***TALLY/HONEY***
{We've landed safely} I text Liam.
It's eleven thirty at night there, but four thirty in the morning here. I don't expect him to answer because as soon as he got over his jetlag, he got right back on his eleven pm bedtime schedule. Then my phone dings.
{Good don't forget to let me know where you're going}
Smiling to myself, I shake my head then notice that Darius is watching me, but he doesn't say anything.
"Which car rental service are we using?" I ask Darius as we make our way through the airport.
"Why? Do you know how to drive?"
"Why are you asking me? Aren't you driving?"
"I've lived in Alaris all my life and my family wasn't rich, so I never learned."
"I've lived in Alaris all my life and my family was rich, so I never learned." I laugh at myself. "Well, obviously I didn't live there all my life, but I didn't need to drive in Seoul any more than I needed to in Alaris. So, how are we getting around then?"
"Train. There's a station here, we'll catch one down to the main station and walk to our hotel from there. Service doesn't start for another half hour, though, so we may as well stop for breakfast."
The Swiss clock says it's six in the morning, but our bodies say it's 1:00 am. We've decided that it's in our best interest to only sleep for a few hours and then get up for lunch, the main meal in Switzerland.
"I've been looking at train and bus schedules," Darius says over our food. "Honestly, I'm a little confused, the three-eight-one bus schedule I printed out is in French, although there are only a few words so it doesn't really matter. The problem is that there's not a key or something for me to guess what this column here means." He points to the column for the weekday schedule. There are numbers in the cells next to the column of departure times which don't correspond to anything else.
"But I'm willing to take a leap of faith and believe that as long as we leave in the morning, we will arrive at the bus station with plenty of time to catch a bus. Are you game?"
I didn't know Darius had this side to him. I'm used to Liam who is a meticulous planner. I bite my lip and hesitate for a moment. "You know what? Why not?" I stick my hand out to shake his for no particular reason. He laughs, but takes it.
I text Liam the name of the town and hotel we're headed to.
{Thank you. More digging in storage today for me. Have fun} he writes back.
We spend the rest of the day soaking in as much of Zurich as we can. I've only known Tutor Darius and Co-worker Darius, but now I get to meet Tourist Darius. He's almost as fun to travel with as Liam. Even though Tourist Darius is spontaneous, the difference is that he doesn't fully condone my silly side nor does he seem to have one of his own.
If someone were to look at Liam and I and guess which of us planned a trip to DisneySea in Tokyo, they would pick me, but they'd be wrong. It was completely planned by Liam. I can't imagine Darius would ever suggest going to a theme park, much less want to ride all the rides at one.
Similarities between the two, flowing conversation and enjoyment of history, is what makes our day in Zurich pass easily. If it weren't for our mission, I'd gladly have stayed here longer. As it is, we wake up early to get breakfast and head to Evolene. My intent was to read the guidebook I'd bought, but I'm too distracted by taking care of the things Liam usually handles on our trips. I can do spontaneous and unplanned, but that doesn't mean it's easy for me.
Fortunately, both segments of the train ride go smoothly. It was a little dodgy when we got to the bus part, but eventually we do make it to our lodgings. The village is not our true destination, but as one of the larger towns in the area, it's a good place to make our homebase. The hotel, a quintessential Swiss chalet, is owned by Monsieur and Madame Cerny from France, who not only speak the three languages they encounter most often, but also a fair amount of English.
"We have two rooms, one with a three quarter bathroom, the other with a water closet only. I figure I'd give you the one with the shower," Darius tells me as he hands me a key.
"What about you?"
"There's a shared bathroom."
"Huh?"
"Have you never stayed in a bed and breakfast before?"
"Umm, Savis? So, no."
He chuckles. "I'll go ask about the ski area, you can go to your room and rest."
The room I'm in is furnished simply, but it's clean and bright with its white plaster walls. I wash up and lie on the bed, but sleep doesn't come to me even though I am tired. Five hours of travel time isn't that long, but I was stressed the whole time, afraid we'd miss our stops.
After a while, Darius comes to report. "I found out why there was so little information online about the ski area Lars is supposedly at."
"Oh god, don't tell me it no longer exists."
"Not as bad as that. It's just famously off the grid. Speaking of, so are we. Well, practically anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"There's something wrong with the cable down the line, so there's no television and no internet. There's cell coverage, but it can be spotty."
The mention of coverage areas reminds me to check in with Liam. I send him a quick text letting him know we'd arrived at our hotel.
"Are you tired, or do you have some energy?"
"I'm not tired. I'd love to see more of the town."
"I thought so. Madame Cerny called the historical society for us and there's actually a guide available today."
"Perfect, let's do that."
Darius seems to be as enamoured with the old homes as I am and we learn lots of interesting details about life in Switzerland before technology. After the tour, we go to dinner in one of the many restaurants here.
"Seems like a lot of restaurants for a small town." I muse.
"Probably due to tourists and skiers."
"Ah, that makes sense. So, tell me, what did you find out about the place Lars is likely staying? Do you know where it is?"
"The Cernys had heard of it, but don't know its location, but said a local ski guide would. It's apparently in its original state, meaning it's basically the same as the historical homes we saw today."
"So, not just 'off the grid' as in no phone or internet, but actually no electricity or running water?"
"Nope, and no road either, at least not the last stretch. In the morning I'll find someone who can take us to the entrance, but we'll have to hike in. Just be prepared for that."
"The day started off on the wrong foot, but then turned out to be very lucky for us." Darius is all smiles when he joins me for breakfast in the dining room of our hotel.
"Why's that?"
"Well, since it's not ski season, there's no ski guides around."
"Oh, yeah, duh."
"But there is a tourism office where I met Madame Denier, who is familiar with the site we want, and its owner, Adam Nilsson. He's a Canadian who came to take over the place from his grandfather. He comes into town every two weeks and today just happens to be the day."
"Wow, she even knew that?"
"Eh, it's a small town." He shrugs his shoulders. "She even knows that the two places he stops without fail are the post office and grocery store."
"Alright, well I guess we'll split up and stake out those spots. What does he look like?"
"Not necessary. Madame Denier has already put word out and we just need to wait here."
It was still fairly early in the day when a man approached us outside the hotel. "Hello there! Are you the the Americans lookin' for me? I'm Adam Nilsson."
"Yes! Hello!" I greet him in return.
We both shake his hand and introduce ourselves.
"Actually, Adam, we're looking for Lars Hansen. We're wanting to hire his design firm and his father gave us this quest. We've heard that he might be staying with you."
"He might be, but I'm not sure at his point."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he was with me for a while and then went hiking. Before he left he said he might come back."
"How long ago did he leave?"
"Three days. I imagine that if he were to return it will be in the next couple of days."
"So, what do we do?" I ask Darius.
"You're welcome to come stay with me and wait," Adam interjects, "that's probably the only way you'll catch him."
Adam's transport is a package laden quad bike, so he arranges for a friend of his to drive us to the trail that goes to his camp.
"I could probably still squeeze one of you on with me and then come back in a bit for the other."
"How far is it up to your cabin?"
"About one and a half kilometers. Not too bad of a walk, but all uphill."
"I think we can make it. Darius seems fit and we both walk a lot in Alaris. I walked a few kilometers nearly everyday in Seoul in a hilly neighborhood. Darius?"
"Yeah, should be fine."
"Add your packs to my bike and then just follow the path. There's a mark every few trees so hopefully it's pretty hard to get lost."
Adam's main lodge is a square, three story, log building much like the old homes we saw in the village. The first floor is an open space with seating and an iron stove to cook on and heat the room. He tells us about all of the updates he's made for modern off the grid living and shows us how to work the fixtures in the privy he added on to the house.
"I'll start on dinner in a bit," he informs us after stashing our bags upstairs. "Since it's a shopping day, you get to have fresh meat. Between those days, our meals are made with dried or cured meat, most of which I buy. Grocery stores are another convenience I'm happy to avail myself of."
Darius and I explore the compound a bit before dinner. As we eat, Adam tells us more about living in Switzerland off the grid and about his own life, how he ended up here. We retire for the night after helping clean the dishes. I find it a bit weird to be sleeping in this one room with both men, but I didn't want to sleep in a dark room by myself. Fortunately, I'm exhausted and fall asleep quickly.
The next day, Darius and I hike up one of the snowboard trails. It's not easy and I can't imagine making it in the snow, but people do. At the top of the trail, we climb the observation tower that had been built there. The view is breathtaking with a village in the valley and snow caps in the distance. Some regions this close to Italy once suffered deforestation. Whatever the recovery process was, if there are any scars left, nature has covered them with green vegetation. Wanting to take a picture of the scenery, I reach for my phone in my back pocket, but it's not there. Nor is it in my other pants pockets or jacket.
"Hey, Darius can you take a few pictures and send them to me?"
"Sure. Out of battery?"
"No, I just can't find it. I kind of thought I'd put it in my pocket earlier, but I might have forgotten it. If so, then I don't even know where it might be."
"When is the last time you remember having it?"
"I haven't used it since yesterday when we arrived at the hotel."
"We'll end up retracing our steps anyway, starting with this trail, I'll help you keep an eye out for it. If you left it at the hotel, I'm sure someone will hold it at the desk. For now, we'll just use mine."
By the time we're done we notice that dense clouds have been rolling in, quickly. The wind picks up and it's raining before we've made it to the bottom of the tower. The chilling rain makes it hard to look for my phone and there's no cell coverage up here so we can't use the ringer to help locate it.
Even though we were hiking and missed the official lunchtime, Adam takes pity on our soaked selves and makes a soup for us to have midafternoon. The iron stove heats the main floor until it's quite cozy. After eating, I find myself dozing off on the small sofa.
"Are you feeling well?" Darius asks.
"I'm just still chilly. I'll be fine."
Darius puts his hand to my forehead. "I think you have a fever."
"How can I have a fever? Being out in the cold doesn't equal getting a cold."
"Well, it did for you. You've been under a lot of stress recently, so your immune system is probably weaker than normal. Plus, we're in a foreign country with virus strains we haven't encountered before. You should go up to bed."
"I'll go when you go."
"You don't need to wait for me, go on up to sleep."
"But... I don't like to be alone in the dark," I mumble.
Darius sits next to me and asks me to repeat myself.
"I... I don't like to be alone in the dark." I grimace in embarrassment.
Darius chuckles softly and whispers in my ear. "Me either."
A big smile breaks across both of our faces and we laugh at ourselves. Darius puts his arm around my waist and I lean into him as we go upstairs to the bedroom for the night.