Although Caroline was taking off for paradise (can you tell I was envious) she encouraged me to stay for as long as I wanted, leaving a spare key and a nice roommate at my disposal.  Not in a hurry to jump back on a bus I decided to take her up on the offer and spent one more day in the city.  After saying our goodbye's Sunday morning I decided to join her roommate on a hike up Üetliberg, something I had wanted to do during my visit anyhow.  Given the location of their apartment it wasn't necessary for us to take any transportation, but instead began our hike with a walk.  The hike was enjoyable, varying in difficulty and atmosphere as both rain and sun showered down on us and rewarded with great views of the city once we reached the top.  Instead of immediately venturing back down the mountain we followed the 'planet trail' until hunger sent us back towards civilization.

A friend recently asked me if I consider myself to be an optimist, pessimist or realist.  For me the answer has always been a realist, the glass is neither half empty nor half full, it's just a glass.  Recently, though, I began to realize that the last few years of travel have changed me.  More and more I'm becoming the type of person that looks for the silver lining in things, trusting that everything will work itself out in the end.  Travel does that to a person, it changes you, causing you to see the world in a different light, but why?  There's a myriad of reasons that could answer this question, but I think the driving force for me has been the people I've met along the way.  Over the years and across the countries it's the people I've met that have brought to life the, "Everything happens for a reason" motif.  Due to scheduling conflicts and time constraints I was afraid I was going to miss a re-connection with one of these people, but thanks to a shift in plans and a 13+ hour bus journey we made it happen.