Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Finally - Prelude to Turkey

Oof, I knew this would happen.  I'm really bad about updating blogs.  But I can't not update, because I have so many cool things to tell everyone.

Over spring break, I went to Istanbul to visit Grace, who's studying there for the semester.  I had a ton of preconceptions going there, because last semester I took a class on Turkey as a model for the Arab states post-Arab Spring.  I've found that people are really gung-ho about Turkey and its virtues and how great it will be for the Middle East, as well as how developed and beautiful and cool it is... Let's just say I'm not as convinced.  However, after visiting, I would say that my views are a little more nuanced about how I view Turkey.  And honestly, that was the primary reason I went there--I wanted to see for myself.

Before I even got to Turkey, though, I spent a night in transit in Zurich.  I had very very briefly been to Zurich when I visited Switzerland previously, but really only seen the train station and the airport.  This time, I had time to go into the city, although I only saw it at night.

The number one thing that always impresses me about Switzerland is efficiency.  When I arrived, I went to buy a train ticket into the city.  The woman at the counter spoke German, French, English, and probably a bunch of other languages, and she was able to change currency for me, sell me my tickets, print me out the times of the last train that night back to the airport and the first train the next morning, give me a map of Zurich downtown, and suggest stuff to do.  So nice.  Justifies how expensive Switzerland is.


It turns out that the night I was there was Carnaval in Zurich!  There were bands everywhere dressed up in crazy costumes, and because the city was so lively (probably more so than usual) I felt very safe even though I was there late at night.  I got a bratwurst and ate it while watching one of the bands play.


The last time I was in Switzerland was with my parents about seven or eight years ago.  We all really loved the fountains everywhere, and made it a point to take pictures of them.  We have a whole collection of fountain/trough pictures from that trip, so I continued the tradition on this trip to Zurich.  I found quite a few fountains, but this one above was unique--never before have I seen someone use a public fountain as a beer cooler...

It was hard for me to get good pictures at night, but here one can see how lovely the lights and the river are.  It was at once quaint and modern, and very very clean.  Maybe it was the cleanliness that made it feel so safe, despite the fact that there were drunk/drinking people all over the place.


I hopped back on the train to the airport that night late, and hung out in the airport until my plane left... needless to say, I slept the entire flight to Turkey.

The beginning of the Turkey trip coming soon... this was just to get me back in the habit of writing these.



No comments:

Post a Comment