Switzerland - wonderland with few street signs

Last Thursday, Ekitzel drove us across France to Switzerland. I was reminded of my love of driving because of all you get to see. I kept trying to take photos with her camera since mine was out of batteries, but it really didn't capture even a tenth of the beauty. Ekitzel freaked out at the border because we just drove through without being stopped at all. No looksies, no questions, no stopping. She does come from China. I figured since we had a French car we were fine, and we were. We didn't get stopped at the Swiss-French border or the French-German border. The Schengen Zone in Europe is wonderful with the open borders, no lines for borders, or anything else. Ekitzel will also not have to worry about running out of pages in her passport book. She's almost all out of her extra pages with the multiple crossings between China and Hong Kong.

We stopped in Vevey on Lake Geneva to take pictures, eat ice cream, and walk along the lake. It was one of those sites that can't really be described because it is so beautiful. There was a lightning storm going over the mountains. It darkened and hid the mountains in a blue-grey sky then slowly it lightened again in the half hour we were there. We were at one end of lake and the other disappeared into a white distance of mist going on forever that darkened once the storm passed over. The lake seemed to fade into forever. Very trite, but I can't describe the place. It reminded me of those Chinese ink landscapes where the mountains, lakes, and rivers all fade into mist. We ate ice cream while watching distant lightning on the mountains and a sky that faded from light to dark at a moment's notice with mountains and far shores that faded in and out of sight. With lemon ice cream.

Ekitzel finally drove us through the storm upon the mountains and we realized how light the tiny car (a VW Up! car) was as it was swayed across the road by the wind. The rain hammered down and the wind tossed up as we went up high gradient winding mountain roads and then came down them. We were trying to ascend Atlas with all the weather the gods threw at us just making it more beautiful. We came at last to Luzern and realized that while the Swiss may be excellent at making watches, keeping to time schedules, and other punctual things, they are horrible at signage. It took us ten minutes of driving in the town to see one street sign. The highways are well signed and the roundabouts, but the ordinary streets did not merit the same treatment. It took us about an hour to find our hostel (it may have been longer) in a small town in Switzerland. We finally did and basically collapsed.

The next day was one of relaxation. We needed some food, some medications, and to replace the sunglasses I left in a bathroom in France. We wandered around the old town and did all our shopping including the purchase of a comprehensive road atlas of Europe, then sat next to the lake. We finally decided to move and found a river cruise around the lake with audio guide in three languages: German, English, and Chinese. I will now take a minute to mention Chinese tourists. Ekitzel came from China and was hoping to escape Chinese people, but little did she know how far they have come. In London, Paris, and Luzern there were many Chinese tourists in their own tour buses (some driven very poorly), with their own groups with the head who speaks English (but can't really understand), take pictures of houses and sailboats when on a lake in the Alps, and eating at their own Chinese restaurants in France, England, and Switzerland. They also seem to use vacations mainly as shopping trips. On Orkney Island, we saw a Chinese restaurant, and we even saw a Chinese mother in Vevey. They seem to be everywhere. Except the Alps.

The next day we woke up early to hit the Farmer's Market and eat some breakfast purchased there before driving a few minutes away to take a cable car going steeply up into the Alps. We spent 5.5 hours on a hike that was supposed to be three, but it was beautiful. We were looking for cheese farms, but didn't find any. But the hike was so beautiful, we weren't disappointed. It was so beautiful, there was only room for exhaustion and wonder. And mud.