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'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...