Paisano European Tour 2010 - Day 5

Day 5 is September 11

Momma & I are up and ready to go this morning, after a bit of breakfast at the hotel, we walk down to the train station.  Apparently, because I'm so used to the mountains in Colorado Springs being on my West, I'm a bit directionally challenged anywhere else.  Yes, I'll admit it, I got a touch lost and in Fine Fashion...I did NOT ask for directions.  Gotta make my gender proud somehow.  ;)

As we here in the US know, September 11 or 9/11 is an important date in our history.  Sometimes, we as US citizens/Americans take too many things for granted.  There are vigils and moments of silence, but Momma & I were both quite surprised and proud of our Swiss friends and what they had in store.

We were exploring Zurich and having a Great time when the bells in a local church started to chime.  At first, we didn't think much of it, but they kept ringing and ringing.  This went on for a good 15 minutes.  About 5 minutes into it, I realized it was at nearly the exact time as the tragic events unfolded. It was very moving and made us feel that Not everyone in the world dislikes Americans. 
For my part, I do try to NOT act like the stereotype when I travel and of course, Momma Rocks, so she was right there with me the entire trip, supporting our friends and trying her best to understand and embrace the customs and people of the area where we stayed and visited.

As we spent the day walking around and exploring Zurich, we had the opportunity to see some great architecture, great views of Mother Nature and an interesting mix of people.  As we were walking around, of course, we got hungry.  We happened upon this great little churassco restaurant with outdoor dining.  When I have the opportunity, I Always prefer being outside and this was great.  Food was quite good, the service was good and the "people watching" was fun.

 


I have to say this now and will say that it was repeated daily during this adventure.  Momma and I had opportunities for some great talks as we were enjoying our adventure.  Sure, I KNOW she's cool, but this trip really reminded me just how cool she is.  The phrase of this trip and beyond is:
              Momma Paisano Rocks!!!

Sometime during the day as we were wondering around and exploring, we heard some music that didn't seem to be prerecorded.  Since I'm Always in the mood to discover some new and/or good music, I had to follow my ears.  Imagine my surprise when we turned the corner and found a mariachi band playing in the square.  It was Great!  The band was having fun and enjoying themselves.  That means so much.  I know many artistic types and musicians from many different genres and it Always comes down to the fact that when  the artist enjoys what they are doing, it comes through to the audience.



When now decide that we want to head back to the hotel.  Sounds easy, doesn't it.  WELL...yes, you guessed it, I got us on the wrong train, so we ended up WAY out of the way.  While it was out of the way, it was interesting and an opportunity to see more of Switzerland and in the meantime, Also learned a new word. Flughafen.  Do YOU know what it means?  Momma does.  ;)

We finally got back to the hotel and we called it a day.  Both Momma & I wrote up notes on our adventure and that was it.  Tomorrow we start our true exploration of Switzerland.