Yup. The ol’ two for one. A side and B side. A one two, a one two. Truth is I hit Zurich Switzerland for a quick three day trip with the audacity of a couple of world wars. AND. It’s a rainy day so I absolutely have to take a train and get to this tiny ass nearby nation known as Liechtenstein. Bucket list includes as many nations as possible prior to expiration. It’s a biiiiiiiiiiig fuckin bucket yo. Two things can be true at the same time. On this Swiss train. I mean, this thing is as baller as it gets. Can all of the things are true all be true all of the time? Bikepack gear space on the public transport kind of all and all and all. On and on. Check it out yall.

Not for nothing. Weather dictates this wonderfully delightful train ride for the roaming family pack and I, so the day trip to Vaduz materializes. I pay 3 Euro to stamp my own passport in the visitor center.

Back in Switzerland – it happens fast in these parts. Actual facts to snack on and chew: Zurich is a vibe. There’s all sorts of sides. The Dada movement to start. The hip hop scene, more acutely. Like a white Istanbul. Yeah I said it. I dunno. I like it tho. Sis and neph and I are riding bikes. Well we were, but we stop at this pop up party and a brewery or something. I dunno. There’s paella.

Mental cerebral uptake kicks in and I maneuver into a Motown mindset. The underbelly forming as the sunsets here sorta reminds me of Detroit in only the slightest. Distinct spaces on earth. Werid shit, I like it. Ask Danny Brown. Equally talented and unique and genuine. Tantor blares in my AirPods back in Zurich. Weird as fuck with proof in just two lines: “This that Black Lives Matter, still sniff cocaine/
Paid for a therapist but I still ain’t change”.

Moms is really making the Swiss Francs rain down, funding this pricey stopover. And I think she likes it here in Switzerland. It’s clean, quiet, healthy, calm. there’s plenty of English too. All the expensive things.

Stoos ridge doesn’t disappoint. The absolute highlight is my nephew Jacob and I going hard in the paint on the hike. We set off with a standard public train ticket from Zurich Central. Couple connections. Steepest funicular train in the world. Apparently. I dunno. It sure is fun though. Still part of the same public transport ticket from our point of origin. We end it up hiking up the ridge. Most take a ski lift type thing. Later neph would admit he ain’t ever hiked anything like that climb before. Reality check. One two. The scenery cannot be articulated. It’s utterly unbelievably perfect. The cows and the cowbells all ringing and reverberating throughout the mountains, mixing with the altitude and oxygen in an intoxicatingly natural high. Literally. “This is probably most beautiful view I’ve ever seen” exclaims the neph. “Big same”, I respond. Attempting to now write dialog which only half happens, I abandon words for video and photography endeavors.