Train Stations

So I kinda sorta maybe be typing this from my iPhone so I apologize for any misspelling or weird train of thoughts (no pun intended with the title). Well since you last heard from me I've gone to a Vienna philharmonic concert at schonbrunn palace, ate my weight some more in gelato, and oh hey... I'm in Switzerland? I promise the question mark doesn't mean I'm here by accident but rather more along the lines of I can't believe I'm in Switzerland. I've only been to this country once before and that was with my mom on a tour where we stayed in Lucerne, completely taken care of. This time, I'm on free travel with five other people basically winging it. For all you concerned parents out there, we do have hostels/hotels booked, so no worries but other then that we are going with the European Swiss flow, which is turnin out to be pretty interesting. Our travels started Friday night at 10:32 pm on our first ever night train. I had only ever been to the train station or a train station to take pictures at platform nine and three quarters or to take pictures of classic New York with grand central station, meaning this was foreign to me just like everyone else.
Our group decided that we would not get a bed compartment or cushett because it cost more then we wanted and we thought sleeping on the train in the seats would be an adventure. And trust me... It was. We ended up having an entire compartment to ourselves because of there were six of us. We soon found out that our seats slid down enough to form one giant bed made of seats. With the boys by the door for protection and our earphones in, the longest night set in. Sleeping like we did was probably the worst thing ever. All packed in like little sardines, we were arranged liked a human fishes on stacked side by side, severly uncomfortable. I maybe slept for 2 hours aided by the help of jack Johnson and friends. After almost 9 hours of this unfortunate situation, we made it to Zurich bright and early at 7:23 am. The train station was huge! I felt as though I was in a mall of some sort at the airport, and ten I realized this kinda is the "airport". There were seven languages listed on almost every sign and thank goodness the tourist info station was in English. This place actually turned out to be our saving grace if you've already judged us for going to the toursit info place. I use to make fun of my mom for going to tourist info places, until now. The staff was very friendly and helped get us a good map, circling all the highlights of Zurich and tickets for the public transit system. They even gave one of my friends a free post card because he thought we were funny! So once we were situated, we jumped right into the heart of Zurich and began walking around the oldest part. We would walk down little cobblestone streets, cluttered with small restaurants, Swiss flags, and over priced items. That's one thig I completely forgot about the Swiss: they are high class and high priced. We decided to skip the overpriced items and shop at a grocery store instead for a cheap picnic lunch. Our next stops were nothing short of typical toursit but we loved it. We went to an old church built in the 1200s, a handcraft Swiss store, the river that goes right through the city and of course all the shops selling little Swiss trinkets. We were really just going to the next place we saw, without a care in the world. By lunch, we were starved and decided to eat our picnic lunch in a park. This park was so precious! It had a place for kids to play, people to sit, and old men to play giant chess. It was very impressed with the quality of such a park and wished that American parks would be the same. After our nice break from walking and just to eat lunch. Eventually, we headed back to the streets down famous shopping areas, beautiful boardwalks, and old buildings of great importance. By 4 pm, we were exhausted!!! So much so that we fell asleep while resting by the river front. The atmosphere was so relaxing and the place so calm. Our day in Zurich was a success.
 By 7:30, we made our way back to the train station. A new place of comfort and security. If it wasnt for the train station, we wouldn't have made it to Zurich of course but we wouldn't have had really done all the things we did. And then that "alter moment" as some say kicked in: the train station today was like God. It was a place of comfort and security where I knew I could find shelter, help, and a warm welcome. It was a place that could help me with all my needs and give me guidance to the "big picture" in life. It helped get me here today and make all things possible. Thank you God and all the train stations out there!