Laura and Thuy on the water in Zurich, Switzerland earlier today.We had one brief but beautiful full day here Zürich. We came in yesterday but that didn’t really count because we napped immediately and were so dazed from jet lag. But today the forecasted rain never materialized and instead a crisp and clean sun shone most of the day. It was really gorgeous.

My talk at FREITAG am Donnerstag this morning was a lot of fun; a half-hour presentation in a very unique, intimate print shop-style setting created for the month by the amazingly detail-oriented FREITAG team. The crowd was great, and I found myself more relaxed than in the past — for the first time I was able to broadcast my views on the news industry with a clear conscience, without having to worry about squaring my views with that of my former employer. There wasn’t much of a scandalous nature to what I had to say, but I probably pulled my punches a bit less in appraising some competitors and talking about challenges the whole industry faces. Tina promises to post video of the event over at Swiss-miss.com before too long so you can judge for yourself.

After the talk, we had lunch at the impressively robust Hiltl, a century-plus old vegetarian restaurant where the decor was exquisite and the food delicious. We took a walk along the river and camped out on a park lawn near the water and soaked in the sun. A fantastic day and, all in all, a wonderful time in Zürich. Thank you to everyone who turned out for the event, the whole FREITAG team, and especially to Tina for hosting it. Tomorrow, off to Paris to see family.