CH-Zurich: Day 1

This has got to be the longest January 17th yet. It actually began when I checked in at the airport back home at 10:30PM on Janaury 16. As the ticket agent handed me my boarding pass he cordially notes that the plane is delayed for one hour and its new ETD is 01:30AM. For the next three hours I sit in the lounge with a San Mig Light while watching Johnny Depp in "Blow" on my portable video player.

Dubai International Airport. © 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

I arrived at Dubai International at 6AM-ish. Surprisingly, it was a chilly 15 degrees Celsius as we disembarked from the plane. The innards of the airport were teeming with people looking like ants from the second level balcony. As one of those ants marching through the bowels of DI, I was not too pleased to find out that out of 50 gates in the terminal my flight was assigned to Gate 49 for boarding.

Dubai International Airport. © 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

By the time I got to the security gate, I thought I was going to have to walk all the way to Zurich. But, then there was the bus transfer ---- that ride must’ve taken about 20 minutes before I finally settled into my seat on the Airbus.

Zurich Airport. © 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

Charles © 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

I finally arrived in Zurich around 1PM and was ferried to my hotel by the Old Town by Charles. I was taken aback that is was relatively ‘mild’ feeling day in winter wonderland (which happens to be lacking any snow). It was about 8 degrees Celsius when I touched down, the sun was shining and the air was crisp enough that it could be cut by a knife.

Limmat Quai © 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

After my meeting at the hotel lobby, and in an attempt to avoid crashing into bed too early and succumb to jet lag, I headed across the street to Zurich Main to buy tomorrow’s ticket for Geneva. From there I decided to walk off a bit of jet lag and followed the Banhofstrasse till I veered left towards the Limmat. Suddenly, I found myself lost in a maze of narrow cobblestoned alleyways. In between alleys and building roofs, I could see the biggest clock face in Europe, St Peter’s Church.

St Peter's Church at dusk.© 2008 Ninfa Z. Bito

The walk in the cold air along the Limmat did wonders for staving off jet lag. Now, sitting in my room the heater is making it harder to fend it off for a few more hours. It’s still to early to sleep and beat this thing. I think I saw a treadmill downstairs…