European Adventure: Day 1

Forgive me in advance for any typos or grammar mistakes. I am currently "functioning" on between eight and nine hours of sleep acquired over the past fifty four hours. (The mouth of anyone who knows me well should be gaped open at this point.) Oh also, I should be coming down from my Provigil-induced high (what I like to call "legalized speed") at any time, which prescription drug is designed to keep narcoleptics awake during the day. I plan to chase the Provigil with a dose of Lunesta pretty soon...

In any case, I am of the opinion that Americans used to be able to travel in style... and even feel rich when traveling abroad. However, due to our weak economy and falling dollar, Americans have recently fallen to the bottom of the food chain. Welcome, my friends. It is a pleasure to be bottom dwellers with you.

I am 'pleased' to report that following our arrival in Zurich, Switzerland at 9am this morning, we traveled to Bern to do some sightseeing and eat lunch, Interlaken to check into our hotel and take a look around, and Thun to visit a castle in weather that could only be defined as 'blowing rain' by that point. Still running on 'just arrived in Europe' adrenaline, we then proceeded to spend an hour looking at authentic Swiss Army knives for Chantal's special Swiss purchase.

Little did we know... Interlaken shuts down at 6pm, even on Friday nights. And that, my friends, is the time we started hunting for dinner.

For a moment, you will have to suspend reality and the fact that I am traveling with a successful doctor and teacher, typing this blog on a $400+ iPaq and $100 bluetooth keyboard, both of which were electronic toys purchased by the doctor for this Europe trip. Upon rejecting wholly ubappetizing entrees suggested by our tour book for 'budget-minded travelers,' we proceeded to wander around town... in the rain... endlessly. One would think 2 or 3 grossly overpriced restaurants would have dissuaded us from our search and sent us back to our hotel room to eat our beef jerky and cheese nips.

Instead, two and a half miles later (as measured by Chantal's pedometer), we walked into McDonalds cold, wet, and dejected, only to find that a Big Mac meal cost $11. Of course, our conscience required that we reject that choice for dinner for our first night in Europe. To make a long story shorter than it could be, we all returned to our hotel slightly shaking from the graceful combination of sleep deprivation and hunger with 5 chocolate bars, a box of chocolate madelines, two cream puffs, 2 hazelnut yogurts, and the fixins for ghetto-fabulous sandwiches purchased from a local supermarket.

Lest you think my cheapness was the overriding factor here, let the record show that when the hunger shakes ceased and I asked my travel buddies if we should have just forked out the cash for dinner, they answered 'no!' together, loud and clear.

Day 1 of European Adventure. Complete. Bring on day 2.