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.

But what would happen when we began our journey into the Swiss Alps? There will be trains, gondolas, hotels…

As you can imagine, entrepreneurs appeared all over Zurich, offering popup COVID-testing clinics. The charge? Forty-seven Swiss Francs: about fifty bucks, American.

We tried to part with our money, but the popups were mobbed, booked days in advance.

But a funny thing was happening: People were eating in restaurants. People were riding buses. People were boarding trains. Surely they didn’t all have COVID certificates.

Reality had caught up with even the Swiss bureaucracy. Requiring proof of a negative test every three days played havoc with enterprise. Quietly, and with characteristic Swiss dignity, they threw their hands in the air and by the time we left Zurich, proof of vaccination was all that was required. No test,

So we’re now on our merry way. Swiss trains run like Swiss watches: precisely on time. They’re clean, fast, and efficient. We’ll arrive in St. Moritz soon, home of the Winter Olympics twice: in 1928 and 1948—it’s that good. Stay tuned.

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