day one?
It's hard to say where day one began and ended, as I define day and night by sleeping, and I didn't really sleep for well over a day. Besides, time zones destroy everything. Nonetheless: We left late Tuesday (around 5 pm) and drove to Olympia, to the home of my Aunt Darlene, where we were treated to good food and an excellent bed. The next morning (Wednesday), we rose early again (about 4:20 am) and, having been treated to an excellent breakfast of fruit, almond croissants, and coffee, we headed for the Seattle Airport. Naturally, because we had left a little later than we would have liked and had an international flight to catch, we hit traffic. Why SO MANY people were driving at 5:30 am is beyond me. We made it, though, catching our plane without any major struggle (though Mom got stopped by security when going through the metal detector), and flew off, into the murky Washington sky. The hours that followed are hard to describe in depth; flight has that effect on one's psyche. Hours pass into days, and then pass backwards, until body and space are no longer one. We had good pizza in the Washington DC Airport; I can tell you that for certain. But as the sun went down, sinking below cotton-ball clouds, I drifted between states of consciousness, never passing fully into the darkness of night. Eventually, around 3am DC time, I gave up my quest for sleep and started watching TV (half-an-episode of Friends and The Big Bang Theory and all of Moana). The sun rose again, creating cotton candy below the wing of the bird in which we flew, and I calculated the direction of the plane from the way the body of the plane's shadow fell on the wings of the plane. We touched down in Zurich and, after changing and freshening up, got onto a train to Geneva. I read and tried to keep Mom from falling asleep (I woke her up at least three times as she "rested her eyes"). The Swiss countryside looks a lot like Oregon (especially on that wet day), except condensed, with less space between city and countryside. The houses are colored differently, too: they're brighter, with more red. We arrived in Geneva and managed to get on a train towards the Bed and Breakfast in which we would stay. Once we got to our stop, however, it became clear that the B&B was... off the beaten path. After asking, in French, several girls who looked to be about my age if they knew where the address was, we eventually wandered into a local tavern (it had a massive cow above the sign) and enlisted the help of its English-speaking owner. The B&B was darling: all light and whites and blue, with lilacs blooming outside of one window and the back patio visible from the other. It was only 3 pm, but Mom was ready to pass out, and I wasn't far behind. We showered in the red-and-white tiled bathroom and then forced ourselves to go out again, this time to downtown Geneva. We wandered for a while before finding a fondue restaurant that was open (it was about 5pm, and most restaurants don't open until 6:30) and settling ourselves. Mom wasn't very hungry, but I was ready to eat. She decided on an egg omlete, and I ordered a traditional Swiss meal from below a section labeled "fondue". Well, she got an omlete (she said she liked my omletes better) and green salad, but I got a green salad, sausage (which was delicious and smooth, though I forget its name), and an odd potato dish which resembled hashbrowns. It was an acceptable meal, but nothing incredible. After that, it was still to early to go back to the B&B, so we wandered around and found a pâtisserie (pastrie shop, and we ordered food with names that continually slip my mind) and a bathroom. At that point, it was about 6:45, so we figured out the buses and found out way home. We were out by 7:30, and ended up sleeping 12 hours, having been up for well over 24.