I am about to take my 9th flight in 10 days. I am clearly nuts. Am currently in Zurich airport, so let's backtrack a few days.
After a rather eventful flight from Port Moresby to Australia thanks to some rowdy mining types, I made it to Sydney for leg one. It was 36 hours of personal admin, cupcakes, haircuts and a concert. We all know I have no luck with hairdressers. This time around when styling my hair she told me that she could "straighten it to be quite edgy - like Katy Perry wears hers". Now this is a step up from the time the hairdresser in Beverly Hills styled my hair like Justin Beiber - but I didn't think that Katy Perry was quite who I wanted to emulate given I was about to head to a John Mayer concert. That aside, John was the highlight of Sydney. Awesome as always - though everyone in the crowd was saying the same thing as me "is he okay? He looks really thin". I'm talking Matthew Perry with a pill addiction thin. Hopefully it is just Katy Perry withdrawal...
The downside of my trip to see John was that it was combined with a 6am takeoff the next morning - so rather than sleep, I think I had a mere nap that night. As always when I fly on Emirates I embarrassed myself in front of the cabin crew - this time as a result of eating a too spicy for me curry during the lunch service. I was crying so much you would have thought I was watching Beaches on a loop for the 14 hour trip.
Eventually I made it to Zurich. Cold, grey, rainy Zurich. Saturday was spent wandering around making the most of the breaks in the rain. It was on this wander that I discovered the Boogg.
Yes boys and girls that is a snowman (Boogg) on top of a giant bonfire. Turns out for well over 100 years the good people of Zurich, on the third Monday in April, set this baby alight and watch it burn. But poor old frosty doesn't just get set on fire. In the olden days they would pack him with explosives before setting him alight. These days they 'only' use fireworks, not explosives. It is like a Groundhog Day type tradition. If the Boogg burns quickly, it will be a good summer. If he suffers and takes a long time to burn, summer will be bad.
He gets parades in his honour as well. Today was the children's parade. My German sucks, but I think they were doing tradition dress over the years (although where the baton twirlers fit in between 1885 and 1905 is beyond me). Most of the kids were happy in their cute costumes. Except the kids dressed as cows. They looked sad.
There were marching bands too. My fav was the one playing Eye of the Tiger. The parade had everything - even a piano accordion.
There were even camels, and alpacas.
The children showed off their hunting skills.
The finale of the parade was the Boogg himself - being led by a guy that looked like a Vladimir Putin lookalike executioner...seriously, that could be Putin.
This guy was at the parade too - I have no idea who or what he is...
There was also a little field trip to the Rhine Falls.
We had to take a little boat to an island and climb up the steepest and slipperiest flight of stairs in Switzerland, whilst trying not to get knocked down the stairs to imminent death by pushy Italian tourists. I am still amazed I made it out alive.
Have had many an opportunity to enjoy the local chocolate. For some reason eating chocolate shaped like a bug is all the rage. This little dude was super tasty (he'd wanna be given what he cost!).
The Boogg featured heavily in all the chocolate stores as well. Everyone had cakes in his honor.
Have also discovered a new delicacy here in Zurich. Turns out the cronut is old news, we have moved onto the duffin.
Next stop - Vienna - to see my three fav temporary Austrians.
After a rather eventful flight from Port Moresby to Australia thanks to some rowdy mining types, I made it to Sydney for leg one. It was 36 hours of personal admin, cupcakes, haircuts and a concert. We all know I have no luck with hairdressers. This time around when styling my hair she told me that she could "straighten it to be quite edgy - like Katy Perry wears hers". Now this is a step up from the time the hairdresser in Beverly Hills styled my hair like Justin Beiber - but I didn't think that Katy Perry was quite who I wanted to emulate given I was about to head to a John Mayer concert. That aside, John was the highlight of Sydney. Awesome as always - though everyone in the crowd was saying the same thing as me "is he okay? He looks really thin". I'm talking Matthew Perry with a pill addiction thin. Hopefully it is just Katy Perry withdrawal...
The downside of my trip to see John was that it was combined with a 6am takeoff the next morning - so rather than sleep, I think I had a mere nap that night. As always when I fly on Emirates I embarrassed myself in front of the cabin crew - this time as a result of eating a too spicy for me curry during the lunch service. I was crying so much you would have thought I was watching Beaches on a loop for the 14 hour trip.
Eventually I made it to Zurich. Cold, grey, rainy Zurich. Saturday was spent wandering around making the most of the breaks in the rain. It was on this wander that I discovered the Boogg.
Yes boys and girls that is a snowman (Boogg) on top of a giant bonfire. Turns out for well over 100 years the good people of Zurich, on the third Monday in April, set this baby alight and watch it burn. But poor old frosty doesn't just get set on fire. In the olden days they would pack him with explosives before setting him alight. These days they 'only' use fireworks, not explosives. It is like a Groundhog Day type tradition. If the Boogg burns quickly, it will be a good summer. If he suffers and takes a long time to burn, summer will be bad.
He gets parades in his honour as well. Today was the children's parade. My German sucks, but I think they were doing tradition dress over the years (although where the baton twirlers fit in between 1885 and 1905 is beyond me). Most of the kids were happy in their cute costumes. Except the kids dressed as cows. They looked sad.
There were marching bands too. My fav was the one playing Eye of the Tiger. The parade had everything - even a piano accordion.
There were even camels, and alpacas.
The children showed off their hunting skills.
The finale of the parade was the Boogg himself - being led by a guy that looked like a Vladimir Putin lookalike executioner...seriously, that could be Putin.
This guy was at the parade too - I have no idea who or what he is...
There was also a little field trip to the Rhine Falls.
We had to take a little boat to an island and climb up the steepest and slipperiest flight of stairs in Switzerland, whilst trying not to get knocked down the stairs to imminent death by pushy Italian tourists. I am still amazed I made it out alive.
Have had many an opportunity to enjoy the local chocolate. For some reason eating chocolate shaped like a bug is all the rage. This little dude was super tasty (he'd wanna be given what he cost!).
The Boogg featured heavily in all the chocolate stores as well. Everyone had cakes in his honor.
Have also discovered a new delicacy here in Zurich. Turns out the cronut is old news, we have moved onto the duffin.
Next stop - Vienna - to see my three fav temporary Austrians.
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