Google Madison

Bubbs sent this to me.  Now I can finally start recruiting all of those people I know in Madison. :-)

Bern and back

I'm finally recovered (only took 3 months) and realized I still hadn't told you about going to Bern.

The plan all along was that Bart was going to work for a week, then go on vacation for two, then finish up with another week of work.  So after the first week (and getting our luggage fixed) Bart took off for some fun in the Alps.  Unfortunately after three days I got a call from Bart and he told me he had an accident sledding and he had torn his knee up pretty bad and he would be heading home early.  I said I was sorry and let me know if I can do anything.

The next night after dinner I get a call from Bart.

Bart: I need you to do me a favor.

Me: Ok, what?

Bart: I need you to come to Bern.

Me: Umm, ok, why?

Bart: I need help changing trains in Bern since I can't lift my luggage.

Me: Ok.  I'll head to the train station and let you know when I can get there.

Bart: Thanks.

So I headed to the train station and started trying to decipher the Swiss train system.  Unfortunately the manned ticket booths were already closed, so I had to try to use the automated kiosks.   Now normally I'm a big fan of automation and not having to deal with other people, but the I'm using an automated system in its 4th language its not always that intuitive.  I finally managed to buy a round-trip ticket from Zurich to Bern that included use of the local transit in Bern.  So I only over purchased a little bit.  The ticket was 99CHF (or about 90USD) and the trip is about 125k  (77miles) each way, so thats not bad.  Also the trip was only about an hour each way and a train ran every half hour.

Called Bart and told him I'd be there in just over an hour and headed for the train.  I didn't understand the markings on the train and ended up sitting in First Class until the ticket taker came around and told me.  So I moved back to 2nd class, but it wasn't a big difference.  It was fun watching us pull away from the traffic on the highways so I'm sure we were going 80mph+.

We pulled into the station in Bern and I called Bart to find out which track he was on and it was just the next one over.  He had gotten someone to help him off his train from Interlakken.  It turned out that the train we were taking back to Zurich was on the same track he had just come in on.  So we waited about 20mins and got on that train and rode back to Zurich.

Once we were back in Zurich we had to decide which would be worse: making Bart walk further to catch a tram sooner or just waiting at a closer stop for the tram.  Bart thought he could make it so he headed out to the tram stop.  In retrospect we should have just waited at the closer stop.  He was in a lot of pain and moving pretty slow.

I got him back to the house in Zurich and he got cleaned up and waited for his cab to the airport.

So thats that.  The Bern train station was very nice.  I'm impressed with the Swiss train system.  It also seems like you could choose a lot worse places than Switzerland to injure yourself.  If this had been anywhere else I probably would have had to rent a car to go pick him up.