"Getting there is half the fun." How often have you heard that said? In Switzerland, this couldn't be more true. In fact, in my opinion, the actual traveling... driving around, through, up, down, back and taking in all the stunning scenery is really the point! For us the journey truly is the destination.
We left Karlsruhe, Germany with our sights set on Zurich, Switzerland. This took us weaving on and off the Autobahn through more of the incredibly scenic Black Forest. Our ultra high-tech super sporty mode of transport would be a Peugeot 208.
All joking aside, it's a pretty fun little car to drive and great on gas (especially considering the fuel price at 1.80 Swiss Francs a litre, or $2.17 CDN)
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| Our Peugeot |
After stopping along the way for lunch we made it to the Swiss border. Although Switzerland is part of the SCHENGEN area of Europe (which allows for open border travel) they aren't part of the European Union, which means they have a check point when entering. Immigration officers slowly wave cars through and every so often they ask one to pull aside for inspection... Guess who won that "
lottery" the day we crossed....yep! We did...!
The immgration officer asked us to pull to one of the stops over to the side of the customs building. He then came over and asked us for our passports, which I had in my hand. He had a look at them, then asked us to open the "boot" (trunk) and stand outside the rear of the vehicle. We both get out and I walk to the back and stand next to the officer as Dy proceeds to walk away and across the street! The officers head and eyes follow her like a hawk and he gets a stern/confused look on his face and says, "Where are you going? you must come stand here..." Dy, not understanding the scolding she just got says, "What? Well... I thought you said get out and go to the booth!? I was just walking to the booth". Without laughing (barely) I said "No Dy, he said boot, NOT booth!!!"....
He had a quick look in the BOOT, checked our passports and that was it, we were free to go! Now he has a good story to tell his immigration officer buddies... You're welcome!
Zurich
We spent the night in Zurich and were up early to have a good walk around the city. As luck would have it the European Games were being held at this time so there were athletic events going on all over. We watched womens speed walking for quite a while. They had a somewhat circular route by the river and we were perched up a bit on a stairway and had a great view. It was really something to see, as they are all world class athletes, some medaling in multiple sports, as the announcers were saying.
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| The athletes |
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| Dy in Zurich |
Interlaken and Eiger
After Zurich, we headed straight for Luzern which was very beautiful, but extremely busy. We couldn't find parking anywhere! Seriously? We gave up and decided to head straight to our next destination, Interlaken. It was a good choice because we found this really cool hostel/tent camping place. They had semi permanent tents set up with hard floors and beds in them, even lighting. Outside was a pool a hot tub, table tennis and a "slackline". Dy was the first to try the slack line. She got up on the line, which is about 3 feet off the ground, would take a few steps, the line would wabble and sway, then off she went. I was thinking to myself, " I've got great balance, I'll be able to walk right across... noooo problem...". Of course I was only about 2 steps along the line before I went down!
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| Slack lining |
Interlaken is a great little town and it's situated in the heart of Switzerland, but our reason for staying there was to see the world famous mountain peak, Eiger, which is not too far away. The Eiger is renowned for its North face and how difficult it is to climb. Since 1935 at least 64 climbers have lost their life trying to conquer it! It's nickname is
Mordwand which literally means murderous wall in German. Now unfortunately for us, it was very cloudy and rainy that day so we were only able to see the very base of the mountain as it towered into the clouds. Guess we'll just have to come back some day. It's OK, we left our climbing gear at home anyway...otherwise I'm sure we would have had no trouble climbing that puppy!
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| The town of Grindelwald at the base of the Eiger |
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| The Eiger shrouded in clouds |
Zermatt
After we left the Eiger it was time to head to Zermatt. This is where the driving got really interesting! We decided to plot an indirect path that would take us through some very scenic mountain passes. These roads are literally like out of a James Bond movie! Extremely high altitude hairpin switch back curves absolutely everywhere. We first hit Susten Pass which wound its way high into the clouds then it was on to the
Furka pass which rises to 2429 meters. That driving was seriously a bit of a workout! Some points were literally like a roller coaster. Dy actually said to me at one point "cut it out, or I'm gonna puke!". It got so bad that Led Zepplin "Fool in the rain" was playing on the radio and I couldn't even play the drums on the steering wheel... Yeah, that bad!
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| Some high altitude mountain passes |
Oh yeah...Zermatt!
Zermatt is home to what is probably the most famous peak in Switzerland, possibly all of Europe... "
The Matterhorn!". Now Zermatt isn't actually accessible by car. The closest town is called Täsch, and it is situated in the valley a bit lower. From Täsch you can take the train, which most people do. You can take a helicopter, which rich people do...or you can walk....which is what Jamie and Dy do! It's actually a pretty easy hike and only 5.5 kilometers away. Well worth it for the views you get. We spent a nice afternoon walking the streets of Zermatt and of course gazing up at the amazing peak of the Matterhorn, which towers above the town like a trophy. We had a nice lunch of grapes and bananas on a bench in town before heading back. Zermatt is also known as one of the most expensive places in Europe (hence the cheap lunch), so it's a good place to go if you want to get rid of some money!
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| Me on our hike to Zermatt |
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| Zermatt comes into view on the hike from Täsch. You can see the Matterhorn in the top right partially covered in clouds |
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| The peak of the Matterhorn |
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| Another view of the Matterhorn. Really impressive! |
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| Typical street view in Zermatt |
After leaving Zermatt it was clear we were now entering the French part of Switzerland by the signs. Basically Switzerland is divided into 3 language areas. The North and East being German and the West being French, and some very southern regions are Italian. Now, although we were becoming very fluent in German by this point (NOT!) It was nice to be in an area where we can speak the language and practice it a bit more.
Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard. The Great Saint Bernard pass
Our final stop before heading back north was a small roadside chalet along the Great Saint Bernard pass. (Guess what kind of dog is from this area?). A really cool thing we got to experiencehere was what is known as a magnetic hill. We were driving down hill, but I was noticing the car was struggling a bit and the rpms were actually going down. I thought there was a problem at first, but we looked at the GPS and noticed our altitude was actually rising. We were in fact going up hill! My family had been to " Magnetic Hill" in New Brunswick when I was very young, and I remember it vividly, but I was glad Dy got to experience it too. It's really quite cool. I could talk forever about the amazing views and high altitude twisted roads here as well...buuut...our purpose for coming to this area was to pay a nostalgic visit to one of first European towns we visited in 2001... Chamonix France! I'll save that for another blog as this one is turning into a bit of a novel!
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| Somewhere along the The Great St. Bernard pass. |
We ended our final day in Saint Bernard land with a hike close to one of the peaks in the area, all the while, of course, accompanied by the sound of cows all over the valleys and the cliché you'd expect in Switzerland...
MORE COWBELL!!!
