Lugano. This was the place where Vacations by Rail pulled out all the stops by housing us in the luxurious Park Hotel Principe, the only location in the ten-day itinerary that required a cab.

After sleepy St. Moritz, it was time to take the Glacier Express, a full eight-hour tour of mountains, trees, cows, rushing glacial rivers, sheep, and perky Swiss villages—all viewed through panoramic windows, because the good stuff is too high to see from waist level.

You may recall: when we left the States, we were told that Switzerland was requiring a valid negative COVID test result every three days in order to assemble indoors. When we arrived in Zurich, we found it really didn’t matter: the weather was warm and every restaurant offered picturesque outdoor seating.

I just did something I never thought I would—hiked an Alp. I must admit that Tom and I hiked our Alp downhill after a lovely ski gondola ride uphill. (That’s me above, struggling with the elements on the perilous downhill journey.)

It began with an email from Aer Lingus. Due to complications from COVID, they would have to change our departure city, which changed half a dozen connections down the line. We struggled for two days, trying to get to where we wanted, when we wanted to get there. Finally, we gave up, requested a full refund, and started from scratch—three days before departure.

Like so many things, this blog has been on hold for twenty months. We all know why.