Day 13: Zurich-Amsterdam-NYC

And so begins our last day in Europe. It was full of mixed emotions. I was sad to leave such beautiful places and ultimately end our vacation ( I couldn't fathom going to work the next day!). However, it was comforting to know I was heading for my own apartment and bed back in Brooklyn. I could return to being settled and no longer have to carry all my possessions on my back.

A wall of beer at the Zurich airport. Kurt was in heaven.

The Zurich airport is clean and modern and light years beyond JFK. I feel like it functions as a public shopping center too because most of the shopping and restaurants are located before you go through security. We stopped into the grocery store there and it seemed like locals were buying food for their week. The airport is pretty extensive, so it took us a while to find where we were going. Eventually, we located the correct security gate (where there was no line) and began stripping down to go through the metal detector. We start ripping off our shoes and the guards laughed at us, saying you only have to do that in America. They were so nice and friendly. Maybe they get more vacation than the sour airport workers at any NYC airport...

At our gate, we enjoyed a nice snack of beer and gummy bears.

Kurt was thrilled to be flying his airline all day (Kurt Lee Martig).

Kurt always makes me nervous when we fly because he covertly takes out his camera during take off and landings. One day we are going to get yelled at by a flight attendant. Until then, I will admit he gets some nice shots. This is a view of Lake Zurich as we depart from Switzerland.

We had a layover in Amsterdam for a few hours. The Dutch are all about tulips. They were selling them everywhere.

Snack #2 of the day was cheese and crackers and a pitcher of beer (I said a few hours!).

Isn't that a nice Heineken pitcher? Kurt admired it quite a bit...maybe even enough to bring it back to New York as a souvenir. He did it under the guise that "Erik will love this!" Maybe we even took the glasses too... :)

Once we boarded our flight from Amsterdam to NYC, we still had quite a long day ahead of us. Luckily, they served us some pretty tasty food. My travelling word to the wise, always get the vegetarian option. You never want to eat airplane meat and the pastas they give you are usually good. Unlimited drinks on KLM aren't half bad either. Kurt and I definitely took advantage of that. At one point, Kurt even went to find the flight attendants in the back to ask for another Heineken. FREE!

We enjoyed a movie together and an episode of Friends. Mainly I just slept. I was exhausted from almost two weeks of constant running around. It was such an incredible trip though. I can't believe we did it (and that we are still speaking to each other once we returned!).

Ironically, we have been back in New York for a month as I write this final post about our travels. It feels like we went years ago. I am lucky to have seen so many amazing places and met so many interesting and gracious new friends. We hit a few bumps along the way but it made the good times that much sweeter. Kurt was an amazing travel partner. I hope he'll allow me to tag along on many more adventures around the world. I'm an excellent navigator!

Ciao grazie!!!