For people who enjoy mountains, a stay in Switzerland must include a visit to the world famous Matterhorn. The Matterhorn sits in the southwestern part of Switzerland near the Italian border. The closest town is Zermatt where 50% of the population seems to be Japanese tourists. Access to Zermatt is by train, bicycle, or foot. Although a paved road reaches Zermatt, petrol burning vehicles are excluded from entry. In town, the mode of transport is electric car, horse drawn carriage or your own energy. Several electric trains and gondolas operate throughout the summer to take hikers and skiers to the various peaks around Zermatt. We were surprised to find a large summer ski area on the mountain adjacent to the Matterhorn called Klein Matterhorn. The top half of Klein Matterhorn was completely snow covered and open for skiing in late July.

Masami woke up with sore throat and fever so we restricted our physical activity to a 3 hour walk with views of the Matterhorn. The day was gorgeous.

While working at OSI for 5.5 years, Wes didn't get sick a single time (except for food poisoning in Singapore which his friend Junn may recall). Masami stayed healthy throughout study and work for years and years. Now that we're "relaxed", we seem to get sick quite often. Why is that?