Headed South: Hola from Switzerland!

If tasked to find two more diametrically different countries than Mexico and Switzerland I would fail the test. Well, maybe in Africa or Asia but whatever. Mexico- messy, Switzerland- obsessively clean. Mexico- really noisy day and night, Switzerland- stillness only broken by occasional cow bell (actually suspended on a cow). But here's one to top the world's an illogical place or maybe two. Drinking water out of a public fountain. Switzerland- Absolutely! all over there are big horse troughs with spigots running into them--- fine to drink out of them. A bottle of drinking water--$6.50 USD. Not kidding. Mexico-- ARE U KIDDING? Out of a fountain? Bottles of water 60 cents USD. What about supply and demand? Huh? Every house in Switzerland has a gun-- everyone is in the militia (very quaint, how effective is in question). There are almost no homicides. Mexico has the strictest gun laws in the Western hemisphere and thousands of deaths (thanks USA) each year. Temperamental differences perhaps?

Conquering your fears--or not

Well,on to the trip. Michael wanted Switzerland so here we are. Day one was calm. Went to Gruyeres and saw castle, had great fondue, went to Castle of Chillon in Montreux and drove along Lac Leman. Yesterday we drove to the Alps. Staying in the Lauterbrunnen Valley which is two miles long and has 70 waterfalls. Extremely cool. This segment of the trip plays to my trifecta of phobias- 1)acrophobia, 2)claustrophobia and 3)turistaphobia. Yesterday afternoon featured a Trip to the Jungfrau. We departed on a cog railway crammed with 200 or so extended Indian families (phobia 3) and ascended 13,500 feet (phobia 1) in part by going through a 16 mile tunnel very SLOWLY (phobia 2). Once on top we got to play in a snowfield with tiny little ropes keeping you from falling 13k feet (phobia 1) and crammed into an elevator to ascend an additional 350 feet (phobias 1,2,3) to where you can see even further or, worse yet, look through the grated slats beneath your feet to snow 200 or 300 feet below ( big phobia 1). Despite all this, we both had a great time and Michael's arm bruises should heal by trip's end.

Indians are the new Germans

Now if you are Indian, German or even Japanese, please don't take offense. But remember how everybody always used to rag on the German tourists? They were pushy, loud, obnoxious and frequently drunk? Well move on over Germans! The Indians have arrived! We are not sure if the Lauterbrunnen Valley holds some particular draw for the Indians (like Prince Edward Island and the house of Anne of Green Gables does inexplicably for the Japanese ) or if there are just tens of thousands of Indians roaming the continent of Europe this summer. The average family unit is 8-12 and they are highly effective at forming a flying wedge to achieve entry on all forms of transit. Be warned!

The Mysterious Mr. Murphy

We returned to the hotel yesterday and went to get our key. They had taken our bags to our room because when we came the room wasn't ready so this was our first look at it. But there was a guy in front of us in line. Tall, dark, really good looking-- straight out of a Bollywood movie. He smiled winningly at the clerk and said, "A room for Mr. Murphy". Michael and I looked at each other--out of Dublin through Delhi maybe? He and his very alluring female companion, it turned out, had the room directly next to ours with adjoining balconies. Well...you know...it's hard not to overhear... His real name was Sanjay and he proceeded to woo his alluring companion by detailing why she was so much hotter (and to his credit smarter) than the girl his parents had selected for his arranged marriage. I thought the Irish had given up on that a long time ago but who knows. They were both hopelessly full of themselves but they were surgeons so another stereotype goes unchallenged. I am intrigued though. If you're shooting for an alias isn't subtlety a virtue? Enough gossip more in a few days. We'll see if we can get photos.