Off to the farm

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my farm stay. I'll be gone for five days. I'm excited and a little nervous. My backpack is all packed. Helmut, the farmer, is supposed to pick me up at the train station in a little town on Lake Constance. We arranged it all over e-mail.

I packed my most rough-and-tumble clothes, read the brochure a dozen times and talked to Helmut over the phone, but I still have no idea what to expect. Will I be able to hack a week of hard farm labor? I know it's going to be tough and dirty and strange but every time I try to picture myself there, I see it like a magazine layout. Me in an idyllic, sunny orchard on a wooden ladder with a bucket full of apples, my hair in a bandana. I have to admit it - I even packed the bandana!

In the meantime, it was gorgeous here today so I got that hike in I was hoping to do. Christoph and I charged up Uetliberg, a popular day hike on a ridge overlooking Lake Zurich. The last time we went up there was last March. There was still snow on the ground and the paths were icy and treacherous. Today it was ideal -- golden leaves, crisp fall air and sunshine.

No Swiss hike would be complete without some refreshments along the way, so we stopped at Teehütte (Tea Hut) for some soup, bread and sausage. At the end of the hike we hit Gasthaus Felsenegg for homemade apple strudel. Does this really count as exercise?