The train ride from Barcelona to Zurich was an experience in itself. About 99% of the people on the train
were backpackers on holiday. The average age was probably about 25. Our first transfer was in Cebere,
France just over the border from Spain. Just about everyone from our first train boarded our second train
to Narbonne, France. The same is true for our third train to Geneva, Switzerland. The mayhem of travelers
lessened after we left Geneva. This is also the first time we moved up to 1st class. 1st class is awesome
because the seats are bigger and there is plenty of room to spread out. However, we don't get the
experience of being around all the other backpackers. The rest of our trip will probably be in 1st class, but
I think the routes we are taking aren't as heavily traveled by backpackers. Back in the Barcelona train
station, we sat next to three girls from Georgia (U.S.) who were traveling to the beaches of Italy. I think this
is where most of the backpackers were going that day.
We arrived in Zurich about 11:30am. We spent about an hour at the train station booking a hotel room,
getting the local currency, Swiss Francs, and making train reservations for the next day [1]. Once we left
the train station, we quickly noticed that just about every place of business was closed and very few
people were anywhere to be seen. We later learned that August 1st was the National Holiday celebrating
the day that Switzerland formed as a country.
When we checked into the hotel [2], Victor saw a flier for a celebration down by Lake Zuichsee. It was
supposed to end at 4pm and it was already 2pm, so we quickly dropped our stuff off and quickly headed
out the door. We saw musicians and dancers all performing traditional Swiss acts [3]. We ate some brock
wurst and pork along with a couple of local beers [4]. One beer was named Dinkel.
Still feeling tired from the all-night train journey, Rey, Gardo, and I headed back to the hotel for a shower
and a nap. Victor went to walk around more of the city. We headed back out about 9pm to a bar across
the street called the Penalty Bar. The friendly owner sold us some beer and sandwiches and told us
where the main streets in Zurich were. We then walked around Zurich with a few beers from the liquor
store. People were setting off fireworks throughout the city. We found a nice spot across the river from a
dance club where we listened to some music, watched some fireworks, and even saw a couple of people
swimming in the river [5]. It started to rain, but we continued our walking tour of Zurich.
We had noticed an encampment along one of the rivers on the way to the hotel. It consisted of some
plastic covered huts and a teepee erected in the center of a small river with a plank leading out to it [6].
The place was given the name Shanty Town. At night, they had a DJ and sold beer, so we went to check it
out. There were probably about 300 kids partying there with a huge bonfire lighting up the sky [7]. The
rain was still coming down. The DJ played technoish dance music, then some 80's, then a lot of punk.
Gardo heard the DJ play a song which was recorded by his friend. We learned that Shanty Town was a
traveling party of squatters that protested the lack of affordable housing in Zurich. We stayed there until
about 3am. We went back to the hotel with a guy that Victor had befriended at the Shanty Town party,
Neklan. We had some leftover chicken and went to bed about 4am.
We got up at 9am, got some complimentary breakfast from the hotel and headed through the rain to the
train station. Zurich was a cool place and we got to see a lot of interesting things considering the whole
city was shut down. The people speak German, but in a different dialect than Germany. The guy at the
liquor store said that it was written the same even though it was spoken differently. It will be interesting to
see if I can tell the difference between the culture in Germany and the culture in Zurich. We are now on a
train to Goettingen, Germany where we will meet up with Rey's friend Martin. I have been seeing a lot of
graffiti along the train tracks during this trip [8]. There is not a lot of tagging, but a lot of elaborate graffiti.
The style is very similar in the U.S. in that the graffiti is of the artist's nickname. I wrote one card and two
postcards on the train yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to mail them. I've tried to call Iberia twice, but
have gotten her voicemail. I miss her and I want to tell her everything I've done.
Sunday, August 7th, 2005
We arrived in Goettingen around 4pm on Tuesday (8/2) [9]. Rey's friend, Martin was driving to Colon,
Germany to pick up another friend, Emiliano. Colon is about 3 hours drive from Goettingen and Martin and
Emiliano were not going to be back until around 7pm. This later turned out to be around 9pm. Our plan
was to hang out in Goettingen until Martin came home. To our surprise, Martin had sent his roommate,
Simone, to pick us up from the train station. As soon as we stepped off the train, she was there. She put
us in a cab as she rode her bike and we met up at the apartment.
After some freshening up, Simone walked us to the center of town. It was about a thirty minute walk. We
ate a Turkish restaurant where we ate doners [10]. A doner tastes a lot like a shwarma except with a
torta-like sandwich pita. We were very hungry and it really hit the spot. She walked us around town telling
us about Goettingen. We also got some errands done like going to the post office and ATM. We then
stopped and had a beer at one of the restaurants. Simone needed to go back to school, so we separated.
We made some phone calls and I finally got a chance to speak with Iberia. My mom was not at home.
Iberia's stomach was hurting, so the phone call was rushed. Phone calls are difficult because it can be
hard to convey feeling. I got off the phone wondering if she was mad at me about something. We walked
back home retracing our steps from a few hours earlier.
Shortly after, Martin and Emiliano showed up with beers in hand. Last summer, Rey, Martin, and Emiliano
[11] went to a summer research program in Massachusetts. For nine weeks, they partied together
everyday. They became good friends and this was the first time all three of them were together again. We
ordered some pizza and spent the rest of the night hanging out listening to Martin's music collection [12].
Martin's roommate, Peter was also hanging out with us too. We stayed up until about 5am when everyone
passed out.
The next day, we woke up around 1pm. Simone had already gone to the store to pick up bread and
cheese. We ate while getting over our hangovers. Martin then walked us back over to the city center to
show us around Goettingen some more. We stopped and had a beer, still moving a bit slowly. The
highlight of the day was climbing up to the steeple of St. Jacobs church [13, 14]. It was built in 1361 and is
the oldest building I have ever been in. Martin was having a party that night in honor of his friends being in
town. We had walked around town a bit too long, so now we were in a rush. After going to the
supermarket, then a Turkish market, Victor had all the ingredients he needed to make dip, including
guacamole, for the party. We took a taxi back, cleaned up the house, and took showers. Martin then had
us put all the beer bottles, about eighty of them, in the bathtub submerged in cold water. This was
supposed to clean the bottles and chill them as they were purchased warm. It didn't really get the beer
cold, but it was fun to see all that beer in the bathtub.
That evening at the party [15, 16], I met four people from the Ukraine, one from Japan, one from Brazil, one
from Spain, and a whole lot of people from Germany. Everyone was connected to the University in
Goettingen. Luckily, everyone speaks at least some English so it was easy for me to communicate.
However, I find myself choosing simple words as to not say anything that wouldn't be understood. This is
probably needed for some conversations, but not for others.
I spent a good part of the night talking to Martin's other friend Michel and his girlfriend. I can't remember
his girlfriend's name, but she was from Brazil. Michel was an exchange student in high school and spent
several years in Pasco, Washington. I had just returned from Richland, Washington working for my former
employer, Bechtel. Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick make up the tri-cities in Washington. They are three
very small cities joined together in the middle of the desert in Washington. It was quite a coincidence. We
spoke about the nuclear reactors that are there and the huge environmental clean-up effort taking place.
His girlfriend was very interested in this and U.S. politics in general.
Earlier in the day, we learned that Simone could juggle and that she did a fire act. We had been
encouraging her to perform for us, but to no avail. Suddenly, at 4am, Simone announced that we were
going to the park across the street for a performance. It only took a couple minutes for the eight remaining
people at the party to head out the door. With a bongo and a box (the musical instrument) in tow, we went
to the park. Martin kicked a lamppost until the light went out leaving us in total darkness except for a tiny
bit of moonlight and the fire. Simone held two ropes with fire lit on the end of each. She swung the ropes
around as Martin, Emiliano, and Victor provided a hypnotizing beat [17]. We were all very impressed with
how Simone choreographed her ropes. It was the perfect ending to our evening.
The next day started about 1pm. We went straight to work on cleaning up the apartment. It had to have
been a great party for all the mess that was left behind. We dusted, vacuumed (Hoovered as they say in
Germany), and mopped until the place looked better than when we arrived. We then sat down to some
leftover bread and cheese. While everyone was getting ready, Gardo and I headed out to the front of the
building to play catch with the two baseball gloves and ball that Michel got when he went to see a Seattle
Mariners game. It was fun as I haven't played catch in years. It was also a bit depressing to see how sore
my shoulder was the next day after only fifteen minutes of play. My muscles have not been utilized in
weeks.
Note: Picture is inverted
