Driving through Switzerland

We arrived in Ascona this morning after about 10 hours of travel, starting with 6 hours on the train from Zell Am See to Zurich, then around 4 hours in the car from Zurich to Ascona.

Justine's friends Maya and Cornelius picked us up from Zurich Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and took us through the scenic route over the Alps, as opposed to through them.

At this time of year, the alps have only the slightest snow cover and bare their daunting rocky face. It's not an area where I'd choose to live - or even visit. But people do both - there's a thriving mountaintop tourist town here where I grabbed the photo of the men with big alp horns, or whatever they're called. They played these etherial harmonies which were quite beautiful. Not enough to make me want to live there, however!

What's amazing are these villages that have been here since Roman times and are now busy little metropolises, thanks to the highways over and through the mountains. The evidence for the struggle for control of this unforgiving area is all around, from the Roman-esque guard towers protecting the narrow valley passes to bunkers left over from World War Two. There's still some units from the Swiss army stationed here. That such an area has been of such strategic importance is incredible, considering how many days and weeks it used to take to cross this massive mountain range. Today, it took only an hour or so.

Maya is a linguist who speaks a frightening number of languages and works for the French embassy helping to standardise training of French throughout Switzerland. Cornelius is a banker and both are classy, sophisticated Europeans who are fantastic company. All four of us share a common love of literature, with Maya and Cornelius reading novels primarily in English - we have spookily similar taste in reading material too and much of our conversations are dominated by recommendations for the next great book.

They've been kind enough to invite us to join them at one of their favourite resorts in Ascona, Hotel Eden Roc, right on the shores of the massive lake that runs from the south of Switzerland and deep into Italy. It's an italian speaking region, but with an orderliness that can only be the Swiss influence.

We're here to relax - something these guys don't do often, but are proving to be terribly good at!

Ascona itself is a delightful little town. The architecture is pure Italy, the prices are pure Swiss, and the resort itself is the best we've ever been to, with absolutely everything taken care of. We had dinner in the restaurant here tonight and it was stunning.

Our room is way cool too!

We'll go for a run tomorrow, then see how the day progresses. I've just picked up Robert Harris' Imperium so I'm very keen to kick back by the pool and waste a few days.