Bumpy Arrival in Thun, Switzerland

After four good days in Madrid my body was almost back to normal until Monday night.

I was seranaded by a loud party in the street below my widow until 3:30 a.m.

Then the trash pick up truck and the street cleaners paid their respects at about 4:15 a.m.

Net result? I got exactly zero hours of sleep the night before I was set to takeoff to start coaching the . . .

Thun Tigers

But first there would more drama, much more drama.

My taxi arrived right on time at 7:00 a.m. for the 40 Euros drive to the airport. I told him that I needed the terminal for Swiss International Air. No problem, Terminal 1 was the call.

He got me to the Terminal with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, Swiss flys out of Terminal 2.

Walk, walk, walk . . .

Still loads of time.

First BIG bump then reared its head, There were only a couple of people in line and when my turn came, the young lady at the counter informed me that I was not on the passenger list. How could this be, I purchased my round trip Madrd-Zurich-Madrid tickets through for $177.80 Expedia three months ago.

The problem was easily solved. Expedia originally booked me on a flight aboard Spanair to be operated by Swiss Air. The glitch you ask? Simple really, Spanair went out of business last week. Thus no room in the inn for me. Since my original flight was now full, I had to purchase tickets anew for a later, two part Swiss flight for only 284.67 Euros. That is $374.88!!!!!

I was worried that my bag would be too heavy for flight inside the European continent but was happy to find out it weighed 22.5 kilos, 0.5 kilos below the allowable 23 kilo weight limit.

The problem was that my carry on weighed 13 kilos while the allowed limit for carry ons is eight kilos. I had to check that bag in as well for an additional 70 Euros, $92.18.

I was serene through it all, thanks Camino, as I now would fly later than anticipated to Geneva, lay over for 90 minutes and then proceed to Zurich.

Ueli Sutter had already left Thun to pick me up and had to wait a couple of hours due to my tardiness. Thanks for being patient Ueli!

The Geneva Convention?

I wonder if their Geneva Accords cover price gouging as well? That is $5.25 for a half-liter of Coke in the Geneva Airport!!!

I also found out that all of the ATM machines in Geneva's Airport are located on the outside of the security checkpoint.

When we finally got to Thun, I was treated to these two vistas out my front window.

Thun Castle on the right

Lake Thun to the left

A quaint Thun hotel

Thun street scene

The Thun Castle up close

Crazy man on campus?

Swiss Francs are cool . . .

Very cool!

Junior Pads

My first meeting with some of the Seniors

My first meeting with some of the Juniors

Hectic, but I'm finally here!

Practice this Friday and Saturday before scrimmaging the Division I Bern Grizzlies next Monday night.

GAME ON!!!