Leaving German speaking Erlach, we briefly stopped at French speaking Le Landeron, another cute medieval walled town. They are only 5 km (3 miles) apart but lay in different Cantons (States) where they speak a different language. Next stop, France.
With most of the country on vacation, the chance of finding a campground with any vacancies on one of the biggest holidays in the country was slim and none. In fact, most Swiss campgrounds are not really open for one or two nighters. They are full of small and medium size travel trailers that have […]
Google Map Saying our last good-byes in Wiesendangen, we headed southwest towards Geneva and France. Though we were making good time on the freeway, we decided to veer off onto a country road where we came upon a very nice little town on the river Aare called Büren. It was July 30 and the town […]
Google Map Despite my misgivings on the way up the valley, the village of Sonogno was worth every hairpin corner. Dating back to 1200, Sonogno is the last village on the paved road in the Valley Verzasca. All motor vehicles are required to park at the entrance to the village. It is located at an […]
Google Map We were in 6:00 o’clock stop-and-go rush hour, worse than Los Angeles, when we spotted a big MIGROS shopping center. MIGROS is sort of like a quality Super Market/Department Store, except they close Monday through Friday at 6:30 PM, Saturday at 4:30 and Sunday, they are closed all day (Government law). The parking […]
Switzerland. In German: Schweiz, in French: Suisse, in Italian: Svizzera and in Romansh: Svizra. These are the four native languages spoken, depending on the geographical area. Officially the name is Swiss Confederation, in Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH. A land locked country in the European Alps, 15,950 sq mi and with a population […]
Google Map The weather was finally looking like Summertime, so we took advantage of it to make a little mini-tour of places we hadn’t seen for a long time and some we had never visited. Driving south, our first destination was the famous Gotthard Pass. Historically the St. Gotthard Pass has played a critical role […]
Following side roads, which we prefer to the more hectic autobahns, with their white-knuckle 250 km/h (155 mph) Audi A8s, (420 hp/0-100 in 5.8 sec), practicing for the Le Mans 24 Hour Race and the screaming bugs–in-their-teeth fat-tire Ducati crotch-rockets, we visited the town of Einsiedeln to see the beautiful Barock style church and monastery, […]
Between short trips to visit friends and relatives around Switzerland, we have spent much of our time in Monika’s hometown of Wiesendangen. Once a small farming village, founded between 600 and 650, Wiesendangen has become somewhat of a bedroom community for the nearby city of Winterthur. The original name Wisuntwangas, (first mentioned in a document […]
Finally! Finally we made it to Switzerland. In-between get-togethers with Monika’s family and friends, our first stop was Zürich to finalize the Special Visa we have been working on for six months. The bureaucracy of the Swiss Immigration Department, (and probably similar to every country in the world), is more like a 3-ring circus. In […]
