Day 16 – Back To Reality …
We woke up in our hotel in Zurich about 5:30 AM, got our showers, finished packing, and checked our passports one more time. Just about then our room service breakfast arrived. This meal of cold cuts, cheeses, rolls, croissants, yogurt, cereal, fresh fruit, and coffee was included in the room rate for the EMA House and was a nice way to jump-start the day. We then checked out and walked down the hill to the Zürich Hauptbahnhof around 7:00 AM. Given that it was rather early on a Sunday morning there was nobody on the street except for us and our duffel bags …
The Zurich Hauptbahnhof handles up to 3,000 trains per day – it’s the largest railway station in Switzerland and one of the busiest in the world. Fortunately for us there were few people there this Sunday morning. The place was nearly deserted aside from some artists preparing a new Volvo for display by painting it all white. And I mean all white – even the windows, wheels, and tires. I’m not quite sure where they were headed with that but I hope that the factory reps knew what was happening! We avoided the drop cloths and caught the 7:37 train for the nine minute ride to the Flughafen Zürich. The ride was so short (only 9 minutes) that we didn’t even sit – we just stood in the luggage area with our bags to simplify unloading at the airport.
Our experience leaving Flughafen Zürich was much like our experience arriving there two weeks prior : organized and efficient. We checked in at the Delta counter and gladly dropped off our roller duffels. After passport and ID screening we went through security and on to our gate in the international section of the terminal. The only things that made these gates “international” vs. any other at the airport (aside from the special screening) were the ever-present (and utterly useless) Duty Free shops. After one last cup of barista-made European coffee we boarded the Delta 767-300ER for our flight to Atlanta. This flight lasted the better part of ten hours thanks to headwinds but still managed to arrive a bit ahead of schedule.
We knew that we were back in the US as we deplaned and approached passport control in Atlanta. The people that operate the international arrival area at Hartsfield Airport seem to be less than confident in their signage and insist on having uniformed agents standing in the middle of the concourse shouting the same directions over and over again in thick Georgia accents. If visitors can’t understand the signs that say the exact same thing in English then they sure as heck aren’t going to be able to understand these locals. This overt display of competence just makes you so proud to line up in the rat’s maze labelled “US Citizens Only” and have your passport scanned. We made it through passport control, found our way to baggage claim in spite of additional verbal assaults from helpful folks in uniform, and finally cleared customs with nothing to declare, as usual.
The real joy is that after clearing customs we had to drop our bags back onto a belt for the connecting flight to Norfolk and then go back through security screening as if we’d just arrived at the airport. Security screening’s not that much fun anyway, but after nearly ten hours in the air and with a couple more hours to go you just want it to be over. Our Delta flight to Norfolk was uneventful and actually landed a bit early much to our surprise. After claiming our bags and paying an astronomical parking tab (17 days in the garage!) we headed home to Williamsburg and our two waiting cats …
Hiking Summary
So as most of you probably know Stuart is an engineer and likes numbers. With apologies to those who are easily offended by this sort of thing, here’s a numeric snapshot of our hiking for this adventure :
Days Hiked : 14
Total Trip Distance : 121.5 miles
Average Distance Per Day : 8.7 miles
Maximum Distance Per Day : 13.5 miles
Total Trip Elevation : 14,606 feet (the Matterhorn is 14,692 feet, so we almost made it!)
Average Elevation Per Day : 1,043 feet
Maximum Elevation Per Day : 2,945 feet
Pictures Taken : 2,200+
Needless to say our hiking boots, hiking sticks, backpacks, and cameras earned their keep this trip!