Swiss Roadie Trip Day 8 - Villigen

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We get up early - we’ve run out of coins for the parking meter. Our room shares a half bathroom with 5 other rooms. It’s a half length bath with a shower head attachment. The old man showers cross legged holding the shower attachment above his head. He says it’s the worst shower he’s ever had. I wouldn’t know – I can’t actually get in and out of the half bath so have to make do with a rub down with a flannel.

I can’t get my head round the expense of Switzerland. For our room with 1/6 share of a 1/2 bathroom we are paying £100 a night, plus an additional £2 an hour to park a mile away.

We descend the 142 steps to the street, hike back to the van and drive to Villigen; daughter no 2 finishes her experiment tonight.

We drive north through mountains and tunnels, including the enormous Gotthard tunnel which takes 15 minutes from end to end. I don’t like being underground so long, which is weird as I’m descended from generations of miners.

We arrive in Villigen in time for lunch and a much needed shower. Then I spend the afternoon doing laundry. It’s a good practical test of how much German I can remember from my Uni days. I accidentally put the old man’s pants on a boil wash but maybe that’s a blessing in disguise.

So far today my German has not gone well: in the supermarket I got a really strange look. I thought I asked for a bag (Tüte) but instead asked for a corpse (Tote).

I walk to the synchrotron to see daughter no 2. In the corridor is a man trying, with limited success, to fill a jar with liquid nitrogen. I have dinner with daughter no 2 and her colleagues then leave them to their experimenting.

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