This morning, the overnight bus arrived in Zurich at 5:40 AM.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t that tired even though I don’t remember sleeping much on the bus.  I walked from the bus station to the City Backpacker hostel, but the door and reception office were closed until 8AM.  I saw a guest smoking a cigarette outside and asked him if he’d let me enter the building to leave my luggage there.  He opened the door, and I left my luggage.  This allowed me to have much more flexibility in terms of what I could do for the next few hours.

Walking around, I noticed orange/grey city bikes scattered around the city, which were operated as rentals through a smartphone app. I downloaded the smartphone app, paid a $49 deposit, and was able to enjoy a free day of cycling along Lake Zurich.  The original plan was to follow the bicycle path along the lake, and then to evaluate in an hour or so if I could ride around the entire lake.  Due to a number of factors including an uncomfortable bike seat, lower quality bike, and me not being in good enough shape, I wasn’t able to ride around the entire lake.  Instead, around 20km into the ride I took a ferry/shortcut across to the other side of the lake, and just completed the ride by cycling 15km back to Zurich.  The ride was beautiful, but I was hoping there would be a completely separate bike route, rather than just a tiny lane on the side of the major road.

I arrived back in town at around 12PM, and started following the “Green” walking tour around Old Town Zurich.  The Green walking tour follows all the must-see attractions, buildings, and scenery in the City Center, and was a great way to spend the afternoon.  About halfway through the walk, I noticed (but didn’t give much thought to) a girl sitting on a bench in a park.  About ten minutes later, I was taking a break on the side of the road, and she walked past me.  A few minutes later, I was in a church and she walked in.  I asked her if she was walking the Green Trail, and she mentioned that she was just walking around to the sites she thought were worth seeing.  We walked around and talked for the next 3-4 hours until Mike arrived, and then walked around another hour with him.

Here is some basic info about Camille:

• 22 years old, born and raised in France
• Studying pharmacy (just finished her third of six years)
• Just spent a couple of weeks interning in Serbia
• Visiting Switzerland to reunite with a few friends from France

After walking Camille to the train station, Mike and I boarded the S10 train to Uetliberg Mountain.  It reminded me a bit of Grouse Mountain in Vancouver.  The view was breathtaking, but it felt different from hiking because I didn’t feel like I earned the view.  After taking in the beautiful view, Mike took the train back to Old Town, stopped by a supermarket for dinner, and just headed back to the hostel.