Cecil Vortex

A bright smiling extremely helpful East German woman — the designated English speaker at our local pizza shop — explains that she comes to Switzerland every summer because the East German economy is compeletely thrashed. She tells us, still smiling, … Read on Macduff...

We’re staying in a lovely valley surrounded by a tall, stern, jagged mountain range. The peaks are white-capped with fresh snow.
I’m walking home at dusk as a slender train trucks along the base of these mountains, glittering like a … Read on Macduff...

Today we drove through the city of Cuhr. Interesting sidenote: Back in the ’40s, a guy named Bruno Färber ran for mayor of Cuhr with what may be the worst campaign slogan ever: “An Almond in Every Pot.”
Färber’s attempts … Read on Macduff...

On closer inspection I now realize those weren’t actual Swiss people, they were German-speaking baby giraffes. But in my defense, it’s an easy mistake to make.
Actual Swiss people have struck me as exceptionally quiet, at least compared to us … Read on Macduff...

We grab a cab in Zurich and head from the airport to our hotel. The first thing I notice is that the Swiss people are gigantic. The men are 8-9 feet tall. The women, even larger.
I see them loping … Read on Macduff...

Nothing sounds more like the future to me than a hybrid British accent — someone speaking with an accent that’s part English, part something else.
At the Amsterdam airport we hear a woman on the PA with an accent that’s … Read on Macduff...

I’m on the road right now, and for the next little bit this site will be transformed into a travel journal. I know you’re busy so I’ll try to boil things down to only the most salient observations. For example, … Read on Macduff...