After lugging our luggage through the Paris underground, we decided to leave it with Three Sips and do as most Americans do in Europe: backpack! So, we donned his backpacks, equipped with water bottles and candy, and headed to Zurich (via train). Being that we have no reservations – in so many ways – our first task was to find a hotel. And hotel, motel, Holiday Inn, we did! We found a posh little plaza on Badener Strasse and started making our way when Sleepless caught a glimpse of herself in a mirrored window. “Does this backpack make my boobs look big?” she asked. “It’s not the backpack,” I replied.
We spent the first night getting oriented – finding places we wanted to visit in the daylight, learning a guard at the door of the market does not mean it is a safe place, rather, it means they are closing and do not want anyone to enter, and not very many people wear sunglasses.
The next day we went to multiple daylight locations and decided we just might want to move to Switzerland – we love it! The best news about that is we only have to learn about three languages, maybe a few more than that, to fit in. So exciting!
One of the main reasons, actually the main reason, we came to Switzerland was to enjoy a lovely, non-Delta dinner, with Donny’s Girl. So at 19:00 we met her and Eight Minutes in front of the Manor (a fantastic shopping village). Donny’s Girl had made reservations for us at a little Italian restaurant and the four of us enjoyed a lovely selection of pastas and wine. Donny’s Girl shared with us a secret about a little novel she wrote, when she was 14, about Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and a young Swiss girl…..hmmm, I wonder who that girl could be. I’ve no doubt Donny will one day be bringing her purple roses.
Donny’s Girl had to catch a train so we hurried (not the Huried train) her to the stop and bid her farewell. We then decided to make our way back as well and entered a bar to get change for the tram. After being enticed by the music we decided maybe we should go dancing instead. This idea was not too appealing to Eight Minutes, so we attempted to her. “No, no, no. I cannot. I work at 6:30 in the morning. Cannot do it.” And then, “You know what? Why not!” And so it was, we were heading back to the bar for dancing and drinks.
Sadly, the bar had changed modes since we were there two minutes prior and was now charging a $15 cover. We decided we did not want to dance that bad and started looking for a nice bistro for an evening drink. Just as we struck out at another location, Eight Minutes said, “I’ll show you something. Walk this way.” And before you know it we were singing karaoke in a funky little Filipino Swiss karaoke bar. The songs and accompanying graphics were amazing. Sleepless and I opted for “Physical” by Olivia Newton John. Our favorite part was when the lyrics read, and we sang, “I wanna get ana ma, ana ma….” And ana ma we did!