Day Eighteen -- Leaving on a Jet Plane

We met in the lobby at 4 a.m. to take a minivan taxi to the Athens airport.  You can't take public transportation that early in the morning. We were more subdued and tired than we have been on other mornings...except Brendon who is looking forward to seeing his cats again. We have a Swiss Air flight to Zurich, a five hour layover and then a twelve hour flight to San Francisco. When we arrived in Zurich Brett and Brendon stayed at the airport and the rest of us opted to catch the train into downtown Zurich. Since Matt and I had made this journey before we got to the train without a hitch. It is a very short ride into Zurich and then just a brief walk to the river.

 

We walked along the river until we found an outdoor cafe serving delicious pastries. We enjoyed the relaxed Monday morning scene in downtown Zurich.

 

Then we took a stroll down the little side streets. It felt like not much opens until later in the day.

 

I found the scooter I want to buy.

 

We took the train back with time to spare. Back in the terminal we reconnected with Brett and Brendon and found our gate for our twelve hour torture flight. Early in this long flight Brendon fell asleep in his seat, across the aisle from me.  When the steward came by with a drink cart he hit Brendon's knee.  Instead of a quick apology he lectured Brendon on impeding his work. Then he returned and told Brendon that he couldn't sue him because he was covered by Swiss Air and this was international air space. He came back a third time and said he had written up a report about how Brendon was impeding the work of the flight crew; he had informed the captain; and Brendon was not allowed to leave his seat without permission. It was the most ridiculous thing I have seen. It put a bizarre ending to our amazing trip.

We landed in San Francisco on time and went through the rigors of custom control.  We all looked beleaguered and ready for a Rip Van Winkle sleep. We said our good-byes and Matt and Jane headed for the BART.  Brett, Brendon and I took a shuttle to their car. By then it was rush hour but luckily it was Memorial Day and we breezed across the Oakland Bay Bridge. We stopped at their apartment so that Brendon could spend time with the cats. Brett drove me to the Holiday Inn at Oakland airport. I knew I wouldn't feel like another plane ride and so I will fly home tomorrow morning on Southwest. When I checked into my room I marveled at the size of a typical hotel room in the United States.