The day began rather earlier than usual, on a murky M4 on the way to the airport.  A noontime flight was just about our limit for not staying overnight and bearing in mind the potential problems with early morning traffic en route, we allowed plenty of time.  Needless to say, having allowed that time, we didn’t need it and so we found ourselves arriving with time to spare.

 

 

No, the airport wasn’t really this empty, but just as I thought to take a picture for my journal, there was no-one in view.  Isn’t it spooky how we can give an altogether different version of reality?!

 

 

So, after a morning spent sitting in the lounge, waiting, our flight left a little late at 12.30pm, flying through clear skies directly over Paris, en route to Zürich.

 

 

I don’t know which I liked best, the spectacle of the city with assorted landmarks to look out for, or the marvellous patterns of the fields of eastern France, so different from the patterns of fields elsewhere in the world: the envelope shapes of Canterbury, New Zealand and the circular patterns created by irrigation systems in North America, for example.

 

 

Or the lush, green pastures of northern Switzerland, for that matter.

 

 

Our plane was the golden feather patterned Airbus, now looking a bit shabby, but maybe the one used to transport the Olympic flame?

 

 

Anyway, having set off from home early this morning, an hour and a half’s flight later we arrived in Zürich, picked up a car and drove to our hotel in Rapperswil, at the southerly tip of the Zürisee,  How come it was now 4.30 pm and where did that day go?

 

 

Well, of course, it didn’t really matter, for after a quick shower and change, we set out across the causeway to Lachen, on the other side of the lake, where the vernissage we’d been invited to was being held.  What a beautiful setting to celebrate the publication of a new biography of a man born just steps away and what’s more, the afternoon showers moved on leaving the most gorgeous sky behind them.

 

 

It was a fascinating evening with speeches, music, presentations and lively conversation amongst like-minded people.  We chatted over an elegant apéro, made plans to meet our friends for dinner on Saturday before saying our farewells and heading back over the causeway again.

Needless to say, my hero has some rather interesting bedtime reading.