France and Switzerland, August 2022

12-17th August - Switzerland

On the top deck of the train out of Paris, we settled down, Matthew with sick bag in hand and looking very green. At least a TGV at full chat was going to be a noisy and shaky enough experience to drown out the sounds of heaving child. Except French engineering turns out to be awesome: hurtling at 190mph across the countryside, the train felt like it wasn't even touching the ground, rock stable, serenely quiet, except for the sound of Matthew retching. My French wasn't good enough to explain it wasn't contagious, so I just shrunk into my seat and tried to disappear, making frequent unnecessary trips to the coffee bar. We arrived in Zürich about half an hour late, wondering how the Swiss railway system can cope with all these foreign trains being injected at random intervals into their finely-tuned schedules. It turns out it is a bit of a headache that they have to give a fair bit of thought to.

After a few days in Ebmatingen with family, we moved on to Zermatt, into a lovely apartment with views of the Matterhorn. We ate Raclette, Spätzli, and Schnitzel, and winced at every supermarket receipt. We travelled about in mountain trains, cable cars, and funicular railways, wincing more at the ticket prices. Our days in the mountains were mostly in great weather, often to the sound of helicopters ferrying building supplies around. Apparently it's cheaper and quicker than any other means in the mountainous terrain.