When a friend says “I’m living in Switzerland for a couple of months, come visit!”, you go visit. Especially when you realize you can get your plane ticket with miles and $68.

Day 0

My son dropped me at the airport (that’s new!). I’m a “get to the airport” kind of person after living in New York City and missing multiple flights. Since I had some time, and vacation started, I actually had a great margarita at the airport. My first flight was to Philly for a long layover so I got a club pass to pass the time away from the commoners.

Philly had a cool yarn art installation. I enjoyed some free charcuterie and a gin and tonic with my book in the club. Then it was time to fly to Zurich. I struggled to sleep since my legs were sore, but I did have some new-to-me accessories that helped: noise cancelling headphones and a new neck pillow.

Day 1

I arrived in Zurich at 9AM local time. I had purchased a Swiss travel pass (more on that later), so I took a train from the airport to the main train station. I found a locker and stowed my stuff so I could explore Zurich.

The river was incredibly clear. There were GIANT swans. Surprisingly, it was in the 60s and really muggy. Amusingly everyone was wearing coats, like puffy jackets and hats.

On the way back to the train station, I stopped at a cafe for a latte and just as I sat under the umbrella, it started to rain. I waited it out and headed back to the train station. I grabbed a snack (a yummy pretzel with salami) and hopped on the train to Basel.

Quick fun fact, Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. German seems to be the default most places, though many people speak at least a little English. On the train, the ticket checking person came by checking tickets. He scans people and responds “danke” or “danke schoen” to all of them. There was an English speaking person and he said “thank you”. He scanned mine, looked at me and said “merci”. That means I’m winning right?

As we approached Basel, I saw some interesting graffiti under a bridge: “Fight sexism” and “Go vegan”.

Beth is working in Switzerland, so she met me at her place, let me in, and then went back to work. I showered and hydrated, then took a quick nap. After Beth came home, we walked to Kleinbasel (little Basel) for dinner and a cider. On the walk back, we stopped in at a bar and got limoncello spritzers. I managed to stay awake until 11PM!