We Take Ourselves With Us

Our departure from Lausanne coincided with the first day of the Queen's 70th Jubilee, so it seemed fitting to break out my How Majestic Swatch for the trip to Zurich.  Once again, way finding in Lausanne foiled us: we had thought we were walking to the nearby Metro station to take the train to the train, having learned our lesson in trudging uphill on arrival. Nope. We somehow missed the station entirely. Oh well, at least the trip back was all downhill--every cobblestone of it. So much easier. The trip to Zurich would take a bit more than two hours, so we settled in to our train habits: Penn and I slept, Harper read, and Ned listened to podcasts. On our first day in Lausanne, we decided to switch up our Zurich stay from an old town hotel to an airport hotel recognizing a few truths: we were there for just one night; had to find time for COVID tests (offered at the airport); had to accommodate Penn's getting up at 2:30 am to watch Game 1 of the NBA finals; and had to get to the...

We started our last full day in Prague--Christmas, proper--with another yummy Miss Sophie's breakfast, which Penn "witnessed" a la Mad Max: Fury Road.  As you can see, his sister is now immune to such displays.   Thanks to some great directions by MS desk clerk Ruben, we skipped the underground and took the tram.  Prague trams criss-cross the city, taking tight curves and cobblestones in stride.  The same ticket that covers the underground can be used on the tram.  As our proximity might suggest, the tram was packed on Christmas day, and one of our fellow passengers was the previously mentioned dude with a dog in one hand and a pizza in the other.  Oh, Prague.   We knew we were at the Castle when we saw this sign .. Oh, wait, I meant, this sign ... which I'm certain says, "Welcome to Prague Castle!"  Either that, or "Keep on dancing, brightly jacketed American boy." The Castle grounds are home to the multiple buildings that were ...