The Neutral Zone

Zürich, Switzerland - We've spent much of the fall hiking and taking in the colorful foliage. For some of these trips we've ventured out on our own - just Hannah and me - while on others, good friends joined us.   Lech Lech is among the more posh ski towns in the alps. Wikipedia describes Lech this way: "Catering to wealthier clientele, particularly to the international jet set and foreign royalty, the municipality is an internationally known winter sports resort on the mountain range Arlberg. The Dutch royal family and Russian oligarchs regularly ski there." We visited in the fall shoulder season between the peak summer and winter periods. Many of the restaurants and hotels were closed ahead of the winter rush. When you're plebs like us, this is how you afford and gain admittance to such an exclusive place. Needless to say, we did not rub shoulders with royals or oligarchs. We visited Lech with our good friends Ben and Laura where we celebrated their recent enga...

Zurich, Switzerland - Dear reader, I apologize for my tardiness in keeping you updated on our comings and goings, but Hannah has kept us on a brisk pace. We returned to Switzerland in late June fully vaccinated and ready to venture forth. We have stayed at hotels, eaten at restaurants (mainly outside), and used mass transit. The delta variant has chastened us somewhat, and we don't want to get sick, but we also feel ready to once again take advantage of our time here, knowing that our risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 is low. Schaffhausen Hike This past weekend, we visited Schaffhausen, which is the northern-most canton in Switzerland and a short 1-hour train ride from Zurich. We arrived in the small, quaint town of Thayngen (population: 4,800) and from there, walked along the German border in a long loop that took us through the even smaller and quainter towns of Bibern (population: 250), Hofen (population: 120), Altdorf (population: 200), and Opfertshofen (popula...