Switzerland.

September 16,2023
The train arrived in Munich at 10:30AM and the party was well under way. Octoberfest is in September, not October.

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So many people of all ages dressed in Bavarian clothes, most with beer in hand already and looking to have fun. It was Saturday and the good times were starting early.

Dragging our luggage a few blocks we finally found out rental car, not without a few hiccups, but a couple of hours later we were trying to negotiate through the crowds to get out of Munich. A small automatic Corsa was the car we were given, much smaller than the one in Scotland thankfully.

We headed south, towards Bad Tolz and the scenery was gorgeous. It looked like what you would expect Germany to look like

First stop was food and drink. We lucked out and found this great outdoor patio where Doug was able to get some schnitzel and I had soup and salad, and a pretzel. I had to get into the spirit and wash it down with a zero beer as well

The reason we came to this area was to visit the final resting place of Dougs Uncle Doug, who was in the airforce and shot down in the Second World War over Germany at the age of 21. This is a cemetery for those in the airforce that are from countries in the Commonwealth. It is very well maintained and if you look up the name of the airman you are told which row and number his grave is at it’s very well organized. It was so sad to read the tombstones to see that most of these young men were 19, 20, and 21. Australia, UK, Canada and India were represented here.

It was an emotional moment for Doug, his uncle was very missed by his Dad.

The drive to our guesthouse was down some back roads in a town called Reichersbeuern. It was a very typical Bavarian home, with about four guest rooms.

The next day we drove to Lindau stopping a various small towns on the way.

Our favorite was Fussen where we stopped for a couple of hours and had lunch before exploring the town.

Sunday. A lot of the stores close on Sunday, the same as when Taylor and I were in France and found out the hard way. We arrived in Lindau at 7PM starving. We could not pick up any groceries and the one restaurant in town was full.

The main server took pity on us and found us a seat outside. We ordered food to go, as it was getting dark and buggy out, but during the wait I had a zero beer and Doug had two regular ones. They were local and very good, I tasted them. The lady serving us is had been to Vancouver island last year, even Coombs, so we had a nice chat.

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It was just after 10AM when we left and checked out Lindau’s waterfront area before we left
We had to buy a decal to drive in Switzerland. They only have one, good for a year and a half, and costs $60 CDN! But the fine is bigger if you get caught without it. We were also driving through Austria for about 15 minutes on the way and had to buy a decal for that too, but at least it was only $15.

Lucerne was on our way so we stopped for a few hours to break up the trip. Old town is gorgeous with so many ornate buildings and a covered bridge. We loved it. When we arrived we found a parking garage that had a grocery store and restaurant as well as other stores
I had to pee so bad! Switzerland is not part of the EU and still has its own currency, the Swiss Franc. The bathroom cost money, coin, Swiss franc! I didn’t have any. I had to finds an ATM, withdraw some Swiss francs and then buy something to get the change, But I did it, in the Nick of time

We enjoyed a lunch before exploring old town for a couple of hours

Behind schedule as usual. Our apartment is in a small hilltop village of Grandvaux near Lausanne. We arrived in the dark, thunder and sheets of lightning in the hills and black clouds overtop. We were going on one lane twisting roads up a down the mountain with road construction thrown in the mix. We finally arrived at 8:30PM and there is no parking, which we knew but there really wasn’t! Doug pulled off into someone’s private empty spot while I looked for our place. It was pitch dark, tall medieval buildings, no lights, and crazy tiny roads. I am talking to myself, “ well I think this is it but there are no F’ng lights who would I know?”

A woman yelled in French something that made me figure out it was the right place. She said we can pull into the parking spot in front for two minutes to unload, which we did. Another woman yelled at us in French from one of the apartments that we were in private parking and I was assuring her we would be only five minutes
In Switzerland there are three areas where people speak either French, Italian or German. We are in the French part.
The parking lot was not far away but we could only park there till noon and then leave until 7 PM. We found the whole parking, or lack of it, in Switzerland the worst part of our travels. We had hoped to ride the trains between towns but didn’t know what to do with the car. It was complicated.

The apartment was very old, basic, and dark. Things always look worse at night and we were so tired we figured we would just wait till tomorrow to see where we were at.

Parking was an issue the entire four nights we were here, but we survived it. We drove a fair amount exploring. Montreaux and Laussane are close by and on Lake Geneva, very wealthy and prosperous small cities. We spent a little bit of time at each
Freddy mercury spent a lot of time here and this is where he wrote most of the Queen albums . They have a statue of him.

We are on a mountain, everything is on a mountainside and it is very green and lush. This is wine country and the grapes are ready to harvest. Mostly green grapes from what I could see.

I think the highlight was driving to Tasch, up small twisting mountain roads, to then take train to Zermatt, a car free town at the base of the Matterhorn. We walked around the town a bit and had very expensive cappuccinos sitting on a park bench looking at the Alps before taking the cog train up to Gornergrat

We saw the Matterhorn from the train but by the time we got to the top it was in the clouds, so we were lucky to have caught a glimpse. It was a beautiful trip as we climbed slowly to over 10,000 feet. I could feel myself being very winded when we reached the top. We stayed up for a couple hours, ate the lunch I brought from home and just marvelled at the amazing site.

The next day was spent in the small town of Gyereres where the cheese is made. One thing I have notice is that all the cows seem to be free range out in the fields not chained to an industrial barn somewhere which is great.
The Chateau Gruyère was interesting to visit as well

we drove around out little town for a bit seeing the beautiful landscapes with all the grape vineyards

On our last day we stopped in Bern for a few hours. Going in and out of large cities seems to really test us because the GPS says go straight when she means turn, or bear left when she means turn. We spend a lot of time being rerouted.

Bern was a great stop as well. They had some brown bears in an area where you could look down and watch them roaming around. There were three of them, quite large and very healthy looking

Good bye Switzerland. We are now heading to France for the night.