"How do you have more luggage than me?"

San Francisco International Airport - We arrived early to the airport. About two hours early. Such is the way of my in-laws. It's OK: I took a nap on the floor in the terminal. I understand that firm surfaces are good for your back.

We also came with stuff. A lot of stuff. Seven check bags and four carry-ons. H is indulging in what I consider excessive smug because I ended up taking more stuff than she did. Apparently, this little detour from heteronormative packing patterns is news that everyone needs to hear: the ticketing agent, the TSA security woman, and practically all our neighbors and friends.

The reason I have more stuff is that I am taking skis and H is not and ski gear is rather bulky. H briefly explored the idea of having me leave the ski gear behind, but this idea failed to gain traction with me. Switzerland is rather well known for its skiing and I wasn't about to pass that up.

Comments

The Swiss Advance to the Quarterfinals

Zurich, Switzerland - Monday evening was one of jubilation in Zurich, and indeed, throughout Switzerland: the Schweizer Nati (Swiss National Team) advanced to the quarterfinal in the UEFA Euro 2020 championship (European soccer tournament). As you've probably guessed, this championship was supposed to be held last year, but was obviously delayed due to the pandemic. Despite that, the tournament organizers have persisted in calling it Euro 2020. This is the first time Switzerland has advanced this far in the tournament. The victory came over a juggernaut, the reviled French. Sports books significantly favored the French in this match (a $100 bet on Switzerland would have paid out $550) and in fact the French were the favorite or among the favorites to win it all. Indeed, the Swiss were down 3-1 into the later minutes of the game. The crowd gathered around our local bar, Le Calvados, was sullen and quiet. With ten minutes to go, the prominent cranium of Haris Seferovic, showin...

We're Back!

Paris, France - We've returned to Europe for a three-week sojourn in France, Switzerland, and the UK. We're obviously very excited. We arrived in Paris Sunday around 11AM. Our approach to jet lag is akin to tearing the bandaid off quickly: We purposely sleep little if at all on our transatlantic flight (below is a photo of Hannah, trying not to sleep on the flight), consume copious amounts of caffeine after we land, slowly descend into irritability and mild delirium, and then collapse after staying up as late as we can on our first night in Europe. Our body's, overcome by shock from this maltreatment, eagerly accept a full night's sleep, even if it's offered at an hour that's entirely out of keeping with our normal schedule. Works like a charm. After depositing our things at the hotel, we aimlessly wandered around Paris for a few hours before meeting up with Maggie, an acquaintance of Hannah's from work. Maggie took us to the wine bar Delicatessen where we ...

We summit Rigi

Arth, Switzerland - H and I summited Mt. Rigi this weekend. Rigi is among the great peaks in this area, known to some as the "Queen of the Mountains." It's visible from Zug and nearby Lucerne. Starting in the early afternoon, Hannah and I slowly made our way to the blustery and snow-covered peak by 300PM. Our ascent was over 1,200 meters, starting from the nearby town of Arth. As you might expect, there was huffing and puffing and even a bit of rumbling as we chugged our way up, but not once did Hannah and I think of turning back. No, we were committed to riding that train straight to the peak! Rigi is actually something of a landmark in railway history. It was the first mountain cogwheel railway in Europe (though, the title for world's first mountain cogwheel railway goes to the Mt. Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire). Rigi's cogwheel railway was complete in 1871 and it's still in use today. Unsurprisingly, the railway greatly increased access to th...

The Neutral Zone

Search This Blog