I’ve now been on the road for over 3 weeks. I’m getting a bit tired of eating out. And I’ve been in Switzerland the past week, so the food is doubly expensive. I get to expense it, but still, it kinda sucks eating alone. I’ve been mostly going to the local grocery store and picking up some things to eat (mostly not great for me since I can’t actually cook anything in my hotel that involves more than boiling water in the kettle…).

I’m missing Dad and Daughter Person, although we’ve skyped with each other twice now.  I have had some fun in all the work.  I took a day trip to JungFrauJoch via cog railway over the weekend, and most of the train is under the mountain.  It was cloudy, so I didn’t get to see that much, but then it opened up for us towards the end of the trip – right as we were about to leave.

I’m in a hotel now which I’ll be in for about 10 days (maybe 9 – I forget…), and there are no laundromats in this town.  The nearest one is in Zurich – almost 2 hours away by train.  If I’d known that I would have washed my clothes before I left Zurich on Sunday 🙁  As it is, I have the hotel washing my clothes.  I provided them with the one detergent I know won’t make me break out into a rash, so hopefully that goes well.  They’re supposed to be ironing them as well – although I tried to ask that they just fold or hang things – it’s all undies, socks, knit shirts and a pair of jeans – none of which needs ironed.  The price list was missing from my room, so I have no idea how much it’s costing my company (what, you think I’m paying for laundering?!?).

I did splurge while I was in Germany’s black forest area and bought a cuckoo clock to be shipped home.  I blew all of my spending money for the month, but I’ve wanted a cuckoo clock since I brought my mom one back in 2000.  Otherwise, pretty much everything is getting expensed – train tickets, hotels, food, etc.  I travel reasonably, even when on an expense budget, so I’m not having big parties or anything.

I drove on the autobahn in Germany (which is generic for “highway”).  The “suggested” speed limit is 130 km/h (about 80mph).  I was going the suggested speed limit, and it felt like I was sitting still compared to most of the cars passing me.  I did get up to 170 km/h (~105mph) only because I had a long stretch to accelerate.  There *is* a speed limit of 120 km/h in Switzerland, and they’re really strict about enforcing it too (lots and lots of speed cameras).  Driving on the autobahn isn’t a big deal (or much different from driving on an interstate in the states), but driving in a city centre?  Oh man, that was torture.  One of my hotels was in a city centre, right next to the main train station, and I was stressed about following signs, hitting people or bikes, and just really glad to find the hotel’s parking garage and set out walking instead.