I walked around lost in Wollishofen last night for almost an hour. This time it wasn’t just because of stubbornness. Nowhere was open along the road for me to ask for help. And when I finally found somewhere, I didn’t hesitate.
It was nice to know I was going in the opposite direction. I guess.
After awhile I almost started to cry out of frustration. Even though it was dark, and verging on 23:00, I wasn’t afraid and I didn’t feel unsafe. I just felt exhausted and incredibly vulnerable walking the streets at night with not a damn clue as to where I was going or if I would get there.
I’m not a fan of being vulnerable. I like to be well-prepared.
Still, when I finally found the place, I guess you could say it was worth the distress. It certainly wasn’t a hole in the wall and was more like a hotel than a hostel—five floors, key card entry, a massive lobby with a bar, and super clean bathrooms with showers that actually gave me space to lift my arm up. I could even lift them both at the same time.
I only had one roommate, and the room itself had two bunk beds, a desk, storage cabinets and a sink and mirror. Naturally, I was glad to have found the place and even more glad that they still had a bed available. Although with the size of it, I’m not sure how they couldn’t.
After I put my stuff away I headed back down to the lobby to use the wifi and try to get something to eat. I had to settle for—you guessed it—a sandwich with cheese. (No freakin’ wonder Lisbeth and the whole cast of the Dragon Tattoo trilogy only ever ate coffee and sandwiches.)
More importantly, though, I made myself some Swiss hot chocolate.
I decided to sit at the bar to eat and enjoy my hot chocolate, and there I made friends with two of the front desk workers. One of them is Pablo, a Spaniard who happens to love Jamaican culture and music. He got to talking to me about our politics and musicians, Protoje in particular, and in the end he asked me if I could stay an extra day so he could show me around Zurich on his day off—and also ask me more questions about Jamaica.
We also talked about what I would do today, and I told him I want to get up in the mountains somewhere in the Alps. I used the wifi and found some trains that were doable and eventually, I headed off to a long hot shower, the best one I’ve taken since I left the U.S., set my alarm for 7:00 to see if I could make an 8:30 tour, and went to bed.
When my alarm woke me up at 7:00, I decided a good night’s rest was more important than the tour bus and I would wake up later and simply take the train. (It wasn’t. I ended up spending probably twice as much.) I’m sure you could’ve gathered that, though, because where else would I be writing this post if not on another long train ride?
