BUDAPEST TO ZURICH

We left Budapest on Helvetica Airways.

The sun was setting at 3:45PM.

Junk meal with red wine and Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey.

Flew into Switzerland.

Zurich Airport.

Marriott Zurich.

M Club.

Walked 3597 steps today.

Breakfast was universally European and adequate.

Zurich isl a hub for both planes and trains.

Founded by the Romans, settlers were here from around the time of Jesus, although early settlements go back 6400 years.
Highest recorded temperature was around 100F in July of 1947, although the average low for July is 57F.

Zurich has long ranked high in world quality of life and similar ratings.

Mercer's quality of living assessment has Zurich at #1 in Quality of Living.

Zurich rose to the top of the list due to its outstanding public services, low crime rates, lively cultural scene and commitment to sustainability. However, Zurich is also ranked among the most expensive cities in the world. Zurich #3 to Hong Kong #1 and Singapore #2.

The 2024 Economist world livability index has this country at #3, with Vienna #1 and Copenhagen #2.
The highest U.S. city was Honolulu at #23.
Our next trip will be in the spring of 2025, to the Osaka (ranked #10) Expo, followed by a cruise from Yokohama to Vancouver (#7).

About Zurich.

Buying bottled water is a waste of money. Switzerland cities have the cleanest drinking water. Zurich has 1200 drinking fountains.
A bowl of breakfast here is Muesli, which has apples, oats, nuts, lemon and condensed milk.
I one of the happiest cities in the world, at #2 to Aarhus, Denmark. Berlin is #3, Minneapolis the highest U.S. city at #18.
Has a museum dedicated to nothing.

“In this age of information, where daily we are flooded with images and noise, moments of quietude, emptiness, and self-chosen silence become more and more important. Many artists respond to this mass-media sensory overload with a range of strategies that reduce, empty, decelerate, or take on an attitude of complete refusal that is more than just a mere artistic gesture. Better NOTHING than such a thing!”

Has the largest church clock in Europe. In the heart of town is St. Peter's Church. The diameter is 28.3 feet.
Zurich's cuisine includes Swiss specialties like Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (sliced veal in creamy mushroom sauce), Swiss chocolate, and an array of Swiss cheeses. Also, fondue and raclette are famous traditional Swiss dishes you can enjoy in Zurich.

Two famous people are Albert Einstein, who spent his early career here, and James Joyce, who is buried in the city's Fluntern Cemetery.

Tomorrow our walk through the Christmas market os Zurich.

Comments

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicio...

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for...

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

Search This Blog