In any case, I am here! 13 instructors, 1 apartment, countless lines of Java code. But first, I think I shall detail our trip here.
Our trip began in Boston, at 9:30 EDT, when we flew out of the Boston airport. Although this meant that we missed the fireworks, I could see random spurts of color as Boston faded away behind us.
I am quite impressed by Swiss Air. They begin by serving drinks, everything from water to wine (free, of course) and a small bag of "Happy Mix". At this point, the individual TV screens are detailing our flight, showing speed/temp/elevation statistics and displaying various maps to put the flight in context. Next, the meal. Meal included:
- choice of pasta or chicken (I chose pasta, which included a HOT dish of penne and tortellini, with marinara and alfredo sauch)
- WARM roll
- salad
- dressing
- cheese and crackers
- marble brownie
- and last but not least, REAL SILVERWARE (including a knife)
I ended up sleeping for about 4 hours and woke up at 10 am (4am body time) to see breakfast in front of me. Suddenly the sky was light, and I was very confused. In any case, we landed at about 10:30, and decided to use the day to explore the city of Zurich. First, we had to change money. John also brought pizza from Boston.
We bought train tickets (after deciphering the German-speaking machine) and headed into the city.
Zurich is BEAUTIFUL. And the weather was gorgeous.
Ted had picked up Rick Steve's travel guide to Switzerland, so we decided to explore the self-guided walking tour described. Much of the group decided to be cheap, but Ted and I surrendered 10 francs and got to learn about Zurich history (why not?)
Next, Bo, Froy, Ted and I headed across the river to find food. Small problem: we don't speak German. However, Bo, Ted, and I managed to figure out enough French to basically communicate everything we ended up needing. Like the college students we are, we did manage to find free food! (Zurich food is expensive, so this was awesome!) A group of chefs that typically provides food for the needy was giving out lunch to all passers-by (we learned through our awesome French skills), so we happily took food, made a donation, and enjoyed a delicious lunch!
Next, we walked up the hill to the University. Lots of stairs.
But, it was worth it for the view!
After perusing the paleontology and zoology museam at the University, we wandered back down the hill to more of the sites from Ted's tour guide. We visted Fraumünster church and saw the windows painted by Chagall (no photos allowed, sorry). [Interestingly, Chagall's birthday is today!] Finally, we reached the end of the tour, the lake, from where we could view the Swiss Alps (which are in the background).
At this point, hunger and fatigue struck, so we attempted to find une patisserie (a bakery) where we could purchase Ted's pretzel bread. No luck. But we did find a nice cafe where, through some combination of English, French, and Greek, we managed to order some coffee, tea, and croissants. We eventually ended up at a nice community park, full of people playing bocce ball and games of chess with large pieces.
We sat on the wall for a while and watched a guy riding his "bicycle boat". People also swim in the river. We then came across some sleeping MIT MEET instructors.
We also found a WC. ("Water Closet, for those of you who did not learn this term in French class")
We made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our departing flight. John and Zach were able to get seats (even Swiss air overbooks flights) and Ted even found his evasive pretzel bread! Our flight to Tel Aviv looked like it was going to go normally, so I was dozing off as we taxied out, but then the pilot announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to have a slight delay. Our outer right wing engine won't start, so we need to wait for a mechanic to come out and start our engine."
Well, THAT jolted me awake. Fortunately, haven't an engine not start isn't a serious problem, since the problem was a matter of forcing air through the engine. Once the plane is in the air, air is being forced through the engine automatically, so this isn't an issue. (Hurray for Aero-Astro!) But, it's still nerve-wracking to the average passenger.
Our flight continued smoothly, with a similarly delicious dinner followed by a few hours of sleeping. We arrived in Tel Aviv at 3:30 local time. We emerged through passport control, baggage claim, and custom at 5:00. Thus followed the amusing task of attempting to fit 13 people and all of our suitcases into 1 van and one car (this included the box with Zach's bike). Impossible though it seemed, it worked, although the ride wasn't comfortable. We drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the sun rose (beautiful!) and arrived at our apartment shortly after 6am. We made plans to have a curriculum meeting at 1pm, and then promptly crashed into our beds. Whee, jet lag!
Next time: Our apartment and the surrounding neighborhood
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