This green & pleasant land

Friday 21st September 2012.

We have arrived in Austria at Innsbruck after picking up our vignette at the border. Like Switzerland there are no general tolls roads but any vehicle under 3.5 tons needs to purchase and display a vignette (Like a tax disc) in the windscreen. The options were for 5 days, 2 months or 1 year so we went for the 2 months. 

The campsite at Innsbruck was by far the best campsite we had ever experienced. En suite family rooms in modern blocks and even Bradley had his own heated shower room and he thought it was fantastic. Bradley unfortunately had to go on another bus ride and something more to experience for the first time was having to wear a muzzle. All dogs over handbag size have to be muzzled whilst on any public transport, taxis etc or they won't let you on!. You can imagine his face but we took lots of treats and the custard on his dads apple strudel at lunchtime made it all worth while. Like a lot of larger towns and cities Innsbruck had an 'Old Town' inside a modern shell, no traffic and everything slowed down to drinking coffee and beers at the many street side cafés and restaurants. The Austrians are different from the Swiss and the first you will notice is their confidence and observational studies they make on everything passing their table. It can be a bit off putting at first but you quickly get used to it with a smile and a "morgen" (Thats like a hello or 'good morning' haven't got to the afternoon, evening bit yet). Lorraine has learnt a bit of basic German that local people appreciate and they are far more likely to then break into perfect English to help you out. I really should learn more but I concentrate on the driving which is getting very 'deliberate' as my driving instructor would have called it. It's not manic like the Italians but every driver knows exactly where they are going and not using excess speed. ('hesitate' is not in their driving manual). I find it good to drive this way and with this smaller motorhome with its bigger engine I feel so much more confident and looking forward to Germany in a few more days. 

Now, please excuse us going onto food again but it just gets better and better. First there was these wonderful Schneeballen things and then we hit the Strudel and Sacher torte, oh, and I forgot the Weiner Schnitzel (Thats pork or veal bashed thinner and fried in breadcrumbs. I went for the pork option looking at Lorraine's stern look but altogether the culinary delights are wonderful. The Austrians also like their bread a lot, there are about 12 different varieties of bun in a bakery before you get to anything else so its fun tasting all the lovely types of bread. More on other delicacies later. 

Lorraine has been nursing a muscle type injury to her left upper arm which suddenly became more painful lately disturbing sleep and not much fun so we stopped in this small town called Frieberbrunn to get something from a pharmacy. The Pharmacies are just brilliant in most of Europe with the staff almost as good and as knowledgeable as Doctors. The Pharmacist immediately sent Lorraine down to the local doctor, no appointment necessary and they even had X-ray facilities!. The diagnosis was soon made that it was a nasty bicep strain, tablets and cream issued and the arm has to be rested in a strap most of the time!. (My chores list has just doubled!).  The cost to us was nothing and all they needed was a photocopy of the E111 and passport or driving licence. What a service.

We have been slowly making towards the famous Grossglockner Pass (The Grossglockner is the highest mountain in Austria) and are now at a campsite in Lienz waiting for a cloudless day. Bit difficult at this time of year but tomorrow (Friday 28th) is looking fairly good so we may well take off. The pass will be shut soon and sooner if it snows so we want to get up there asap. The pass is chargeable but there are visitor centres, museums and viewpoints at various stages plus we're assured of a spectacular drive!. Bradley is fine with that as it doesn't involve a Bendy Bus, Electric Fence or a Muzzle!

Will get some more pictures online soon.

Auf Wiedersehen (Or Cheers as we have heard some Germans say)

Arrived in Austria...

21st September 2012

Well, via Germany actually (Lake Constance) and found heaven!
21st September and we have arrived in Austria, what a place! Just found these things called Schneeballen and just heaven with a cup of coffee!. Its about the size of a cricket ball and mainly biscuit with loads of different butter creams inside then covered in like a strudel type pastry before various coatings of chocolates sealed around the outside.. Even I couldn't eat a whole one but just out of this world!
Now I'm not going to make a habit of telling about food delicacies too often as I get accused of always thinking about my stomach but its very hard when you pass the shops we are seeing in these lovely historical towns and city centres.

We were sad to leave Switzerland but are pressing on towards the Grossglockner Pass before the first heavy snows.

Catch up soon 

Aufweidersen!

400 volts and a bendy bus!

Monday 17th September 2012.

Bradley back again, so soon you say!. Well you'd think I would have a quiet time but not if my folks get their way!. 

Today we all set off into town, safe enough I thought as the harness went on again. The walk started well and then we stopped in a shelter type thing. It wasn't raining and Dad was fumbling about for change and mumbling about charging me half fares. What's a fare?. I thought the folks must be tired to stop in this shelter as they sat down with some other people that joined us all looking at their watches. Then this blinking great bus stopped by us with a kink in it.. It was huge and had about four sets of doors that immediately opened. The bus was clever as it tilted towards us to let some people off and then I felt my harness tighten… OH NO surely we are not getting on that. I tugged towards the pavement in the direction I thought town was in but it was no good and in no time I'm on this thing under the seats looking at all sorts of legs and shoes. 

I tried not to shake too much and 15 minutes later we stopped and once again I made a bolt for the door, exiting at speed with Dad nearly falling out into this huge bus station to everyones amazement!. I got lots of praise so I must have done something good.

We had a great time in Luzern looking around the town and me picking up a few tasty bits from various coffee stops. Dad then made a beeline to these big historic ramparts that surrounded the back of the town but had a large flight of steps leading up to them with grass everywhere. Like is often seen in Swiss towns there are farms and grazing cattle everywhere on massive green areas and fenced off with wired fencing that clicks. I knew I was going to be let off to stretch my legs on all this grass but Mum was concerned about something electric. I heard Dad say that 'its ok its switched off' and off I went charging about like spaniels do wondering what he meant. The next thing that happened to me was yet another 'out of doggy experience' as I touched this small thin wire fence. It was like something had kicked me with a size ten shoe right on the nose!. I shot backwards howling and screaming like a banshee that was due to invade the next country. I must have cleared 20 feet in 2 seconds and for a while hadn't a clue where I was or which world I was in. There may have been a slight smell of burning but the blue sky came back quickly with Mum & Dad running towards me. I was fine but had to check my tackle, make a few sniffs and put out a love puff to make sure everything was there. Dad was so apologetic and said it was completely his fault that he didn't check that the electric fence to keep the cows in was actually on!.

We sat down yet again whilst I regained my composure and the rest of the afternoon was spent with me getting whatever I wanted… yes!..

We had a great day really and are nearly at the Austrian border, I wonder what lies inside that country for me?..

Lots of licks to everyone!

Elementary my dear Watson!

Thursday 13th September 2012.

Bradley here!. It's about time I did another blog from the dog's perspective as I feel I have been conned again!. Since my last traumatic experience in that dangling box on a wire they called a cable car filled with funny people walking on planks of wood, I have to say that I have not seen or been near another one since!. Fine by me as anything that wobbles like that beneath me sends me into a spin and I begin to pant rather a lot. Wimp I know, but I like to be on terrafirma and Mum & Dad know that really.

The country we are in at the moment has lots of chocolate which I get to taste every so often but also it has really posh poo bins which come complete with different coloured plastic bags, currently orange, with which to collect my 'deposits'. Mum & Dad keep stuffing many of these bags into their pockets in real glee that they are free!. 

Today off we went for another serious walk (I know this as I wear my special harness) and passed a few of those dangly box on a wire things. We soon headed towards a very high hill, I think the humans call them mountains. This one was particularly big and I could see what looked like a railway line leading from this building. Impossible I thought how can a train stick to that. We got closerer and closerer and suddenly this open air box with several people in it came down and stopped in this building we were heading towards. Blimey I thought, someone is daft enough to travel in that!.. Oh no!.. I heard Dad say "have you got the tickets"? and the last time he said that we ended up in that other dangly thing. But this time where were the wires?. I know I had to be brave as I had the feeling I was about to have another of these out of doggy experiences that caused me to tremble and shake uncontrollably. 

Sure enough I was herded into a seating area which had seats above and below me, I heard someone call it a Funny peculiar Railway (or something like that) but it wasn't very funny at that moment!. This whole contraption was at an angle of about 45 degrees and no way was it going to move, surely!. We sat there lovely and quiet for some time and the nice people behind stroked me, did I look that nervous!.. this is OK so far I thought!. Suddenly a bell sounded and a lady locked us all in before the whole contraption moved…upwards!… OH NO!, here we go again, why is it always upwards?, can't we just go downwards once in a while!. 

I jumped on Dad's lap to show how brave I was.. wrong thing to do!…. By this time we were several hundreds of feet up and looking over the side made me feel dizzy. I am starting to shake….'Dad can we stop and get off please'?. I also thought what in heaven's name was driving this thing, it had no engine and without any introduction we met another funny peculiar railway thing coming down the other way. I heard Dad say 'half way up' and looked at me doing a jelly impression before putting me down on the floor. The whole thing suddenly stopped and I was straining at the lead pointing at that door ready for off as soon as the lady opened it. On stepping out of the carriage I was stupid enough to look down instead of up realising just how far we were up and at that point I lost it completely, whimpering and squeaking like a muppet, literally crawling on all fours as low to the floor as I could before Dad & Mum took me to a nearby seat and I regained my composure. 

Then the weirdest thing, by this massive waterfall I saw Mum dressed like Sherlock Holmes half way up a mountain. Apparently we had arrived at a falls where Sherlock & Moriarty fell to their death. 

There is always good at the end and we then headed off into the woods where I was treated to a lovely 4 mile walk slowly back down the mountain with all four paws firmly affixed to the ground. 

What next I ask?. On the whole I am having a fantastic time but not as many doggy friends to meet in this country. Instead there are these massive cows with huge bells around their necks that come running up to me thinking I am a long lost relative, I'm afraid I have to run off and ignore them as they are so ugly!.

I was running around in the snow today, had a whale of a time before ending up beside another lake tonight… not a cable car or funny peculiar railway in sight, thank goodness!.

Lots of licks to everyone!

Beavers at 2164 metres!

Tuesday 11th September 2012

We have done our first major mountain pass today. Travelling east up the scenic route 19 the landscape was changing every few kilometres with our ears popping indicating we were climbing to new heights. The villages were so picturesque and Lorraine was busy trying to take pictures as I was trying to negotiate narrow streets and sharper bends. The was no rush whatsoever, large lorries could no longer follow us and instead had to load themselves on the many autorail routes to get them through the mountains. However we were joined by hundreds of motorbikes as we approached the start of two passes ahead. We arrived at the junction of two passes (The Grimsel & Furka) and looked up to see these roads precariously stuck to the side of this gigantic mountain in front of us. The look on our faces must have been priceless as our jaws dropped in awe of the view and the task ahead of us. Something else twitched as well as I knew the strain this would put on our engine and above all the brakes!. Without hesitation and with excitement we turned left and committed ourselves to the start of the Grimsel Pass. The motorbike riders affixed cameras to their helmets as did some sports cars and we all set off. It was very leisurely as every driver and passenger was taking in the fantastic scenery on the straight bits then hanging on for dear life as you negotiated the sharpest hair pin bends dangling several hundreds of feet above where you had just come from!. Lorraine's grip on the door handle became tighter and even I could feel myself leaning inwards trying not too look too much as 3.5 tons of our pride and joy edged slowly around the next bend literally inches from a sheer drop. Bradley knew this kind of driving was different but he felt relaxed at the 20mph top speed and curled up for a snooze wondering what all the excitement was. Our progress was slow but the bikers were very courteous only passing when it was safe. If you have a motorbike this has to be the ultimate road to drive on!. On the way up we only used 1st and 2nd gear but the van coped really well and we arrived at the summit to a sea of motorcyclists having a well earned drink on the veranda of the Berghotel. Now the best bit... we turned into the small car park and at the end saw a sign depicting a motorhome pointing to a rough track disappearing around the edge of a rock face. We couldn't believe that there was a special place here just for us to park overlooking a beautiful lake at the top of the world, what a better place for lunch!. 
After lunch we went for a walk feeling the wonderful fresh air and we noticed some small miniature alpine houses and there to our amazement were a family of beavers waving back and enjoying the sunshine!. What a weird find at this altitude were you don't even see birds!.
What goes up must come down and our descent was equally as exciting but this time trying to keep the brakes from getting too hot. We were only stopped by a rescue helicopter that had to land on the road in front of us to pick up someone we can only presume was taken ill or injured whilst out walking. 
We are now on lower ground at a lovely campsite at Meiringen and the weather has now closed in with thunderstorms and rain. Temperatures are expected to drop as well and the first snow is expected on the peaks. We will move towards Interlarken in a couple of days and then its some more passes to negotiate snow permitting before Luzern.
The main language seems to be German the nearer we get towards Austria so its 'Auf Wiedersehen' till the next time!

The Eiger summit is in sight!

Woke up to this view today, the scenery is getting more jaw dropping now as we head towards the main Swiss passes. They are all open at the moment as the weather is fantastic and views are spectacular. We move up to a higher altitude campsite tomorrow (Mon) from where we will try to do three of the highest Swiss passes in the Motorhome!. Should be fun and will really test things out!. If the passes are closed there is a vehicle train we can hop on but wont be half as much fun! Bradley has tasted some lovely cheeses tonight but not meeting as many Swiss dogs yet!. The people are so friendly and German seems to be the default language so now its out with some more translation aps' on the iPad!. Lots of great photos to come so will catch up again soon.

Swiss Army Wife!

Friday 7th September 2012.

We have been in Switzerland a few days now and slowly getting used to all the differences travelling between countries brings with it. It is really exciting adapting to a different type of lifestyle and customs with everything in different places and doing things different ways. (Bit like going into your favourite supermarket and the new manager has decided to put all the products into different aisles!). Talking of which we went into our first Swiss supermarket yesterday and I now know why the Swiss Army Knife is so popular throughout the world. The Swiss are just so organised, neat, tidy and super clean. At first we thought we had entered a really modern science lab, the place was so spotless and immaculately dressed staff everywhere. A customer only has to look puzzled and a member of staff is there with a helping hand. They left us alone after a while as we looked beyond help!. We just wandered up and down the aisles in awe at the displays but mainly at the prices!. We may not be staying here too long as the prices are twice if not three times as much as we are used to. Having said that as far as the Swiss are concerned there has been virtually zero inflation for many years so things do not go up in price and so wages (albeit very high) stay as they are as well. The whole country seems to run like clockwork and there is even Gym equipment complete with instructions along wooded walks where you can exercise a bit more if you want to. No one, even children and teenagers, are walking along with their faces and gaze stuck to the text keyboard of a smartphone, in fact I haven't seen anyone with a smartphone!. Instead everyone seems to be out and about with their families on the many leisure facilities and cycle networks that criss cross everywhere. Every road but motorways have cycle tracks!. Now there's the chocolate!, well needless to say I found the chocolate display first and we (the Royal we!) are sampling some lovely milk, white and dark Swiss chocolate, thankfully the prices are reasonable inside the country. We also have some of that wonderful cheese to try out over the next few nights. 

We are in central Switzerland now and me and my Swiss Army Wife! will be moving towards the North Eastern corner and Luzern, maybe quicker if the pennies are running out but not before we get a real taste of this wonderful country.

Ta ta for now!

Give us this day our daily baguette!

Sunday 2nd September 2012.

We have found a lovely campsite right beside the lake at St Point de Lac in the region of French Comte. We are only a stones throw from the Swiss border now and getting really excited to visit the second country that like us is not a member of the EU. 

The journey here was very relaxed taking in the ever changing landscapes and architecture as the rooftops changed to cater for the winter snows as we climbed further towards the many summits of the mountainous regions that surrounded us. It's great driving on the ordinary roads avoiding the toll roads and motorways, you see so much more.

Arriving at Camping Les Fuvettes we are within walking distance of the pretty village of Malbuisson that hangs over the side of the lake and this morning I took off with Bradley to walk into the centre of the village to find a boulangerie to get the daily bread. This is a customary thing done by many locals and we really enjoy the hunt for the daily baguette. No loaves of sliced plastic bread full of additives here, just freshly baked natural bread that has to be tasted to appreciate. Bradley wondered what was happening as I kitted up with walking shoes and coats for something which normally takes a couple of minutes.

Determined not to speak english I tried my first french asking a local couple where the nearest boulangerie was and understanding their directions. Arriving at the shop I managed to purchase the bread and then got carried away and bought two croissants and some of that fantastic custard flan and mille feuille. Our pace hurried as we were on our way back to have a typical continental breakfast with some lovely coffee.

Later in the morning we all took off again back to the village and found a lovely delicatessen where we purchased some locally produced wine, smoked hanging sausage, honey and chocolate noisette. Guess what we will be eating later!.

As we were walking back a massive convoy of vintage vehicles then arrived at the village. Horns were sounding as they passed and the whole village came out to wave to this wonderful convoy of vehicles from France and Switzerland which must have lasted for about 30 minutes. I was in heaven busy identifying.. Mini Coopers, Truimph TR4's, Renault Alpines, BMW 2002, Ford Escorts, Triumph Spitfires, MG Roadsters, Morgans, Renault 5 turbos, Simca's, Citroen Dauphines, Rolls Royces, Morris Minors and many many more old models from across Europe and even some American muscle cars.

It has been a great day and as the last glass of that 2009 Chardonnay is gone we are now getting out all the documents ready for the border crossing tomorrow.

See you in Switzerland!