Our last stop in Switzerland was Zurich. Neal and Randa had flown into Zurich from Phoenix two weeks prior, and they had a flight back to Phoenix on the 10th. Linda and I had a room reserved and our plans were to drop Neal and Randa off at the airport early on the morning of the 10th, and then spend the day exploring Zurich before driving back into Germany.

Plans do not always go as planned. This was the case with Zurich. This was probably my fault, but I had only made reservations for a room for Linda and me. When we realized the error, Neal went online and found a room near the airport for the evening of the 9th. Our plans new meant the four of us would explore Zurich for a couple of hours, we would drop Neal and Randa off at their hotel, and then Linda and I would drive to our hotel.

Zurich is a big city. Zurich has a lot of construction going on. About ninety-seven percent of that construction took place on the roads we needed to traverse to get to our two hotels. We drove during rush hour (Hauptverkehszeit is German for “Don’t plan on getting anywhere soon”). In short, we didn’t really get to experience the wonderfulness of Zurich.

We did find a place to eat in town. After our meal, it was time to take Neal and Randa to their hotel. Neal read me the address and I entered it into the car’s GPS. The screen told me we were 24 minutes away from their hotel. I jumped into the rush hour traffic, made it onto an autobahn, drove through a couple of long tunnels, and 24 or so minutes later, stopped in front of their hotel.

Only, it wasn’t a hotel. We were in an industrial area, not that close to the airport. I pulled over while Neal again looked up the address.

“Here’s another address that sounds the same. I think this is it.” Neal said.

I entered the new address into the GPS. The screen recalculated the route. An new destination appeared. It was 24 minutes away, in another direction. I bit of frustration came to me as I again jumped onto the autobahn, drove back through a couple of long tunnels, and headed toward the airport.

The new location took us to what looked to be a residential area. We didn’t see any hotels. We circled the block three times. Finally, Neal got out of the car, walked behind a house, came back a minute later, and declared that the hotel was actually a room in someone’s house and that we were in the right place.

We unloaded their bags and said our goodbyes, not knowing when we’d see them again. They headed off to their room while I looked up the address for our hotel. I found it and entered it into the GPS. The screen said the hotel was 26 minutes away.

Back onto the autobahn and back through tunnels. Thirty minutes later, Linda and I were in an industrial area near downtown Zurich. This was not where I wanted or thought we would be. One more time, I looked up the address. It seems that there are many similar sounding address in Zurich. I missed entering a zone the first time.

“Why don’t we just enter the name of the hotel?” Linda asked.

Linda is very smart when it comes to helping me figure out what I’m doing. I pressed the microphone button in the screen and said “Prize by Raddison, Zurich.”

A new location appeared in the screen. It was quite a ways south of downtown Zurich, in a small and beautiful town named Affolturn Am Albus. The hotel was only 24 minutes away.

Linda and I quite enjoyed the hotel and the town of Affolturn Am Albus. The room was nice and quiet. The small town was also nice and quiet. It was far enough away from downtown Zurich to give us opportunities the next day to hike in the woods before driving to Rothenburg, Germany the following day.

The Swedes

When we arrived at the hotel, there were three men, wearing yellow jerseys, kicking a soccer ball in the hotel parking lot. After we checked in and parked our car, we found out that there was a Swedish Soccer Convention taking place in the hotel. They were there for the Woman’s Eurocup tournament, hoping to cheer the Swedish team to victory. We met a woman in the foyer who spoke good English and told us about the week they would spend in the hotel and at soccer matches.

I have a connection with Sweden. A few years ago, my oldest son Jason emigrated to Sweden. Last year, Linda and I visited him in Stockholm and in Upsalla, where he lives. We spent four days in Sweden.

I have had a ritual for many years which includes collecting coins from every country I’ve visited. I have a big bag of coins at home. I didn’t have any coins (Krona) from Sweden and asked Jason if he would give me one. Jason, though, like a lot of the younger generation, never has money, instead using apps on his mobile phone. I left Sweden last year with no Kronas.

The following day, Linda and stayed away from the big city. I again found a couple of places in Google Maps to visit. One was a river and waterfall in the middle of nowhere. The other was a tall mountain nearby that had nice vistas of the surrounding area.

Our last evening in the hotel in Affolturn Am Albus, I wandered into a room off of the main lobby. There were thirty or more Swedes watching soccer on the TV. I found the woman I met the day before, told her how I collected coins from around the world, told her about Jason, and asked if I could trade a Canadian quarter for a Krona. She had no change, but in Swedish, asked the group if anyone had a Krona coin. One man pulled a coin purse out of his pocket and produced several coins. He gave me two (even though I insisted I only needed one). He didn’t want the Canadian quarter. Now I officially have a coin from every country in the world that I have visited.

Here are more photographs from our last two days in Switzerland.