9 May – We woke to a beautiful clear morning with the Eiger towering over our campsite. The drive to Lucerne was great, following the lakes and valleys with picturesque villages all the way. We had lunch at Sarnen on a lake shore and continued on to Lucerne where we drove thru the city and found a park at the far side. A great cycle back along the lake shoreline to the city. We parked our bikes and walked the old streets. More stunning buildings! The Jesuit Church had a beautiful interior all white and gold with frescos on the ceilings. We drove on to our camp which was a working farm. All a bit different.

10 May – A short drive to Zurich. Unfortunately the GPS took us thru right the centre which was a little stressful but it gave us a good idea of the city. Eventually we found a park and caught the train back into the centre. We followed a walking tour on a map supplied by the tourist office. It took about 3 hours but we saw all the major sites. We stopped for lunch at the lake front. Two packets of sandwiches and two bottles of water cost 22 SF (about $35NZ) Switzerland is pretty expensive!! We drove on to Fraunfeld where we easily found Sarah Caldwell’s house where we were staying. Sarah was Val’s ex boss from Bernina. Sarah, Christian (husband) and Eliza (6 year old daughter) made us very welcome. We had a great barbeque of Bratwurst and sat chatting. They have a lovely home where we were able to park “Lefty” just outside.

11 May – Strangely the only two people we planned to stay with (apart from John & Jackie, and Denise & Ian in the UK) lived about 50kms apart. We drove to St Gallen via Steckborn where the Bernina factory is and Konstance. While we were trying to find a park in Konstance we crossed the Swiss/German border several times. We again unloaded the bikes and explored this town on the border. While we were having lunch we saw a Zeppelin flying from its base in Germany across Lake Konstance. Quite a site. We found Viv Sanwald-Clark’s home easily. Viv is Glen’s cousin and we have had many Christmases with Norm and Elaine, Viv’s parents. Viv dropped us off in St Gallen and we had a great explore of this beautiful city. Many of the buildings have bay windows called oriels which are elaborately decorated often with a clue to the original building’s use. The cathedral was stunning and if we thought the Jesuit Church at Lucerne was great, this cathedral’s interior was 10 xs better. Val visited the Textile Museum. This area is famous for its laces. We caught the bus back to Viv’s house and met the rest of the family, husband Marco and daughters Jaymie (6) and Elynne (3 ½). Another great meal and we sat around until after midnight chatting. They have a near new house which they have only been in for 6 months. An interest thing was that they had a communal garage which is accessed by an underground passage. This garage serves quite a few houses. We parked on another flat spot on the street.

12 May – Viv and Elynne took us for a lovely drive up the valleys to Appenzell and a gondola ride up to Ebenalp. The views were spectacular and we followed a path down the cliffs. At one stage the path took us into a cave to re-emerge further down the cliff where there was a church in a cave and a restaurant clinging to the cliff. We enjoyed the view and had a drink before climbing back up to the gondola station as the wind got up and it started to rain. On the way back to St Gallen we picked up Marco and had pizzas for lunch. A great two days experiencing family life in Switzerland. Thank you both. We drove up a valley beside the Rhine River with Liechtenstein’s mountains on our left, slowly climbing to Chur. The mountains are all around us and tomorrow we will be on the other side. We still have to decide whether to use the tunnel (and pay) or go over the St Bernardino Pass.

13 May – Tried asking several people in the camp about the St Bernardino Pass until we eventually found a young lady who spoken good English. She told us the pass was good but that we could use the tunnel, as that part of the motorway was not tolled. The drive up thru the valleys and gorges was spectacular reminding us at one stage of the Otira Gorge. The tunnel was 6.5kms long and was followed by a steep decent into Lake Lugarno. Our camp site was right on the lake front but noisy as a motorway and railway were only meters away. We lay in the sun as it is now in the mid to late 20s and had a swim in the lake which was quite warm. In the evening we had an electrical storm with heavy rain.

14 May – As it is cloudy and threatening rain we decided to move on to our next camp at Lake Iseo passing Lake Como on the way. There are a series of lovely lakes in this part of Northern Italy. We crossed the Swiss/Italian border and did our first shop at a supermarket in Italy. The prices were much cheaper than Switzerland thank goodness! Speed limits on the roads amuse use. In Switzerland everyone sticks to the speed limits. In Italy the limits are generally lower but nobody travels at them. Most towns are 50kms or 30kms but the traffic travels at more than 70kms. Italian drivers pass when ever they feel like it regardless of on coming traffic which has to avoid them. I suppose we will get use to this practice!! Our camp at Lake Iseo is a beaut. We are again on the lake shore with a great view and no noise. The sun came out so I had a swim in the lake which is also warm. It has started to rain again around 8:00pm.

15 May – We cycled into Iseo in the morning (only about 2 kms). It is a beautiful town set on a small harbour and with some up market shops. There was a market in the square with some great looking furniture and antiques. After lunch we cycled to another village about 8kms away. There seemed to be lots of families having lunch and we wondered if it might be the Italian Mothers Day. Last Sunday it was Swiss Mothers Day so who knows? We sat at camp and watched a stunning sunset over the lake.

16 May – Back into Iseo and this time we took a trip on a ferry to Monte Isola, an island in the middle of the lake. We took our bikes and cycled around the island (9kms) including a detour up to the centre. There were 6 or 7 lovely villages, some right on the lake front and others up in the hills. There were several churches with ornate interiors and frescos similar to what we had seen in Switzerland. The outsides are unspectacular but insides are a different story. This is not a huge tourist spot so the villages were very much untouched. What a great day!! Back to camp for a lie in the sun and a read.