First impressions of Zurich

It's a Friday night, the World Cup is in full swing with countries being eliminated to determine the make up of the finals, and I am in Zurich Switzerland wondering what the hell I'm doing here.

My impressions may be coloured by the fact that I've had very little sleep this week. Not more than 3 hours a night since Monday. Add to that about 30 hours of travelling on various aircraft and waiting in airport lounges around the world. First Melbourne, then Singapore, then London.

So, Zurich seems to be a mix of ancient buildings, shiny fashionable young people (where are all the old people?) and clocks; lots of clocks.

I'm staying at the Zic Zac Rock Hotel in Marktgasse. Each of the rooms is supposedly themed on a famous rock act. I am in the U2 room. The only attmept at a theme is the guitar patterned carpet (which is consistent throughout the building) and three prints of U2 album covers; Under A Blood Red Sky, Rattle and Hum, and Pop. The bed is comfortable (I took a 5 hour nap this evening), and the staff are friendly in a no-nonense kind of way.

I'm in a room overlooking a square, and a number of bars. In the square there is a gay bar, 3 nightclubs (2 catering to gay patrons), a wine bar, a take-away food place, a clothing shop, a retro clothing and accessories shop, and a fantastic place called the "Condomeria" which is actually a shop selling gloriously coloured sex aids, that seems to be run by a dowdy middle aged woman.

The street (or gasse) is cobble-stoned, and it was amusing to watch women in very high heels trying to walk along the street. That's one thing I have noticed - everyone here wears fantastic shoes. I saw a man in shiny silver loafers! And the women's shoes are evenly split between gorgeous decorative ballet flats and sky high stilettos and wedge heeled shoes.

The language is Swiss German (something I'm not familiar with) and not a lot of English. Communication has been fun since I arrived. I have managed to get my message across; albeit with a sleep deprived jetlagged brain.

Upon arrival at Zurich airport I caught an interairport train that appeared to go to "Heidi" and passed through passport control with a smile and a wink. My plan to take the train into the city was abandoned as I suddenly felt my aloneness and general unpreparedness acutely; I took a cab to Marktgasse.

I checked in to Zic Zac, plugged in an adaptor so I could charge my iPhone, and almost electrocuted myself. The plug box fell off the wall, a spark flew from the box, and the adaptor I'd been given was blackened. In the process, I blew all of the fuses in the room so none of the lights or plugs worked. Awesome.

I took a stroll around the place, without the aid of a map. The streets were filled with predominantly young folk, dressed in stylish casual clothing reflecting the warm summer climate.

I had trouble locating a supermarket at first, but found a small one below ground level (Migros) and then a bigger one near the main train station, called Coop.

I bought toothpaste called Candida (It's just wrong, isn't it?), a packet of chips, Evian water and a punnet of blackberries.

Back at the hotel I discovered they do not have Wifi, and was directed to go to either Starbucks for 15 mins internet access, or a bar called Wings that provides unlimited internet access. I chose Wings. An airline themed bar with a substantial cocktail list and retired airplane seats. They also had a big screen TV inside and out of the bar, which was screening World Cup matches. I sank a very strong gin and tonic, exchanged messages on Facebook, and sent long soppy emails home.

I headed back to Zic Zac and lay on the bed, sleeping for about 5 hours, despite the noise outside my open windows; occasionally waking to the sound of vuvazelas. I woke properly at about 11pm and wandered outside in search of sustenance. Food service seemed to be suspended due to the late hour, but I managed to consume enough wine to hopefully ensure a sound night's sleep.

I went to the Barrique Wine Bar, conveniently located underneath my room. I had trouble conveying my order to the staff, and had to stop them pouring red wine rather than white. Not rose, blanc! That piece of confusion appeared to cost me an extra franc when my change arrived, and the first drink was much smaller than the ones that followed. I quickly learned to say "Danke" rather than "Thank you" or "Merci" and was rewarded with ever-increasing amounts in the glass.

It's now just past midnight. I'm back in my room at Zic Zac, eating blackberries and waiting for the noise outside to die down so I can sleep again. The iPod is really coming in handy in that regard, as I can drown out some of the sound with my music - except the vuvazelas. Their sound penetrates everything.