met him a couple times in the past and now I was seeing him on
his turf. I love it when somebody else knows exactly where they are going as it requires no brain activity of any kind from me.
This was the case for the past four days. Soon my brain is going to be required again. But for right now, it’s enjoying the break.
In order to enjoy even more of the views we grabbed a drink up high (at least in Zurich standards) at the Jules Verne Bar. It
was slowly turning into night and we got a view of it all.
Time for dinner. My last dinner with Lorenz. Boo. The good news was that he would get sashimi on this night (as there isn’t
much of that in the town he lives in). He was excited about the few sushi restaurants in Geneva (he was just doing military
duty out there for a few weeks – standard in Switzerland). I told him if he ever comes to San Francisco he will be in shear
heaven. Poor guy – I also told him that if he comes, we will have a fondue party for him in his honor. It never quite dawned on
me that the last thing he would probably want while visiting another country is fondue. It’s still going to be hard to tear me
away from the idea…but I will try. One thing would be for sure – I would want all of my friends to meet this guy. They would
simply love him.
Oops. Off on a tangent. Probably because the next part of the night sucked. It was time to go to the train station with Lorenz to
bid him adieu. Tomorrow he starts his new job. He lives 1 ½ hours away. I have a flight in the morning. That is the reason why
I am staying at Michael’s in Zurich instead of going back to Solothurn. Initially Lorenz told me before booking my ticket that I
could stay as long as I wanted. I knew I didn’t have tons of time in the Balkans since I have to get to India earlier than
originally planned. So I fit the timing in between him moving into his new apartment and him beginning his new job. This was
about a 4-day period. I thought that would be perfect, at the time, because it’s always hard to tell how a trip like this is going to
go. I mean we had barely any one-on-one time when we were in Australia and New Zealand. He was traveling with his friend
and a lot of the time it was the three of us hanging out. It’s only natural to ask yourself ‘Will I be able to spend a lot of time with
this person when it’s just me and him?’ Clearly, the answer was yes. If I could have known this, I would have definitely cut a
few days off my Balkans segment of the trip and stayed in Switzerland. Oh well. Maybe there will be a next time?
Eek. Another tangent. Anyway, we had about ten minutes of standing at the train saying our good-byes…mostly with our arms
around each other. And then he boarded and it was time to watch him go.
Never did I think I would meet someone during my travels that would make me feel like this. I already miss him and it’s only
been a couple hours since we said good-bye…
When I used to think of Zurich, I thought of big, shiny buildings in a modern skyline. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
Who knew that a city that is such a financial hub would be filled with such charming architecture? I didn’t. Every street we
walked up was cuter than the one before. Beautiful bridges where you could see the lake with the snow-capped mountains in
the background. Ahhhh.
Little did I know that this was also new to Lorenz.
We had a ‘tour guide’ for Zurich. He isn’t a real tour guide…but he played the role for a couple hours while we were in this city.
He is actually Michael - a good friend of my good friend. I had met him a couple times in the past and now I was seeing him on
his turf. I love it when somebody else knows exactly where they are going as it requires no brain activity of any kind from me.
This was the case for the past four days. Soon my brain is going to be required again. But for right now, it’s enjoying the break.
In order to enjoy even more of the views we grabbed a drink up high (at least in Zurich standards) at the Jules Verne Bar. It
was slowly turning into night and we got a view of it all.
Time for dinner. My last dinner with Lorenz. Boo. The good news was that he would get sashimi on this night (as there isn’t
much of that in the town he lives in). He was excited about the few sushi restaurants in Geneva (he was just doing military
duty out there for a few weeks – standard in Switzerland). I told him if he ever comes to San Francisco he will be in shear
heaven. Poor guy – I also told him that if he comes, we will have a fondue party for him in his honor. It never quite dawned on
me that the last thing he would probably want while visiting another country is fondue. It’s still going to be hard to tear me
away from the idea…but I will try. One thing would be for sure – I would want all of my friends to meet this guy. They would
simply love him.
Oops. Off on a tangent. Probably because the next part of the night sucked. It was time to go to the train station with Lorenz to
bid him adieu. Tomorrow he starts his new job. He lives 1 ½ hours away. I have a flight in the morning. That is the reason why
I am staying at Michael’s in Zurich instead of going back to Solothurn. Initially Lorenz told me before booking my ticket that I
could stay as long as I wanted. I knew I didn’t have tons of time in the Balkans since I have to get to India earlier than
originally planned. So I fit the timing in between him moving into his new apartment and him beginning his new job. This was
about a 4-day period. I thought that would be perfect, at the time, because it’s always hard to tell how a trip like this is going to
go. I mean we had barely any one-on-one time when we were in Australia and New Zealand. He was traveling with his friend
and a lot of the time it was the three of us hanging out. It’s only natural to ask yourself ‘Will I be able to spend a lot of time with
this person when it’s just me and him?’ Clearly, the answer was yes. If I could have known this, I would have definitely cut a
few days off my Balkans segment of the trip and stayed in Switzerland. Oh well. Maybe there will be a next time?
Eek. Another tangent. Anyway, we had about ten minutes of standing at the train saying our good-byes…mostly with our arms
around each other. And then he boarded and it was time to watch him go.
Never did I think I would meet someone during my travels that would make me feel like this. I already miss him and it’s only
been a couple hours since we said good-bye…
| Lorenz and I in Zurich. |
| Ah, banking capital of the world. Pointing to UBS in honor of my friend Elisa. |
