28/08/08 - Mother comes to join.

Huh, quite road my a#€e! Not the best sleep, so we were up and on the
road relatively early as we have a bit of travelling to do today. Up
to the top of Simplon Pass (2,005), then down to the Italian border,
where there was such an obvious contrast between the Swiss Chalets on
one side of the border and the Italian stucco houses on the other. We
drove up a pretty forested valley, down around some very narrow blind
corners then back into Switzerland, complete with a stretch of
congested traffic, in 31° heat, adding another half an hour in our
very hot van. We then drove through the city of Lugano (which had such
an Ialian feel we had to check to see if we were still in
Switzerland), then back into the real Italy, finally reaching Menággio
and Lago di Como (Lake Como).

With its red terracotta roof tiles, brilliant green colour of the
lake, and steep surrounding hills - one can see how this area is such
a popular destination.

Unfortunately we couldn't relax yet - a ferry trip across to the town
of Bellágio, then up the hill to our camping ground where hopefully
life is going to slow down for a few days as we soak up the hot sun
and cool off in the lake!!

But there was no slowing down just yet!! We claimed our camp spot,
then off down the road to Milan airport to pick up Robyn - Marea's
mum, who is joining us for 4 days. Hopefully she will make sure we
take it easy :-)

Our timing at Milan airport was pretty much perfect, we, being delayed
by an infrequent ferry and Robyn by a fire alarm at Gatwick. Then back
to camp for a fantastic alfresco meal, champagne with our 'next door
neighbour' Ross, and a phone call home. Cheers Ross for sharing a
fantastic evening, soaking up the last of the Italian heat. I trust
your trip south is a good one, and your Harley behaves itself (even
though Marea suggested it was a Triumph!!).

27/08/08 - Matterhorn - majestic, marvelous, magnificent, magic, massive.

There are enough alliterative superlatives this time - Wow!! Our wish
has come true. A clear blue sky day when we need it most!!

We weren't about to trust that it would last though so we were up and
about, bright and early. We took the train up to Zermatt, then a
funicular, gondola, and finally a cable car to 3,103m.

In one word - magnificent!!! The Matterhorn is not actually the
highest peak around, but at 4,478 it's not far off. It sticks out
dramatically above the surrounding ridges, and the two faces on the
Swiss border side are just sheer cliffs reaching for the sky - it
really is an unbelievable peak!!

After giving the camera a good workout, and with the Matterhorn in
sight allmost all of the way, we began the long walk back down to
Zermatt. Our first port of call on the way was the Findelgletscher
glacier, where our track wound up to a steep ridgeline. At the top we
found ourselves peering straight down to this very clean glacier.
Then as we walked down along the ridge, we started to theorise about
what geographical events had shaped it as the glacier grew, retreated,
then grew again.

Leaving the glacier, behind we came to a hamlet of farmhouses sitting
on the side of the hill. After a drink in the sun, watching the
Matterhorn attracting a few clouds, we headed through the hamlet
where the only traffic on the 'streets' were walkers and sheep
sheltering from the sun.

Finally, after a wrong turn we made it back down to Zermatt. Zermatt
is surprising peaceful considering the number of tourist because there
are has no gas powered vehicles racing around, only electric buses
and service vehicles. Unfortunately these can be too quiet at times,
and one is often prompted to jump out of the way by a loud beep!!

We had a little problem as our time was ending in Switzerland. Far
too many Swiss Francs!!! We soon worked out how to get rid of some of
them - two haircuts later (definitely overdue - Marea would even agree
about that), another magnet, and a bit of food we were headed back
down the valley.

Once at the bottom we tried to use the rest of our money for gas, but
Pat must be such an efficient hill climber (not!), that we still had
money left. To top this off - every shop seemed to be closed (surely
this would normally count as a good problem don't you think?).

We began heading up the Shiplon pass road that connects Switzerland
with Italy. We were not sure how far we would get before finding a
parking spot - but then the decision was made for us. Somewhere up
ahead was closed, and we think all the warning signs were telling us
the border was only open between 08:00 & 20:00. Well at least that
should mean this road will be quiet during the night.

26/08/08 - The mysterious present.

Believe it or not, but Santa Claus showed up last night!!! A
supermarket bag fill of Asda canned food was sitting outside our van
when woke. Thank you very much to the two Newcastle bus drivers who
obviously rise a little earlier than us. I hope the long trip home
was a good one.

For us it was another day of up-down-up-down-up. First was
Oberalppass to 2,046m, this pass was a little different to all the
rest as instead of the train going through the mountain it went up and
over like the road - quite amazing really.

Then it was down and straight back up to Furkapass at 2,436m After a
bit of lunch at the top, while Marea rested, I took a walk to a
glacier and some very impressive jagged rocks sitting up above.

Finally, after dropping a long way down we reached Visp where we
turned up a valley for our final climb to the village of Tasch - our
launching pad to the vehicle-free town of Zermatt which lies at the
top of the valley. Above Zermatt - the mighty Matterhorn!!! Fingers
and toes crossed that the clouds that have been round today do a magic
disappearing act!!

25/08/08 - Little Liechtenstein.

After goodbyes the Annj and Bartli - Dankeshen (thank you very much),
we were off down the valley headed for Liechtenstein. Why??? (as Annj
and Bartli asked) - just because its a country of its own. Anyway,
what other capital city can you visit where finding you way to the
centre and getting park is so so easy!! That capital city is Vaduz -
population 5,000. On population, the country has 35,000 people, but
70,000 registered companies. Liechtenstein being something of a tax
haven.

Apart from watching a music video being filmed (the singer wasn't even
singing!!), and a walk up to the castle of Liechtenstein's royal
family (not open to the public) - there wasn't too much more to this
town. Nonetheless we took a quiet stroll about, brought our token
magnet and stocked up on groceries before heading back to Switzerland
and southwest, past Annj and Bartli's valley and on to Sedrun. We'd
just thought about parking for the night, when we came across another
campervan friendly place with fine views down the valley to boot :-)

24/08/08 - Real Swiss cheese.

We were so comfortable in our big bed, that we didn't get up early
enough to say goodbye to Kirstin (sorry Kirstin, we look forward to
seeing you in New Zealand). After morgengessen (breakfast) we got on
quite well communicating with Annj and Bartli using all sorts of
different means (hands, pictures, maps, feet, dictionary). We were
then joined by friends/translators Susanne and Peter for the morning
trip, high up the other side of the valley to get the low-down on how
real Swiss Alp Käse (mountain cheese) is made. We also had the
pleasure of tasting Käse from the stereotypical large 5kg round
blocks.

This farm has around 60-70 milking cows to make cheese & butter from.
About 5 farmers, from around the valley, own up to 20 cows each.
During the 3 month summer window when the cows are milked, the cows
are moved up into the mountains into the one 'big' herd. The alpine
grasses and herbs give the Alp Kase a regionally distinctive flavour.
Meanwhile, down in the valley, the farmers cut the grass and store it
for feeding their cows over the winter. It was quite amazing seeing
some of the steep slopes they managed to cut grass from!!

We were treated to a symphony of cow bells as the cows were eating
from the mountain pastures - it made us question how the cows aren't
driven insane by the constant 'ding ding ding' everytime they move.
Believe this or not (I think someone's telling stories), but
apparently the Swiss cows are very proud of their bells, the bigger,
the better!

After a fantastic mittengessen (lunch - we certainly aren't going
hungry in any German speaking countries now :-), and goodbyes to
Susanne and Peter (we look forward to seeing you in NZ also) - we
headed up the valley for more wundaban (wonderful) views all around.
Then last, but not least, we visited the Salginatobel Bridge - voted
the most beautiful bridge of the 20th century and one of 47+
structures voted as World Monuments due to outstanding engineering
(thinking of you Dave). This group includes the Eiffel Tower, Statue
of Liberty, Panama Canal, and of course the Raurimu Railway Spiral
right at home in the central North Island.

The Salginatobel Bridge is a 132 metre structure spanning the small
Salgina brook 90 metres below. With huge cliffs on each side, the
bridge is very impresive, it spans the narrow gorge cliffs and makes
access to mountain farms on the other side so much easier.

More fantastic food, more charades during Arbengessen and we were done
for the day!!

23/08/08 - Becoming experts in Deutsch?

We awoke this morning to a chorus of church bells or so it seemed, a
quick glance out the window, and we saw 200 sheep, all wearing bells,
being herded right past our sleeping spot. Crazy!

After getting some good photos of that and 'little' red Pat sticking
out like a sore thumb amongst all the big flash white campervans, we
headed down the hill into Livigno. It is easy to see that not long
ago this would have been a sleepy little mountain village, now it is a
duty free oasis with flashy brands and their overpriced shoes,
clothes, perfume etc.

Then it was into a one laned tunnel, with an unexpected €15 toll,
straight through a mountain range and into Switzerland - where finally
we had to show our passport to someone!!

With not much idea of the exchange rate our first task was to find
that out, then figure out how many Swiss Francs we'll need for the
next 5 days.
The Info centre wasn't much help, as in Italy, everyone takes a
siesta between 12 and 2! After backtracking when we took a wrong turn
which would have got us on to a 'car train' we headed once again into
the hills.
Our destination is Buchen a little 'six house' village in the Prätigau
valley near the Swiss/Austria border. We have organised to say with
some more Verry family friends. When I say organised, this involved a
phone call to New Zealand (thank you very much Hans & Stephanie),
because our hosts Annj and Bartli don't speak English, and we don't
speak German! It will be an interesting experience:-)

We arrived in Buchan with directions to the house with the New
Zealand flag outside - easy!!! There we were greeted by a very
hospitable Annj and Kirstin. Kirstin had been invited for dinner, and
acted as translator for the evening. Luckily there were a number of
English/Deutsch dictionaries available and we spent the evening
cramming our heads with suitable German nouns and adjectives, which
would enable a level of communication, beyond charades, between our
hosts and us.

We had a most enjoyable evening playing with traditional Swiss
raclette. This involves preparing you own food on an electric hotplate
and grill which in located in the middle of the table. Alpkäse
(alpine cheese) from this region and the local speck (bacon) is
grilled then poured over baked potato. Yummy!

Towards the end of Arbengessen (dinner) Bartli arrived back from his
deer hunting reconnaissance, and joined us for homade cherry scnapps.
Again... yummy!

22/08/08 - A tax-free oasis!!

Our 'free' campervan friendly spot that we found on our first night at
Madonna di Campiglio turned out to have an overnight parking charge.
Still we got away with it the first night, so why not try again -
however come the morning, we weren't hangin' round... Just in case!!
Anyway, today is another driving day - so it was good to get away
early.

Note to the people who make the road maps, if you put 'no caravan'
icons on some roads - you positively invite us to go that way, because
it's bound to be exciting and give some great views, this seems to be
our philosophy anyway.
Up to the first of three mountain passes today - Passo Tonale at
1883m. Then, before we were hardly down again, straight up to Passo
Gavia at 2,652m. This one proved to be a bit of a handful. A couple
of hairpins into the climb, the road turned to single lane for large
parts of the trip up!!! This caused lots of fun (or havoc), with cars
having to back up or down to let others pass. It was probably a good
thing that the majority of vehicles were motorbikes, or very very keen
cyclists out for a 'bit' of a workout. There were photos in the
Chateau at the top, showing cycle races there whilst it was snowing,
it looked pretty amazing!!

Finally, after passing through Bormio we headed up to Passo di
Foscagno, where at the top is a customs checkpoint - even though there
is one more valley of Italy left before we get to Switzerland?? After
driving past a number of perfume, tobacco and alcohol shops in the
middle of nowhere, it soon it became apparent that - the whole of the
valley we were driving into was a duty free area!!!
All of a sudden, Italy had gone from one of the most expensive
countries to fill up with gas (€1.40+), to one of the cheapest (€0.95)
- for you English, thats £0.75p/litre!!! It was like Christmas :-)

A bit of gas, wine, chocolate and cigarettes (for Marea's mum) later,
the next Christmas present we found was yet another designated free
campervan area with a fantastic view to boot!! And unlike Madonna di
Campiglio this one wasn't going to throw any parking charge surprises.