SWITZERLAND
I wasn't sure what to think about Switzerland, however, by early afternoon, I and fellow coworkers were drinking beers on a boat ride around Lake Zurich and I was immediately hooked. A sunny day. Mountains. A Lake. All that made for a fantastic introductory combo to Zurich and Switzerland and I've been blinded by the country ever since. As the rest of the work assignment unfolded Zurich and Switzerland just kept getting better. Years later I'm hard pressed to explain why I like it so much - it's efficient, it's clean, even there wasn't a public smoking ban - however, that doesn't seem convincing enough so I'm still not sure what it was about Switzerland that left me wanting to revisit and even possibly move there in the future.
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ZURICH AND ZERMATTI spent two weeks in Zurich area. The weekend in between we drove to Zermatt. Unfortunately the Matterhorn was covered in fog, however, that did little to dampen my enthusiasm for the city - it just gave another reason to return. The snowboarding was still amazing and staying in a Swiss chalet in Switzerland can't be beat.
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VERZASCA DAM BUNGEE JUMPI don't know if you recall the opening scene of James Bond Goldeneye - to break into a Russian facility pierce brosnan runs to the center of a dam and then bungees off to enter the facility through an air shaft...well...you can do that in Switzerland. I also stopped in Belinzona and Locarno in the same day - which makes for a long and eventful trip from Milan.
It is a pretty crazy jump depending upon various factors it is the highest jump in the world. The jumping environment and background can't be topped. Be sure to wear all black, like I did for the full, James Bond effect. |
I wrote a how to for the bungee jump way back in the day. It's not the easiest place to reach and you need to take a post bus which runs infrequently during the day. There was then a long line which moves very slowly because whenever somebody jumps instead of being unhooked at the bottom the need to grab a line attached to a crank shaft and be pulled back up it may take one person ten minutes to complete the jump. After waiting in a line for five hours any adrenaline has worn off and you simply want to jump and get on your way.