And I am a zombie!

Even though my plane left at 7:00 am Honolulu time, I had been awake since 2:59 am as my taxi picked me up at 4:45 am. Seems every time I know I have to wake up early, I set my alarm and end up waking up an hour before it goes off!

Luckily I was upgraded to first class on the first leg to Los Angeles, but then I had a 25-minute walk to the international terminal, followed by a four hour layover before the 10 hour flight to Zürich.

Arrival at Zürich airport!

I was so happy to be greeted by long-time friend Vreni Griffith after exiting customs. She helped me buy my train ticket to Lausanne and get Swiss francs out of the ATM.

The train ride to Lausanne took about 2-1/2 hours, then I had to walk four blocks uphill with my luggage to the hotel. Since this trip is just under two weeks, I purposely tried not to overpack, but still, I am completely wiped out after my long journey! Thankfully our hotel has air conditioning as the heat in Europe has continued.

I turned on the TV in my hotel room to find out that Hurricane Lane has been classified as a Category 5 headed for Hawaii, so I left just in the nick of time.

This is my fourth trip with the Historic Organ Study Tours: my first was in 1996 when my husband Carl and I went with the group to Denmark, Sweden and northern Germany.

In 2016 we went to northern France, in 2017 we were in Venice and the Dolomite area of the Italian Alps, and this year’s 2018 tour is in Switzerland, and we will hear and play pipe organs beginning in Lausanne, then traveling by bus to Geneva, Fribourg, Bern, Solothurn, Arlesheim, St. Urban, and ending up back in Zürich. Many of the tour participants come every year so I recognize a lot of the people. This year there are two other people from Honolulu, longtime music supporters Tom Hilgers and Michael Molloy, both now retired professors from the University of Hawaii.

Hopefully after a good night’s sleep I will be good to go! We begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning and I look forward to seeing churches and organs!