Yodelling in Switzerland!

4 June – Monday
Breakfast in France, morning tea in Italy and lunch in Switzerland. Just another day!!! Left balmy Nice for Switzerland, via Italy. The Italians cultivate every possible piece of land, nothing is left unplanted! The valley around Milan contained lots of paddy fields with rice, quite a change from the usual wheat and sunflowers. The road climbed into the Alps through the usual tunnels and over viaducts until we came to a tunnel in Switzerland which was 17 kms long, closely followed by another which was a mere 9 kms. It is amazing how quickly the scenery and architecture changes from one country to the next – the wide plains and terracotta coloured houses of Italy to the wooded snowcapped mountains of Switzerland with the typical Swiss villages. Lucerne was still very warm and it was really pleasant to sit outside during our sail around Lake Lucerne – the water was so clear and calm we could see the bottom and fish!

5 June – Tuesday
What a perfect place Switzerland seems to be – everything runs to clockwork, everything is so clean, neat and tidy, the countryside is just like the pictures in the travel magazines and on chocolate boxes! A quiet morning with some retail therapy (different souvenirs in Switzerland!) and a walk around the centre of Lucerne – more flower and vegetable markets as well as shops. Then off to Mt Pilatus (Pontius Pilot supposedly drowned in a lake on the mountain) for a 4 person cable car ride to about 4,000 feet then into a 40 person car for the remainder of the ride to 7,000 feet. Fairly cloudy on the way up but the summit was in sunshine with the Alps shining through the cloud in the distance. How exhilarating! Then it was a ride down the mountainside on the world’s steepest funicular railway for more stunning views of the mountains, meadows and forests.

Following this, a short drive in the coach (definitely NOT a bus) to a normal Swiss village (no other tourists!!!) then it was into horse drawn carriages for an hour’s drive through the Swiss countryside, villages, farms, meadows and woods before being taken to the farmer’s house for a homemade afternoon tea in his backyard. It was so peaceful – and warm. It was just wonderful, the only noises being the bells on the horses’ harnesses, the cow bells and the birds. Just beautiful.