Blogs from Switzerland, Europe - page 3

Nachdem ich die ganze Woche auf ntv, CNN und anderen Kanälen die Berichterstattung zum World Economic Forum in Davos mitbekommen habe, kam ich zu dem Entschluss, dieses Wochenende dorthin zu fahren. Da ich u.a. Politologie, Volkswirtschaftslehre und Betriebswirtschaftslehre studiert hatte und teilweise entsprechender Journalist werden wollte, ist diese Stadt und die dortige Veranstaltung sehr interessant für mich. Eigentlich könnten Uni oder Gymnasien Studienreisen dazu anbieten. Ursprünglich wollte ich an dem Tag zu meinem Bundeswehr-Standort Bad Reichenhall fahren, aber dort war auch stärkerer Schneefall angekündigt und deswegen werde ich dies um ein paar Wochen verschieben. Bei solchen Wetterverhältnissen kann es auf der Autobahn dorthin leicht zu Unfällen und Staus kommen. Während des Forums sind in dem Schweizer Skiort die Hotelpreise jenseits von gut und böse, aber von Samsta... read more

It’s 9.40 pm and it’s been a long day. I’ll drop in a bit of information, some interesting facts, and let the beautiful scenery do the rest. Tim and I did another early dash to Jumbos, the Swiss Bunnings, to pick up some more things, like a 450mm drill extension, for the dishwasher, and after taking on Tim as a work experience boy - no need to pay them - I had the help I needed to get the job done. No leaks, it powers up, but with French instructions, I didn’t have time to run a test. Should be good, but just in case I made sure we were well down the highway before it was tested. It drizzled constantly as we headed to Spiezer, with me taking over driving duties. Tim wanted a break, ... read more

Lovely day today and all the more precious as last full day of the holiday. Still three full days but those will be travelling days with stops each night as we drive up France to Calais ready for the ferry on Saturday. We had found a boat trip round this end of the lake running every couple of hours for two hours and headed down for the one just before 1pm. Miscalculated the time and we were way too early so changed our plans a little and went to the Coop for the bits of food we needed to get us home. Then we set off to explore the medieval village of Villeneuve en route back to the campsite. Rather astonishingly we had only just realized it was there, tucked away behind the main street. Quite ... read more

Quite a long drive today and most of the way on the motorway. Seemed to be right across Switzerland, East to West but Switzerland is a very funny shape with lots of bits sticking out in all directions if you look at it on the map. It rained all night exactly as forecast and sure enough when we looked out at the mountains to the East, those we had just come down from, there was snow showing on some of the peaks. So glad we made the decision to come down on Thursday as we did. If we had been up the mountain in the night the way that rain was coming down in a very wintery way, I would have spent the night at the window checking if we were getting snowed on and in. ... read more

Today was planned to be a day of leisure as we seem to have been dashing somewhere every day so far. A shower, leisurely breakfast, stroll along the fields beyond the campsite and maybe a coffee in Churwalden village. It rained, as forecast, in the night and the campsite looked rather spectacular when we woke with lumps of white cloud hanging around over everything. It did rather reinforce the idea that the weather really was changing as rain was forecast and rain it did. Sometimes we change our plans. I had been checking the weather and though I knew we were expecting rain and possible thunderstorms in the next couple of days, Snow was not on my agenda. For one thing I haven’t brought my boots nor any trousers. Silly maybe as we are in the ... read more