Day 1: Arriving in Switzerland

My journey to Zurich started at 7.00 p.m. on 14 July when I left for Rome, Fiumicino Airport. My flight was at 6.55 a.m. the following morning and the only way that I would be able to get there on time was if I was to sleep at the airport. The experience of sleeping in an airport is something I had never experienced before. There is surprisingly little to do other than keep yourself occupied with whatever means necessary. I managed to buy a book just before a bookstore closed and read this for most of the evening.

Once I had found a place to camp, two girls approached me to ask if they could sleep nearby as they were afraid their belongings would get stolen. I agreed and watched them whip out their roll-up mattresses and sleeping bags. I tried getting some sleep between 1 and 4 a.m.

When I finally checked in I tried to take my deck through the x-ray scanner and the guys there weren't at all happy with what I was trying to do. I had to go back to check-in and check my deck in as over-sized luggage. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful.

When I arrived at Zurich airport I was met by Benjamin Malherbe with whom I was to be staying. I discovered that if I was to get anywhere within the canton of Zurich I would be taking a train, which proved to be pretty pricey. I will advise anyone who is planing to stay in Zurich for 5 days or more to find out about travel discounts before you get there, as the machines are rather unhelpful. A 24 hour train pass between 3 zones was 23chf, and 2 hours was 11chf. It all adds up...

After dropping my stuff off at Ben's house and having had bacon and egg for breakfast courtesy of Yoshi and Lasse, we headed off to Fibretec skateboard shop. This place is absolutely amazing with boards, in various stages of completion, and wheels everywhere.

From Fibretec we headed off to a road (Kurhausstrasse) that runs past the Dolder Grand Hotel. The hill is pretty cool. Steep and fast, with a sweeping right hander at the top. At the bottom you have to skate some really narrow one way streets, dodging parked cars, big black sedans, and grumpy rich bastards. What was awesome about this hill was that there is a funicular that ferried us from the bottom to the top each time. We managed to get about 5 runs in.

After our session at the Dolder we headed to the river-side where we ate pizza, drank beer, and played hacky sack. Not a bad first time in Zurich if you ask me!

The river-side.

Night time skateboard touring. 

Skating through the train station.