We woke to partly cloudy skies on Friday morning. I had been thinking maybe we could go somewhere outside of the city, but those hopes were dashed when Bill made an appointment to have his second interview with one of the analysts on his committee. Not that I was disappointed… It put him a step closer to completing the application process.

We went down to breakfast and chose a table by the wall. The day before, a guy had sat in the chair right behind mine in the dining room. He kind of slammed into me while I was finishing up. I was determined not to let that happen again, so I sat on a bench against the wall, facing away from the mirror that offered unwelcome reflections of people eating. Seriously… why put mirrors in a dining room? Who wants to see themselves chowing down? 😃 Not me.

We saw the slender, dark haired lady we had talked to the day before. She came in as we were finishing and waved hello to us. We also saw a family with a toddler aged boy and the most beautiful male German Shorthaired Pointer. The dog was very sweet, but his owner seemed a bit uptight. I noticed when the dog moved, he didn’t put weight on one of his forelegs. He held it up and hobbled on three legs. But he was otherwise very bright and beautiful, with a gorgeous shiny coat. He was also pretty well behaved.

After breakfast, Bill and I made our way to the train station. He had purchased two first class tickets for us to go a couple of stops, then get on the tram, which is not as fancy, but would take us straight to the analyst’s office near the Opera House in Seefeld. As we waited for the train, I looked up at someone’s balcony overlooking the tracks. They had big plants on the balcony, maybe to make it look more inviting as an outdoor space. I couldn’t help but think I’d hate to live by railroad tracks. I did that in South Carolina, and it got old pretty fast!

The train came and we made our way into the city. The analyst, a guy I’ll call J.J., shares his office space with another therapist. As we were walking into his building, a lady with a dog came out. We later found out that she’d had to bring the dog with her to her session. I immediately liked J.J. for accommodating his client’s dog!

I waited for Bill while he had his interview, sitting in a rather uncomfortable straight backed chair. I passed the time with games and reading my latest book, which is about Alexei Navalny. It’s a fascinating book, but a bit depressing. I have to take it in short stints. I look forward to finishing it.

When Bill was finished, he came out of J.J.’s office with a huge smile on his face. I knew the session had gone well. He told me that J.J. had said he would make a “fantastic” analyst! I don’t think that was flattering bullshit, either. I have always thought Bill would be good in such a role. He’s a natural healer, a kind, caring person, and a good listener. Maybe it’s time for a change in direction. I know that eventually, it will be time for him to do something new.

We decided to have lunch at a place called Brasserie Schiller, which is a bustling restaurant by the Opera House. The place was full of patrons, but we managed to score a table. Our waitress was a friendly older woman with a lot of personality. She struck me as a worldly type of person who would be a lot of fun to hang out with outside of work. She seemed like the type of person who swears a lot, enjoys a drink, and probably smokes, too.

We were in a celebratory mood, so we had a nice big lunch… I had entrecote (rib eye steak). Bill had venison. We skipped the starters, because we wanted dessert. That was a consistent theme during this trip! For dessert, I had chocolate mousse, and Bill had a lemon tart.

Our lunch was very luxurious and leisurely, and we were among the last patrons to leave before the pause. Our waitress told us she had to set up for a special event that evening. I looked outside and saw that it looked like they were setting up a stage for some kind of festival. We paid her and got out of her hair. Having been a waitress myself, I understand the pain!

Instead of taking the tram and train back to the hotel, we decided to take one of the shuttle boats. It took quite a bit longer, but we had the benefit of lake views and watching people… I also watched a spider make its way down from the ceiling, spinning its silk just behind Bill’s head. He doesn’t like spiders, so I smirked when I told him there was a spider climbing down its silk. The lady sitting at the table next to us seemed horrified as she looked for it.

When we got back to the hotel, it was late afternoon. I laid down on the bed for a rest, and soon fell fast asleep. I think I was out for about two hours. We were so full from lunch that we skipped dinner and went to the bar, instead. A group of Americans were in there, being pretty loud… But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the bartender, cocktails, and the bar that looked like the bow of a boat. To be honest, I would have preferred beer, but besides an unremarkable Helles on draft, they only had Erding Weissbier in bottles, and I didn’t want that. Our ex landlady is from Erding, and I didn’t want to be reminded of her.

I also got some nice images of the sunset. Lake Zürich is like an ever changing canvas.

Saturday was our one day with no plans. I will write about that in the next post.