For our last day in Zürich, we decided to follow Vreni Griffith on her weekly walks around Lake Zürich to look at the colorful flower beds. Along the way we saw swans and ducks, an outdoor concert by a children’s Suzuki violin class, and an exercise class where the teacher and participants wore special attachments to their shoes to enable them to bounce up and down. (Sorry, I have no idea what these are called!) We also found another proof of “Hawaiian Life in the Universe” when I spotted a plant nursery with the name “Mahalo Plants.”

Because I erred in booking the correct dates of our Zürich stay, we had to make special arrangements for housing tonight only since the Hotel Neufeld was sold out. By the way, did I tell you that this is my third stay at the Neufeld — my husband Carl and I stayed here on two different occasions, years apart, and we were assigned the same room!

This afternoon Bill Potter and I will move to two studio apartments near the airport. From there we’ll take the train to Lucerne and meet up with our tour group with EF GoAhead, “A Week in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria with an extension to Prague.” I’m looking forward to staying in nicer hotels with possible air conditioning. Woo-hoo!

However, we have to say “goodbye” to Vreni. She has helped us so much on this trip, getting us on the right trams or trains, giving us suggestions on what to do, and much more. For years and over a dozen trips my husband Carl and I met up with Vreni and she was the best tour guide. Not only was she familiar with many tourist sites in various foreign countries, she also spoke German, French, Spanish, Italian, or whatever language was needed at the moment.