Flying to Memphis, Tennessee - beautiful clouds
March Continues...
March 24, 2006
Leaving for Toronto in a few hours :)
Flying to Memphis, Tennessee - beautiful clouds
Shawn, Beau and Erick at il fornello restaurant Saturday Evening
The airline lost my luggage :) sooooo we waited most of the day for that to arrive. It finally showed up around 7 p.m. in the evening! :) Thankfully it showed up.
It was snowing when I woke up this morning! The last time I was here was in November and it snowed then as well. Sooooo I enjoyed the morning weather!
It was a nice plane ride up here...smooth ride.
Tomorrow I am going to see Norman and then David and I will be heading to Waterloo. We live for Zurich on Wednesday.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I am in Waterloo, Ontario today. There are still a few piles of snow on the ground. :) Nothing major though. The weather is nice. Cool though. I am having a great time...as always when I visit the Great White North! :)
David is working today and I am reading through the "tourism" books for Japan and China. We will be leaving for Zurich on Wednesday...then to Japan and then China.
Someone sent me this today...made me smile :)
LIFE IS SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE FEW
(A different perspective)
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the
country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be
considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was
the trip?.
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they
had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a
creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at
night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go
beyond our sight.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to
protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Nice day here in Waterloo. A few flowers are starting to bloom in David's front yard :) There are still snow piles along the snow fences. :)
David and I went to see the movie Inside Man. It was pretty good...bank robbery movie. Denzel Washington is one of the starts. He is a good actor. I would give the movie a seven.
Looks like a thread for severe thunderstorms back home on Thursday and Friday. Could be rough...especially as you go further west and northwest.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Well I am all backed and ready to leave for Switzerland. Should be a smooth flight to our destination. We are planning on taking a helicopter tour of the area. There are some beautiful mountains and landscapes around Zurich. Looking forward to seeing some snow? :) Hopefully! The forecast is rain...rain.....rain! I like rain so that is no big deal for me.
So where is Switzerland :) It is to the east of France and right above Italy. It is also south of Germany. Below is a map...SWITZ :) is the destination! We will be in Switzerland for a couple of days and then it is off to Japan!
Switzerland is below Germany :)
You can see Zurich there towards the northern
end of Switzerland
Switzerland has a population of around 7,500,000 people! We will be in Zurich which has a population of 350,000 people. A fairly small country...as countries go! This would be about the size of New Jersey times two. Switzerland is a fairly neutral country when it comes to war. They are a member of the United Nations...as of 2002. The country is mostly made up of Mountains...the Alps being part of the country. Bern is the Capitol of Switzerland.
This will make the fourth Continent that I have been on in the past year! I keep forgetting that Israel and that area was actually Asia. This trip will "feel" like Asia. The big question is how do I do Antarctica? :) heh
The forecast for Zurich
Travel distance? We will be
flying approximately 4050 miles tonight! ZOOM ZOOM
The distance between Paducah, KY and Zurich, Switzerland is 4691.0 miles(7550.0 km) By the time it is over we will have flown COMPLETELY around the world!
SWITZERLAND
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Arrived safely in Zurich, Switzerland.
This is me near the Limmat River...just outside our hotel area. Nice big steeple in the background! It has a very nice chime on the clock.
Limmat River with part of Old Zurich in the background.
Cloudy and rainy. We have
had to use our umbrellas this morning. I slept a couple of hours so we are
going back
out now!
More pictures later this evening....
Park in Old Zurich...museum in the background.
One of the statues in Zurich Center...the older portion
of the city.
Some of the buildings here date back to the 1300s! Beautiful area with
cobble stone streets and dozens of small shops.
Smart Car :) You see these vehicles all over
Europe. They are starting
to bring these cars into Canada and the United States. The gas mileage
is insane!
Everywhere you look the windows are decorated for Easter. They have some really cool Easter Decorations. I like the rabbits ;) There are also HUGE chocolate bunny rabbits sold in the candy stores. I should say that there are candy stores and book stores all over the place. I can only assume that they like to read here and they like to eat chocolate! :)
One of the many windows decorated for Easter
One of the many cobble stone road ways that wind through Old Zurich. You
could spend the entire day walking through the alley ways and streets.
They seem to go on forever.
The river that runs through the city of Zurich.
Very beautiful area. There are a lot of old churches throughout the area.
It was kinda nice having the rain...added a
bit of atmosphere :) to the adventure.
One of the many churches...
I thought this advertisement was cool :)
There are also a lot of flower shops scattered
throughout the city
The flag of Switzerland
Joey's Coffee Shop :)
Beautiful city.
Looking out of the hotel window you can see the
hillsides. Lot of mountains across the country. Hopefully
tomorrow I will be able to take the helicopter ride and see some of them.
The weather needs to clear up a bit.
Zurich, Switzerland
Painting on one of the alley walls.
WE FOUND THE BIRD FLU....
One of the protestant churches...
Window display...there were some pretty awesome
displays in some of the stores.
These Easter Bunnies are about 3 feet tall :)
ERICK would faint :P
It was a GREAT day in Zurich. David and I walked around for several hours. Exploring the old part of Zurich. The rain was nice...although we did end up pretty wet after the sun went down. It was fun though. This is a beautiful city with lots of nice people. I am having a great time.
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