Blogs from Schaffhausen, North-East, Switzerland, Europe

Letzten Freitag ist auch die 10. Woche in Bern erfolgreich zu Ende gegangen. An dem Tag habe ich auch mein Auto von der Werkstatt geholt und die Probleme sind danach nicht mehr aufgetreten. Am Samstag bin ich dann zum ersten Mal in die Spezialitätenabteilung eines Berner Kaufhauses und habe dort eingekauft. Dort gibt es eine grosse Auswahl an verschiedenen Leckereien. Nachmittags war dann auch das erste Pokalspiel des FC Bayern in der neuen Saison. Am Sonntag habe ich mir den Ausflug zum Rheinfall nach Schaffhausen vorgenommen. Dort war ich anscheinend schon mal als Kind und 2002 während eines Kurzeinsatzes in der Schweiz habe ich schon einmal darüber nachgedacht, dort nochmals vorbei zu sehen. Also die Fahrt verlief diesmal problemlos und von der Schnellstrasse waren es nur wenige Meter zum Parkplatz an der Südseite des Rheinfalls. Allerdings ... read more

After a farewell to our hosts at Hermeshof, we left Titisee and immediately took the wrong turning off a round about and ended up going the wrong way. It was impossible to turn around as the traffic was so heavy so we nearly ended up back in Hinterzarten. The rest of the trip to Konstanz was uneventful apart from some unexpected showers. We hadn't had any wet for two weeks so it was strange for it to be cooler. But, only temporarily. Marc picked us up in Konstanz with Sophia and we drove back to Langwiesen along the Rhine often seeing the bike trail that we'd be following on Monday. It doesn't look as if it's going to be too taxing energy wise. Arriving back in Langwiesen we greeted our lovely niece again and had lunch ... read more

We took the long haul from Auckland with no stopover on Emirates Airlines A380 from Auckland/Dubai/Zurich. Amazingly, we were wandering through Dubai Airport and someone called out my name. It was Heather and Doug from New Plymouth on their way to Sweden! Apart from that the trip was the usual - endure the trip and get it over and done with. One point of note is that Dubai had a population of 30,000 in the 1930's and now has 4 million. That is some growth!! Not for this Kiwi though - very modern, very busy, very hot and very sandy. On the Dubai to Zurich stretch we flew over Iran which showed some spectacular geology with outstanding examples of layered and folded rocks in the landforms.From flying height you could virtually see that the land had ... read more

A labrador outruns its master on the other side of the river, getting in and out of the morning shadows sweeping the meadow. Treetops and the gabled roofs of ancient houses reflect in the blue-green waters. An idyllic European scene plays out on the shores of the Rhine. I follow its course. I boarded a train to this old Swiss town just across the German border because of its proximity to Rhine fall. The river leaps 23 metres near Schaffhausen to form Europe’s largest waterfall. At the fall, the river is about 150 metres wide. And there I was, on a silly search for the superlative in Switzerland. At the railway station, I looked up a map and found I could trace the river a few streets away and then follow it until the fall. No ... read more

Hi all, Sunday 19th didn't turn out too bad after all, the thunder disappeared over the hills and the sun came out after lunch so we packed and tidied up ready to leave in the morning. Monday 20th Leaving lake Bled Harry said his goodbyes to the 2 German girls that had been following him around the camp site for 4 days, then we stopped off at a new supermarket for us, Eurospin (we've done that many!) to stock up then it was just a short drive to the border and the entrance to the Karawanken road tunnel that takes you through into Austria. The drive was again very scenic and easy, straight up the A10 motorway until we turned off at St Micheal im Lungau and onto the small town of Mauterndorf. It was quite ... read more