Not a fan

Last night had such promise, and yet failed so miserably. Turns out the “air conditioning” in our room was just pretend. We asked this morning at the front desk about our lack of cool. Turns out it is an air circulation system and will cool the room by 1degreeC. Please realize that that is more in Fahrenheit – like 2.something degrees. So. There. I went to the bathroom and filled up the sink with cold water five times during the night, trying to get some relief. The funny thing about that is that this is a verrrrrry shallow sink – I can’t get my wrists in the water if my hands are in, or keep my fingers in if I dip my wrists. It gave me something to do – changing positions. We have a shower with a flat with the floor entry, so no water could be captured there either. Keith really upped his coughing game over night and started running a fever for the first time this trip. We decided to go to seek medical help. We left our uncomfortable room – OH! Keith invented a new thing today. It is called a ColdShower™. You turn on only the cold water and stay until you start to shake with freezing. He liked it very much – and stepped outside and it was NICE OUT! Breezy and 78. I actually did a little dance and sang a song about not dying.

The clinic was interesting (and not air conditioned)(doctors are heroic, I guess, and don’t need cool). You stood on the street with your form that you got from a box until a gong sound sounded, then you went upstairs to sign in. Keith couldn’t take me, because only the sick people are allowed upstairs. The intake lady couldn’t speak English, couldn’t give him any idea of how much it might cost, could not say if the doctor might speak English. It was frustrating to say the least and he gave up. He came downstairs and he looked simply awful. His eyes are gooey and his nose is runny and he coughs a lot (negative covid test again today) and his head was soaked with sweat. We sat on a bench in the shade and pondered what to do next, and suddenly he felt better. I think the tylenol got hold of his fever and that made him feel much better. I told him the money didn’t matter, which is his line to me normally, but he felt a little better and thought he might as well wait until Monday when he is home. We don’t know what day it is anyway.

We walked around the block and pondered lunch. Food is not inexpensive in Switzerland. We finally picked a cafe and had mushroom risotto and chicken with grapefruit sauce, roasted potatoes, and veg. It was all very good. We each had a coke, because although it was $5, water was also $5 and I feel like I am getting more when it is not just water. Our waitress didn’t speak English, so that was fun. And funny.

As we sat there, a couple walked by with a stand fan in a box. I had walked around while Keith was not actually registering and knew right where they had gotten it. We had a FINE time in the store, picking out a fan. We actually took all the floor models and plugged them in to check them out. We found a perfect fan – only $20 (you pay more for a lunch portion of risotto than that). We happily went to the check out and were told we couldn’t buy the floor model and more would be delivered tomorrow. It cost $30 to Uber there, so we won’t be going back.

Downstairs there was a Lidl, so we wandered around and looked for cough medicine. (We had been to one pharmacy. They mostly had little gifts. Very unsuccessful). We bought other stuff.

We went to another pharmacy and talked to the woman in a white coat. Told her all the symptoms and she sold us a $15 bottle of cough syrup. We were riding high. We made it back to the hotel and Keith took some. He tried to rest, but could not stop coughing. He slept sitting up for a while. We used google translator to read everything on the package and found out this syrup is designed to make you cough more, to cough up gunk in your lungs. Bummer.

Then it was time to try for Springsteen tickets. I scored a fan registration code, so we could get in at 10am home time. We got in and it said 2000 people were ahead of us. We waited about 4 minutes and were in. It said ticket prices could fluctuate due to demand. What the hell is that about? Seriously? Oh, well. First section was $375. No. Second section was $185. Mmmm. Back of the section was $160, so we clicked on four seats and clicked check out. Sorry, those seats have been sold. WTH? We had that happen two more times, then it just gave us two seats behind the stage. No. Go back. Try again. Top section – BACK ROW – in the corner – $85 – buy buy buy. Sorry those have been sold. Go back behind the stage. Got two. $85 + $37 in fees. We will have a good time. We will be there.

We went off to a grocery store nearby. While we were walking, we were looking at all the buildings with shades over the windows. You see all the windows covered as you ride around, and we have discovered that the shades are electric and you just push a button and they louver and go up and down. Huh. I just imagine that was cheap, but they are everywhere, including our hotel rooms. We got to the grocery store and it was very broken. I put Keith on a bench and walked all around. I found the long way around and it was open during construction. I thought it was VERY funny that it did not say that on the construction side at all. Or maybe it did, and I don’t actually speak German. That could really be a thing. I didn’t actually look for a sign…that could also really be a thing.

Adventures in the grocery store part 2. We were looking for better cough syrup – got some – no idea yet if it might help. We scored some caramel flavored cough drops with menthol. Keith says they taste like Werther’s gone really wrong. Eggs are very colorful and are called picnic eggs or party eggs. I couldn’t tell if they were hard boiled, but…wouldn’t they be? Hard to know. There was a wall of meats that made us both say Alexander (if you know him, you know we didn’t say Alexander, but we meant Alexander) at the same time. He does like the idea of prosciutto-ing an entire pig.

We went to the Hot House for dinner. They were not kidding. Holy cow was it hot in there. Keith got a doner kebap and I got a mushroom pizza. One of either would have over fed us.

I saw these bags. 2000 kg limit. Isn’t that 4400 lbs? You might as well say “don’t fill with gold”. How would you know if you exceeded 2000kg? I can’t move it. I can’t move it at 50kg, so… Huh.

We have just been sitting quietly for the rest of the evening. Keith practiced a tiny bit. He feels better than this morning by far – although of course not all better. He is practicing new internet suggested ways to cough. Weird.