Mellingen

Our train ride from Paris to Zurich went without a hitch. The kids have decided they much prefer first class rail to cattle class air travel, even if it's slower. Seats are huge, more leg room, no seat belts and they can walk around whenever they want.

Switzerland is just as picturesque as we imagined. Mellingen is only a short drive from Zurich, and the weather has been beautiful so we've been out an about the whole time.

It's been great fun catching up with everyone, Sash's cousin and her husband are lovely and have made us very welcome. Except I've only just realised I don't have any photos of the kids with their cousins yet - they're all in bed now so it will have to wait until we catch up with them again in Macedonia.

Sash's cousin's husband took us for a drive today to a place called Zug, which has a mountain lake and views of the Alps (only it was a little hazy and we didn't get to see that much of them).

Early tomorrow morning our eight-night visit to Italy begins with a (relatively) short two and a half hour train ride to Milan.