[CR Switzerland] Day 01

September 17, 2006
Zurich - First Day of Tour

The first official day of the tour, and I pulled aside the bedroom curtains to - leaden skies and rain. Ah, shucks. Good thing we'd gone downtown yesterday, then. Figured out the bathroom knobs and nozzles (always part of the standard hotel routine), a quick shower, then down to breakfast at the hotel.

Buffet breakfast, and was spoiled for choice. One thing I'll say, I love countries where the hotels serve the kind of breakfasts that stick to your ribs. None of those genteel 3C (croissant, coffee, cigarette) brekkies while I'm on tour! Went back at least twice before calling a halt, and the coffee was good. Then again, being an airport hotel, I think the fact that flight crews need good meals before heading out may have something to do with the excellent quality of the meals.

With the morning at leisure, the parents and I hopped on the airport shuttle to check out the mall, since Dad discovered last night that he'd forgotten his bathroom slippers in Manila. Ai-ya, of all the things to leave behind...thankfully the rain had slowed somewhat as we left, and the sun was actually making an effort to come out. We found what we needed after discovering the Airport Outlet store at the train station level, and that put Dad in a good mood.

Wandered in and out of shops at more leisurely pace before having lunch at the food court again. Then back to the hotel to freshen up before the scheduled orientation tour. Spotted the Insight call sheet poster as soon as we entered the lobby, and at the sight of the Tour Director's name, an involuntary grin split my face. We were going to have Elmar Galehr for the two weeks of the tour, and I'd heard lots of good about him from various posts on the board.

At 2.00 PM, the scheduled assembly time, we came down to discover most everyone already there. It was nice to see the familiar faces of our Singapore friends from yesterday. Easy to spot Elmar - he was checking names off his list, and so I went up to introduce myself and my parents to him. He gave us a very warm welcome, and I could see right away that what I'd read about him on the boards had a solid foundation. Already determined to enjoy the trip, rain or shine, better or worse, I think I may have bounced, just a little bit, at the idea of such a warmly recommended person taking care of the group.

Once Elmar was satisfied that he'd got all of us together, we were loaded into the bus and given a brief introduction to our driver Ueli. I'd noticed him standing patiently while we filed into the bus; couldn't see all that much of him in the rear view mirror, though. So off we went to downtown Zurich, for the second time in as many days. We were driven down the length of the Limmat River, on the opposite bank from the Banhofstrasse, with a brief glimpse of the Zurichsee, before turning into the other bank and pulling up not far from the Fraumunster.

The parents were *not* happy to be in the wet, but were grimly determined to make the best of it. The Fraumunster's lovely Chagall stained glass windows were being cleaned, and some minor renovations being done. Elmar pointed out the Grossmunster and its twin towers across the river before taking us through a short walking tour through the older part of Zurich. The digicam came into play early and often, despite the gray skies - starting with pictures of the Post Office and various assorted old buildings.

It was definitely a relief to get back on the bus - though I'm glad I got to see the pretty houses of the older section of the city, that we hadn't seen yesterday. Was impressed to note that some of the homes dated back to the 1600s or so - and even more impressed to know that the water fountains were *still* delivering potable water from the day they were installed to the present day.

The Welcome Drinks/Meet-and-Greet was scheduled for 5.30 PM. Ueli and Elmar got us back to the hotel with time to spare, and Elmar had suggested booking restaurant seating early, if we wanted to have dinner in the hotel. Early, as in, the moment we walked through the doors. So I did that, and after we freshened up, the parents and I went down to the little function room in the hotel's main restaurant. Again, we were among the last to find seats, and the group seems friendly enough. Certainly the people didn't waste any time getting acquainted, and under Elmar's direction, we managed to say a little bit about ourselves and played the game of matching names to faces. I would gladly have spent more time chatting, but the folks were getting hungry...so off to dinner we went.

Mercy on us, what a dinner that was. Soup and generous servings of the main course. I wound up being made to eat whatever the parents couldn't finish; I am looking forward to doing a *lot* of walking on this trip if things go on in this manner!

Checked the Insight call sheet once again, this time entering all the key times into my mobile phone. There are three main call times: the morning wake-up call (which may or may not happen, depending on the hotel), bags out/breakfast, and departure. Of great importance is the bags out timecheck - too early and there's the chance the bags could travel on some other bus (which almost happened on another tour I was on), too late and you may not get the bags into the bus at all!

Back in the room, it was time for the pre-departure routine. In a fit of exuberance I removed everything from my suitcase and carry-on bag, and reorganized everything. The "flying time" items were shoved into the suitcase, and the "coach time" items were jammed into the Insight day bag. Stuff like the folding umbrella, woolly hat, gloves, and scarf. The camera bag double-checked, and the bathroom items also packed away as I finished using them. The general principle was to have just the bare minimum out of the suitcase, so that before breakfast, it would be a case of "lock and load", to use the military expression.

Tomorrow we leave for Geneva. Dear God, please let the sun shine tomorrow!