Late May Update 2009

1. Rheinfalls - Shauffhaussen - Switzerland
2. Sunset over Pims& Ernst's - Walzenhausen
3. Briar in a swiss meadow - Oberland Switzerland
4. Street on Lindau Island . Lake Constanz - Germany
5. Briar & MC - Neuschwanstein Castle Fussen - Germany
6. Cutting Hay - swiss style onda farm - Walzenhausen Switzerland
7. Mama, Pim & Briar - Walzenhausen Switzerland
8. Our Hosts in Walzenhausen - Pim, Jenny & Ernst
9. Lake Brienz from our campsite - Oberland - Switzerland
10. Our campsite & Hugo under Mt. Eiger - Swiss Alps - Oberland Switzerland
11. Briar & MC - on top of Mt.Pilatus - Swiss Alps in Backround
12. briar & MC - Luzern with Chapel bridge behind - most photographed monument in Switzerland



Late May Update 2009

The road from Venice to Como was again lined with many fields of poppies in full bloom with the red plomage bursting out under the warm sun. Magnifico – some more piccies from Briar of course.
We stopped in Verona – found a place to park Hugo which happened to be near the statue & famous balconie of Juliet – more by sheer luck than good management. We
paid for our parking ticket as the parking wardens wandered past on the other side of the street checkin for tickets. We wandered across the Ponte on the river Adige to the main piazza in Verona and then headed into the campo of Romeo & Juliet – there were around 100 people there taking photos of the Juliet’s statue and balcony. We did the obligatory snappies ourselves of course with me cupping Juliets right breast – like every other male did. Briar refrained but did get a piccie standing next to her. (Appparently touching or cupping Juliets right breast is supposedly meant to bring one good luck in finding love ..so I need to reinvent myself now…) . We also wrote a wee message on lovers wall with around 100,000 other messages – took a close-up to prove it. We continued wandering around the piazza and down some streets having a quicksie look around the centro.
Once again a walled in city with frescoed buildings and a really neat feel to it all – very similar to Roma but on a much less scale of course – worth spending a bit more time than we allowed ourselves – maybe on the next trip.
We left Verona behind and stopped at a supermerkato outside Verona. I did the shop whilst Briar rode shotgun on Hugo in the parking lot. We then made a beeline for Lake Di Garda where we stopped at a lakeside town of Pescheria Di Garda, a very beautiful and quaint town – which during summer I would imagine being absolutely unindated with Italians on holiday- had that real Taupo feel about it – which also meant many tourists and fellow campervanners perusing the shops and chilling out in the cafes. The haze over the lake meant one could only see about a km at the most. We stopped at a parking lot right next to where many ferries come & go and where the signs said for campervanners – no stopping or parking. Typically ignorant pommie(oops I mean Kiwi) campervanners we started to eat our lunch before the local polizia pulled up next to us and I might add kindly asked us to move on – which our ignorant selves politely did so – further around the lake next to a marina where we gathered they couldn’t find us – still said no parking for campervanners – but once again we just ignored it – there was around 30 spare parking spaces – so bugger them.
After we had our leisurely pranzo we again headed of around the Lake Di Garda futher to we found our campiaggio Ricassa near Dessanzano on the Lake. A very clean and well run camp – we got a lakefront spot again but with views through the poplar trees which were once again in the heat dropping and floating their buds all over the bloody place again.
We fired up the barbi later on and sat chilling with vino in hand, some salami,cheese and the odd olive thrown in for good measure, the sun was beating down bout 24/25 degrees – buonissimo , did the dishes (highlite of the day) we each had duchas(showers) watched a DVD read my book and off to beddiebys.
Woke to a cooler cloudy day – rain is expected in the region we are heading to today, even had a brief shower during the night, so not expecting to much weatherwise – we headed out around 10ish after doin the refill & dump campervan thing. To Como (Lake Como) we will go – as we near the border which Como happens to be right on, we notice the difference in not just the temperature , the landscape, the gradual ascention but the houses are starting to become very swiss chalet looking and of better quality and better maintained . One thing about Italy – they do not take pride in looking after their casa’s in general. Tuscany & Umbria in the countryside was OK but the rest was pretty terrible really – worse than Espana. Sorry to spoil the dreams of some…
We arrived in centro Como and quickly located the info. centre – parked illegally somewhere near – whilst I dashed in to gather some info. on the local area and camping grounds. Just as we were about ta leave had a visit from a very nice polizia saying move on per favore – in a very polite way. Most of the camps aperto (open) were km’s outta Como so we chose one and made a beeline for it up past Lecce way on the lakefront of Lake Como in the small village of Abbaddia L. As it was nearing pranzo time and we were both a bit peckish and we had nothing inda fridge – we spotted the golden arches of macca’s . Briar coerced me into stopping (hey when it comes to food not much coercing needed) it also had a Coop supermercado next to it. So could kill 2 x birds with one stone as they say in NZ – not here. Being lunchtime Macca’s was pretty full – which we found hardcase – after spending 6/7 weeks in Italy ya don’t think of Italians eating fast food – but Macca’s is everywhere not just in Italy but throughout Europa so far. It reminded me of the mid eighties in NZ when the place rocked with kids and families – playgrounds full. The burgers were just like the last macca’s I had – not great but not bad – kept the worms silent. We did a shop – enough for a couple nights then hit the road for Camp Abbaddia L which we finally found with some help from a local who spoke excellent English and a not so helpful ma cherie (tom-tom).
They had only been open 3 days and I think we were there second customer for the year …new owner I figured as we had the wear a Camp ID wristband each…laughed!! – the facilities were OK, set up camp, had a wee walk around the camp and lakefront, fantastic views of one arm of the lake, chicken stir fry for chena, and then we had free Wifi which we abused of course . By the time we had showered and gone to bed around 11.30pm it started to drizzle, which became rain during the night – the sound of raindrops on the roof of Hugo and the partying going on at the restaurant – ya think we had a full camp – the locals must congregate at the waterside restaurant/bar – it appeared to be almost the only one in the village. The guitar strumming and singing all night and morning reminded us of home – sittin around some campfire with maori joe strumming away – as much as it went on till 2.30 in the morning it was good to hear people enjoying themselves.
By the time we woke about 8.30am – we slept in a bit of course after the rowdy nights sleep the weather was still cloudy but in the throws of improving and by the time we hightailed it outta there some blue sky was appearing in patches over and beyond. We had to pass the supermarket that we had got some things from the previous day and no we did not stop for more macca’s , did a quick last shop in Italy – as we presumed that everything across the border in Switzerland was gonna be a lot more expensive.
We arrivedeiced Italy and yodelled our way across the border, once again we were not stopped as we crossed into Switzerland – we did however have to stop at the first service station we came to, to purchase a motorway pass sticker – instead of paying tolls you have to buy a sticker which costs $40 swf (about $24.00 euro) and that allows you unlimited free access to all the motorways in Switzerland for a year- not that we needed it for a year – but that’s the only way it comes – so we also got some swiss francs out at the bancomat at the service centre. We filled up with diesel before coming across the border – so the hills are alive with the sound of Hugo rolling down the motorway - a noticeable difference in the standard or quality of the motorways here in Switzerland almost as soon as you come across the border – funny that. Mafia don’t get the tax money or contracts here…
Our first destination I had sussed out over the internet the previous nite was Campofelice (Terrano) a five star Campground just out of Locarno – it looked impressive on the wifi and when we pulled in to book in it was impressive – one could see why it had the five –star rating – the facilities were outstanding – even the loos were private with their own handbasins – Briar was jumpin for joy – the showers also were like en-suites shower doors with little changing room…yay!! , had a massive bar – extremely well stocked supermerkt as they call them here – excellent pitches with good shade – did I mention that the day had turned out to be a corker – around 26 degrees when we arrived at camp.
We found a site with views of the marina and lake – this camp even has its own marina on it – classy aye. This would be the best camp ground we have stayed in so far on tour – absolutely outstanding. MC always spots goodies for us.
As it was around 1pm – got the chairs and table out and we basked in the sunshine eating our Jamon & miste insalata.
Went for a walk after to check the whole camp out – big camp with facilities for 720 pitches – kuhl (swiss for cool) . But it was the view we sat down at the front of the camp and admired across to Locarno about 3k’s directly across and around 6 k’s to cycle. Our pitch was around the corner with semi views but the camp marina in full view – how many camps have their own marina?? – of course all the good sites were taken and yes you did have to pay a lot more for the absolute lakefront sites.
We chilled for the rest of the arvo – checked the local camping store right next to the camp – regarding our pommie gas bottles (have great difficulty getting them refilled in Europa itself) , they were most helpful and gave us directions to a gas distributor in Locarno town itself – will check them out manyana on our bike ride- bought some toilet cleaner to give the toilet cassette a good wash out.
We chilled over a barbi – anti-pasto and off course substantial quantities of roht vein (can ya guess) and watched the sun set over the lake. We went for a walk later when it was dark – so could see the lights of Locarno across the lake – wunderschern ( beautiful ) in swiss.Watched a good DVD together for a change – Briar mostly reads instead and off to sleep. We had a fantastic lightning storm at midnight where the ligtning was striking at a rate of more than once per second for at least 30 mins. The thunder rolled around the entire lakeside hills like surround sound…I opened the blind to watch …MC slept..unbelievably there were only a few splatters of rain and NO wind..very different.
We both slept well as it was a later than usual rise and awoke to a sunny day with cloud patches not quite as spectacular as the previous day – nonetheless good enough for a bike tour around the lake edge into Locarno and being a Sunday most of the time not so busy with traffic.
After showering in the luxury self contained units and brekkieng ( bad English I know) She just rolls off the tongue this way, ya no – we hit the tarmac – very easy sign-posted cycle ways everywhere here ( NZ could take note ) – lotsa people bike & walk for fitness and health – great to see. Which is what they call the Lakes in Switzerland – See ( yes that’s right – see) Locarno See. The track around the lakefront was excellent - - took about 20-25 mins ambling around – we got to the central lakefront of Locarno where they had a car show on – so we strolled along checkin out all the latest in European automobiles – nice – a few asian companies with their mazda’s and suburu’s their mainly from WWR – rallying I guess. Even had the odd Hummer there – not so good for the tight narrow European roads – saw none in Italy – not suprising . We then rode to the spot to where we would come back tomorrow to check out about the gas. We rode and walked through the old part of Locarno – hey some thing different – quaint, small but very stylish shops with the odd designer label thrown in. We spotted a pizzeria in the central piazza and decided to stop for a bite to eat and people watch as you do over here.
Swiss make a pretty good pizza – still quite a bit of Italian influence in these parts.
They mostly understood us… when ya communicate in Italian with them.
After some kai back on the bikes and back to Campofelice to chill for the rest of the arvo . Another barbi without the substantial amount of liquid refreshment tonite.
Hit the sack a wee bit early – still went for a walk to check out the lights again across the lake – fantastique / wunderschern / bellissimo / haupe _ we’ll both be multilingual by the time we get home – yeah right.
The day was OK again – not brilliantly sunny but at least not raining and there was blue sky around and warm enough for me in shorts and jandals again. Choice bro.
Hit the road leavin behind our five star bathroom facilities north bound for Luzern
The autostrada’s in Switzerland are excellent – had a call from Chaz as we were leavin Locarno makes my days when I hear from the kids – the chalets are now really lookin swiss and the aroma of cattle permeating the air reminded us of drivin through Katikati – smell of cow dung – sweet as bro.
We travelled through our longest tunnel to date – 17k’s long that’s a looong time underground – the coutryside was really looking picture perfect without a blade of grass outta place. Water falls cascaded down the surrounding hills.
Stopped at a motorway service stop for a coffee and a quick munch and right next to the stop was a cow farm – where we heard our first of may cow bells – not like those woofy pricks over in the whakatoo have – I mean real cow bells – go the chiefs.
We had another hour or so before we drove around the edges of several more lakes to get to Luzern – with several more tunnels to go through as well. It is no wonder this country is called the country of Mountains and lakes – there are numerous of both.
We headed straight into town found a park and Briar’s turn to hit the Info. center for gathering stuff ta do locally. As we then navigated our way without tom-tom to finda supermerkt – not a good idea. – 20 mins. Later we managed to stumble across one.
The Swiss air force were doing flying manoeuvres with 7 jet fighters in formation
which was spectacular – the sound reverborated around the mountains – we decided they were practising for the Paris Air show – which we booked tickets for. Kuhl
Did our shop – man are the groceries expensive here – even the sausages are hideously expensive. Might have to starve through Switzerland – yeah right.
We headed to Camping Lido the only camp close to the centro of Luzern – booked in for 3 nights . It was in a good place next to the lake but no views, had 3 star bathroom facilities compared to our last camp – free internet – and a 5 min. walk to the bus stop to take ya into town. It was only 20-25 mins amble in as we found out the next day. We set up our pitch – as it was around 3.30pm – chilled for a bit then did the usual anti-pasto/ barbi combo and yes, with the roht vein off course – is the pope a catholic.
We did go for a walk later on to check out the lake and watched a paddle steamer drop off people at the wharf near the camp.
Once again wunderschern views across the lake towards the centro of Luzern and the alps in the background. Some grosse (big) and magnifico hotels along the waters edge. After a shower did some catch up writing on the blog update – surfed the net also for awhile before hitting the sack. Woke to wunderbar morgen sun streamin down – we showered and breakfasted – made an omelette for a change – bellissimo.
We then set off for Luzern wandering around the lake edge – a maginificient path with gardens / grand hotels / geese – boats / tree lined walkways – man is everything so goddam perfect here – the answer is – yes.
The main centro of Luzern is built around the lake edge and the river Ruess where it has a famous bridge known as the Wasserturm ( Chapel Bridge – complete with wasser (water) tower – this is the most photographed monument in Switzerland apparently. They also happened to have a market day on this morgen with numerous stalls lining the rivers edge – mostly food & vegetable stalls – a few backerei and florist stalls also. Even the bloody fruit in the stalls looked perfect and at a reasonable preix (price ya numnuts). No wonder the swiss have the reputation of all things quality. We ambled along the river side and then on through yes the old part of town – doin the tourist thing snappin as ya go. Once again the unenviable broad American accent can be heard from time to time.
We hit the info centre to book into a Mountain top experience for the following day as the weather looked perfect for it tomorrow, but can only book on the day ya go – so we decided to have a look through the Rosenberg Museum – which houses an excellent collection of Picasso , Paul Klee - swiss’s answer to Andy Warhohl and a few other no names like Monet, Cezanne, Miro, Chagall, Matisse.
We spent a few hours wandering through the museum – took some snaps standing next to some Picasso’s – even though no photos allowed – it was great – we had nearly the whole museum to ourselves for nearly the whole time we were there. – a bit different to the museums in Italy and Spain.
As it was now around 2pm in the arvo, we bought a few snackeroos from a backerei and sat down by the lake and we sat down next to the KKL concert hall – designed by architect Jean Nouvel – wonderful piece of modern architecture – had an amazing cantilevered roof on it.
The Backerei was something else again – some of the food looked exquisite – leave NZ bakers shops far far behind. The place was busy as and was a franchise shop
throughout this region – as we saw several around. Once again perfection abounding even in a bakery – wunderbar. We followed our map and strolled up to the Lion monument – “the dying lion of Luzern” hewn out of natural rock – couple snappies and then onto the Hof church – the main cathedral for Luzern – has two towering spires that dominate the Luzern skyline. Renaissance style at its best. This was on the path home – so we headed back to camp – where we fired up the Barbie again and sat out under the trees sipping ok guzzling roht vein. We had a campervan with some aussies pull in next to us meet some great folks when doing the evening dishes in the kitchens– so as ya do when ya from down under - chewed the fat for awhile . Fed, showered – DVD and beddiebys.
As predicted awoke to an even more outstanding morgen - caught the autobous into town today no mucking around – we were Mt. Pilatus bound today . The trip called a Golden trip entailed a 4 person cable car up to a station ( just Briar & I on our one) where you could then get on a different cable car which took about 20 up to the top of Mt. Pilatus which is 7000 ft. 2170m above sea level. When you leave you go down the steepest railway line in the world 48 degrees mostly and then you hop on a ferry which cruises you around two lakes before dropping ya back in Luzern all for $89.00 SWF ( $60.00 euros) not to bad we thought.
The first part takes ya up over the outer town of Luzern and up over chalets and meadows and small pockets of forest – two stops on the way up where you can get off and do nature walks. Etc. we were quite happy looking at nature from the comfort of our cable car as we saw people walking up the mountain – fools. This took around 35 mins. As we ambled up the mountain- yielding ever increasing spectacular vista’s everywhere. The next cable car took us almost vertically up – exciting but also scary.
Still if you can’t trust swiss engineering who can you trust. And this took about 10 minutes. We got here safely like the 4 or 5 million before no doubt.
At the top there were only the odd speck of clouds way over towards the main swiss alps which were clearly seen from our mountain top.The first thing we noticed was the cooler temp. The air was way thinner and there were tandem paragliders taking off from the top. Fantastic views and rides…even I would have a go from way up there. There were several walks and view points one could select to view the vista’s from – there was a choice of two restaurants and a kiosk to feed and water those with the need – we had prepared some rolls the preceding night for a munch at the top – generally these tourist places charge like wounded bulls – we did have a coffee and a beer each up their.
Well what can one say when you’re standing on the top of a mountain not quite at the top of Europa but with a 360 degree panorama with no clouds to disturb the view of the entire Swiss Alps to the west / views to the black forest in Germany to the east / views of the lake regions of Luzern to the south and more Alps to the north. Truly amazing.
We could see the top of Europa in the distance Jungfrau/Eiger and Matterhorn to the north – have seen the NZ alps from Nelson not quite the same .
We sat and ate our lunch with the swiss alps to look at. Walked a couple of the other trails – through some rock and next to cliff faces with sheer 6/7 hundred metre drops – certainly not for the faint hearted - exhilarating. Sir Ed you rock brother.
We spent a relaxing hour havin a beer – basking in the alpine sunlight – a few more paragliders took off. The other thing worth mentioning was the very friendly raven looking birds which were almost scavenging around – some were even landing on peoples hands to peck food out of there fingers – not shy at all – and watching them fly about in the air currents and uplifts of the mountain – awesome – now I know where the yanks got their ideas for the stealth jet fighters from – when these birds tuck their wings in to gather speed – they look exactly like stealths in flight.
After many photos and 4 hours of gazing and digesting in splendiferous vista’s we caught the 3.00pm train back down the mountain. This is one of only a few cog wheel trains in the world and the steepest in the world - 52 degs at the steepest - The carriage itself has cogs attached to the underside and the railtrack has grooves for the cog – it took around 50 mins to go down – another amazing engineering feat and swiss of course. We sat with a bunch load of happy frenchies going down which made the journey down seem shorter.
Once at the bottom we walked across the road well under it actually to the wharf where our ferry was waiting – 10 minutes later we were steaming of across Lake Alpnachsee and then through anarrow channel onto Lake Luzern – we had several stops along the way where we dropped passengers off and we picked up a few as well. Great way to finish a wunderbar day looking at wunderschern scenery.
Once back at the jetty in Luzern centro, we decided to have a beer or two down by the river Ruess – which we did and then wandered on to a riverside restaurant where we had dinner to top of a truly memorable day. We even wandered back along the waterfront to the camp to take in our last memories of Luzern – a destination well worth revisiting sometime.
Our Aussie camp neighbours had been to Titlus for the day – which still had snow on it – as their daughter had never been, seen or touched snow before – had a wee chat, they offered us a vino – but we were stuffed from a big day out – so declined there offer , we showered and hit the horizontal mode early. Did have a cuppa before bed.
Left Luzern and Camping Lido bound for Walzenhausen – we were off to have a farm stay with friends of Briar’s Thai language student, Pim and her Swiss hubby Ernst from the late 90’s. They met at Mount Language centre back in the day. Got married had a daughter and now live in Switzerland.
Fortunately the weather was doin the right thing again and we powered down the autostrad in sunny skies. It was only a two hour trip – so we stopped for a coffee at a service centre off the autostrad and had lunch down by the Lakeside (Bodonsee(swiss) or Lake Constance(English) as the toffs like to call it. Anyways being a holiday day and the temp bein around the 25/26 degree mark – there were lotsa people in the parks and along the lakefront doin there first bit of suntanning for the year. We had the usual salad and whatever cold meats leftover in the fridge – did a clean out really as we knew we would be eating with our hosts – not much point in having food inda fridge goin ta waste.
We or should I say My Cherie (alias tom-tom) found our way easily to Walzenhausen and made the phone call at the train station to Pim as told to do. Within 5 mins. Her and a friend Maria who had to drive Pim as Pim does not drive, arrived the big hugs and wilkommen scenairio and we followed them further up the hills to their haus(house)
Walzenhausen sits about 800-900 metres above Lake Constance so when we got to their pad which was built onto the end of the cowshed – which is the swiss way off course – if you farm cows, the views across to Dueschland (Germany) on the other side of Lake Constance were spectacular – especially from their dining room windows – hardcase that none of the windows in the bedrooms looked out at the view though all had views of the charming farmland hillsides.
There is a cluster of houses up the road that Ernst & Pim’s house is, so as we arrived everyone was checkin us out – they also had a church group barbi they were hosting and the men ( Ernsts dad/bros & some friends) were all doin the hay thing whilst the weather was good – ya have to take the opportunity while you can in Switzerland – as the growing season only lasts 2-3 months and you need enough hay to feed the cows during the snowing months. We did find out later that they only milk four bloody cows – all this work for four cows, that is milking cows – they did run 30 or so dry stock as well as some young ones coming thru. Still it was great to catch up and after we had parked Hugo up, we watched the men doin their thing as we did take some snappies, we were given the new house tour ( only 7 months old) – shown our room – big almost king size bed – bath/shower room right next door – the whole place was very well fitted out with all the mod cons ( as Ernst is a plumber and in the building game) we sat down after all the hay was collected and put away in the loft with the workers, the families etc. Ernst fired up the barbi and we were introduced to the majority of Ernst’s familia.
The swiss eat a lot of sausages like the germans – so guess what we had saussies and salad. Being an avid saussie eater from way back – it was like heaven to me. Had a bratwurst followed by cervelat – good times. After dinner we were taken around the farm by Ernst – which entailed walking along the perfect country lanes amongst the meadows and forest patches – I was starting to get sick of everything being so goddam picture perfect. – yeah right. A couple of spots he took us too – you could see into Austria and Lichenstein – wunderbar.
After an hour or so of touring the farm and Ernst being the typical patriotic and proud swiss man who knew his flora and fauna very well we headed back to home – I could also sense Briar was really enjoying the ways, aromas and pace and contrasts of a dairy farm. We both slept very well in our big bed and really enjoyed the walk-in shower room – wunderbar.
We enjoyed a good brekkie admiring the views across the lake from the dining room even though the day was a bit overcast – big contrast from the previous day. Ernst had a wee job to do earlier on in the morning – but he was keen to take us touring which we did before lunchtime – around his region. We travelled across the perfect country lanes criss-crossing through cow country – firstly to a hilltop restaurant where they got married and then onto the village of Appenzeller (famous for cheese – worldwide I think) – if I find it in the supermarket at home I know exactly where it was made. We even visited the factory where we also sat down and had lunch – Swiss fondue ( cheese one of course – Bread & potato dipped into appenzeller cheese – wunderbar – we both thoroughly enjoyed it – glad we had a wee walk after to work some off.
We then visited some more towns/villages and stopped again at the top of a hilltop restaurant called “Waldegg” a traditional old swiss chalet – converted into a shop /restaurant but with some quirky twists. There we stopped for desert and coffee – grosse (grande or big desserts they were too – wasn’t quite ready for that but didn’t really know what I was ordering – that will teach me not to ask. Took awhile but got through it eventually. After that we headed home and blobbed out in front of the TV – did a little wifi stuff and hit the sack.
The next morning the bros’ and pop were at it again cutting the next field while the sun was shining, After brekkie I drove Pim, her daughter Jenny, Briar and myself down to Rheineck where we got caught a train to Rorsach Hafen – where we got on a ferry to cruise across Lake Consatnce to a German town on the other side of the lake called Fredrichshafen – where ol Zeppelin invented, designed and built and flew the very first Zeppelin’s for air travel back in the very late 19th century. They had a museum all about Mr Zeppelin and his flying machines that Briar & I took a peekaboo at. Fascinating stuff.
The trip across on the ferry was pretty cool – the ferry was a car ferry and musta been some vintage car rally as there was several on the ferry that we were on – did go have a looksee. Some old e-type jags/ Mercedes coupe / even an old porshe coupe – even some old bikes – Norton Commando’s / BSA’s / Moto Guzzi’s.
The trip took about 50 mins. We pulled into the dock and there were a couple of border patrol guards – who were checkin people as they disembarked – picked on a couple asian folk – but didn’t bat an eyelid at me in me NZ t-shirt. We wandered around the town firstly – then headed for a restaurant just before lunchtime – wise move – the place was pretty packed with people being a holiday weekend and this was a very popular destination. We scored a lakefront table and munched our way on seafood and schnitzel and a couple beers to wash it down. Briar and I then did the museum thing before we caught up with Pim & Jenny and did a walk around the lakefront promenade before heading back to the ferry – the cruise back across the lake was very relaxing – their was hardly any wind – shame for the numerous yachts out on the lake – looking for the occasional puff.
After we got home Ernst took us around to a house he built with his bro ( who is a builder) and to a real cow farm – had 30 cows milking in this one. They could milk 5 cows at a time in this shed. We got farms in NZ with 700 cows bro. Still the house he built, was built out of logs milled less than 1 km from the house – kuhl stuff. The swiss farmers own pockets of forest for their own use and build from their own timber – replanting is part of the process of course. It was quite different and I enjoyed the style of architecture – even if not my thing. Had cold meats / brot (bread) and salad for dinner – ( definitely the swiss way). We all went to bed early had a big day tomorrow ( around 250 k’s to cover ) . Briar and I did do a bit of Wifiing before bed. It peed down during the night which surely wouldn’t help the grass dry out – who knows. Didn’t seem to worry anyone – besides we were outta there for the day, with the whole familia – Ernst was chauffeuring us all around showing us the landmarks and the countryside he is so fiercly proud off, even if it was not Switzerland and as we passed into Austria – no border patrols at 8.00am on a Sunday morning – probably just like home, to early for the cops. The cloud was breaking up and the blue sky and the sun were fighting to break through as we approached our first stop – Breitach Klamm and we were the first through the gates – it’s a river than winds through rock with many twists and turns – had ta walk about a km to where the real deal was – mother nature at her powerful best. Klamm means canyon..Brei - river and tach - wide…
Wunderbar – once again Pim (with Jenny) stayed behind whilst Ernst took us two to check out Breitach Klamm. Once back on the road a quick coffee stop at a McCafe out in the wops ( most unusual for Macca’s ) – made a good latte but. Then on the road again – a fair drive this time into Germany this time to have a look at Neuchswanstein Castle in Fussen, Germany.
Arrived around 11.00am with the tour buses and many other holidaymakers going for a geek at the Schloss ( castle in german) We parked and wandered up the hill about 500 metres and caught the bus up, ya can walk up but its rather steep and takes 35-40 mins. and Pim doesn’t like to walk too much at all, especially uphill. So packed in like sardines ( shades of Capri Isle in Italy) we were dropped of at the top turnaround – where for the lazy buggers who couldn’t be bothered walking down could catch the bus down again. We had a 200m stroll to the bridge which hangs over a ravine where a wasserfall and river below made a nice photo – but it’s the view back toward the castle that is wunderbar – captures the entire schloss in all its glory – shame they were doing restoration work so half the side was covered in scaffolding and netting – seems to be our luck on this tour – but I guess all these centuries old buildings & ruins do need attention and repairing occasionally.
If the day hadn’t been so cloudy it would have been that bloody word again perfect. Some old King Ludwig commissioned it to be built for his summer haus – dumb shit died before he could even use it – only the lower floor rooms inside were completed – which is how it remains today – there was an hour & a half wait – so we flagged queueing to go inside and they wanted $8.00 euros to see a half completed castle – got some cheek aye guv. Did the touristy snappie thing to say we’ve been here. Back down the hill again … walking – don’t think I would have enjoyed walking up it either. Back at the car decision made to carry on somewhere else for a feed – keep away from the hordes. We stopped in a field to take some last snappies of Neuchswanstein Schloss – excellent.
Thought we’d just hop across the border again into another town for lunch, back again into Austria – had lunch at the Hof hotel in Reutle. Had an excellent grilltellier meal (chefs selection of grilled fleisch(meats of different animals) with Pommes (chips) and insalat (salad) – buonissimo. Good value for $12.00 euro’s – far cheaper than Switzerland – which even Ernst had to admit. After we had fed the worms back into the stationwagon where we were taken back towards home along a different route- through some of the skiing resorts of Austria ( Stubern/Langden & St. Anton )
High up the mountains were snow shields or fences spasmodically placed to stop avalanches we think. Lotsa empty chair lifts going up the runs.
We were up around the 1400m above sea level – so there were still pockets of snow about near the road. Once we were out of the mountains – a very quick blat along the autostrad into Lichenstein (another country- between Austria & Switzerland) only 35k’s long at its longest point – did have border guards this time – we were ushered through without havin ta stop. Here Ernst’s sister lives with her hubby and two children – nice couple / family – had a beer on the patio – Doris’s hubby Lukas had been to NZ – mainly the south island – and predominately the westcoast.
After a quick chat and pit stop hit the road for home only around ½ an hour from here – did stop for some more snappies from a great viewpoint in Walzenhausen. Had a barbi for tea again – showed Ernst & Pim some snappies on the lappie of home and the tour so far. Some more wifiing and bed again. Back to work for Ernst today and schule for Jenny – ( only in the morning).
The sun beamed across the hills of Walzenhausen this morning – we decided on a bit of a home day today – give Hugo a spring clean – Briar attacked the roof top with gusto and a scratchie pad – did the job whilst I did the inside – it was rather hot – in fact 26 degrees with little wind – perfect for dryin out the hay. We took Hugo down the hill for a wash at a proper auto lavaderia as they are called here needed little Jenny to understand the token process..and also to get some groceries as we had been eating mostly our hosts grub.
Migros supermerkt – Switzerlands answer to a Coop I reckon – 5 packs of various sausages – yahoo. Got back in time to lend a bit of help raking the last field of hay being gathered for the loft.
Briar and I once again went for a walk around the farm/lanes and hills of Walzenhausen – pretty much the same route that Ernst took us a few days back – the sun was a lot brighter and was a few degrees warmer – Fantastic scenery – hard to explain unless you are there – breathtaking would be a more appropriate description.
Once again it was a barbi for dinner – we did have guests in Ernst’s Ma & Pa – who we even managed to strike up patchy conversation with – Ernst’s dad Ernst also is very proud of his homeland and told us of some places to visit that would be on the route we were taking. Watched a bit of TV before bed – Ernst has satellite which can receive about 200 channels from all over Europe and the states. Only around three or four in English – BBC / CNN / Sky News international etc
Woke to another cracker of a day – we had the use of the station wagon for us to go sightseeing – not one to turn down free offers – after brekkie we headed out for Schauffhausen a town where the infamous Rhinefell ( Rhinefalls for the English dummies) Germany’s version of the Huka Falls in Taupo – and almost as equally spectacular – being kiwi patriotic here. It was about an hours drive from Ernst & Pims’ sought of towards Basel – very close to the german border. Did the touristy thing, got lotsa piccies wandered right around it and over it – we did not go on the boat which drops ya off on a rock in the middle of the falls, certainly gets well visited.
Around 600 m3 per second on average pumps over – the biggest has been 2400 m3.
After that we drove around the Rhine river towards Constanz & Kreugislein- two cities bisected by the end of the Lake and the real start of the Rhine river. Stopped there for a look around – a nice stroll along the the promenade. Stopped for a bite in an inconspicuous gartenbar where Briar munched on lasagne & I had meatloaf – not bad but bloody expensive. Drove back home along the lakefront almost the entire way home – had a massive rain/hailstorm going through Rorschach –could see the black clouds rolling in – a bit of lightning and thunder - had to slow down to about 10-15 k’s – could only see about 50m max. in front of me . As we neared homebase we shot down town (Rheinneck) and we both booked in for haircuts for the following morning.
Had a cold meats/salad and bread kinda dinner – cleaned up a few leftovers as well.
We also had a parcel which we had been waiting on from Amy ( good girl Ames) with two new bankcards for me that were stolen in Italy – a new camping card pass- which discounts various campgrounds through some countries in Europe – Excellent and our tickets to U2 at Olympiastadt in Berlin – choice as bro.
Bit of a chat about the day / some planning for tmoro and once again some more free wifiing for us both- showered and bed. Jenny only had a half day at school the next day so after our haircuts we would catch the ferry over to Lindau – a picturesque small island on Lake Constanz ( german soil) .
The morning was OK – a bit of cloud about but did look like it was gonna clear which it did later – turned out to be a scorcher again. After we had both got our haircuts – almost 100 swiss francs later ( it did come with coffee & a biccie) – still we were both happy with our cuts – which is the main thing and both really short again. Raced home to pick up Pim and then Picked up Jenny from the bus stop – and then on down to Rorschach to catch the ferry.
Had a half hour wait – only about a dozen or so got on - a wee bit different to the hordes of the other day’s ferry ride. It was a very pleasant and quiet trip across – had the entire top deck to ourselves almost – was still a wee bit chilly goin across – but the nearer we got to Lindau the sunnier and warmer it got. This island would be about the size of Mokoia Island on Lake Rotorua – so you could walk around it in about an hour – which we did , even Pim too. Had lunch at a Café/restaurant on the harbour front overlooking the yachts and the ferries coming and going – an extremely picturesque place. Paid to go up the Lighthouse which was at the harbour entrance – did give ya views across the island. Then went for a walk through the township and around the boardwalk of the island – did I mention picturesque – probably . Had around an hour to kill so had a gelato before sittin at a bar on the harbour front chilling, and watchin for our ferry to arrive – got served by a very well spoken Brazilian waitress who spoke good English – did thank her in Portugean which she appreciated with a Portugean you’re welcome.
Once on the ferry which only had 8 passengers on the homeward bound journey we cruised outta Lindau – leavin that picturesque little island behind. The trip back across the Lake to Rorschach was great as it was around the 7.00pm time and the sun was settin in the west- there was also hardly any wind on the lake as well. As it was our last night – off course we had to have a barbi – we even used up the last that we had bought the other day – we did have steak for lunch one day – but other than that the only meat weve had during our stay at home is cold sliced ham or sausages. The evening was kind for our last barbi – the wind did pick up and made it a little chilly – but a few beers and wines and chewing the fat – all gut.
Woke early to catch Ernst before he headed off for work did the hugs, handshake and thank you heaps thing – got some brekkie – cleared out our room – packed up Hugo – did the goodbye’s with Pim and Jenny and hit the road again. The week now had been a great break from touring for us – had given us a wonderful insight into swiss lifestyle – especially if ya live onda farm, had quelled our vein habit for a week and it was long enough as we were both ready for the road and new adventures. We also made sure to say goodbye to Ernst’s Ma & Pa and as we drove down the drive – one last look back and also to take a piccie– Ernst’s mother was standing in her doorway waving us goodbye- wunderbar.
The weather once again was turning it on for us – sunny warm just a couple degrees cooler around 23/24, we did make a pitstop at Winterthur to look up a LPG place that might possibly be able to refill Hugo’s gas bottles – but no. So on we drove to Zurich
- where we also planned to stop and check out the HSBC there to do some much needed stuff – now that my new card had arrived by post whilst we were at Pim’s.
The eingang or entry into Zurich of the autostradt brings ya smack bang into the middle almost immediately – scored a park further down the lake – had a 3 k walk to the town – are well – had a picturesque promenade walk again – Zurich like Luzern is picture perfect – with maybe a couple blades of grass outta place. Amazing how a sunny day can make a place look good – yeah right. Still we found the HSBC only to find it was like a private bank – they only have a reception and waiting room – no bank machines or tellers like the norm – hey of course this is Switzerland – the pin-stripe suited chap behind the reception desk apologetically explained that this was no ordinary bank – but he did give us free use of their phone to ring HSBC over the phone – which last time cost us $20.00 euros on the bat phone – we even got an espresso coffee whilst I did my thing on the phone – which got a lot sorted out for us. Sweet as – I was very impressed – I would come back here with my millions and put into their bank because of the kindness bestowed on a couple of rough and ready lookin kiwis from down under – I think they were quite intrigued with us actually.
Still we wandered back to Hugo feeling very smug with ourselves as we wandered past the high end shopping district of Zurich – we were feeling so good we stopped for a bratwurst & brot on the lakefront to wander back with. There were a lot of lunchtime workers lining the promenade munchin their way in the sun also. Its amazing how much a kind, understanding or good gesture can lift ones spirit for the day.
Wunderbar – an that’s about how you could wrap up Switzerland in one word so far – WUNDERBAR – back on the road we had about another hour or so before we reached Interlaken ( the Oberland region of Switzerland) this is where the real Alps the really high shit is. Did a grocery shop in town – checked out the info. centre and then booked into our camp for the night. Had a great lakefront site again – well one row back – but could see the lake from our camper. Had you guessin - its a barbi for dinner and you guessed it – Sausages and salad – did have mille fleux’s for desert – yum. Had the late dinner,dishes and shower did watch a DVD – hit the pillow around midnight.
Woke to a sunny morning – wunderbar back to the old routine 3 x S’s / brekkie / pack up Hugo and on our way – a bit of touring today around the area – check out some wasserfalls (if ya can’t work it out ya should go back to swiss language lessons) the valleys between the mountain ranges and hopefully – wunderbar views of the Alps- mainly Matterhorn/Junfrau/Scilthorn and the Eiger.
But firstly we drove back into Interlaken to say Hi to Dunja’s Mother in Law – Malou
who runs an embroidery shop next to the Jungfrau Internatinal Hotel – swankiest one in town. Dunja ( is Tracey and my travel agent – who booked our air tickets ova here- she has been reading our blogsite and mentioned to pop in to say hi so we did before heading on. It was nice to meet her and she is visiting Dunja, her son & NZ next January).
As we drove up the valley towards Skilthorn firstly in the village of Lauterbrunnen we stopped for some snaps of a waterfall cascading over the cliff face about 200m high – as we drove further up the valley there were several more – amazing. We stopped at the Trummelbach a cascading wasserfall that is internal wasserfall in the mountain as well as outside of it – bloody amazing . It took ten years to build it to be suitable for tourists like us to go and look at – it was only $4.00 euro’s each – sweet as – took a cable car inside the mountain to about two thirds the way up – from there ya have to walk the rest – it’s a series of falls which empties several of the high mountains like the Eiger and Jungfrau of their glatial snow the water is a crystal clear blue, different from regular snow melt of smudgy beige . This was way better than Breitach Klamm and far more spectacular – around 200m3 wasser per second shoots down the mountainside. Took lotsa piccies – the water was crystal clear.
Took some more pics of the bloody picture perfect valley and Briar with a picture perfect meadow with buttercups/daisies/wild flowers behind her.
We then headed down before heading up another valley to Grindelwald – an Alpine ski resort town during the winter months – but also a great hiking spot during the summer if youre into that sought of thing. We found a park in town had a quick reconnoitre and found a lively little restaurant for lunch where we both had rosti’s of various sorts whilst absorbing the views off the the summits of Skelthorn and the Eiger through the puffy clouds. This is traditional swiss grub – even came out in the frypan it was cooked in – bon appetiten the young waitress said as she presented our meals. The beer tasted even better after that. We did wander a bit more – bought some brot rolls and some swiss hand made chockies for a treat after barbi tea tonite. We then booked into the camp around 3.30pm - well we just drove in actually as no one was in reception and the sign said find a place and come back and see us around 6pm. – suits me sir.
The camp is in a magnificient spot with phenomenal vistas of the mountains – we were virtually camped below the Eiger and you colud see Skelthorn to left and Skilthorn to the right – and directly in front was the Messehorn with the Eiger on its right. We spent nearly all afternoon and night gazing in awe at these mountains and snapping away as well – we did get many shots with crystal clear blue sky and no clouds behind – wunderschern. One of those times when ya just have to pinch ya self.
We did go for a quick wander next to the stream – which is right next to the camp – as we were walking back we could here those bloody cow bells again – but with much more repetitive clanging – turned around to see 20 or so with massive cowbells swinging from their necks heading up the hill past the camp. They have a tradition in Switzerland in some parts, where on a certain day (May 30th – today) the cows are lead through the town and then on up to the high grounds for the summer. Kuhl.
We had some really nice South African neighbours who I think also were quite glad to have some one to talk to in English and with a common interest – RUGBY . Of course he was a Bulls fan, lives in the Bulls region and he said if he had been at home in SA he would have been going to the game with his mates who were going. Had a real good natter – nice chap – of course when we parted the next day it was go the bulls and go the chiefs of course – glad now I won’t run into him again probably. Bloody Chiefs – did they get off the plane.
The next morning we awoke to a clear day – the overnight temperature was certainly cooler. So, more pics taken before packing up Hugo and heading off to Bern ( capital of Switzerland) – stopped for a stroll around in the old part of course – Arched street walkways/ old coal shutes – no longer in use of course – nearly on every building – some had been even turned into shops .
Once again runs next to the river Aare – had had a market day earlier – just packing up as we wandered through – did buy some schweinblammen sausages of one of the stalls – looked really good. Lotsa cafes – full with people and tourists about – nice clock in the centre – really charming centre – well worth the stop the streets are wide with arched verandas being part of the old buildings and old coal shutes with the double doors still all in place – really neat city centre.
After that we stopped for a top up on groceries – before heading out to Solothurn to a camp had researched earlier which when we got there was full a first for us!! – so had to head south another 30k’s to Elnach. This was all the Emme valley country where the Emmental cheese comes from – rolling countryside – with the aroma of cows of course.
Managed to find a spot in the campground here which was on the edge of a lake, but it was also nearly full with holiday makers being another holiday weekend. Fired up the barbi and had… yes sausages and salad for dinner . All washed down with a couple of weins of course. This will be our last night in Switzerland for the mo as tomorrow we head into the Schwarzwald (Black Forest – a name which has it own funny story for us ) of Baden-Wurtemberg , Germany. I will fill ya in on Schwarzwlad in the next up date – so for the last time in Switzerland–Auf Weidersein