The guy from Rotterdam

I had to buy a minimum of thirty minutes on the internet at the Zurich hotel, even though I only had about ten minutes' worth of business, so I'm just writing a quick check-in post.

Switzerland is really nice, in a calm but hideously expensive sort of way. I don't recommend coming here unless you have lots of money to blow or are with a very nice parent who insists on paying for everything. Mom and I are eating a lot at our hotel breakfast and taking picnic supplies up to the room at night, and we're still spending a lot of money.

Today we took a trip to Basel, which is right at the Swiss/German/French border. I didn't know much about Basel before we left, but I found out from a guide book that Erasmus of Rotterdam is buried at the cathedral there, so I had to go. Erasmus has always been on the sort of silly list of Historical People I Think Are Really Cool. I wrote a paper on him last year for a papacy class, even though it was only tangentially related to the papacy. I always think of him as the guy with the sense of humor so subtle and ironic that the fanatics around him, like Luther and some of the big guns in the Catholic Church, missed out on his real earnestness. Anyway, I had a nice sit by his grave.

Tonight will be an early night, since Mom and I are getting up at four to catch a train to the airport. Meanwhile, I have some currencies to sort out. More later.

"Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself. " - Desiderius Erasmus