These Swiss like to live it up on Saturday nights. 4 times I was woken up from loudness from the
streets. At one point I looked out and
saw a group of people just hanging out at the street below, enjoying what I assume
to be beer. There is a club attached to the
hotel, so that accounts, perhaps, for some of the action. Loudness in the hotel, loudness all over, so finally
I got up around 8 and made my fabulous Swiss instant coffee. I ended up speaking with Ursula about our brunch
plans and she let me know that it was ok, that I should meet with my two o’clock
which was regarding work possibilities, that she understood the priority. I was very grateful, yet also saddened as I
was looking forward to meeting her in person after 35 + years (she visited my
family in Texas when I was a young girl). I lay down again to sleep. I hadn’t slept well and was so drowsy. Just as I was beginning to fall asleep, a vision
of a penis I used to know rocked me out of drowsiness and was awake again (and
not in a good way). 
I put on the cross-country
ski world cup on TV and woke the kids. My 2 o’clock
date had been moved up to one o’clock, so I didn’t want to be late and we
needed to get some flowers for our gracious host. The wind was biting cold – just how I like it. I spoke for a bit with the man at the front
desk, whom initially I found to be rude, but as generally proves to be true, I
was hasty in my judgement. We discussed
politics and the countries we lived in.
As the kids and I left, he told me he liked me, that he hoped I would stay in Switzerland. That makes two of us,
buddy. We headed in, rushing from here
to there, I was concerned about being late (which I despise doing, especially
when meeting someone for the first time). I never did remember the flowers 
Our hosts were wonderful – the kids coming right up to us
and stretching out there hands to greet us.
This is something I like about Swiss (Austrian, too)kids – very polite. Andrea had a Swiss friend, Thomas, over with
his son. The guys were going to a soccer
match later. I got lots of information from her – many leads and her insight on what
to do. Tomorrow morning will be a busy
day for me as I have lots of calls to make.
A son and Thomas had made cakes, so of course I had to try them – all three
of them. Fortunately I hadn’t eaten much
of the lunch – delicious Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s important to be polite when cake is
made. 
We had an important date at 4 with my godmother and this is
one I didn’t want to miss at all. My
Gotti is very ill and the prognosis from the doctors isn’t good: 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, who knows. Cancer & pulmonary embolism. As if no time had passed at all, I remembered
the oath to her apartment of 40 years (my earliest memories here were when she
had just moved in and I was three or four).
It was so good to see her, and we stayed there two hours. I do feel a bit for the kids – so often as a
child I was dragged around to relatives which was boring as hell for me, but I
at least understood the language. 
The kids were hungry, so our next plan was to go to the city
and eat dinner. This was, in essence,
our last night out. On the tram, there was
some sort of message about the BahnhofStr trams shut down or closed or
something…I dunno, so we got off the tram a little early and decided to walk which was a good thing! There was such a beautiful scene with the lights
glowing, Christmas feeling in the air.
My heart has been growing heavy today as the trip is winding down, but
this was a wonderful tool of enlightenment.
Tonight is the first Advent – something I did throughout my childhood,
and though I am not religious, the holy sacredness about this transcends all my
anti-religious feelings, because this is about awaiting a Birth. We walked and walked – the restaurant we had intended
to go to was not only full but had a waiting line, so we explored AltStadt
again. We found a Spanish restaurant I
thought I had visited when I lived here, but we were whisked upstairs to a
fancy small room with lovely old furnishings and fine embroidered napkins and
tablecloths. Oh, man…I couldn’t have afforded this as a 15 year old. I can barely afford it now (thank you, AmEx). It was here, somewhere that a straw broke
that camel’s back and the picking on and arguing between the kids hit a boiling
point with the boy. He said he wanted to
trade weeks so that he would be at dad’s when Mags was with me and then switch,
so he wouldn’t have to be around her. I
get it, I know how horrible siblings can be because with me it was always one out – with three you never all get along. And yes, I know Maggie’s perfectionist
pointing out of shortcomings is grating, however. Leaving it doesn’t solve anything. I spoke calmly, rationally, and then I
focused on my food and let him work on the tears flowing from his eyes. I know it hurts, buddy, I thought, but you
can’t run away! It is tough, this
Life. We ate, paid, left. The topic was not broached anymore and
slowly, I noticed little signs of him getting over it. At the river, he went down and sat near the
swans and they approached him. As he
sat, I spoke calmly with his sister about not constantly picking out differences
between him and her – he has his battles, she has hers. They cannot keep a score tab because that
doesn’t work. We slowly made it back to the
hotel and Ethan asked if he could walk around for a bit, so Mags and I headed
up. It wasn’t long when he came back, as
the rain had started to fall, and he offered me a piece of cookie he had gotten
from a vending machine which he enjoyed very much – a peace offering, which I
gladly accepted.
Pictures: The swan-whisperer a' whispering; Sechselaeuten Platz; Bodega Espanola fancy mouth-wipin' towels; My favorite church - Gross Muenster. Tanti was married here long, long ago; Shot of AltStadt.
