we now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging...

...except not at all because i'm STILL IN BLOODY ZURICH. the local time is 9:54 pm, and i am coming to you live from the glamourous park inn hotel near zurich airport, the tab for which is being picked up by united airlines WITH WHOM I WILL NEVER FLY AGAIN.

caps lock too much for you all?

long story short, i am supposed to be somewhere over the atlantic right now. i would be a little tired, sure, but i would be comfortably settled on the plane, with maybe a cocktail in hand, finishing up my book and thinking about the two big meetings i had awaiting me at work the next day.

but instead, here i am, in a funny airport hotel with a built-in mcdonald's, and whose color scheme seems to be the more primary colors you can squeeze in, the better. the design is actually pretty neat -- very cheerful ikea meets sparse swiss/german design aesthetic. the shower is a tall cylindrical column with a curved sliding door and built in bench.

but sorry, why am i wasting valuable post space talking about the airport hotel? the reason we didn't make it out of zurich today is apparently united airlines noticed at the very last possible second that there was a "severe crack" in the cockpit window. JUST A TIP, UNITED MAINTENANCE PEOPLE: maybe you should check those things when the plane first comes IN to the airport, not when the plane is about to LEAVE. call me crazy, but that strikes me as a good idea.

many long lines and angry words and frustrated sighs later, they were unable to book me (and my parents) on any flights that would get us into austin (or DC) at any point tonight, so we had to admit defeat and take our stupid little voucher to chez mcdonald's. and here we are.

more on my actual vacation another time, since i am being a typical self-centered american who is hogging the free internet and i am starting to feel slightly guilty about it (then again, it doesn't look like anybody's waiting so who cares?). there are lots of stories to tell, and i want to make sure i do each of them justice, so i will have to save the meat for another post.

in the meantime i leave you with these Tantalizing Glimpses into the coming stories:
1) swiss food = meat, potatoes, and beer. lather, rinse, repeat.
2) i become a lounge singer in zermatt
3) i nearly die on a ski slope
4) glaciers and glaciers of ice
5) the korean take-over of interlaken
6) zurich, city of incredibly clean water and modest buildings

wish me luck tmw. if united doesn't get me out of here on schedule i swear that i will make them RUE THE DAY they decided to cross me.

punks.