#sihl

No I won’t ever nail Sihl’s design, it will always be different and hard to draw no matter what I do

   a shrug , as if there wasn’t anything to stress about . he didn’t even have the courtesy to look up from the holoscreen in front of him . maybe offering the god who tried to kill him ---  on multiple occassions , mind you --- wasn’t  his best idea . but , hey . seemed like he needed some company . or something . 

Links: Main Characters - Secondary Characters 1, 2

Kain Fontaine, 32 years, Aqualian soldier. He was stationed in Morgon when an army swarmed the small fortress. With Feid’s help the men resisted the attack for two days, but with the lack of munition, they had to evacuate. Kain chose to stay behind to follow Feid, remembering an old prophecy which had been given to him as a teen. Though he was born in a family of sorcerers, he cannot use magic, but only feel it.

Saphyr Céline, 27 years, Elemental (water). She grew up in an isolated village of sorcerers with her three siblings. When she was still a kid, Feid took her as an apprentice and together they traveled. Saphyr has since made her own way, she now seeks to wake up Ketal, convinced the Great Sorcerer could bring back the golden age.

Sihl, 17 years, Traveler. Sihl is born in the Throahènes, a country where being a sorcerer could mean her death. As a sorcerer, she has the ability to travel through dreams where she has inadvertently trapped herself. On that plan, she met Feid who has been teaching her everything she knows. But her time is counted: though, thankfully, her village is convinced a sorcerer put a spell on her, her body is starting to wear out from the lack of nutriments.

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This is where every trip begins – at my house on Potrero Hill in San Francisco. This is looking west from my bedroom toward Mission district, Noe Valley and Twin Peaks in the distance. I am only carrying a backpack for a month trip to Zurich, Paris, Barcelona, Granada and Madrid.

We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

-- T. S. Eliot (Little Gidding)

This was an ever-present issue on this trip. Traveling during the pandemic was a risk, of course and there was a never-ending series of requests for tests, documents, apps and questions AND masks (which I truly hate) but looking back now, it actually wasn’t so bad. I had only a test to get in to Switzerland and one to get back in to the US.

Thanks Doc! Other countries had elaborate vaccine docs, with QR codes or apps to download and stuff to scan, but in the end, my plain old (easily-faked, it’s true!) USA CDC card was accepted everywhere. But I think they're going to get stricter and ask for online documentation.

Zurich 1.1

And so I found myself here -- on the lovely, tidy, friendly streets of Zurich, Switzerland.

This is about 2 blocks from where I stayed on the Badenerstrasse in Aussersihl district, outside the center but a short tram ride away (lines 2 or 3 to the Lockergut stop).

AND WHY was I in Zurich? OK, so I bought these tickets back in April when air fares were very low & TAP Portuguese airlines offered a round trip fare from SFO to either Munich or Zurich for $390. That was so cheap I just had to jump on it, so I did. Booked the return from Barcelona, and then entirely forgot I’d done it. A few weeks later I found a cheap round trip to Athens, which was where I really wanted to go, and where I did in fact go. (You probably saw my blog for that trip like 2 months ago. ) Then a month after I got home I to an email from TAP, 'You still going...?' And so...

This is the view from the top of the funicular railway from the Old Town (Altstadt) up to an area with several campuses of local universities. Zurich is a lovely city with beautiful old and new buildings, many transit options, an excellent bike network and friendly people. I could live there... I think... depends on the winter, of course... (the ice cream is very good...)

It's on a lake - Lake Zurich… or actually it’s where Lake Zurich flows out into the Limmat River. It’s interesting seeing a river flow OUT of a lake. Also flowing out of the lake is the Schanzengraben Canal, which flows into the Sihl River, which joins the Limmat after flowing UNDER the Hauptbahnhof, or main train station. All these waterways make for some lovely walks.

Lake Zurich is at the bottom, flowing north into the Limmat River. On either side of that is the center or the Old Town (Altstadt). On the left side is the Schanzengraben Canal (which was built as a defensive moat) and left of that is the Sihl River flowing north under the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) before joining the Limmat. I stayed at the red dot on the farther left (Badenerstrasse 251).