Lake Zürich

I was up around 7:00 to finish packing, check out of my Freiburg hotel and call a taxi to take me to the train station. My train to Zürich was due to leave at 9:01 am (note that 01 -- why it couldn't just be scheduled for 9:00 I'll never understand) and I was way too early getting to the the station at 8:15. Still, it's better to be early than to be rushing.

Naturally, we left bang on time, but we had a delay of twenty minutes in Basel, a stop which I wasn't expecting. It turns out, though, that Basel is a dead end in railway terms, since the train pulled out of the station there travelling in the opposite direction to the way we'd come in. This meant, of course, that my carriage which had been up at the front when leaving Freiburg ended up right at the back when we got in to Zürich, so I had a long walk along the platform. Martin was there waiting for me, complete with two day-long tram tickets. I dropped off my case and my travelling jacket at his apartment and we set off into the city with a few options available for spending our time together during the day.

First, I needed breakfast, which we had on the terrace beside the Town Hall, just across from the site of my first Zürich blip from 2008, when the music group officially went there. One of our options was to go on a trip on the lake, but the shortest trip on offer would have taken an hour and a half, and my original plan when I didn't think I'd be able to meet up with Martin had rather been just to stroll around this wonderful city, soaking up the sights and re-living memories of four years ago. That's just what we did, and I thoroughly enjoyed every wonderful minute of it.

Martin had told me about a chamber music recital which was due at 5:00 pm, but I'd felt that going to this would leave things too tight for me when it came to getting to the airport. We stumbled on the square where it was due to be on, found the address (actually a restaurant) and got there to hear the sounds of a rehearsal taking place. We went inside to enquire about tickets and to find out what time the recital would be over. We met the boss guy who told us to be there at 4:45 to get tickets, and also told us the performance would be over by 6:00. He made a point of also telling us that all proceeds from ticket sales would go to the musicians. Finally, he told us that sparkling wine and canapés would be available free of charge after the music. We told him to expect us again for the performance and continued on our way.

We had lunch (al fresco, of course) in a really nice Italian restaurant which helpfully offered small and large portions of some of the dishes on the menu. I had a beautiful plate of pasta with tomato and pesto sauce. We chatted and chatted and chatted until my food went cold, and all too quickly it was time to return to the apartment so Martin could change and we could return for the music recital. All a little bit hectic in terms of timing, but we managed to get back to the music venue at 4:45.

The tickets were pricey enough (35 Swiss Francs), but this proved to be well worth it. We'd heard earlier that a member of the string quartet had taken ill and that his place would be taken by someone else. As it happened, the three remaining members decided to go it alone and changed their programme from items for string quartet to pieces for string trio instead. We were treated to a complete work by Mozart and a couple of movements from a Trio by Beethoven. The boss-guy from earlier on said a few words of welcome and introduction before the music got under way, switched to English after a bit and pointed us out for special welcome, introducing us to the rest of the audience as 'two Americans' (we corrected him afterwards).

The promised sparkling wine and canapés were superb, served outside among the restaurant tables. The musicians mingled, and we made a point of chatting to the viola player, who'd especially impressed us. We spent quite a long time with him (he's principal viola with the wonderful Züruch Tonhalle Orchestra) and covered lots of musical ground before suddenly realising that we once again needed to get back to Martin's apartment, this time to pick up the car and get me to the airport. He lives as close to Zürich airport as I do to the airport in Dublin, so it took no time at all to get me to my flight, after a most wonderful day spent in one of my favourite cities. Thanks Martin for everything.

We were 25 minutes late leaving Zürich, but arrived in Dublin on time. Carl was there to meet me, he dropped me off at my place, I bored him with some stories about the wonderful trip and he finally headed home around midnight.

It's strange to be home. It really was a great trip, and just what I needed after the weeks and weeks of radiation treatment. We certainly packed a lot in, and the musical events were of a really high standard. We all agreed that this was one of the best trips away since the tradition began in 2001.