Friday, June 13th

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Seth and I went on a long hike on Wednesday (6/11).  We took a train and a bus to get to the canton of Glarus, southeast of Zurich.  The hike was my most difficult hike since Glacier National Park last summer—about 1300 meters vertical.  The last portion of the hike to get to the peak of the mountain consisted of an unmarked trail.  We could not find this trail at first and instead attempted to scale the steep grass straight up the hillside.  We climbed for about twenty minutes before deciding that we could not make it to the top continuing in our current direction.  We crab-walked back down the hillside and eventually found the trail.  It was a great view from the summit.  We had a well-deserved lunch of bread, meat, cheese, and chocolate before returning to the base of the mountain.  The lake near the bus stop was chilly but we took a quick dip before heading back to Zurich.

Greg Hof, a friend from Seattle that lived with Seth at UW last year, arrived on the morning of the 12th.  We had an easy morning—I finished up my last reflection assignment for my courses in India—to let Greg recover a bit from his flights.  In the afternoon we went downtown to hang out.  I bought some hiking boots for our upcoming hiking, then we walked through the old town on the way to the lake for a quick swim.  Seth’s friend Ruifeng hosted dinner for us and five others at his apartment.  The home-cooked meal was not the same as at home in Seattle, but the chicken, fried rice, cauliflower, and everything else was delicious.

On Friday (6/13), Seth’s friend Bjorgvin joined us for our day trip to Luzern, about an hour south of Zurich.  We visited the Swiss Museum of Transport in the afternoon.  There were lots of old trains, cars, airplanes and model boats.  All of the informational signs were printed in German, English, Italian, and French, so I got to practice my French comprehension a bit.  The museum was really good and had plenty of interactive exhibits.  We had a great kebab (only 8.50 Francs!) before getting back on the train to return to Zurich.


A final post about Zurich (with pictures) is coming soon!


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