Many of you asked me to continue with this blog rather
than starting a new one; I’m happy to oblige and spare you the hassle of bookmarking
a new URL… So my travails will continue here, hope you’ll continue to find them
intriguing.
Hardly had I begun to adjust
to being back in Zurich than a nettlesome restlessness overcame me. After just three weeks of office time, sitting
on my duff and staring at my computer screen, I clearly needed to get out of
Dodge for a while. Plus, a record hot
summer in a city with scant air conditioning is really no fun. Circumstances conspired to enable a whole
week’s escape from the steaming asphalt and chilling stresses of the urban work
world, and after briefly considering a beach vacay in the Mediterranean, I opted
instead for a good ol’ Swiss summer sojourn: to the mountains.
So yay, a mini road
trip!
After driving west for less
than 2 hours, I cross the Röstigraben,
the linguistic – cultural – culinary – temperamental divide between the Germanic
and the Romandie regions. Within 100 meters grüezi
becomes bonjour, and this in the same
country! This is truly one of the things
I love most about Europe – now if we could just get rid of that pesky currency and
revert to a myriad of pesos, lire, schilling, marks, guilder, dinar and the
like.
I cruise through the picturesque
landscape that tourists, marketing mavens, and locals alike love: rolling hills
of green grass dotted with dark-timbered farmhouses, thick bales of golden hay,
and black-and-white dairy cows. Red carnations in window boxes as far as the eye
can see. Snow-tipped mountains (biggest
over 4K) as backdrop. Pass the cheese-producing areas of Gruyère and Emmental,
the vineyards of Yvorne and Aigle, and arrive in the idyllic, beautifully
preserved village of Vers-l’Église in the Vaudoise Alps.
A dear friend has generously
lent me her über-charming chalet and I revel in my alone-time to spend 7 days
reading writing hiking
hiking reading writing
writing hiking reading
Back in my travel togs, with
only myself to answer to, I am once again free of the responsibilities of
reality and the respite is particularly sweet in the cool relief of 1200
meters. I even unintentionally have a
day of silence (try it some time, does wonders) and soon feel the tension
melting away like the ice from the local glacier.
