Switzerland-Alpes-Italy: Crossing Borders

---

It was Sunday (29 Aug) evening when we arrived in Lörrach, at the nice family of Lenita. We came with light and thunder, since Joanna was stressed out with losing her passport. With my GPS device and photo's I tried to discover where it could be lost. We also tried to contact Claire and her Luxembourgishes Host, since we have stayed there for a few hours. However we only had the time to say hello to Lenita's family, they understood the problem and were really helpfull. The talked german to the Luxembourgh Police station in the hope to have Joanna's jacket at Lost and found. At the time we faced the situation as it is, and take a breather, have a drink with the family and talking the options how to continue futher, Claire responded our message with the news they had the jacket at home, including her passport. The mystery of localizating the jacket was solved. Now how to get it to Lörrach. Since Lenita's parents were sleeping at that moment (2 am), Lenita said it was alright to stay another night so the priority postmail could send the package from Luxembourgh to South-Germany in the next day (Posting monday, Delivering tuesday). We decided this would be the best!

While passport is just an official document, which is not really usefull till you need to identify yourself, we wanted to just live the moment in Lörrach and enjoyed the holiday. It was a bit scary to cross the Swiss border, since its not really party of the EU, but they are part of the Schengen-agreement where Europeans can cross each others borders. So After a visit to the Lörrach castle with a scenic view over the city, we were going to the city 5km next to Lörrach: Basel. In Basel we walked around with Lenita and she showed is the market square, the bridges over the Rhone (dutch: De rivier de rijn) and the famous fountains with machinery. It's a crazy, but funny fountains. at this place we also ate some Lackerli cookies (a Basel recipe) and also feed the 50 birds around is :). At the border the bordercontrol picked us out, the dutch, of all the swiss and german cars. After a small check in the trunk we continued. So far it was the only border check. In the evening we had more time to talk and enjoy with the family. We ate together and we played some board games.

Tuesday (31 Aug) morning the postman came with a package for Joanna, finding her Identity again :). We did a walk with the dog through the sunny mountains, acrossing borders again with Switzerland. Its really funny to live so close to the border (and even France isnt that far away either). In the afternoon we went towards Geneva. While we came quite late and didnt know a lot what to look for, we did just some walking around. We met other tourists and locals who point is to some directions, such as the statues of the reformation including 'Willem de zwijger' (Willem of Orange) at the University of Geneva. We were hosted by a Polish guy who studied physics and now working for CERN (Research company with the biggest accelerator in the world to speed up atoms). He was a very easy-going, straight-forward, direct guy with dry humor. I liked his way of talking :D. As He was telling us that the only mest-see in Geneva was the largest fountain in the world, we were going to see this on wednesday, unfortunately the fountain wasnt operable.

We continued the trip on wednesday (01 Sep) to the French Alpes. We went to the national park entrance on the southwest, climbing with the car to the col d'iseran, to St-Bernard-Col to come out at the Mont Blanc. Its a long drive from Geneva to Ried-Brig via the French Alpes, but its certainly the most beatifull nature I yet have seen. The mountains, with snow tops on a sunny 24 degree day, with green lands, trees, and little cars and houses far far away in the horizon. Just wow. Climbing with the car is also quite an adventure, with a lot of little but strong bends. I think Joanna was more lucky to be able to enjoy the view without caring the road.
While there was a roadblock on the way, we had to go via the Mont-blanc tunnel. It might be nice on my car's resume, but 35 euro toll for a tunnel and nothing to see is quite sad for a obligatary detour. after the Mont-Blanc we entered Switzerland again at Martingy and we had a straight long road left to Ried-Brig in the Brig/Simplon area. Although it is all nice and well, I was glad to arrive at the vacation house of my friend Jen at 20.00 and to relax at their place.

At Jen's vacation house, located in the valley of the swiss alpes, there were another couple staying with their 2 kids, a friend of Jen and a niece of Jen. So in total we were with 9 in the house and we all had chit-chats and laughs together. In the next morning (Th 02 Sep) me and Joanna went for a forest/mountain walk with just breathtaking views again. After this We went all together to a small village in North-Italy called Re where there is a beautifull church (and really big compared to the size of this village). Joanna and I continued our trip and said goodbye to all the dutch friends from the vacation house and went to our next Destination Cernusco-Italy. With a small detour to see more scenic views we went passing Lugano, Menaggio to take the ferry to Verenna over the Lago Como.

At Irene's family house, Irene's mother welcomed us with a delicious meal. It was nice to talk with Irene's mother, especially while we talked mostly in a mixed language of English and French :). Irene and Chiara, who both stayed at my home on their dutch holiday, came at midnight, so we just had a very small talk. Friday (03 Sep) we had some more talks with Irene's and Irene's sister. They advised us what to see and how to travel to Milano. Milano is a big city, very busy and crowded with a beautifull gothic church -Domo-. With a very warm temperature and the long walks in between the sightseeing spots, it was quite an exhausting day.

A little forecast: We will head to Slovenia (Lubiana) and Croatia (Zagreb or north Coast). I can't think about the adventureous of tomorrow while I still enjoy the adventures of today :). The time is flying!

---