The Neutral Zone

Arbois, France - We visited Arbois for Hannah's birthday. Arbois is in the Jura department of France, which is named for the mountain range that runs along the French-Swiss border. Switzerland has a Jura canton, but somewhat oddly, the French department of Jura and the Swiss canton of Jura are not adjacent to each other.  Truth be told, we didn't actually stay in Arbois, but in an even smaller town about five minutes drive outside Arbois called Les Planches (population: 101). We stayed in a charming and poorly insulated  18th century farmhouse  owned by a small winemaker, who kindly gifted us one of their Pét-nats for Hannah's birthday. A short hike outside the town was a lovely waterfall. But Arbois was where we spent most of our time. It's a quaint French town with approximately 3,500 residents. You will not be surprised to learn that we visited a place with a rich gastronomic and viticulture heritage for Hannah's birthday. In fact, according to Wikipedia, it appe...

Zurich, Switzerland -  Dear reader, I'm so sorry to have neglected you for so long. Work and life intervened and distracted me from delighting you with our adventures. What follows is a series of photos from some of our travels this summer. Lech, Austria (23 August) We drove 2.5 hours (one way) to Lech for one reason: to visit a restaurant Hannah had read about. Jakob & Ethel is located in a 17th century farmhouse nestled into the Austrian Alps. It didn't disappoint.  Como, Italy (14 August) Hannah and I visited posh Como over a long weekend in August. Como is of course a getaway destination for the upper crust - a place to see and be seen. Of course Hannah fit in so well with her haute couture and refined sensibilities. It was such a shame that she had to drag around a luddite the whole time. Como is the largest of several towns dotting the lake. In between the towns are spectacular 18th and 19th century villas overlooking the water. These towns are connected together b...