(CH)ICAGO ABROAD: THE CALM BEFORE THE PAMPLONA STORM...SO WE THOUGHT

Yeah...I'm not sure how we got to the ABOVE point but we were there pretty quickly after having some dinner one night in Zurich. Rest assured, we're at a club/bar and not the other type of club, but this gentlemen was definitely in his own world. He was politely removed from the non-load bearing pole. For what it's worth, this was not part of the plan, neither was the African, Caribbean, and Latin street festival, neither was staying out until 3am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The plan was to hit it hard in Brussels and Munich, rest up in Zurich while seeing some sites with Mr. and Mrs. Planetferg, and then turning it up to 11 in Pamplona.

Arriving in Zurich from Munich, Planetferg and I were exhausted and all we wanted to do was relax, meet up with the wives and chilax (chill and relax). I also failed to mention that my wife just returned from a quick 3 day trip to the U.S and in 5 days would be returning to the states. But we failed to factor in Mrs. Planetferg. A little background...Mrs. Planetferg enjoys life like the rest of us, except she and the husband are at an 11, in volume and activities, pretty much all the time. AND recently she experienced a knee injury that basically placed her on the injured reserve for the past 5-6 months. So this trip was basically the recovery party for her and we were just there to bear witness to all the hard work that she and her doctor had put into getting her back to dancing shape.

By the time we finished dinner, everyone except one person was rolling on fumes. Can you guess which one? But when you have a guest that wants to cut a rug, well, you go cut a rug. I was proud of myself because one establishment we tried to enter wouldn't let me in with my sandals, so I walked ALL the way home (3 blocks), changed shoes and returned. I'm a gracious host, I must say. Yes, I must. Mrs. Planetferg turned this establishment into her own dance club. None of us had seen anything like this before. NEVER. When she let out a loud "ROAR", we thought maybe it was her knee and we all jumped to offer assistance, but she calmly told us that it was a roar of excitement. And that was just Night 1, not even a full day yet.

The next day we went to a restaurant named COCO. They have an interesting concept, basically a priced fixed five course with a catch. There is no menu, you just tell them meat, fish, or veggie and they bring out wonderful surprises every 10 minutes. They also had a crazy wine selection, including some very old and expensive bottles from all over the world. I wasn't impressed with the cellar itself, but the fact that they had a $15,000 bottle of wine locked up in a $5 cage right below a $40 bottle of wine seemed interestingly funny. And yes, after dinner, we hit the town hard...well most of us did, the wife was exhausted and could not last past midnight. But the rest of us soldiered on until we saw the pole dancer in the picture above.

Zurich is a pretty diverse place, but every so often, it surprises even me. Zurich has it's own African, Caribbean, and Latin street festival. Who knew right? My wife gets a great deal of intel from her co-workers. This festival was pretty much a giant open air club with every street vendor blasting their own music. It was definitely a scene that appealed to all the senses. I was just happy to get some authentic Tacos, Jerk Chicken, and Sangria. Seeing folks electric sliding to Danza Kudoro (google the song, you'll love it too) and Europeans walking around with Dashiki's was an interesting experience. With all the craziness happening around us, the U.S debt crisis, the European Debt crisis, Asia's dependence on U.S/Euro debt, and torn ACL's, it just helps us realize that life is meant to be lived responsibly, to the fullest, with all the world as your friend.