Day 18 – Forest Gump
Since I spent some extra time on the saddle, I arrived quite late in Zurich yesterday. I was tired and didn’t feel like exploring the city. Fortunately, my boss let me off the hook and gave me a day off. Oh boy, did he choose the right day! The weather was perfect, sunny and warm but not too hot. Zurich happens to be a very pleasant city, situated on Lake Zurich or Zurichsee. I walked aimlessly on the narrow and winding streets of the old town, snapping pictures here and there. Then I got myself a bratwurst and a beer and sat on the edge of the water at the Blatterwiese park to write these lines, and to try to blend my cyclists’ tan.
When Bernard – or Beernard, as his family calls him sometimes – came back from working in Lucerne, we had a supper with his wife Elizabeth. We exchanged stories from our lives; Bernard about work and travels in Western Africa, Elizabeth about her trip to Moscow during the perestroika, and me about circus life at large. Bernard hooked me up with his friends in Albania, so I should have a place to stay when I arrive in less familiar territory.
Then there was the inevitable football: by the time we turned the TV on, Russia was losing 2-0.
Despite that disappointment, today was an antipode to yesterday: it was great. As one movie character said: “Life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”.
Today in numbers:
20911 – steps around the city of Zurich
15.2 km – distance covered
