Leaving on a jet plane...

"Leaving tomorrow on a jet plane".... to Zurich, Switzerland!  Right now I'm swamped with packing and last minute details, but I need some comic relief, so why not enjoy boring you with my very first entry for this blog.  Yes, this blog is facetiously called "The Fall of Europe 2012", not because I expect anything all that dramatic to happen, but just because we are going in the autumn, and 'Fall of Europe" sounded more exciting the "Fall in Europe" :-)

Anyway, Lynnie and I will be gone about eleven weeks, starting with a month in Switzerland (based in Zurich), a few weeks in Northern Italy, and then pretty much winging it from there, most likely in Southern France. We've done other trips to Europe with a somewhat similar itinerary, but somehow each one turns out quite differently. So, we've put the bulk of our expectations on hold, and we'll just have to see what happens.

First stop after landing in Zurich will be a few days stay with our old friends Felix and Kathy and their three delightful children, all hailing from the historic town of Illnau.  Illnau was relatively important in about 1200AD, but after the railway bypassed it in the late 19th century it went back to being a sleepy village and eventually a bedroom suburb of Zurich.  Here's Illnau a few decades ago:



and here it is just a few years ago:


I'll have lots more to say after I arrive tomorrow!

Ciao for now, and back to packing.....