My turn to write this episode as Switzerland is my favourite country. Our rail journey from Milan was truly amazing. From the armchair comfort of our 1^st Class carriage the electric train was almost silent as we glided along the shores of Lake Como and Lake Lugano before climbing into the mountains. Our journey over the Alps took in some spectacular scenery swishing past tiny villages and through numerous tunnels. Summer has started late here so the mountains are still snow covered. The houses gradually took on the typical Swiss chalet style. On arrival at Zurich Central, I was lifting the cases off the overhead rack and one slipped and came crashing down on the bridge of my nose so I am now sporting a large red blotch between my eyes. “Typical” can I hear you say?

The information on our hotel stated that it was “just over the road from the railway station”. However, it turned out this was a suburban station not Central so we had an extra 6 minute train ride to get there.

On our first day we explored Zurich. Although it has many old buildings, it lacks the history and character of Milan. We experienced a ferry boat ride on Lake Zurich and took a cable car up into the hills where we found a pleasant restaurant and sipped a wine (or 2) while taking in the fabulous view of the lake and Zurich city.

Yesterday we hired a car which was booked for us by the hotel. We requested a small manual to be delivered to the hotel at 9am. We turned up to reception to pick up the key and were advised that we had been upgraded. We walked out to find a top of the range Audi A4 with more gadgets than you can poke a stick at. After first getting in the wrong side (as you do), we sat in the car for 10 minutes before I was forced to go back into the hotel to find someone who could show us how to start it. Embarrassing. We were soon on our way and in the first half hour Janice aged 5 years as I came to grips with driving an unfamiliar car in heavy city traffic on a different side of the road. Luckily Swiss drivers are very forgiving.

We were on our way to Fanas, the small village up in the Alps where I worked for a month on a community service project digging a milk pipeline in 1966. Our journey after leaving the city was mostly on motorways and at one point my bum got very hot. It turned out that Janice, whilst fiddling with the air conditioner controls, had accidentally switched on the drivers seat heating.

It took about 2 hours to reach the village and there were many parts that were familiar but after nearly 50 years there also had been many changes. I was disappointed to learn that the milk pipeline which dozens of volunteers over 3 years had put in thousands of hours to construct had fallen into disrepair and had ceased to operate about 15 years ago. Picture of Brian at Fanas above.

 

View from village of Fanas above. We then travelled to Grusch, Landquart and the city of Chur which were places I had visited whilst working here. As the principality of Liechtenstein was so close we decided to drive through it on our return journey and take the country roads back to Zurich which took longer than expected as the recent heavy rains had damaged a number of the mountain roads and we were frequently confronted with road works where part of the roadway had collapsed. Nevertheless it was a memorable experience with spectacular scenery.

 Picture above of churches in the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Next stop  Heidelberg.