Such great heights.

My bike ride around Zürich was cut short by a quick rain shower. I ducked into a cafe and had an Ovomaltine, NOT to be confused with the Asian/American immitation, Ovaltine. It was actually pretty good, more vitaminy and malty than I anticipated. It was tough to order that instead of a drinking chocolate, but luckily, you get a bit of Swiss chocolate with every hot drink you order around here, so I didn't miss out too much. Also on my list of drinks to try is Rivella, a soft drink made in part from whey. I know, weird. It supposedly doesn't taste like milk at all. It comes in regular, diet, and green tea, which looked like mint on the bottle but probably isn't. I wasn't brave enough in the store last time. Plus, I don't like American soft drinks, so I didn't think I'd like this.

Speaking of shopping, you're required to weigh out all your fruit and veg, then affix the price labels the scale prints out before you get to the register. Good to know for next time. Also in the Migros, one of two ubiquitous Swiss grocery chains, I found some odd bread. They had normal loaves, plus those odd "toast" varieties with no heels they have in England, plus various sorts of French bread, and then also these odd, dark rolls. Naturally, I picked up the food I didn't recognize. The rolls were very dark brown, but they had those slices across the top and I could see that the inside was white. I smelled them, and the scent was familiar and yet unidentifiable. After purchase, I figured it out: pretzel bread! Of course. They're delicious, and they remind me that I need to go get even fresher pretzels once I hit Bavaria.

I also visited the candy shop before leaving Zürich. They have more types of gummi and marshmallow treats than I thought possible to create, just walls of the stuff. Any extra space has licorice candies of varying shapes. The chocolate? All American brands, except those Kinder eggs with stuff inside. Weird. I was so put off by the lack of Swiss chocolate that I didn't even try a few marshmallows.

I forgot to say that I also tried the wine the other day. The local white, Fendant, is delicious and dry enough to suit me. I'll have to taste a few more varietals soon. In between alcohol and soft drink tastings, I've enjoyed the fountains. I'm a sucker for water fountains, so I stop at every single one to admire the carvings and suck up some cold, clear water. It keeps me from being too homesick for Portland and its Benson Bubblers, I suppose. I also had an encounter with a German-speaking ATM (unusual, they almost all have German, Italian, French, English, and Spanish). I'm getting better at German, so I was able to get my 100 Swiss Francs. It gave me a 100 SF bill, but it was simple to swap it for some smaller bills and coins. Swiss Francs come in 100, 50, 20, and 10 SF bills, as well as in 5, 2, and 1 SF coins, and in .50, .20, .10, and .05 rappen coins. I've got the conversion down, and the coins and bills are all nicely sized and colored for easy identification (AHEM, America).

In all, I like this city. I really appreciated the walkable riverfront. Should have gone to school here; check out the university (and an even more impressive tech school to the right). These are accessable via funicular.

I've probably given the impression that Switzerland (CH in abbreviation, for Confoederatio [Confederation] Helvetica, its true name) is all food. Not so. I finally made it onto the renowned Swiss train system. I had heard about their puntuality, but the ticketseller even corrected me when I asked for the 12:30 train. It's actually the 12:32 train. Stupid American. Sure enough, we left at exactly 12:32, and all my connections (first over to Bern, the capital city, then down to Spiez, near the central lakes, further south to Frutigen on a regional train, then finally out to Adelboden, the town in which I'll be living for the next three months) were just as precise. I had between five and twelve minutes between connections, so that was easy, and they were either the next track over on the same platform, or, in the case of the Spiez-Frutigen one, on the same track. Just disembark, wait a few minutes, and get on the next train. As the trip progressed, I went from city to gorgeous countryside to city, then back to farmland, then to little chalets up on the hillside, then finally to a mountain town. I wanted to hop off and explore the rural towns a bit, and I could have, since the Swiss train tickets are good for any train going to the destination you paid for all day, but I wanted to show up when I said I would. The final transfer was to a bus, which hauled me, about thirteen others, and a whole lot of ski gear up the mountain to Adelboden. It was a bit foggy, but I could still see jagged peaks all around.