Today was another early day. We woke up at 4:15 AM which is better than not getting any sleep at all so we could catch our 7:20 flight to Zürich. We hustle down to the lobby of the hotel to catch the 5 AM shuttle and found the lobby completely filled with people. It turns out that the shuttle was not the typical airport shuttles that I’m used to but a full-size bus so there was plenty of room for everyone.

Once we got to the airport we used the self service bag check to tag our bags so we could be ready for our flight. This was a similar bag check system there to the one used by tiger air in New Zealand, except this one really worked. Once our bags were checked we went through security and found a place for breakfast. Ryan and I split it English breakfast, complete with sausage, bacon, tomato, baked beans, pancake, toast, hashbrowns and a couple of other things that I apparently have forgotten. Holly and Heather got a cold platter with hard-boiled eggs and cheese and two types of Icelandic fish and number of other things. And Holly got a big hotdog with everything, so there was plenty to eat.

 

We found a place to buy postcard stamps, quickly wrote our postcards and headed to the plane. We unfortunately drew the gate which doesn’t have a jetway and we had to get on a bus and drive around the airport to our plane and get out in the rain and walk up a flight of stairs. Haven’t had to do that in a long time.

The flight was uneventful and it gave Is a chance to catch up on our movies and TV shows.

Once we got to the ceric we claimed our luggage. Of course, one of our bags was full last one to come off the plane so we were the last people waiting for bags, but we got all the bags so it was OK. We rented our van and Heather and Ryan picked the right model so that all of our luggage fit. It was raining so we figured we would visit IKEA for a nice indoor afternoon activity.

It took us a little longer to get to the IKEA due to our unfamiliarity with reading road signs in German as well as a fair amount of road construction but we finally made it. We enjoyed walking around and seeing some of the different items that they have in Europe that haven’t made it to the US yet. We were all hungry so we had a nice lunch at the IKEA cafeteria. Holly had a delicious risotto, Ryan had his normal order of meatballs, Heather had a salmon dish that was topped with caviar and I had my usual plate of vegetable balls which came with a delicious curry sauce.

After leaving IKEA we headed for Lucerne and decided to get off the highway since traffic was backing up. We drove through some lovely Swiss towns and eventually found a supermarket to stock the kitchen. It was fun looking at the different foods and trying to figure out what was in them. Luckily Heather had an app on her phone which automatically translated the text on the food labels, although it was a little inconsistent at times.

We headed out after food shopping, found a big hurry that had some really good looking pastries and then headed for our Airbnb. It is located on a working farm outside Lucerne. You can tell it’s a working farm as soon as you open the door and smell the candles. The apartment is really nice. The owners even left us a chocolate bar on the table and put some food in the fridge.

We got unpacked, had a snack and are playing to make an early evening so we can hit the road earlier in the morning and get a good start on the day.

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