Zackberridge’s Weblog

I arrived in Zurich after a 6hour train ride from Germany. Long, but very scenic (at least the parts I saw then I was awake), and then I had to take another 20min train to the town I was staying in called Windisch.   I met my hosts wife at the rendevous point, and we walk to their apartment to put my things away and to eat. They live on the 12th floor, and the view from the back terrace was amazing.  Next we went for a walk and she showed me around the city and the ancient Roman amphitheater that was still somewhat intact.  The city was beautiful, and amazingly clean.  Apparently all of Switzerland is very clean, and the residents are required to recycle everything.  My host told me that per capita, Switzerland is the richest country and on average when a citizen dies, they have close to 3 million dollars in money and assests combined….wow, i know where I want to die!   (sorry, thats a bit morbid)  The Swiss are one the only countries in Eastern Europe that are not a part of the EU (European Union) therefore, I had to change my currency, which is a hassel and with commision, you always come out shorthanded).  I didnt plan on spending much, so I had to pay with euro’s several times, which seemed to irritated some people, but what the hell, I had to ead (and have my beer!)  The next day I took the train back into Zurich, and after leaving the train station I just walked straight with no plans and no where I needed to go, or anything in particular I wanted to see.  I lucked out and walked straight to Lake Zurich, and was blown away by the view.  I took the sidewalk along the lake, thru several parks, until I found a spot at the edge to the water that had perftect skipping stones, so I threw my share into the lake.  I wanted to go to the beach there, which costs 6 franks, and being the brainless tourist I handed the guy a coin that had a 10 on it, thinking “wow, its really cheap out here.”  The man looked at me and hesitated before saying, “thats only 10 cents. “    I laughed  and walked off thinking, “the beach here sucks anyways”  haha! I then went to a park and took my shoes and shirt off, and layed in the sun for nearly an hour.  It was the first time of my trip that I completely relaxed for that long a period and it felt great.  Afterwards I went back near the train station for a bite to eat and I drew a picture while I muched on some strange looking, but delicious food.  I returned the house  in Windisch and watched some of the olympics before staying up with my host and learning about creating websites, which I think will become my next project while I start farming.  The next morning I left early for my last country, which turned out to be my favorite….Italia!