Saturday was a day of travel to Zürich. A busy morning: doing laundry, changing money, making sure the bikes get on the train. The afternoon spent on the train.

The scenery is less interesting when you're going so fast. The people next to us referred to us as "barbarians, worse than the Russians" in Hungarian because Rony put her feet up on the seat (and possibly because of our eating habits).

Zürich deserves a card of its own, but I didn't get one, so it gets short shrift. Despite what we had heard, it had a very nice downtown, shut off to traffic, not as old as some of the other cities, but still old, nice, and a very active nightlife. We found a place that served fondue for our "final dinner," had a couple of bottles of wine, fondue, "röstiziche" (see Swiss Rostis in Nepal), and some good dessert. The waitress spoke very good English and was really an odd character. We ended up staying in a fairly nice hotel, for which we paid too much, but I think rooms here in Switzerland are generally more expensive (you don't see the "Zimmer Frei" signs everywhere).

Sunday morning Rony went to meet Derrick, so now I'm on my own. I decided to follow the itinerary in the book closely, so I took off towards Einsiedeln, definitely not the most direct route, but this whole week is not direct.

The highlight of the ride was the 500 meter climb in 4 km: I rode most, walked some, and sweated a lot. Physically it wasn't too bad, but it was definitely dehydrating. Two more difficult climbs to come: Grindelwald and St. Juan Pass. I should be ready (this was a test). And it was worth it. At the top of the pass the scenery suddenly changed to lush green pastures, like on the card, but without the city. Cows, rolling hills, small farmhouses. At the time I thought it was some of the most beautiful scenery I'd ever seen. A moment of eye-contact with a hay-toting farmer: I with appreciation in mine; his with pride.

Suddenly, at the top of the pass, the rustic scene gave way to a small lake, filled with sails - an idyllic resort area - and over the next ridge, Einsiedeln, as shown on the card. Absolutely dominated by the Abbey: imposing without, beautiful within. Saw a nice service, watched by busloads, with a choir and group singing.

Addendum: I wrote the following on a two-foot folded card of a diorama purchased at the "Diorama" in Einsiedeln. The card says: "DIORAMA BETHLEHEM. The world's largest crib. 500 figurines carved in wood and clothed in rich fabrics placed in a naturally true reproduction of the Holy Land.

I know this is a non-standard card and it will screw up my system, but I bought it on impulse so why not write on it on impulse? I woke up this morning after a pleasant 10 hour sleep, crashed at 10 pm for no reason other than the hill I climbed yesterday. It must have taken more out of me than I thought. But I woke up refreshed and did some quick morning sightseeing in Einsiedeln, seeing the Diorama and the Panorama. I have no idea what a diorama is, but now I've seen one, advertised on the outside as the world's largest crêspe. I guess that translates to cradle or crib since I have previously seen displays of "cribs". What they are, in fact, are nativity scenes, and the one in Einsiedeln is huge. Also saw the Panorama which contained various biblical scenes, but not very interesting. On to real cards...