Last stop. The Finish Line. Finito, Finis, Done like Dinner.

Well, back in Canada now, after one of the longest days of my life, my bags were well over weight and I have had to scream, blush the baby blues and look forlorn to get everything here with little fanfare, at least I got things as far as Montréal... Such a drag flying, especially so when the staff are trying to enforce their rules - how unfair is that? I really did prefer this when you could take two bags - it would cost me over 400 dollars to get an extra suitcase home now. I was actually doing not bad collecting stuff till I picked a large heavy 800cc absinthe bottle and 500cc pear schnaps in Zürich, and several kilos of prepared potatoes. The weight, together with several pounds of cheese from Albert Heijn supermarket was the crowning glory to the bulk of pre inspected flower bulbs.... They seal them in rather oversized packaging with the health certificate, and so that made two GIANT carry bags for drag on as cabin baggage as well as large backback... I talked my way into carrying the three large carry on pieces to get to the US, but I am wondering if Air Canada will be as easy to slide by....we will see I guess.
Going through immigration and customs in philadelphia they wanted to xray the tulip bulbs, as a special agricultural inspection before allowing me to proceed (and get another xray to board the next plane), I have a very large round butter cheese that has been xrayed many times and caused consternation, the sheer volume of rosti potato in slab like foil packs also has colour xrays scanning the stack of slabs, as if it was explosive, no that's dinner! X-raying the tulips many times causes me to laugh, as for soil or disease inspection shouldn't they be doing that by eye only?
I have left a tiny hotel room in Amsterdam (where the staff were great) for one of the largest in Montréal, as is always, it's a shame I could not keep going on and on... We could have done Italy next, or Germany.
But my employer wouldn't be happy, and neither would my bank balance...
Claudia Schiffer was coming out of a duty free shop in Schiphol, around the time I could not find my Canadian passport..people were taking pics, I wish I could have reacted to that sooner.
At Philadelphia, after all the xrays and body scanners, I was waiting sitting opposite a little old lady, with one small suitcase, she looked really, really tired, kept on putting her head in her hands. Every now and again I would see her weep. After a little while I went over to her, crouched on my knees and asked her if she was OK. She said her son had passed away that morning and that is why she was going to Montréal. She grabbed my hand and I squeezed it tight, but I never know what to say.... So after a few words I said I would help her with her luggage or get someone to - the latter is what I did, they took her off the plane in Montréal in a wheelchair. How sad a blow to get when so old, she must have been in her eighties. She looked crushed, despite many thinking I have no heart, I feel Ibad can do nothing for her :(
That said, Montréal on Monday night was warm and lovely as I strolled to Saint Hubert for my chicken dinner, a branch incidentally away from where they steal your food if you look away, and that night the heavens opened and it never stopped until I left. So no sightseeing in Montreal AGAIN, but plenty opportunity to go shopping for jazz cd's at my favourite music shop here, of which there are a few, and yes, they are in the chicken stealing area.
After taking a 17kg box to the post office, as I could no longer handle dragging around the excess weight, I was soaked, but it was time for one last Saint Hubert plate of dinner before a cab to the airport and now I am in Ottawa finishing this off as the trip is effectively over.... I decided to take a cab after days of running for buses and trains, dragging everything through the wind and rain...
I could have told you some extra stories that were not fit for a wide audience blog, ask me about the hooker in Barcelona - the worst attitude, most unappealling and lousiest saleswoman of the year... Or maybe I will volumteer it all later on... Today's meet was a young woman on the flight from Montréal going to Ottawa then London for an MBA program interview, a really chatty Californian. She is going to be a good bread winner one day....
With that I suppose it is bonne chance to all my friends, if you followed along thanks, if you asked me to get you anything I think I succeeded in most of your wants... As for me I cannot wait to go somewhere again so Las Vegas Nevada, and the scorching desert is my my next trip, end of June and July long holiday weekend. I doubt I will win any cash, but exploring the endless roads might be fun - I am thinking of going to Area 21, since Switzerland didn't claim me, perhaps a spaceship will.
I know how you all love for me to get out of town, and I love to too, so I can't wait.
Auf wiedersehn from Schweizer Dave! As the tale of the little old woman at the airport reminds me, use up your lives as best you can!
-
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.

Location:Montréal, Canada.

Where it all began...Amsterdam

Well it really begain in Montréal, but the weather was so awful awful I refuse to accept that.

Getting to Holland was truly horrid, I am sure you don't want to here but there were rain clouds, very dense one all the way from Zürich to Frankfurt, then on to Amsterdam. On the first flight one such cloud bump, actually two of them had the cabin crew hanging on to the back of passengers seats... So I doped myself up after that flight, as we had to do another!

One full day in Amsterdam, and apart from shopping for a few things, I spent most of my time time getting too and going around Keukenhof. Keukenhof park is open only a few weeks of the year, so it's a big draw.

If you are into flowers, spring bulbs etc. Keukenhof is basically plant pornography. Literally a feast for the eyeballs, beautiful colour.

The bulb fields alas were starting to be cleared, there were one or two lines of colour... There is a small period every year where a huge area of Holland is completely covered in bright blooms. This is the tail end of it.













The pic above in Keukenhof castle











A big part of the Dutch economy is flowers, as seen here...








The lilliput tulips below are cute





There was a time in history when the world was so taken with Dutch tulips, the bulbs were used as currency.... But that quickly fell apart, you can grown your own...





Amsterdam I have bored you with city pics many times, like at the beginning of this blog, and the last one.... I even have four pulped mangoes in plastic drink bags....just like before. Who ever would have thought pulped mangoes and Amsterdam went so well together....











But whilst women winking in red light windows and going shopping at the flower market has its charms.... It's still a little more restful in the park - oh hang on, that's not true! The photos here show only a few people, THIS PARK ATTRACTS HORDES!


But back to my little hotel room, and the sound of this trickling brook and all is well :)


Only one more stop and then it's all over... The fat lady is filling her lungs up to start singing... It's kind of sad, but it's life.

Off to the airport tomorrow with my 15 ton bag! We'll see if they let me on the plane :) Oh, and no space cake, not one!

-
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.

Location:Amsterdam, Netherlands.

A spring day in Zürich

This is out of my bedroom window...


This is old Zürich, another mediaeval town to wander through... I met some Chinese folk at breakfast at the hotel so we compared notes on the cuckoo clocks and the Chinese buyers in Interlaken and the Indians eating way too much food, glad I wasn't the only one to notice...


This is the street sign for my hotel...








Lovely sunny day.








This is part of the famous Zürich shot, the churches where Lake Zürich drains into the city....


The radio mast top right I am going there a bit later...





The ice cream shop below, 3 scoops, 13 dollars. No wafer, just a paper cup and a plastic disposa-spoon. Minimum wage is 17 dollars here which partly explains things.





Not sure which panorama is best...














I have bought many of the bricks in this head office building....


The water on the lake is nice and clear.


And yes, the mountains are not too far away...


Fish!





Up from the hill, you can see where the lake enters the city, that is old town...


And they have this cell phone mast you can climb as well, but not me...


Lovely day to take the yacht on the lake....if I had one!


And back to the view out my hotel room again....


Apart from shopping for absinthe and truffles that pretty much was my day after long hikes in the sun... It was lovely... Not sure I want to leave Switzerland :(

Tomorrow I have the morning, then back to the flughafen for a 2 flight return to Amsterdam.
-
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.

Location:Zürich, Switzerland.

Bern to Luzern

The morning was bright and sunny....





And the clock is animated....


Amusingly so, the red guy p top chimes the bells


But the 'child eater of Bern' is one conundrum nowadays, no one knows wny it is here... Except as a political warning they think... Against someone at the time...





It was just efore lunch and all the cafe's were on the ready - people eat out A LOT in Switzerland.


Below is the old bear pit, they have kept bears in Berne for hundreds of years, Bärren in German is Bears, and they think that's where the city name is from... They are not nice places to keep bears anymore... Now we know so much better. The only time when Bern had no bears is when Napoleon took them away for 12 years and moved them to Paris.



Restaurant below is where I stuffed my face with rösti last night...


Now the bears have a park to wander through and can swim in part of the river. Much nicer.


Pretty town!


Bear town.


It is 1 hour on the express train to Luzern.... Not long.
-----------

Luzern, or Lucerne in French, is on the way to Zürich, kinda, sorta, so instead of Neuchâtel, on the advice on that woman on the plane 2 weeks ago, here we are...


The bridge below is the defining image of the town.


But much of the rest of it is nice too! Only problem is it had clouded over since I left Bern.


Pic below needs cropped but look how close we re to the mountains still...





Luzern has a an old town centre of course... Dating ack nearly a thousand years.








The van below is far more recent.





The Swiss are said to be staunchly Caolic, but sex shops are here, and the admission age is 15 (!) according to the signage - they are not hidden, you see them next door to gift shops - so hardly prudish...





I quite liked Luzern.


Luzern on Lake Luzern.











The old glass below is authentic lookimg, they could not make flat glass then, but I wonder if they make fake old glass now, it looks rather un-worn.


Oh well, off to Zürich now and then. 2 bus 2 train round trip from there out to get my suitcase back that I left weeks ago at the hotel ner the airport, that will take a couple of hours I think! Go, go, go these last few days :)
-
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.

Location:Luzern, Switzerland.