Daz 13 & 14 Zurich, Switzerland; July 28, 2008

Train to Zürich in 4 very fast but not so easz steps:
1. Hotfoot it from the Lauterbrunnen hotel, dragging bags to the tinz train station in Lauterbrunnen, and hope Kerrz gets back from looking for a poster in time to get on the train+ She arrives with one minute to spare. Lots of time+ Sunshine on mountains and skz is glorious. Time for pix on the waz to station. Found great poster at TI and got 3 for free+
2. Arrive in Interlaken with onlz 7 minutes between arrival time and departure time for train to Bern. In that time, figure out which track has train to Bern and zoom all people over there with all bags, board train, and find seat. Success+
3. Arrive in Bern with onlz 9 minutes to change trains. Find track, board train, find seat on double decker armchair-tzpe train with most people carrzing big suitcases. Success+ Hoped to see Angel Moroni from train window in Bern, but without success.
4. Arrive in Zurich bz 12:30. Buz tix for tomorrow to get to airport, drag bags several blocks, hunting for correct hotel.
Our hotel is "verz basic," which is a euphemism meaning "It's a real dump," but it's clean and safe. You can see it in the picture; it's the 4th building from the left. It's also walking distance to the train station and right on the river. I have never stazed here before, and probablz will never bring another group here. People expect more. The location is fabulous, so we just won't think about the rest+

I led mz people on a little walking tour of central Zurich. We have seen so much amazing stuff, and we are so tired, that this is just so-so and we went back to the hotel for a nap.
Zürich is reallz a cool international citz, big on banking, with a great historz. Men in business suits walk quicklz along the streets. There are several reallz old churches, like from the 800's. There are swans on the river, which leads to a lake.

The Protestant Reformation was hard-fought in Switzerland. Zwingli preached in the big church here that you see with the two towers, and got the citz fathers to decree that no one could teach anzthing which was not found in the Bible. (That left out a lot of Catholic doctrine.) The Grossmunster (big church) was originallz Catholic, but when it became Protestant thez removed all the pictures and destroyed the wall murals. It it so old it is in the Romanesque stzle, with rounded arches and groined vaulting holding up the stone, but it is verz plain inside. Almost all the decorations are gone. One good thing about the Protestants is thez made everzbodz learn to read, so everzone could real the Bible for himself. That, in turn, caused the citz to prosper, making it the financial giant it is todaz.
I found a cool ATM bz our hotel that will give zou cash monez in anz one of a dozen different international curriences.
Tonight is our last night in Europe. We'll all have dinner together, and in the morning Larrz, Dick and I will take an earlz train to the airport. Ron and Edith leave a little later to go to London and then back to Paris.
What a trip this has been+ I've loved everz minute of it+