First trip out in swissy alone

My very first blog, so bear with me I will try and make it as interesting as possible. I moved to Switzerland to live with my boyfriend (who i will now refer to as chop-chop) and I love it, everything is so different. Zurich is the most beautiful place Ive ever seen, the air is crisp, the streets are so clean and the traffic is less than in England as they have a wonderful tram system.

Going on the trams excited me like a child really, and my first trip alone was a blast. I decided to go into main station to do some shopping on a sunday. chop-chop was left at home, big warm coat, gloves, hat and scarf, shopping bag and i was off on my first adventure.

Of course id been to the main station on the tram before with chop-chop so i knew where to get on and off and i knew where the shops were. I will add at this point I dont speak any swiss-german but luckily most people here speak a few words of english. Trip there was pretty uneventful and the shopping was great alone. chop-chop hates shopping so we always have to rush around, now i could stop and look at all the different ingredients and foods and jostle around with the huge amount of people that filled the Migro at main station.

Migro is a top food shop here a bit like Tesco or Morrisons, they have shops of all different sizes some sell electrical equipment, home goods etc, but the one i went to this day is purely food. I have a horrible habit of spending exactly what i have, I just keep going until ive spent my money (or in this case chop-chops money). I love cooking for chop-chop and he loves eating it, but i really know i have to cut down a bit. In my mind when im in the shop im thinking of receipes i can make, I never take a list with me which is probably why i spend too long shopping and spend so much of chop-chops money.

Anyway back to my story, I filled two huge shopping bags and made my way back to the tram. This is where the problems started, I knew the tram no. but i wasnt sure which side of the road i should queue in. I tried looking at the signs but i really didnt have a clue at this stage, I had two heavy bags and my tram was coming so i just hopped on. I found a seat straight away and i was on my way home.......or so i thought.

Id been all around the city with chop-chop, so the views out of the window wern't new to me, but was this the way home? The next stop a man got on the tram and stood up by the doors as all the seats were taken, he had a violin case with him and after a few moment got his violin out and started to play a classical song, I was enthralled.

Maybe a bit too enthralled, Im easily led away from the task in hand and day dreamer is my middle name, well by the time Id figured I was on the right tram, but going the wrong way the fiddler had packed away his violin and the tram doors whooshed open as he got off. Hastily jumping up and dragged half of Migros behind me I got off as well. No problem now, I just crossed over the road and waited for the right tram to come, which happened in about 3 minutes so i hopped back on again.

It was at this point i realised I hadnt purchased a ticket. There arnt any conductors just ticket machines at all the stops, but periodically a ticket-checker gets on and if you dont have one you get a hefty fine. So did I get off after one stop, buy a ticket, wait again, drag what now felt like more than half of Migro and get back on again or did I sit panic stricken and wait for the ticket-checker to arrest me. In my mind he was getting on any minute, police would be called, I would be dragged off and chop-chop would get a call to ask him to come and pick up his shopping from police headquarters. Now the big coat, hat, scarf and gloves felt mighty warm and i sat there like a pickled cabbage awaiting my fate. Of course no ticket-collector got on and the imagined conversation, me crying and begging for mercy never happened.

As i walked back in the apartment, chop-chop greeted me with a gorgeous smile and delving in my bags for his treat. Id survived my first trial by fire, but there was more to come :)