Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Tuesday 27th September – Zurich, Switzerland


After a leisurely start, we drove down to the Rhine at Bad Sackingen and crossed over the river and border into Switzerland. Travelling on the motorway, we arrived at the Seebucht campsite on the edge of Lake Zurich at noon. This turned out to be fortuitous as the campsite closed its gates for three hours between 12:00 and 15:00. At 44 Swiss Francs plus 4 Francs for electricity (a total of approx. £37.50) per night, it is the most expensive campsite that we have ever stayed at and we weren't even going to be sleeping in the van! This meant that we weren't concerned about being parked up so close to the next van that our open windows would meet nor would we have to pay the extra for the showers! I know that sounds awful and, to be fair, the campsite is in a lovely position, very convenient for the city centre and with lovely views over the lake. We took a picnic lunch over to a bench on the lake edge and sat in the sun watching ferries and pleasure craft plying the waters.
The reason that we were in Zurich was to see Jane's second cousin Caroline, her husband Josh and two sons, Seb (aged nearly 5) and Henry (just 2). Caroline and the boys came to pick us up at 17:00 and took us back to their gorgeous flat that overlooks Lake Zurich. We ascended from ground level in a lift and as we walked into the flat we were blown away by the fantastic view through the floor-to-ceiling windows that stretch right across the long wall of their lounge/dining room/kitchen. Lake Zurich was laid out in front of us with views up and down the lake and across to the hills on the other side. When it is really clear, it is possible to see the mountains beyond the Eastern end of the lake but it was too hazy for us to see that day.
We spent the rest of the evening playing with Seb and Henry and catching up on news with Caroline and Josh over a lovely meal cooked by our hostess.

Photos: The Swiss seem to be keen on unusual converted motorhomes – this one was at our campsite and we met others, including two full-sized coaches in Greece earlier this year; A view from Caroline and Josh's flat of one of the Lake Zurich paddle steamers.

No comments: