Country the second: Switzerland

The second country we visited, though we really only drove through it, was Switzerland. We were driving through on our way to Italy from Germany.

We got into a major traffic jam, which we later found out was due to the Gotthard tunnel. After inching forward, sitting for a while, inching forward a little more, we got to the turnoff for the first pass. We decided anything was better than sitting in traffic all day, so we took the turnoff. As we climbed, we could see that the traffic jam went for miles. We then spent several hours crossing three of Switzerland's four passes. This resulted in a very long drive, which only got us 100 km further down the road. But it was a beautiful drive.

The weather was lovely, and we were able to see much of the Swiss countryside. Part way down one pass, we stopped at a restaurant and had lunch. The food was delicious, if a little expensive. One can't fault them: I hate to think what it costs to drive the supplies up every day. Jim had the stone soup. It turns out that this comes from an old story that teaches about neighbourly help.

Ele didn't get nearly enough pictures on this drive.

We finally got back down to the highway we had left earlier in the day, and continued on into Italy. We finally arrived where we are staying quite late in the evening. While we were all quite tired, I certainly think that the scenery was worth it. I hope the others agree.

Rainer

As I indicated in our last e-mail, it was a bit of a whirlwind tour of southern Europe. We spent the first four days relaxing in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Our one bit of northern Europe.) With the way the flights turned out, we got into Frankfurt fairly early in the day. The area trains come right through the airport. That meant we were able to go down several levels, and hop right on a train for Wiesbaden. A short cab ride got us to our hotel.

In less than two hours after our arrival in Wiesbaden, we were sitting in a restaurant on the main square drinking schorles. (I hope I spelled that correctly.) Ele actually just drank straight wine. Schorle is basically just a wine spritzer. I wanted extra liquid after the dehydration of the flight. Since it was late in the day for us, not really being able to sleep on the flight, we didn't feel too guilty about drinking at two in the afternoon. When we decided to have a second one, I asked about the aperol on the menu. It turns out that this is a very low alcohol content orange flavoring for drinks. My second spritzer was with aperol. This gives it an interesting, slightly bitter, taste. This was very refreshing in the 30° heat.

This felt all too civilized. :-)

One of the funny things that happened to us was that most of the restaurants were Italian. Ele never really got her German fare. Once we had lunch just as the restaurant was opening. It was quite funny watching the waiter scurry around like Manuel from Fawlty Towers. I have to say though, we did eat well.

We did spend one day doing the funicular railway. This took you up a hill, where you could wander around and see the sights. There was a great view of the rest of the city from up there. We saw the monument for the city's fallen dead during World War I. You can also wander down the back side of the hill to a Russian Orthodox Church. While it isn't big in square area, it is the standard full height. It seems that, way back when, the prince of the area (or whatever he was) married a woman from the Russian royal family. If I remember correctly, she died in childbirth. She needed to be buried in a proper Russian Orthodox Church. So they built one. A very beautiful one, with all the iconography standard in a Russian Orthodox Church. It felt a little surreal, as there was probably only enough room for 10 worshipers. Yet, as I said, the full height. While we were there, there was actually one person praying. v We also got to see a little bit of the Kurhauss. Unfortunately, as it started raining and we were already running a little late, we didn't get to wander the Kur Park. Next time.

We spent one day doing the Rhine Gorge. We caught a bus down to the river, and hopped on a boat. Over the course of a couple of hours, we cruised up to Boppard. Despite it being quite chilly and windy on the river, we really enjoyed the cruise. It was amazing seeing all of the castles up on the river banks. In some spots, they were almost on top of each other. It was hilarious watching all the Japanese get on in one town, cruise past the Lorelei, and then get off in the next town. For some reason, the Japanese just love the Lorelei. The entrances to the railway tunnels were even done up in a medieval style, each one different.

After getting off in Boppard, we wandered the town a little bit. After lunch, we hopped a train back to Wiesbaden.

We also spent a day visiting my cousin Richard and his wife Elke. One of their daughters, Nora, sorted out the train schedules for us and then met us halfway. We had a good visit with Nora on the train, and then with all three of them at their house.

Ele and I quite enjoyed the German train system. Not only were they all well-maintained, but each stop was announced ahead of time (as well as being shown on a lit sign.), and it was announced on which side of the train the exits would be. So no matter which town you came to, you knew where to be to start disembarking. There was no guesswork as to which side the platform was on. Some of the country that we saw was very pretty. It seems that some of the regional rail systems are run by local railway societies. This is quite cool, and relatively unknown in North America. I do not know if other areas in Europe have this.

Not long after lunch of our last day in Wiesbaden, the Cowans picked us up and we did our sprint to Italy.

Rainer