Zurich: We spent most of the day on two trains - the Eurostar that runs London - Paris and the TGV Lyria which runs Paris - Zurich. At various points on the TVG we hit 202 mph with no drama whatsoever. The Eurostar is a bit cramped, the TVG less so.
Both Britain and France have much more farmland than you tend to suspect, most of France is fields of grain, corn, and hay. I actually saw some French farmhouses today, although many farmers live in the village and commute out to their property.
SOPs for Europeans and Americans are simply different, they're used to taking trains from one city center to another, then dragging their rollalong suitcase to a nearby hotel along the sidewalk. Being without a car at the destination is normal for them, not for us.
Urban planners (a COTTonLINE pet peeve) ask Americans to live like Europeans. Our typical response is to just ignore them. When forced to react we tend to say something like "Oh, hell no." We love our cars (and pickups and SUVs and RVs) and will not be dissuaded.
Living like a European is okay for a couple of weeks, longer than that is unAmerican. Yanks who want to live here are embryonic expats, something we've always produced in small numbers.
Tomorrow we are off to Interlaken via Bern. It's a resort town between two lakes, as the name suggests. We're there for four nights, we'll spend the days taking train daytrips that will return to Interlaken in time for supper.
