WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20:
Today I leave for Zurich, Switzerland with Lucy Angel. I am excited about this trip for a couple of reasons…..this is my first trip to Switzerland (somewhere I have always wanted to go) and my son & husband are coming over for a couple of days after the show. Today is also my 15th wedding anniversary. J
Got to the airport, got myself checked in only to find out our flight was going to be 1 hour late leaving Nashville. Luckily we had a 3 hour layover in Newark. Got everyone checked in ok and went to wait for the flight. Landed in Newark a little earlier than we had planned so we all had time to kill. We departed on time and then sat on the runway for about 45 minutes due to “traffic”. The flight was NOT full so I had an empty seat beside me. YEAH!! J
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21:
Landed in Zurich right on time. Got all of our bags, met Albi outside of the baggage area, and headed to the hotel. Had a quick breakfast and then we all headed into town to check out Zurich. This is a beautiful city with tons of shopping – high end shopping! The buildings and architecture are amazing, and the river, lakes and beautiful snow covered mountains. Did a little shopping and then I headed back to the hotel “alone”. I was a little concerned about the tram system, but it was much easier to figure out than I thought it would be. J Made it back to the hotel, checked email, had dinner, checked more email and went to bed early, around 10 pm.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22:
Woke up to find that when I showered yesterday, I had forgot to take my watch off. Now it does not work. I just got a new battery for it before I left. I even let the battery lay out overnight thinking maybe it would dry out……no luck. So I am off to buy a new watch today.
Left at 3pm to go over to the venue for soundcheck. Soundcheck was quick and easy, just the way we all like it. Then we had a little down time and headed over to the restaurant for dinner. This venue is really neat. It would make you think of an old castle the way it is shaped, but inside is a huge dancehall. There is a private restaurant on one side, and the dancehall in the middle – they also serve dinner there. There is an upstairs, the main floor and a split level floor on the far left of the stage. The place was sold out and the girls did a great show. They performed 2 – 45 minute sets + an encore. After the show the girls signed autographs for about 45 minutes. They made A LOT of new fans and sold a lot of cd’s. Got back to the hotel about 1:30 AM and bed around 3 AM.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23:
Slept in today since we have the whole day off. Went downtown and walked around for a while, checked email, etc.
We all left the hotel at 7pm, dropped the gear in the dressing room and went to the restaurant for dinner. They serve these hamburgers that are the size of a medium pizza – HUGE!!! The girls performed another great show and really got the crowd in to their set. Lindsay, who is the lead singer, has a really great voice. Everyone has been really nice. They signed autographs again after the show and got back to the hotel about 2 AM. Going to bed for a FEW hours……
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24:
Up at 5 AM to get ready to head to the airport. I am going to make sure the band get checked in ok and to meet my “honeys”. J Went downstairs to find out that Denny, the bass player, his ticket was booked for a Monday return. The others were all Sunday. Kate has been on the phone with the airlines trying to get his ticket changed, but they would not “work” with her. It was going to cost more to change his ticket, than the ticket itself cost. Needless to say, Dennis spent the day in Zurich.
Made it to the airport in 15 minutes. The guys got checked in and I headed downstairs to the arrival area with lots of time to spare. Finally about 9AM, I see Andrew and Tim in the baggage area. It was so great to see them. This was their first trip overseas, so it was good to know that they made it safely. J
We ventured out to the train station, we are taking the train to the main station and then a tram to the hotel. This is a “first” for Andrew too. He has been wanting to ride the Music City Star train so I know he will love this. Taking the train was easy, figuring out how to get out of the train station was not so easy. Having never been in a train station before and all of the construction, we were a bit confused, but we made it.
Got to the hotel, dropped the bags and headed downtown. There were some divers in the river, which really fascinated Andrew, not sure what they were after. All of the “shops” are closed because it’s Sunday, except for 1 little souvenir shop. We got Andrew a “camo” Swiss Army knife with his name on it, had some lunch and headed back to the hotel. We were all tired from very little sleep so we had a nap and then headed back to town.
Woke up about midnight with Andrew on fire! This is not what you want to happen on vacation, in Switzerland, 4,000 miles from home. Luckily I brought Motrin and Tylenol, and started him on that. He was so exhausted and so hot.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25:
Got up about 7AM as were had planned to go to Mt. Titlis today and go snow tubing. Andrew is still not feeling well so that will not happen. No way am I taking him up in the mountains with this fever. Went down and had breakfast, ran into Tracy Lawrence. I used to work for Tracy several years ago. Was good to see him, introduced him to Andrew and Andrew to Lucy Angel.
Headed to town and got some medicine for Andrew and went back to the hotel. He spent 95% if the day in bed. He is so tired, has no appetite, coughing, congestion, etc. I have no idea what is really wrong and we are so far from home.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26:
Up early to head to the airport. Andrew felt a little better this morning, thank God. We landed back in Newark and I noticed there was an earlier flight to Nashville. We went to the gate and luckily we were able to get on that flight. It was completely full, but we made it. The flight we were supposed to be on didn’t make it to Nashville until 10:30 PM, we got here at 5PM. Big difference, especially with a sick child.
I took Andrew to the doctor first thing on Wednesday, he had strep throat. He has never had strep before and has never been so sick. He laid in the bed for 3 days……