Sunday 5th October 2008 - La Chapelle d'Abondnce, France

We woke to a gloriously sunny, cold and crystal-clear Autumn day. The outside temperature was a chilly 1°C but the frost-covered view from Henrietta was even prettier than yesterday. I walked to the typically French Boulangerie (I had to remind myself that we were still in Switzerland) that was open from 06:30 to 17:30 even though it was a Sunday but decided to do a quick tour of the town before I bought the bread. The views from the hill were magnificent, even clearer than yesterday. From the panorama point near the castle, I was able to see Mont Blanc that had been obscured by cloud yesterday. On the way I had passed a man sketching the château and I met him again at the panorama. He observed that we were on the same mission – he was sketching the same views that I was photographing. We had quite a long chat and he told me that a famous artist had said that the view from Romont was the finest in the world. Although that might have been an exaggeration, it was a fantastic view and with the snow on the mountains, we saw it at its best. I returned to the bakery and bought bread and two croissant.
The journey into France was sensational. The views of the Fribourgeois Prealps and the Alps were spectacular – snow-covered peaks with green grass and trees in the foreground. Where I could, I stopped to admire the views and take pictures. Fortunately, we were travelling on the byroads and we would have missed so much if we had used the motorway.
We descended to Montreux on Lake Geneva with lovely views of the lake and the surrounding mountains and then had a brief brief stop at the very picturesque Chillon Castle. We then climbed up to the Morgin pass (1370m) between Switzerland and France and stopped on the Swiss side for a picnic lunch with views of the mountains and the sunshine warm enough to sit outside. It was only a short distance to our destination, La Chapelle d'Abondnce but we had to climb to the snow line and then down into the Abondance valley. We found the car park by the church, parked up and plugged into the free electricity. The car park also has a toilet and there are a number of water taps, although they weren't working, perhaps because Winter was approaching.
We took a walk down to the river and one of the ski-lifts where we found more parking places that would have been suitable for an overnight stay – quieter than the church car park, which is close to the road, but without electricity and the WC. We decided to stay where we were..
We went for another walk to the other end of the town and found ourselves at the bar and micro brewery. From 18:00 to 19:00 is their 'happy hour' when you get two for the price of one. We sampled their wares, trying the bitter (not very good) and the blanche (wheat beer – very good). Walking back into the centre of the village we stopped at the Les Cornettes restaurant. Two years ago, we rented a chalet from our friends Alan and Inga and spent a week in La Chapelle with more friends - Ann and Nick. Alan had recommended this restaurant to us and we had a few meals there during our holiday. The meal tonight was as good as our previous experiences. I had the cold cured meats as a starter and the only problem with it was its size. There was a selection of six different meats served with a salad, a huge dish of pickled vegetables and a small dish of special pickles including tiny mushrooms and cherries. I have only ever seen pickled cherries at this restaurant and, although they sound rather peculiar, they are delicious. Bread was also provided complete with about half a pound of butter. I couldn't possibly eat all of the meat, even though Jane helped me out by eating a few slices and it was a struggle to get through the rest of the meal. Next came sliced duck breast with a green pepper sauce, beautifully cooked and served with lovely vegetables. This was followed by a huge selection of cheeses of which I had very small pieces of three local cheeses – Abondance (famous throughout France), Thom and a chevre (goats cheese). There was a choice of 26 deserts and I wasn't able to finish the sorbet, ice cream and cream with cassis, even though it was delicious.
After that, I waddled slowly back to Henrietta.
Photos: This view of Chatel St. Denis was typical of our journey to La Chapelle d'Abondance; The lovely Cillon Castle on Lake Geneva; The view from our picnic site in the Morgin Pass; The camperstop in La Chapelle d'Abondance with the backdrop of the snow-sprinkled mountains; The micro brewery in La Chapelle.

Saturday 4th October 2008 – Romont, Switzerland

We had ordered four bread rolls at the campsite and Jane picked them up before breakfast – they cost nearly £2.50 – Switzerland is very expensive! After eating £1.25's worth of rolls, we followed the Garmin's suggested route that took us towards Lucerne. The area around that city was busy and densely populated but the roads started to get quieter as we headed on towards Berne. Soon we were in Alpine scenery and in two villages we came across decorated cows being lead down from the high pasture to their winter quarters. This was obviously similar to the event that we witnessed in Zell am Ziller but the traditional Swiss costumes of the cowherds here was quite different and there was also a distinct lack of tourists watching. The weather could have been kinder for them as it was raining sleeting and hailing. At times the snow level was only about 50m above the road.
When we got to Fribourg we noticed a sudden change – all of the road signs had changed from German to French and the names of the villages became French. It seemed very strange to be in the same country and to see such an overt change of language. Unlike the move from England to Wales, where the signs are in both languages, there was no assistance for the German (or Italian) speaking Swiss. Fribourg itself was very pretty, a river ran in a deep gorge and the town perched on cliffs above. It looked really attractive and it definitely deserves a longer visit – when its not raining.
We arrived at Romont and found the camperstop against the walls of the Mediaeval town. The weather was improving and we decided to investigate the town. There are six towers around the town that is situated on a hill with commanding views over the countryside. We walked up to the highest level and were amazed at the view of the distant mountains. The dense black and white clouds of earlier had cleared and the sun was shining on the mountains, covered in snow. They looked extremely pretty and, although we saw some snow on the peaks, we hadn't realised how much had fallen. The 13th century Château of the town (it would have been called a Schloss if we had seen it earlier in the day) was also very attractive and had a huge animal-powered wheel to raise water from its 40m deep well.
We returned to Henrietta and I discovered that there were electric sockets on the camperstop services stand, so I connected up and it worked. A free camperstop with electricity, next to a very pretty Mediaeval town - perfect!
Photos: Jane climbs the many steps to the top of Romont town; The 13th century 'Tour a Boyer' – the door at the bottom was a late 19th century addition – the original door is the one half way up; One part of the mountain view from the town; The Romont Château; A familiar name of a hotel or pub – The Golden Lion.

Friday 3rd October 2008 – Zurich, Switzerland

We really aren't used to such luxuries – a king-sized bed (we lost each other during the night) and long, relaxing baths, our first in over three months, in the morning.
Josh had, for him, a late start and so we were able to say goodbye to him before he set off for work. It was difficult to get inspired to go out as the weather was very gloomy and, when it was not raining, it looked as though it was going to start at any moment. We decided that a day inside would be preferable to walking around under an umbrella. I continued to improve my knowledge of 'Bob the Builder', having watched it for the first time yesterday, getting to know Pilchard the cat, Scoop the digger, Lofty the crane and Roley the road roller. Every day you learn something new!
Seb is a joy and I had great fun playing with him – I have a new friend!
In the afternoon Seb went for his second introduction to his new nursery, this time for a whole hour. The weather had improved so we decided to walk rather than take the car. Predictably, it started to rain as we set off and was soon pouring down. Jane and I attempted to shelter under a tiny brolly, whilst Caroline was discovering that her hooded coat was not as waterproof as she had hoped. The only one who was dry was Seb in his buggy. Seb cried when Caroline left him and we set off for a walk getting wonderful views over the length of the lake. The hour went by incredibly quickly and we were soon back at the nursery to pick up Seb. He approached the door looking happy and waved to us all before suddenly dissolving into tears! However his hour had gone well and he was soon smiling again.
We walked back in the dry and, after a cup of tea, it was time to go back to Henrietta. The most important thing to do was to put some diesel in the car – the computer indicated only 14km left before it ran out! By the time we had driven less than a kilometre to the nearest fuel station, the computer was showing only 7km left. Then the fuel pump wouldn't work! Fortunately, the other pump did work and we were on our way.
Back at Henrietta it was time to say goodbye to Caroline and our new friend, Seb. We had a lovely two days with Caroline, Josh and Seb and I am sure that they will have a great time during the rest of their stay in Zurich.
We spent the evening deciding on our next move. We had originally planned to go down through France but now considered going over the Alps and into Italy instead. In the end we decided that Plan A was better and we will go west through Switzerland before heading south through France.
Photos: A family group with, left to right, Jane, Seb, yours truly and Caroline – Seb was particularly amused by the flashing light of the camera's self-timer; Seb with his new friend Brian the snail; Lake Zurich from a viewpoint on our walk – a rare glimpse of sunshine on the far bank.

Thursday 2nd October 2008 – Zurich, Switzerland

Today was the day of our visit to Jane's 2nd cousin, Caroline. Caroline, smiling as always, arrived at the campsite with her two year old son Seb strapped in the child seat. We last saw Seb when he was just a few months old so, resisting the temptation to say “hastn't he grown?”, we reintroduced ourselves to him and introduced them both to Henrietta. After a short journey, we arrived at Caroline and Josh's lovely three bedroom apartment with glorious views over Lake Zurich. There is a railway line running on the hillside just below the apartment and Seb is totally fascinated by trains and every other form of transport – a typical boy! He had already pointed out the train tracks at the campsite and now we were introduced to his wooden toy train set with a small battery-operated locomotive. In fact, “train” was a large part of Seb's conversation together with “Oh dear!” whenever the loco crashed or stopped on the slope up to the bridge. “Oh dear!” was heard frequently, often because Seb was convinced that the loco should push the carriages rather than pull them.
The weather was good so we caught the bus into the centre of Zurich and wandered around the old town admiring the architecture but mainly chatting – catching up with all the news since we last met. Seb was a delight, running around at great speed, indicating points of interest such as “car”, “tram” (there were lots of these!), “bus”, “clock” (not a form of transport!) and he also made conversation with us, all of which was a mystery to everyone except Seb. I spotted an ornate drinking fountain and decided to introduce Seb to it. However, Seb knew all about fountains and was impressively adept at holding his finger over the water spout, causing it to spray at high velocity in all directions. Fortunately there weren't any people in the near vicinity, so an international incident was avoided. We travelled back on a “big boat”, as Seb called it, a lake ferry that had a stop very close to the apartment. That was a very pleasant way to travel and was all part of the Zurich integrated transport system – a single ticket provided 24 hour travel on buses, trains and the ferry.
Josh has a very enjoyable, although demanding, job with KPMG and we were very lucky that he was able to get home at a very reasonable time. Seb was impressed too and ran across the room to give his dad a great big hug. Conversation flowed over a gorgeous dinner cooked by Caroline – wonderfully pink lamb, which was greatly appreciated by us as our diet had consisted of 98% pork and certainly no lamb for the last few months. It was a lovely relaxed evening and it was great to see Caroline and Josh so happy together.
Photos: We rather hoped that this shop in the designer area of Zurich belonged to one of my relations but discovered that we couldn't even afford to buy one of their bags; The Zurich ferry.

Tuesday 30th September 2008 – Lindau, Bodensee (Lake Constance), Germany

Our parking ticket covered us for 24 hours, so we decided to visit the Roman site and the main museum in the town. I again walked the short distance into the town to get some fresh bread and was delighted to find a white 'split tin' loaf. These are very common in England but we had not seen one on the Odyssey and it made a pleasant change from the rather heavy and often fennel-flavoured breads that we had been having.
Although there were scant remains of the Roman town, great efforts had been made to display them well and make them interesting. Our first stop was the Roman Temple site with its commanding view over the river and countryside and where many of the buildings had been reconstructed. From the finds they had been able to establish the deities that the temples had been dedicated to and there was a good display of finds and information boards, unfortunately only in German. We then walked on to the site of the Forum where there was very little evidence to see but bronze models showed the layout and appearance of the buildings in two different periods. The final part of the site was the 'small baths', originally attached to the residence of the Roman Governor. The ruins here were more substantial than at the temple site and they had been left as they were, without extensive reconstruction. They were very well presented with a raised walkway all around the baths and a high section gave a very good view over the whole site. Being the 'small baths', everything was on a small scale and that made it easy to view – a microcosm in Roman Baths. The boys in the school party especially enjoyed sitting on the Roman latrines – the wooden parts of which had been reconstructed. The teacher explained how the Romans used the sponges on the end of sticks and that amused the whole group. Walking back we found an area in front of a block of flats that was being excavated, showing quite extensive remains of buildings.
We walked down into the town to the Algau Museum with displays of life over the ages on many floors. This was interesting but only visual as all the writing was in German. Our ticket also covered the 'Alpine Museum' and, as we had time, we popped in there on the way back. On the ground floor was an exhibition of church art – wood carvings and paintings. These were good but we have seen an awful lot of such things. The upper floors had displays on hydro-electric power, forestry, early mountaineers and the history of skiing.
We returned to Henrietta and set off for Lake Constance, known as Bodensee in Germany. Descending to the lake we entered Lindau and very soon came across the camperstop car park, which was some distance from the lake. Being only mid afternoon, we decided to drive along the edge of the lake and perhaps find somewhere to walk. We soon discovered that the road ran a little way inland from the lake and most of the lakeside itself was lined with houses. We gave up . returned to the camperstop and set off on foot for the lake. Fifteen minutes walk took us to the bridge leading over to Lindau Island in Bodensee. From the shore we could only just see Austria and Switzerland that also claim part of the lake – the gloom in the distance meant that the tall mountains appeared only as dark shadows against a grey sky. After a brief look at the island, we walked back to the car park and prepared dinner.
Photos: The reconstructed Roman Temple site; The Roman 'Small Baths'; An interesting Roman building uncovered in the on-going archaeological dig; There was a general election in Austria but there were also some elections in this area of Germany. Would you vote for Rotter? It is probably a good description of most politicians!

Monday 29th September 2008 – Kempten, Germany

We weren't in a hurry this morning as we only had a short journey planned, so I reversed the route of yesterday to go into the town for some fresh bread. We were hoping to get some Apfel Strudel for lunch but I couldn't find any in the three bakeries that I saw so we had to have two enormous pieces of tart – one pear and one cherry.
We took another walk up the valley, calling in for supplies at a shop before we headed off to our next camperstop at Kempten, only one and a half hours away. We stopped for lunch on the way but still arrived at Kempten, taking the last slot in the car park allocated to motorhomes, with plenty of time to take a look around. Not as pretty at Bad Tolz but still a interesting town, Kempten does have something that we have been missing of late – archaeology. It was a Roman town and some of it can still be seen on the hill above the river Iller on the opposite bank to the main part of the modern town. However, it is Monday and all the museums and sites are closed so we contented ourselves with looking around the modern town that still has Mediaeval houses and remnants of the walls and gates.
Photos: Kempten's Town Hall; St. Lorenz Basilika attached to the Residence – former luxurious home of the Prince-Abbots and a monastery until 1803; Part of the Kempten Romantic Park created in the late 19th century on the hill formerly occupied by castles and a Roman fort on the opposite bank of the river from the Roman Temple.

Sunday 28th September 2008 – Bad Tolz, Germany

Another glorious morning with the views beautifully clear and no clouds obscuring the peaks. We said goodbye to Zell am Ziller and set off north up down the Ziller Valley. We soon crossed the Inn Valley and started climbing rapidly until we arrived at Achensee. This is a long, thin and extremely pretty lake and obviously popular with tourists as we saw two large trip boats plying the waters. This road is also a popular border crossing as it is a obvious route from Munich directly into the Austrian Tyrol. We saw many other motorhomes, mostly heading south, and also a large number of motorbikes. We found a lay-by and it was now so warm that we sat outside to have our picnic lunch, watching the butterflies feed or the flowers and listening to the grasshoppers. Whilst we were there we watched three German Ferraris travelling in convoy, leapfrogging the other cars with a deep roar of acceleration. From just beyond the lay-by there was a lovely view up and down the lake. Soon after Achensee we crossed the border into Germany and suddenly it was Autumn. There were different trees on the German side and many were already in their Autumn colours, lighting up the landscape with their bright yellows and reds.
We had planned three short journeys for the next three days and today we had decided to stop at a camperstop in Bad Tolz. This was one of the finds of the Odyssey. The motorhome car park was located next to the wide, shallow and fast flowing river Isar and just five minutes walk from the town centre. The camperstop was very popular but even though there were close to 30 motorhomes by the end of the day, it wasn't crowded. It was only early afternoon, so we had plenty of time to explore the town. Walking over the bridge we came to the beautiful main street full of lovely architecture, made to look even more pretty by the fact that it was on hill, giving an excellent view of all of the buildings. We found the tourist information office and obtained a map. They recommended a circular walk and, as it went right past the camperstop and we had done a third of it already, we decided to follow the remainder of it. It took us up to a church that we had seen as we approached Bad Tolz. The impressive-looking church of Kalvarienburg is perched on the edge of the hill high above the Isar and next to it on a low knoll is a full-size model of the Calvary. It was particularly well constructed and carved and was very impressive. The interior of the church, built in the early 18th century, was intriguing as it had three separate altars at different levels in line east-west. The first altar was raised above ground level with the body of Christ lying in a cave below it. The second and third altars were accessed through corridors either side of the first altar, with three staircases leading up to the second altar, higher than the first and shorts steps leading on and down to the third altar below the level of the first. I have never seen a church of this design.
We continued on the walk going through woods and descending to the river where a bridge took us the other bank close to the camperstop. We stopped to watch the locals playing a game like curling or bowls that we had not seen before. It was played on an asphalt surface and involved sliding down large metal and plastic objects flatter than those used in curling. As with bowls, the objective was to be closest to the 'jack' that was placed at the other end. It looked like great fun and was a very sociable game played in this case by 10 people. Anyone know what it is called? If you do, please add a comment to this entry.
Photos: A trip boat plies the waters of Auchesee; One of the painted buildings in Bad Tolz with the main street going up the hill on the left; The Kalvarienburg Church's first altar; A view up the Isar River – the camperstop is on the right bank, hidden behind the trees.