Landed

I am writing from my hotel room in Lucerne, Switzerland - landed this morning, after an arduous 15 hour flight from which my back felt like it was sure to break and disintegrate from bodily aches.

I thought enviously of the damn people in their business and first class seats. Sometimes having a filthy lot of money does make life easier...

So I've barely recovered from my previous jet lag and now my body clock is searching for some order in the chaos I've put it through recently - and how tired I've been! Rushing work, planning this and that, getting things done in time for my work trip here.

Anyhow, after taking a train from Zurich to Lucerne at a ridiculously early hour (I got in at 6 bloody am!) I got to the hotel to find I had to wait over two hours to check in as I was too early.

Had a bath, got on the internet, went out to walk around town with a fellow journalist, got some lunch, then went to TWO museums! I am so proud of the stupid amount of energy I seem to possess despite my exhaustion.

Swiztzerland is beautiful. The water in the lake running through Lucerne and past its iconic wooden bridge is beautiful and gorgeous and clear. The architecture of the town houses surrounding the banks of the lake is majestic, grand and tragic all at once. And the best bit - set against the beautiful town is the magnitude of moutains. From my little hotel terrace, I can see the peaks of the mountains miles away, and the green plains cascading downwards beyond my vision.

It's all so beautiful, so familiar. So unfamiliar. So lonely. So liberating.

And I'll tell you what's random. If there's one thing I'll remember about today, it's actually this video installation/film called Memorial Project Vietnam that I saw at the Museum of Art in Lucerne.

Have never heard of this artist, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba before, but in a darkened room, I saw the film he made, of dragon dancers, performing their craft in the deep sea. Yes, these dancers were divers and they were darting around in the water, making the dragon come alive, while capsules of paint are circled around in this contraption on the seabed, and released individually. Each explosion of colour from the capsules in the deepest depths of the sea, only enhanced the mystery and incredulity of the scene unfolding before me.

You have to see it for yourself. The best way to view it is in a dark room with the screen the size of those in cinemas. It was fantastically amazing and very original. And very expensive. The artist must have fuck loads of money to do an artwork like this.

Time to go and freshen up so I can meet the rest of this massive group of 30 journalists also on this media tour.

I'll be damned, but I've realised today what a huge amount of fucking reserve energy I've got compacted in this human body of mine.