August 24, 2018
Zurich - A Smooth Flight and Smooth Arrival
But what is with those luggage carts?
We always relax once we are underway, and especially once the bike boxes are checked, and this year was no exception. We get a little better at this each year, and this time we remembered to put as little tape as possible on the boxes at home as they will be reopened at the airport. The advantage of this is the necessity of using the CATSA tape for the real sealing job.
Our flights were on time and we had bulkhead seats so were very comfortable. The only tiny glitch was just before landing when we went through very brief turbulence and the plane dropped suddenly, causing a mass gasp from everyone on the plane, followed by a relieved ripple of laughter. Always keep your seat belt fastened! It came out of nowhere.
Customs was smooth and the young woman who checked us through had some hints for us. One was there may be snow on the Oberwald Pass this week. We came a week early to avoid that sort of thing! The weather in Zurich today was warm but cloudy. One of those days when the sun is out it is hot and when it goes behind a cloud it is time for a sweater. No rain though, which was nice. The rain is forecast for tomorrow when we will be riding.
Our bikes were down the oversized luggage chute in no time and that is when we took a good look at the luggage carts.
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The shuttle bus towed a trailer so the bikes were easy to load. We were at the front desk befor 9 AM and they allowed us to check in immediately. Then it got even more magical. They opened a conference room which wasn’t being used today for us to assemble the bikes. We had quiet, a table for tools, comfortable chairs, a private bath and chocolate. Even a pair of scissors that came in handy slicing through all that CATSA tape. That gesture by the Hotel Movenpick was much appreciated.
Once assembly was complete we headed to our room for a nap. We set the alarm...we want to be able to sleep tonight. Then it was back to the airport for a Swiss SIM card. A tiny mistake there, we needed Keith’s passport for the SIM. Back we went on the shuttle for the passport and as they run continuously we were all set up very quickly.
We then hopped a train into Zurich and spent the rest of the day exploring. Zurich has a lovely old town and of course the lake is beautiful.
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We had stumbled onto the ‘Body and Freedom Festival’. No idea what it is about really as the brochure is in German, but it certainly was a surprise. It is naked performance in urban spaces. We watched for a few minutes and the man in the picture was constantly manipulating his belly. My interpretation was around body image issues, but we don’t really know
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After our brush with live theatre we had some dinner and decided it was time to head for home. We were both flagging. We hopped back on the train and I don’t remember the trip back because I promptly fell asleep. We are heading to bed after a full and fun day.
Tomorrow the riding begins. We have a short day planned to Zug (about 50 km) because we have heard it is a lovely and because the weather forecast is for rain. We should be fine...we won’t melt 😜.
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