Snowy Greetings from Lauterbrunnen
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I survived my first two nights CouchSurfing in Lausanne. It was really awesome - I went to a big concert on Friday night and hung out with my host in the evenings. Then I surfed a night in Bern with two cute Swiss girls who showed me all around the Swiss capital. Right now I am at a hostel in Lauterbrunnen, which is about 60km into the Swiss alps from Interlaken.
It was quite a surprise to find it snowing when I woke up this morning. Even the locals were amazed. I think it snowed between two and three inches. I went on a little hike and it was nice but visibility was limited. Hoping for sun tomorrow, but not heartbroken to stay inside and lay low. Still meeting lots of people at these hostels.
What else... Oh, my diet is totally shot. I have a really hard time finding anything but luncheon meat chicken. And the bread is so good that I can't help but snack on a big loaf all day. I even had some sweets (Nutella) on my pretzels and bananas.
Next stop is probably Zurich on Thursday. I am going to hang out here in the valley for a while.
Quick Notes from Geneva
I have been staying in a youth hostel to save money. It is $25 per night and I really like it. I sleep with earplugs. Today was the last day of the trade show. I am always a little bit sad for five minutes after the booth is all packed up at a trade show. Mostly I am sad because I had a routine and a set group of work friends for three days and now it is gone. Tonight I am going to Lausanne to meet someone that I met on CouchSurfing.com. I go to the Migros supermarket every day. I took the Number 5 bus to work every morning. I really like being on the road again in Europe.
Arrived in Zurich
I have arrived in Zurich. My Swiss mobile phone number is +41 077 439 50 57. The weather is beautiful and I met a friend from Vimeo who showed me around town yesterday. I was very impressed with the parks and all the green space by the lake. Then a friend of my father treated me to a great dinner and a luxury hotel room on Lake Zurich. Now I am leaving the hotel to get a train to Geneva. EBACE starts tomorrow (the trade show) - I am excited and feeling good.Off to Switzerland
I just finished packing for my two weeks in Switzerland. Here is my tentative overnight city schedule - Zurich, Geneva, Geneva, Geneva, Lausanne, Lausanne, Bern, Lauterbrunnen, Lauterbrunnen, Lauterbrunnen, Lauterbrunnen, Zurich, and Zurich.
This past week was a wonderful mess. I had the opportunity to hang out with some new friends from India. So I played host on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, showing my royal visitors such haunts as the Waffle House and the soda array at the QuickTrip gas station.
Shout-out to my friend Kaushal, who introduced me to his friend Swati, who introduced me to her little sister visiting Atlanta.
One of the two girls I was showing around Atlanta is very famous in India. So famous that I am not going to mention her name or share any of the pictures here (add me as a friend on Flickr if you want to see some candid snaps). If you do a little digging around my blog you can figure it out - I blogged about her two or three years ago.
Anyhow. I am very excited for this upcoming work vacation. Talk to you soon from the other side of the Atlantic.
Upcoming Travel to Switzerland
I will be in Switzerland for two weeks - May 19th to June 2nd.
The first week I will be in Geneva for EBACE, the premier European business aviation trade show. I went to EBACE in 2005 - see my blog post from that show about the proposed VVIP Airbus A380.
The next week I will take another vacation and aimlessly backpack around Switzerland, slowly making my way to fly out of Zurich. I might go to Rome to visit my friend Andrew for two days.
Candid Notes from NYC - part 2
- Riding the subway is still an event for me. It is sort of an adventure.
- I am always on my best behavior with my friends in their apartment elevators.
- Having my own bike for the week would have been really nice.
- Next time I should bring my 1-liter collapsible water bottle.
- Clean bathrooms are still readily available at all Starbucks locations.
- Canal Street on the weekends is a total zoo.
- The L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan was surprisingly crowded at 10am during weekday mornings. I wonder what the earlier trains are like.
- In Atlanta I can wear my blue-blocker sunglasses for pure utility (I like how they make my eyes feel). But in Williamsburg I felt like I was making a statement whenever I wore them. That sucked.
- My friend Casey lives in Turtle Bay, near the UN. This was a very nice (if quiet) neighborhood.
- I went to a modern dance performance on Friday night with Jake and Robyn. Some parts were so weird. The first dance made me feel like I was on bad drugs.
- I only heard one Southern accent during my whole trip. It sounded great.
- I wish I could turn on a better drawl whenever I wanted.
- Salmon and tuna were great backpack snacks. But they smell.
- Some of my male and female friends have unhealthy diets... but they seem to be in remarkably good health.
- I would love to be able to do a back-flip and then juggle five balls.
That's a wrap for my New York City trip. Oh, if I had to recommend a youth hostel to someone visiting New York City -- I think I would pick Jazz on the Park at 36 West 106th Street. I peeked into a few hostels in the upper west side area and I liked the Jazz on the Park atmosphere the best.
Video Clips and Photos from NYC - part 1
I went to New York City last week and had a great time. I was there for nine days. Thank you to everybody who hosted me and showed me around town.
Noah, Nick, Shaheen, and Courtney - photo by Zach Klein
Zach and Noah made this video (below) with Zach's fancy Nikon digital camera. Sunday, April 22nd was a magical afternoon in Williamsburg.
This thing with the sun happened when we were on the apartment balcony. I will have a hard time giving the moment justice, but here goes.
It was about 5:00pm and the sun was setting over Manhattan. The light bounced off of Zach's huge white apartment building. So we had nice, warm light on both sides. And suddenly we were all having fun outside in this amazing light environment.
That's it, really. It probably sounds dumb. But it was special for me to see my friend Zach get so excited about photography again.