You'd think the expense per bag would mean you would recycle more, but the recycling rules are complex enough we can never figure out what to take where. But they're serious about garbage here. As they say

The white "Züri-Sack" symbolizes more than ever the image of clean Zürich "für e suubers Züri". Depositing of other garbage bags, or of Züri-Sacks at an inappropriate time, is an offence which will be reported to the police and fined.

Lausanne is an amazing city, a three dimensional wonderland of bridges and buildings built up on steep hills with gorges inbetween. You emerge from the Metro from Ouchy and immediately have a choice: elevator or exit. One puts you in the exact same place as the other, only 50 feet above, and city extends from each direction. We went up to the top, to the cathedral. On the way was a fantastic Saturday market with six different charcuterie vendors and five different cheese vendors, full of delicious things. Then we walked down, enjoying the confusion of life at two levels. Really an interesting city, I wish I could have photographed the topography better.

The other nice thing we did was take the boat to Montreux, to visit the Château de Chillon. Lac Leman along the way is beautiful, full of vineyards and châteaux and luxury houses. The château itself is a 12th century fort built on a convenient rock in the lake just off shore, with a command of the main route from the south over the Alps. Nicely restored and lots to see.

We had dinner in the fancy places in Lausanne, at La Rotonde at the Beau-Rivage and the Table d'Edgard at Lausanne Palace. Very good, but the meal I enjoyed the most was the Paradise Chalet, a funky little Swiss place in Montreux next to the train station. We'd been walking for 20 minutes with no clue where to go, town quiet on a Sunday, starting to rain. Then we bumbled into the place with its old wood panelling, cowbells and funny gnome decor, and an amazing terrace view. The menu is good basic Swiss food, I had the Papet Vaudoise: smoked sausage, fatback, potatoes and leeks. Ken had rösti with a Tomme de Vaud. We didn't feel like having the horse steak tartar or fondue. Really yummy hearty stuff, and just the right thing at the right time.

I continue to be amazed that you can go back and forth between French and German cultures so quickly. I wish my brain could; it took me an extra day to switch back to fumbling tourist German instead of fumbling tourist French. Bon jour, wie gehts?

Most everyone here speaks English, which helps me when I'm lazy and trying to negotate with my neighbours about when to do the washing. All the food and product packaging is trilingual; German, French, and Italian. But no English, since that's not an official language. Seems somewhat perverse to me, but I guess it makes sense.

Mark Twain, on his visit to Switzerland, didn't care for the bells so much.

We did not oversleep at St. Nicholas. The church-bell began to ring at four-thirty in the morning, and from the length of time it continued to ring I judged that it takes the Swiss sinner a good while to get the invitation through his head. Most church-bells in the world are of poor quality, and have a harsh and rasping sound which upsets the temper and produces much sin, but the St. Nicholas bell is a good deal the worst one that has been contrived yet, and is peculiarly maddening in its operation.

The Swiss don't seem to have reached the point of intolerance of second hand smoke. By law restaurants have to have non-smoking rooms, but many don't. The restaurant I went to last night had the entire upstairs dedicated to non-smoking, but as soon as the downstairs filled up they seated smokers upstairs and brought the ashtrays. No one seemed to mind. Yuck.

Zürich so far has mostly been the grind of finding our way around and working, so it was with optimism we boarded the train for our first tourist trip. Impressive train ride, too, one of the few north-south routes across Switzerland to Brig and then a smaller train company with a cogwheel train up the valley.

We picked Zermatt because it was up in the mountains; it's been awfully warm in Zürich and Ken likes trees and I like mountains. We were well rewarded, with tidy high Alpine meadows and dramatic mountains and an easy gondola ride to the top. The Matterhorn is very impressive, both entirely clear and with clouds coming out the top.

Being famous for mountain climbing, Zermatt is also famous for dead mountain climbers. Lots of grave markers given prime placement in the middle of town, a constant reminder that it's dangerous up top.

We had a great stay at the Hotel Zermatterhof, one of the fancier places in town. We got a good deal thanks to the fantastic Zermatt tourist website. Three great meals, too. We had a lovely dinner at Max Julen with a very friendly chef who made us special grilled venison. On our last night we had a crazy five course gourmet dinner at the Zermatterhof. But the most special was zum See in Furi, a little hamlet above Zermatt that's about a 45 minute walk on a beautiful Wanderweg. There we had a fantastic lunch of a venison and chantrelle salad followed up by homemade rhubarb cake. Only in Switzerland will you find a great restaurant up in the hills where the only way to get there is to hike.

Happy tourists. Mind you, this was Zermatt in summer; it's more of a winter ski resort. Looked great for that too!

Compared to planes, trains offer a human scale of transport. You're close to the ground with big windows. You can get up and walk around, stretch out. No checking in two hours in advance, no humiliation from security, no half hour cab ride to get anywhere. It's a shame the US is so big, it'd be nice if train travel would work better there.

The lady was reasonably friendly and helpful, I was able to do everything in English, and the whole process took only fifteen minutes. Even so it was a bit intimidating. Being a foreigner is difficult anywhere. But Switzerland is welcoming; it must be so much worse for visitors to the US where the immigration offices are hostile, inefficient, and make no effort to speak other languages.

PS: my Zürich posts so far seem quite negative. I'm actually having a fine time, it's just the most interesting thing I can think to write about are the hard parts of finding my way around. I'm sure by the time Knabenschiessen rolls around I'll be happy visitor blog.