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Published: July 12th 2012
Day 20 - Friday 6
th July to Day 23 – Wednesday 11
th July 2012
What a great detour to Switzerland……..
With our Russian and Mongolian visas having been orgainsed in Australia, rather than in London, Team Free are around 4-5 days ahead of schedule, so with this extra time available, we decided to do a quick 350km detour to Switzerland.
In my last post I mentioned that we were staying with Lisa, Daniel, Alexia, Zoe and William Ross-Magenty Blaettler in Geneva. Jackson, Harrison and Hunter made some new friends and Melissa and I caught up on some old times with Lisa.
The first day saw Team Free taken on a personal tour of Geneva by Lisa and Co. We had a great day which finished with dinner in their garden which is located about 300 metres from their actual house. This also includes a small Chalet (cottage).
Day 2 in Geneva saw a massive Swiss/Aust project being under taken with the construction of a Dam and a Bridge across the small river running behind the property by the 6 kids. Let’s hope the Swiss can maintain these engineering marvels for the years to come. I’m sure
they will. Since leaving Geneva, Lisa has already advised us that both structures have become quite popular with the locals!!! It was fantastic to spend a day just ‘hanging out’.
Monday saw us leave Geneva and head towards Luzern. Thanks Lisa and Daniel for your wonderful Swiss hospitality and you have 3 great kids that I’m sure our boys will always remember a great weekend end. The only problem that it wasn’t long enough!!!
The 4 hour drive to Luzern took us though some amazing country side. We had lunch on the side of the road (which is becoming the norm) and then arrived in Lucerne in the early afternoon via Interlaken. We actually made it to Lucerne, unlike some close friends of ours who ended up in Lausanne instead of Lucerne (That story could be an entire blog entry by itself and I would never name names, hey Jono and Lorraine?) Before finding a hotel, we did a quick visit to the Rotsee. For those non-rowers, it’s one of the most famous rowing courses in the world. I even felt fitter just being there!!!!
Staying just near the Bahnhof (train station) just felt like old times.
Top of Mt Titlis
Perfect weather for such a great day on top of the world.We walked across the famous Chapel Bridge which was first written about in 1367 and had dinner by the river. And just like old times, you quickly remember how much things cost in Switzerland. (Thanks Aust Rowing for picking up the tab on my other visits)
The next morning saw us go up the top of Mt Titlis. It’s about 40 minute drive from Lucerne to Engelberg and once you arrive you take a combination of cable cars and gondolas to the top which also takes around 40 minutes. The weather at the top was great, which is always a bit of a gamble. Just as we were leaving, the weather closed in. Perfect timing for Team Free. At an altitude of 10,000 feet, the boys were not able to run around as much as they could at sea level, which was a good thing with massive drops of thousands of feet everywhere!!!
It was funny to see all the tourists at an altitude of 10,000 feet in shorts and t-shirts. Jackson and Harrison kindly lent their jackets to two Thai girls who thought they were still in Thailand!!!
We then drove north of Lucerne though the
old training locations of Sempach and Sursee before leaving Switzerland and arriving in France again and then into Germany for the first time staying in the small (yes another old training location) town of Breisach on the French German boarder along the Rhine River.
Yesterday saw us drive through 4 countries. We woke up in Germany, drove through France to Luxembourg then arrived in Belgium.
Stay tuned for our next blog from Belgium………………..
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Tracey W
non-member comment
Have a few chocolates for us!! xxxx