Yes, welcome back

Our road trip through Switzerland exceeded expectations in every way.

It’s not that I went in with low expectations per se, it’s more that, unlike normally where I am Tour Leader Extraordinaire (read: hella bossy and controlling) and do most of the trip planning, this time M and Herge organised most of the details.

And the details – well, they were more like loose guidelines. We had some accommodation pre-booked, a few places to be and things to see and do, but other than that, we were free to go wherever our fancy took us.


We decided to break our first day drive in Northern Italy and found some cheap accommodation in a little town called Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore. I think we could have happily ended our trip there – it was gorgeous! Delicious gnocchi and gelati, a relaxed seaside atmosphere and a spectacular trip out to two of the islands: Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori.

It was also where the musical anthem of our trip was confirmed. For reasons only known to the two of them, M and Herge are obsessed with Paul Simon’s “You can call me Al” and the video clip featuring Chevy Chase. After way too much wine we decided to crowd around my iPhone and learn the dance steps and attempt to learn all the words as we only really knew the chorus - and everyone knows that! –although - I actually used to think it was “You can call me OUT”. Idiot. But this is also from the person who for years thought it was “There’s a Bathroom on the Right” NOT “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise”. Sorry CCR.

I’m guessing the people in the room next to ours were not too unhappy to see the backs of us the next morning!

Baa, da da da, baa da da da da

Then it was into Swit-zer-waaand (said like the dwarf guy from Moulin Rouge because it’s better that way according to Claire-my-sister). We caught the train into no-cars-allowed Zermatt, (sooo pretty) had a Rösti lunch and then caught an insane train up the mountain to our accommodation at Riffelberg, with fairly average views of the Alps and The Matterhorn – which some of you may recognise as the Mountain the stars circle in the Paramount Pictures Logo. Cool. Some hiking, a few beers and a lot of posing for pictures and soaking up the panorama.

Spectacular.

Heading up in the train

Not too shabby really ....

The next morning there was quite a lot of confusion and hilarity over how to get to Interlaken, as we could see on maps that there were paths through the mountains, but both the SatNav and Google Maps were telling us to go around. After some very broken exchanges in German, and a few wrong turns looking for a supposed tunnel, we finally realised there was no tunnel. There is a train that you drive your car on to and it turns into a high-speed, only slightly less scary version of a Ghost Train from the Royal Show as it picks you up on one side of the Alps and eventually spits you out the others side.

Surreal. And kinda fun.

On the train thing once we'd made it back into daylight

Interlaken!

Interlaken was hideous. All that green, lush open space, blue skies, clean air and fresh lakes.
Just hideous.

We booked in for an afternoon of White Water Rafting, which was awesomesauce, and our guides (all Aussies and Kiwis bien sur) were total crack-ups. On the bus-ride back I feared I was going to break their “no wetty-warmers” ruling I was laughing that hard.

Too much fun

Next day we were off to La Maison du Gruyere factory for some Cheese eatin and Cheese learnin. Both were faboosh.

To work off the giant pot of fondue we devoured for lunch (So. Much. Cheese.) we went for a walk around the picturesque town of Gruyere.

Deciding that our stomachs were back in fighting form we popped over to the Callier Chocolate Factory.

Despite a disappointing lack of Oompa Loompas, the “History of Swiss Chocolate” tour was a hoot – if a bit bizarre. At the end of the factory section they let you help yourself to a couple of the wrapped choccies just off the production line. THEN you entered a room that was FULL of chocolate, all there for you to sample. Something rather unpleasant kicked in, within all of us, and it was like a race to see how much we could eat before they told us to stop. No-one told us to stop! I guess they figure most people have like, a social conscious or something that limits them from taking too many. Not us four, hell no. We were waiting till they asked us to leave OR we felt too ill to continue. Guess which one happened?

After that the gift-shop was a non-entity as we couldn’t bear to even look at Chocolate and all needed a drink and a lie down.

Do not chase me, I am full of Chocolate.

A slow drive around to the Château de Chillon for a look around and then up into the hills for our night at Leysin.

Next day we bused it into Montreux where the annual Jazz Festival was in full swing. We cruised around, tried our damndest to get last minute tickets to Mumford & Sons (no dice), lay on the lawns drinking beers and listening to free concerts and ate over-priced Asian food on our laps. Perfection.

After that it was a drive back over to the Frenchy side of the Alps to Avoriaz for stage 8 of the Tour de France. We were staying in the ski resort of Avoriaz itself, which turned out great as even a full day before the actual race, the roads were full of people camping out.

That evening was meant to be a quiet one, but red wine + epic Pictionary battles meant for a rowdy evening.

I’d just like to draw your attention to the status of the teams at the end of play in the photo below:
Team Ramsey in Green.
Team Hergott/Reifschneider in Yellow – haven’t moved from the starting blocks.
That what we in the biz call a PANTSING.
And it did involve a pants-down run around the table (for Herge only. And if you know Herge, you’ll know that this isn’t a big deal as the boy loves to be nekkid.)

Team Ramsey cannot be defeated. Mwuh ha ha.

The actual day of the race was so great. We got ourselves decked out in all our Aussie regalia – much to the bemusement of others – and headed down with the Esky, Aussie Flags and snacks to grab a good vantage spot.

508m from the finish line, with a great view down the hill suited us to a tee.

It was a long wait but the atmosphere was so fun and the people giving out free shit pretty much loved the four of us “Crazy Aussies” – indeed I scored enough Ariel Laundry Detergent to fill a bottle. Sweet! (yeah, yeah – simple things.) It was also especially thrilling knowing that Cadel Evans was going to win the Yellow Jersey after a great ride up the steep hill. (And even sadder watching the race two days later in Zurich as he collapsed over the line after falling out of contention. I think all four of us teared up. Such big girls’ blouses we are.)

It was also Jess’ birthday so to celebrate we went out for a fan-spastic dinner and watched the World Cup. Truly bizarre to be sitting in a Swiss Restaurant, in the French Alps, watching a bunch of Spanish and Dutch fans go bananas. A few quiet drinks and it was early to bed for all. Except not.

Can you pick the dance moves by now??

A very slow start to the morning and a woozie but pleasingly quick tidy and pack up and we were on our way to Zurich. We stopped in Bern for lunch and a look around and then made it to our nearly-impossible to find youth hostel.

Zurich was great too – the Fraumunster and Chagall’s stained glass windows were wicked, as was the Kunsthaus art gallery with more Chagall, my favourite Monet painting “Houses of Parliament”, Van Gogh, Munch, Picasso etc .

We were blessed the whole trip with warm – hot weather, and Zurich was seriously hot, so we had a chilled out afternoon and stumbled upon ye olde authentic Schnitzel and Sausage Restaurant for our last supper. A fabulous night.

Our final morning was spent together by the lake and then it was farewell to Herge and Jess as they make their way back to Melbourne and back home to Cannes for us two. Boo. Very sad to see them go.

I seriously couldn't rate Switzerland more highly, and we very easily could have missed out on it as there are so many other places that I would have said I'd rather go.

So glad to be wrong. Switzerland was tops.

Just so you too can enjoy the pleasure of having this song stuck in your head:

If you really want to be a part of the cool club, you could set it as your alarm.

That, and the sounds of M and Herge imitating the 12th Man: Wired World of Sports, were what I rose to Every. Bloody. Morning.


Sorry this is so long! Hope you haven't fainted away from exhaustion. Go get yourself a cookie. You deserve it. And probably need the sugar. There are lots more photos on Facebook too.

TTFN

xxx