Monday, June 9, 2008

Of Snails and other wonders of God's creation




This photo of a snail is when I was biking on the trail between Neunkirch and Schaffhausen. It's a beautiful path and I saw something on the trail but went speeding by. But I thought it warranted further investigation and so turned around and saw the largest snail I have ever seen. I have also seen some big slugs. I took the photo with my sunglasses to give you some sense of the size of the thing. And it was trucking along pretty quickly. I suppose this is mostly for my boys.
I also visited the Rheinfalls, the largest falls in Europe. This gave me the opportunity to eat lunch in a castle as well, the Schloss Laufen. And then I was off to Zurich.
But in Schaffhausen I was again helped by the legendary Swiss hospitality. A couple asked me about my bike and then helped me get my bike and luggage in the train. They then helped me get oriented in Zurich.
Zurich was a very different place from Schaffhausen. I went from a very country area to the most urban. Zurich is the largest and richest city in Switzerland. Because of the European soccer championships, the place was full of people, and especially young people. It was a wild, decadent, and loud place to spend the night. At one point I thought, oh to be 20 years old and single again. But then I remembered that when I was 20 and single, I wouldn't have liked the drunken and sexually charged festivities either. So what did it matter?

No comments: