Travelogue Page 4

RETURN TO TRAVELOGUE START PAGE	4 Norfolk to Switzerland 25-Aug-05 to 20-Sep-05	NEXT PAGE --> <-- PREV. PAGE

We made it in good time and crossed the channel easily. We had lunch on the way and finally arrived in Reims at around 5:15pm. Now we are off to dinner, our first French meal and I am looking forward to it. The next day Fergus drove all day and we got to Switzerland in very good time. Then we had to get through Zurich to get onto the motorway for the last part of the journey up to Tamis. It was Friday evening and it seemed everyone else also wanted to get to the mountains for the weekend and I started to think we would never get there. It took us over two hours to travel four miles. We did get to my cousin Adolf and he and his wife Ruth had a lovely meal and a glass of wine ready for us. Exhausted we dropped into bed, grateful that we had made it safely.

Because of our changed plans after just one night at Adolf’s we met up with Esther’s ballet master Armin and his partner of 40 years, Helmut. As we were going to stay in their mountain holiday house we met up in the nearest town. Helmut looked me up and down in a strangely critical way and then said that we would be going to a restaurant that evening and he was not sure if I’d be let in looking like that! So I decided to buy new cloths for the occasion. It was a new experience for me to be in an expensive Swiss clothing shop with two ageing homosexuals as style consultants. However despite Helmut’s comment that I was an impossible shape I came out looking more stylish that I feel comfortable with.

We were taken out to the world's most expensive restaurant, which was doing "Austria Night". I'm not clear exactly what Austrian cooking is, but in this place it was pretty damn good.

We returned to Adolf on Sunday and stayed with him until Wednesday. In this time we also went to Adolf's mum Dorlie who lives in a very old wooden chalet in Jenaz. She is simply amazing, she still has her chickens and a wonderfully wild garden. We sat in her simple rustic kitchen and enjoyed her fantastic lunch of bacon, beans and potatoes. She cooks on a wood stove and also the house is heated purely with wood. Dorlie lives a very hard life but a rich and happy one. After lunch we enjoyed looking at family photos and catching up on news. Then we went for a walk through the village and decided to take a drive to Davos for an iced coffee. I have never been to Davos and was keen to do so. We passed through Kublis and Klosters and saw the devastation caused by the water which flooded the whole area. Enormous old trees and rocks strewn around as if a giant had had a very bad hair day and in his anger pulled them out like weeds and had thrown them simply anywhere. Davos was a disappointment, modern buildings everywhere, it smelt of money and big busyness. Still we enjoyed the iced coffee and then returned to Dorlie’s house in Jenaz.

Sadly we said our goodbyes and I know I will miss Dorlie a lot. We drove back to Adolf where he distracted us with a lovely evening walk along the Rhein.


Tuesday was magical too. Fergus and I drove into Chur and explored the lovely old city. It has a historic part, which goes back to the middle aches, and the buildings represent a wonderful record of their time. One wonders what these walls would have to tell us if only they could talk. After a simple lunch we drove to Bonaduz which is the next village along from Tamins. With a cable car we went up to the mountain and enjoyed a glorious trip across the mighty Rhein. From up in the air we could see all the trees caught in the bends of the river and looking like a pile of matches thrown from a great height. It was a glorious day and we could see forever. At our destination was a lovely village, nestled into an open hillside, basking in the late August sun. Lots of roofs had solar cells generating their very own electricity. Apart from that one had the feeling of going back in time, a time before mechanisation when life was simple and uncomplicated. A place where there is room for both old and new, but the new is filtered only allowing what is good for the environment. We walked through the village and along the road out the other side and found a ski lift which in the summer runs as a seated lift. We decided to live dangerously and take the ride up to the very top. We sat on a simple seat with a bar that came down over us and sort of held us in. We did feel like sitting in the air, drifting noiselessly up over the alpine countryside, rooftops of forgotten cottages, lonely cattle and green grassland interrupted by very tall pine trees, in other words we enjoyed an amazing view. We arrived literally on top of the world and were greeted by the world most beautiful cows.


310 sq m of photovoltaic cells		The text that should appear here has been removed .................................................................................................. .................................................................................................. One evening we visited my cuisine Arian who now lives in Winterthur. She was such a star and invited all her grown up children to come and meet us for the evening. (Two of her children had come to stay with us in Brighton.) We had a great time catching up with their lives and share to forthcoming excitement of our travels with them.

Then it was time to return to the maintains again, where Adolf had given us the keys to his holiday home. We had stayed there 2 years ago on our honeymoon and were delighted to be given the opportunity to go and stay there again. It was very nice to have a whole house to us and settle down for a few days. We walked and made some lovely day trips. One of them took us back to Zurich to visit my other favourite aunt called Diddle. She is the sister of my dad and Arian’s mother. I have always been very fond of her and we did not want to leave Switzerland with out seeing her again and saying goodbye properly. She took us out to lunch and Fergus for the first time in his live got lunch twice with out having to pay for it. Diddle took us to her favourite restaurant and the owners know her well so we got totally spoilt.

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Then on Sunday, as a special treat we got invited back to Dorli for Afternoon coffee and cake. It was simply lovely have this special occasion in her living room with all of us sitting around the table and catching up on memories. Dorli made a wonderful cake and a delicious caramel souse to go with it. Such a nice way to finish our stay in Switzerland and on the Monday we moved on to France.

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		We left Switzerland via the southern edge towards the West. It was a very scenic route and it took most of the day just to get to the Swiss boarder. We saw and drove past a glassier and the road took us high up into the mountains and then back down again. The views were amazing and it would have been even more fantastic had the sun been out. We stayed the night in a small hotel just across the border, and then completed the journey to Jock’s the next day.