Our daughter, who lives in our neighborhood, recommended that "You should go even if it becomes a souvenir for the other world," "It will be a wonderful experience for you." (Japanese elderly people often say "I'll make it a souvenir for the other world" when they had a good experience. Young people usually respond to it "Don't say so." "You are still young!")
My son said "Don't worry!" "I can find you right away because Zurich Airport is small." I thought, "We will surely be able to see him. If I cannot communicate with flight attendants, I will sleep on the plane about 14 hours." We decided to visit them.We flew from Narita Airport on a Swiss Air. About half of the flight attendants and most of the passengers were Japanese women. It was almost as if we were in Japan. We were relaxed. We arrived in Zurich early on the evening of the same day by Swiss local time. At Zurich Airport, most of the passengers began to walk faster than we did. We were left behind. We suddenly understood we were now in a foreign country where we couldn't speak Japanese. The airport was much bigger than I had thought. I couldn't see our son and his family. I felt uneasy and said to a person who wore the Swiss Air uniform, "My baggage?" (I could not remember any other English word.) I could hardly hear the person say, "Go straight. Follow these people's stream." I was relieved a little. We could find our baggage, and my son and his family. After we arrived at their home, it was light outside at 8:00 p.m. We noticed that the sun had not set yet. We realized we had come to a country on higher latitudes. We went to bed soon and slept well. We almost did not suffer from jet lag.
In Zurich: My son's wife took us to the streets there and taught us how to shop and take a tram the next day. (British English is used in Europe. The tram in British English means streetcar in American English. The lift means the elevator, the ground floor is the first floor, the first floor is the second floor, centre is center. We learned British English for several years at first but most of the magazines I read were all American English. I was confused a little.)
Zurich is a famous city in the world, especially as the city of a financial market, but it is as large as our town Wakayama City, Japan. So we were almost able to memorize the outline of the city map and go to the streets soon without her help. The most confusing thing was that the traffic keeps to the right (Japanese traffic keeps to the left.) When I crossed a street near an intersection, cars came from the opposite side. When watching my tram curving to the right, I found another tram dashing into mine. I closed my eyes because I felt it would collide with my tram. But it did not collide. Of course, the tram kept to the right.
We enjoyed some shopping, sightseeing of Zurichsee ("see" in German means lake) on a boat, seeing paintings at an art museum, and window-shopping at a flea market. I had never been interested in oil painting but the paintings in the museum were very interesting for me. That's probably because I saw the scenery in Switzerland and felt the atmosphere of the country before visiting the museum. I couldn't identify Switzerland with other European countries and Swiss with other Europeans. At the flea market, we were surprised that old wooden shoes and a used computer software, Lotus 1-2-3, were sold at the same place. I have never seen wooden shoes at any place, and never seen used software in any market in Japan.Trip by Car: On the first Sunday, my son took us with his family to Mainau Island in Bodensee lake, a tourist resort of Germany near northern Switzerland. It was the first experience for me and my wife to cross the border by car. We stopped at a crossing gate and showed our passports to the guard. He asked us, "Do you have anything to declare?" in German. My daughter in law answered "Nothing to declare." That's all. I was surprised that it was a simple routine work.
NextSaturday, my son took one week summer vacation. Staying hotels every day, we went to Engadin region in eastern Switzerland and Garda lake in northern Italy with his family. They were all wonderful experiences. The landscapes of the mountains and scenes of the streets were particularly beautiful but I cannot express them with my English and photos taken with a compact camera. But I can show here one scene we felt as if we were in a fairyland. (Maybe it is a usual scene for most of the Europeans.) Though about ten years have gone by, we often look at the photos and memos of the trip and visualize the landscapes.
On the roadside, my daughter-in-law stopped our car and opened the trunk to take a diaper for her baby. Unluckily Italian border guards were watching us. When we arrived at the border, one of the guards guided us to a yard nearby and checked the inside of our car, trunk, passports, and my son's car license. After my son answered some of his questions, we could cross the border. Italy was a little similar to Japan. Small and large cars were running like Japan. I cannot forget the song sung by a little drunken people in a restaurant at a hotel. Waiters and waitresses were frown but I felt this was the country of canzoni. Very good.
Trip by Train:
After returning home, I planned to go to Geneva and Jungfrau with my wife. We asked our daughter-in-law to reserve hotels and buy train tickets.
Although she laughed at us saying that it was too early, we went to Zurich Hauptbahnhof station one hour before the departure time. We can freely go in and out of a platform without showing our tickets. We were afraid for a short time that someone would blame us. (In Japan, we have to show our own ticket when we enter or exit from a platform.) We had to know first where our train would start from. We didn't know even the words "track number." We found a timetable near the platform, and knew the "track number." We could find the platform that our train would start from. Then we bought some snacks at the station because we were afraid that we could not have lunch at Geneva past 1 p.m. We got on a train soon. Waiting time was a little too long but the margin of time was necessary for beginners.The train started at 10:03 a.m. We took our seats next to a Swiss couple who did not speak English. Before arriving at Losanne, we bought two cups of tea to eat the snacks. They offered us their window seats to put our tea cups on a table. We hesitated but they gave me a gesture that they would get off soon. We thanked for them and moved to their seats. At Losanne, they gestured good bye and got off. We arrived at Geneva at 01:02 p.m.
We believed Japanese Shin Kansen, or bullet train, was the best train in the world. But this train, which adopted broad gauge track and was pulled by an electric locomotive, was rather comfortable than the Shin Kansen.
At Geneva we were easily able to find the reserved hotel. We registered at the reception desk following the instructions of a smiling woman receptionist. We left our baggage in our room and went to the streets. We wanted to see buildings, where many international conferences were held, on a sightseeing bus but there was no bus service in the afternoon. Still now I feel regret for missing the bus because these buildings are often shown by TV programs. If we were able to see those buildings, the TV programs would be more fun. Instead of the bus, we got on a sightseeing boat and saw Leman Lake. We were impressed with a famous large fountain in the lake.
When we returned to the hotel, a man receptionist was waiting for us. We asked him our key. He brought the key and questioned me, "What is your occupation?" "Where did you come from?" "How old are you?" I answered him correctly. Then he came out of the front desk and asked me, "What is this?" showing our registration card. I shouted "Oh, it was my mistake!" I had written my birth year as 1991. When I registered, I confused "birth date" as "this year's birth day." I realized I was traveling in a foreign country using uncertain English. (Maybe he intended to catch me if my behavior was suspcious.)
We started for Jungfrau Joch the next morning and changed expresses at Montreux. A group of the women who talked to each other came near us and their voices became louder and louder. I noticed that they were pointing to the number plate on our window frame. The two persons sitting with us, though I did not know they were Swiss or foreigners, taught us we were sitting at their reserved seats. We, four, ran away from the seats saying, "I'm sorry!" We knew that the number was written on the plate when the seat was reserved. We changed again at Zweisimen.
We had to get off at Interlaken West station but rode past the station and arrived at Interlaken Ost station. I called a taxi from a telephone booth. This was my first experience to speak English over a telephone. When a taxi came to us, I was very glad because I could make myself understood in English. The reserved hotel were full of many Japanese. We disliked to get together with many Japanese because the atmosphere of Switzerland was changed to that of Japanese by them. We ate Swiss food, Cheese Fondue, at the restaurant. It was very bad taste for us but became our very good memory. We always remember the Cheese Fondue as a good memory when remembering Switzerland. I asked to a receptionist how to go up Jungfrau Joch. I knew that it took about five hours to come and go. We decided to stay one more night here.
We went to the Ost station by taxi and bought tickets of the mountain railroads. We changed trains two times and arrived at Jungfrau Joch. On that way, a Swiss woman talked to me, "Where are you from?" I answered, "We are from Japan." "From Tokyo or Yokohama?" "We are from Wakayama near Osaka." She loudly said to his husband, who was sitting on a separate seat, "I am talking with a man from Osaka." And then she said to us "A World fair was held in Osaka. Right?" Although she never visited Japan, she knew Japan well. When I said "I am surprised that many Swiss speak English well, she talked about many things but I could hardly understand them because I was tired of conversation in English. I could understand only a few words: "communication" two times, "German" and "world" each one time. I was silent. Suddenly the PA (Public Address) system on the train began to announce something in the order of German, French, Italy, and English. I shrugged my shoulders because I could not understand them. Surprisingly Japanese announcement came after English. I said, "It's Japanese!" She said, "It's good! You can understand the announcement." We parted from her and her husband when we got off the train. If I had had more conversation skill, I could have kept communication with them after we returned to Japan. It is my second regret in Switzerland.
The view from the observation platform was wonderful. I can say it was the best view in our lives. When I see the landscapes of the Alps or the Himalayas on TV, we can be immersed in these landscapes remembering the landscapes of Jungfrau Joch.
We got on a train to leave Jungfrau Joch. We passed oncoming trains many times. Two of them were full of Japanese people. When the passengers of our car saw those trains, they said, "Japaner!(Japanese!)" at the same time. I thought we were foreigners called Japana in this country. Maybe the passengers of our car were surprised by many foreigners. We were not so comfortable but many Japanese tourists made an announcement in Japanese on this train. We returned to my son's home the next day in safety.
We left his home after a few days' stay. My son and daughter-in-law said, "I will see you off." But we declined their offers because he should not be absent from his work for us and she should not return home alone with her baby from the airport. He went to his office and she called us a taxi.
When I showed our tickets to a receptionist at Zurich airport, she said the economy seats were already full. I answered "We made a reconfirmation a few days ago." She said again, "But there is no vacancy for the economy class." I asked her desperately, "Can't we use these tickets?" She calmly answered, "Yes. You can. We have a few vacancies in business class." The time until I heard "Yes" would be a half or one minute but I felt it was a half or an hour. Until then, I regretted that we declined my son and his wife's offer.
