Blogs from North-East, Switzerland, Europe

Today we start the long journey home. We got up at 7:00 am our time which is 1:00 am home time. We fly out at 1:35 pm Switzerland time (7:35am USA). It’s a 9 hour flight scheduled to land at 4:30pm USA (10:30pm Swiss). We then have customs, new security, and fly out of JFK at 8:15 pm USA (1:15am Swiss). We land in Pittsburgh at 10:15 USA (4:15 am Swiss). Then we pick up bags and a rental car and drive home fir 2 hours. We’ll get home about 1:00am USA (7:00 am Swiss). So you see it’s a 24 hour trip home! I hope to sleep some in the long flight but we shall see! We get to the airport and find out that the Delta counter doesn’t open until 10:30…..3 hours before our ... read more

Super day out to Zug at the top end of the Zugersee. We had thought we might go on from there to an Abbey, being not sure if Zug had enough to offer for a full visit but we were delighted with what we found there so the Abbey can wait for another day. Easy and lovely drive, not using the motorways but driving through bright green countryside with pretty houses, cows with jingling bells and mountain views. What's not to like 😊😊 A lovely blue sky sunny day too which always makes everything look prettier. Zug is a wealthy town, home of the financiers and the expensive cars and immaculate office buildings gave credence to that. We came to the new part of town first having followed a sign to the Centrum but returned to ... read more

I've located this in Zurich but out campsite is a good 20 km from Zurich, at Ottenbach on the river Reuss, but the blog functionality won't let me locate myself there ! Woke to another stunning blue sky day so packed everything up and drove Smart car and motorhome separately to the motorhome service point so we could empty grey waste, fill with clean water and then hitch Smart Arse onto the back of the motorhome. Easy Peasy and we were off. Bob had chosen a route which was a little let windy and hair-pinned than when we drove over the mountains 2 days ago. It did though involve going via Gerardmer especially as needed fuel. Gerardmer was a nightmare again. Still heaving with people and lots of roads still blocked off. We had to do ... read more

Weil zum Jahresende bei meinem Kunden das Budget etwas knapp wird, habe ich 5 Wochen Urlaub genommen. Also zu einem gewissen Teil zwangshalber. Da ich aber dieses Jahr noch nicht groß weg gefahren bin, werde ich dies nun nachholen. Erste Destination ist aus diversen Gründen Zürich. Die Bahnlinie über Memmingen ist zwar seit einiger Zeit elektrifiziert, aber teilweise immer noch eingleisig und auf gar keinen Fall Hochgeschwindigkeit. Ich wollte sie mir aber auf unbedingt einmal ansehen und nun fahren in 4 Stunden Eurocity Express Züge der SBB von München in die Schweizer Bankenmetropole. Dort angekommen bin ich zu meinem Hotel und danach in ein Waliser Traditionslokal. Dort habe ich Trockenfleisch und Käsefondue mit Weißwein aus dem Wallis bestellt. Die Zusammensetzung des Fondues wird dort aber nicht verraten. Die Limmat ist schön wie immer und an ihr ... read more

After 66 Blog entries, with over 65'000 words and 2'000 pictures, we have completed our sabbatical or you can call it extended honeymoon travel blog. 11 months ago we packed our bags, quit our jobs and headed into an adventure which turned out much less predictable than originally envisaged. Despite all sorts of Covid related travel restrictions, limitations to places we wanted to visit (museums and concerts were really a no-no) and health related conditions - we were tested 7 times during our travels - we managed to do unique things, see astonishing places, witnessed memorable events and above all spent 11 months together in all this. An unique, rich and unforgettable time bringing us closer together. Allow us to summarise and reminiscent our impressions. First step was disconnecting from the cute, luxurious Bangkok life-style, saying ... read more