Raclette

 
Seeing scenic southern Switzerland as the train set off from Milano to Zurich was well worth the time it took.
The biggest city in the most neutral nation in all of central Europe has little to offer when it comes to tourist crap. Therefore the day spent in Zurich was less hectic and more relaxed. The world's largest clock face, situated on the undersized tower of the even more undersized church of Peterkirche, the university, Fraumunster and the Landenmuseum were all visited. Transports included tram, walking, riverboat, tram and walking, and a late lunch was taken at the food chain that serves the best curly fries in the world.
However, not far from Zurich lies Berg, in the canton of Thurgau. There lives Isabelle, a fellow traveller from my recent South East Asia adventure, and she generously invited us to her home in the little quiet mountain town.
Even though the light drizzle was temporarily interspersed with heavy rain, we got in the car, accompanied by Isa's friend Melanie, and drove off to Santis, the highest peak in all of the pre-alps area known as Appelzell. The view was spectacular!*
A sturdy picknick lunch consisting of various Swiss bread, cheese and meat was followed by some high-speed sledding down the mountain, which was bloody fun!
Kronberg, where the sledding took place, will soon host the longest bench in the world, but unfortunately it's not yet finished.
Isa's hospitality was far from over, and after returning to Berg she set the table for a traditional Swiss raclette dinner. Rendered partly immobile from all the cheesy goodness, we relaxed in front of the olympics on the telly before we had to say goodbye to our humble host and board the night train to Amsterdam. Which I suppose will be much less scenic than the southern Swiss alps leg, and not only due to it being a night train.
*) One supposes. The clouds were kind of everewhere. Exactly everywhere as far as the eye could see, actually. Which was around three meters.