This was my first experience booking a lounge internationally and it is well worth it. Just being able to rest your bags somewhere secure, and have a shower alone / change clothes, made the costs worthwhile. It was a bonus that we could sit in a comfortable lounge, with good internet, free buffet and a bar.

The staff were also very nice, and tried to help retrieve Courtney’s pouch of prescription drugs which she left on the plane. This was a result of Courtney being so tranqued up on valium that she lost all of her valium.

Unfortunately they were unsuccessful, so Courney had to be present for the next flight. 

We arrived in Paris Airport at 7 am in the morning.

After a bus to the airport from the terminal, collecting our bags and a very very long walk through the airport to the train station it was 8am. Nothing took a long time, but man! this Airport is big. 

This meant that we were now getting on a train that would take us into the heart of paris at 8am (also know as peak hour). 
Parisians don’t seem to be a massive fan of tourists and Courtney and I did nothing to help the tourists standing by taking up 4 seats with our luggage in this busy train but we were far too tired to overly care. 

Luckily our train stop was towards the end of the line and at major interchange so getting off the train carriage only required knocking over a couple of the frenchies.

Unwilling to jump on another crowded connecting train we walked across to the bullet train station. Filling the cobled stoned, cafe strewn streets with a chaos of noise from the clattering wheels of our suitcases.

With some time to wait until our Bullet train we decided to take a break from irritating the locals and grabbed breakfast at a small cafe. Naturally I ordered some crepes and a coffee. Crepes were good but the coffee was not up to Melbourne standard. Still hungry because I refuse to eat airplane food I also then got an egg and cheese muffin which was oily, delicious and just what I needed. Courtney’s parents (Wendy and David) were in the area catching the bullet train to Strabourg ahead of us, Courtney spent about ten minutes on the phone negotiating who could go to who, it was a stalemate and we decided we would just wait until Strasbourg to meet up. 

We then got back to making a racket and explore the area of Gare de l’Est area contemplating snacks from the local supermarkets, visiting a couple of bakeries and complaining about how the coffee wasn’t as good as it is in Melbourne.

We noticed the local police, and ambulances would continuously, with lights and sirens on, pull up on the footpath and then go in side one particular bakery to grab their lunch orders.

We followed suit, and understood the hype, as the pistachio eclair was fantastic.  

I’m writing this a few months later but I’m pretty sure it was this bakery:

We then went to a local pub for lunch, ensured we ordered some stein sized German beer with chips and settled in for a moment out on the deck at the top end of the town. Unfortunately Courtney was bitten by a European wasp while we had lunch. These wasps are all over Europe it seems and they hang about wherever there is food and trash cans. The waiter explained it was Courtney’s fault for hitting it and suggested we put sugar on the bite. Courntey also took an antihistamine, not certain of this medical advice which helped but made her very drowsy and half a sleep for the rest of the day.

Triberg is situated on a very steep hill and with Courtney half a sleep we decided to not bother battling the hill to see anymore of the town. Plus we didn’t like the scale of the town as it was very large and felt a little touristsy with every second shop being one of the 1000 Cookoo clocks franchises. So we moved onto a smaller town called Stichltac.

   

We then returned to Strasbourg and accidentally stumbled onto a Autobarn. David and I giggling the uncontrollably while we got the little VW Polo up to 200km per hour while  Courtney and Wendy remained fast asleep in the back. At such a past we were at our Air B N B in no time with enough time to relax for a moment before dinner.

Wendy and David invited us over to their B n B for drinks. We grabbed a burger from a vegetarian burger joint on the way which was really nice.
After hanging out with Wendy and David and their Air B n B host; Courtney and I wandered back to air B n B but stumbled on a secret bar at the back of a pizza restaurant.

Back in Strasbourg we went to outdoor seated restaurant for dinner which was recommended by our Air Bn B host. While this place from the outside looked to be a bad recommendation (very touristy, huge amount of tables in a very prominent area on the cannel) the food and drinks were actually quite good.

We then had an early night after being a bit tired from the last few days of moving around.

If you ask me now, driving this big manual van was easy, but a few curbs would beg to differ throughout the trip. Even-so the occasional moments with Courtney screaming “You’re off the road, you’re off the Road!” was worth it. 
Having all our baggage in the back of the van, the flexibility for stops when we were looking for a bite to eat, just to stretch our legs or to see something along the the way made the trip really special, flexible and simple. 

We originally planned to stop in at Bern on the way, but had to cut this to get back on schedule (checkin in to a campsite before they all filled up) so we headed non-stop to Grindelwald beside a short stop at a supermarket for groceries and snacks (warm pretzels).

The views coming into Switzerland were instantly amazing. The whole place looks like a painting or a train set, with grass that looks as perfect as carpet. The roads did get very narrow, windy and steep, but the Fiat handled it all very well.

However, we never made it to our intended campsite. Google Maps tried to send us up a walking path that I wasn’t keen on trying in the big van. 

While I parked the van and we scratched our heads figuring out how to get up to the campsite a local directed me to a better campsite that was just as close and much more acessible. 

We grabbed one of the last remaining campsite at Camping Eigernordwand. 

After checking in, we walked around the main town which was above the valley (so a short uphill walk from the campsite) then headed back to have dinner in the van.

Once back in Lauterbrunen because we had a bit of time before our train back to Wengen we had some pastries and coffee at a small store opposite the station. 

The trip back to Wengen would have been very short if we not for us jumping off our train at a interchange station assuming it was pointing the wrong way. Turns out the the train did go backwards for a short 50 meters before changing directions to go towards Wengen. 

Then next train came 40 minutes later. We spent this 40 minutes cursing ourselves and feeling tired and hot, so once we got back to camp we drowned our sorrows and heat exhaustion in wine and enjoyed the views from the best Caravan park in the world for the last time. 

We stopped at Gruyere for lunch on the way; a great little town inside a castle wall a short walk away from a main car park. It was almost carless and very medieval. 

For lunch we ate at Auberge de la Halle and tried fondue. They had a bunch of stipulations on the menus at all the restaurants in town that sounded like they try to force people into getting one fondue pot per person. However, we just got the one and shared, and after enduring a small eye-roll we received an additional fork without us having to ask. This was great as the serving size was perfect for the two of us without feeling sick. We also weren’t the biggest fan of fondue. The flavours aren’t overly strong and it just seems a bit glutenous for the sake of being so.

 After lunch we looked around the town a bit more, bought some chocolate from Chocolaterie de Gruyères Sàrl. Courtney and I agreed that the chocolate was very nice but much more expensive than equally nice chocolate we have had in Australia.

We then drove straight onto Chomonix. Our campsite was very nice, lot of trees providing shade. However, after being spoilt with Switzerland’s facilities we were not impressed with the showers (lost touch). 

From our van we had views of ice capped mountains which glowed orange as the sun set caught them for almost an hour after the valley was dark.

We then walked across the town to Leegendar station to grab a funicular to Sunegga and then caught a cable car up to Blauherd.

We then begun the 5 lakes hike which went mainly down hill back to Sunegga (Just over 9KMs. )

As I was worried about the last funicular down I didn’t dwell on this for long and with a squelch sound per step, a few more laughs we walked past the Germans (who where ringing out their clothes on the side of the path) and into the station.

Although the last funicular was advertised as 4:30 we caught the last train down with staff taking down the trash at 4:20. The staff where not happy about letting us on, but eventually did.

This meant that the Germanys would have then had to walk down in dark and cold. (I laughed a lot thinking about this).

Back in Zermatt as I was cold and still wet we didn’t spend much time and headed back down to Tasch and had dinner in the Campervan.

My phone which was in my pocket wasn’t broken but the lens had water in it which took a few days to dry out. I was now without any means to capture photos besides borrowing Courtney’s phone which made me slightly sulky. 

So we once again took the train from Tasch to Zermatt. Then took the funicular up to the top of Riffleberg. There wasn’t much up there besides a gift shop and a VR reality room (which was heavily payed for). We didn’t care much for either so rode back down on the next funicular stopping at Riffleap with the plans to take a cable car across to Furi.

Howevere we learnt that these weren’t running on this day. ( I believe they only run in the high season times). We then took the funicular all the way back down to Zermat.

We then walked to the third corner of the town with the cable car station. We caught two small cable cars up, and then a large cable car to the very top of the Glacier paradise. 

We walked around the station for a bit not seeing much until we noticed a sign pointing towards the glacier paradise. We took an elevator down and discovered that we could enter inside the glacier which was awesome.

They had a head of amazing looking ice sculptures and even a slide made of ice. Here e met Senner who was a Texan American travelling solo. Senner was so enthusiastic, we could hear her whooping and having the best time from a mile away. Seener immediately and infectiously persuaded Courtney and I to have more fun starting with sliding dow the glacial slide. 

Some staff started to carolue all the tourist out as it was getting late in the day and we with Senner took the last large cable car down. On the next stop we had a bit of time so Couetney, Senner and I walked over to look at a small pen full of goats.

We then all took the cable cars back down to Zermatt.

Senner was staying in Zermatt with her Aunt Jo who Senner invited us over to meet.

We grabbed a bottle of Wine on the way over and spent the evening chatting with Jo and Senner. They were super fun to chat with and Jo especially had a wealth of amazing stories from her life hoping all over th globe across her career. 

Jo didn’t join us but Senner, Courtney and I then went out for dinner and drinks at a local restaurant and then bar. The food wasn’t great (especially considering the price) but we found a cool little under ground bar that was mainly filled with locals to end our night.

We got talking to a guy called Nicholi at the bar who’s ex girlfriend was on the other side of the tiny establishment. He bought us a few shots which names I can not remember, we had fun but ended up rushing off for the last train down to our campsite. On the train back we laughed about the awkwardness of socialising in such a small town where you’re guaranteed to run into your ex girlfriend everyday and then fought off the urge to fall asleep. 

The roads to Italy changed pretty immediately being slightly rougher and less well maintained but overall easier to drive as they were less windy and hilly. This part of Italy is very green and reminds me of driving through section of the Victoria’s rain forests but with snow capped mountains in the background.

Eventually the mountains left our sights and we came to Lake Magiorie. This is a magnificent looking lake that although still gets tourists is no where near as spoiled as Lake Como. We drove the van along the lake until we found the well-known town Stressa. Not to keen to try any side streets I left the van on the main road and we walked back up the hill through the alleyways in to the town.

Stressa has a few touristy looking restaurant on the street across from the lake. Behind these up a hill was a handful of restaurants and the towns historical main square. We sat down at a pretty unassuming restaurant that was just off the from the main square. We sat out front which was nestled away from the street in an open air setting.

Surrounded by people speaking Italian, all smoking with various sized dogs amongst their feet it was already felt amazing. The menu came out, and after a week of being in Switzerland it’s prices and options made us emotional. 7 Euro for a Margherita pizza and various pastas for 12 Euro. I had to see just what a 7 Euro pizza in Italy was like so ordered the Margherita and Courtney got a simple tomato Pasta.

The food and coffees came out at extraordinary pace (within 5 minutes) and they were superb. The Pizza was equal to something you would find in the best restaurants in Carlton but for a third of the price and a much nicer atmosphere.

We toyed with the idea of changing plans and staying in Stressa instead but decided against it.

We grabbed a gelati afterwards and walked through the town. I tried a Fior Di Latte which was my new favourite flavour and to this day my first choice in ice cream flavours. 

We locked our biked up dodgeley on a railing in the town centre next to various dodgy looking teenagers and then walked around the historic town. Alba was another historic coble stoned, town that was fairly busy.

After some meandering around we got to the restaurant Osteria dell’Arco which although didn’t have any stars was listed on the Michelin stars website as a recommendation. The restaurant was a pink building widen away in a pedestrian courtyard surrounded by apartments and appointment only businesses like accountants.

In the outdoor section (courtyard) we grabbed a table as we were pretty sweaty from the ride.

The service was fantastic and the food was perfect. A lot of the menu and the town (which I noticed walking through) made reference to mushrooms. So we ordered a mushroom pasta and a tomato pasta. Both dishes were some of the best pasta meals we have ever had.

Afterwards we wonder around town a bit more and then hit the road. It was about 2pm and we decided we would start heading back and stop in at a couple of wineries on the way back. Our first stop (which ended up being our only stop) was Cuucina Bruni. 

We were actually looking for a different winery but stopped in here as Courtney could not wait any longer to use a toilet.

Courtney went ahead while I flew my drone out front. Here Courtney learned that this was typically an appointment only place but as the owner was just finishing up with someone else he was happy to seat us.

Courtney prefaced our visit saying that we were travelling in a van so could only buy 1 or 2 bottles at most.

Then began the best wine tasting experience We’ve had to date.

Christiano the wine maker and told us all about his family (of which he was the 5th generation of wine makers), the process of the wine and the world wide wine industry. He also explained that  mainly sold and was visited by Americans and Chinese customers. He was very interested in having Australian guests and he seemed to enjoy talking to us. I guess we were less reserved than his usually hoity-toighty guest as Courtney would exclaim “YUUUUUM” after most sipps.

As a result during the tasting Christiano would often refill our glass after tastings which had us fairly drunk towards the end of the 6 glass tasting. 

We purchased a Nebilo and one of the white wines. The Nebiolo was 45 Euro which was more expensive than I usually pay for wines but so worth it. 

We then went to leave but I discovered that during our extended tasting one of my bike tires had gone flat.
I called the rental company who sad they’ll replace the bike but it would take roughly 30 mins.

I went back inside to let Christina know the good news that I could purchase another bottle while we waited. Christiano gave us a bottle of wine for free and wouldn’t accept any payment.

We sat out in the front yard in the pergola and drank the bottle while we waited. I also captured a fair bit more of drone footage of the estate to share with Chriostiano to say thanks for his first class hospitality.

The replacement bike arrived very quick, but the time was now 6 pm and we needed to return the bikes by 7 pm. So we cranked the Ebikes into turbo mode and hit the rode.

This was the most dificult hike of the area with very narrow paths, extreamly step at times. And even had a signs up saying that wearing thongs was forbidden and could results in penlties.

There was also a hilarous couple we spotted towards the end who the female partner was wearing a long white expensive looking dress and they would spend atleast 30 minutes at each view point taking photos of her in front of the town.

Eventually the road levbelled out and we had some gorgeous views of Switzerland again. 

The rain concluded about 30 minutes before the end of the drive and then we arrived in Jackosbad. 

 views on this side of the mountain were really some beautiful it was it didn’t look as green as Switzerland has on the other side it was very lot of blue volcanic sort of stones kind of felt a little like almost like are taking some places like I think it was also complained by the fact that it was incredibly cold today that day um there was one particular spot at this little tiny town I think it was the last town before he exited Italy where they had this really beautiful man made dam and a tiny like put a two horse town just above it um we wanted to stop here that does pretty much nothing in the town to do or eat the only place available was a bar and had nothing nothing to to eat for lunch so he kept on going eventually we came back over the mountain and to the hills that opened up and all the green area returned and we found ourselves in a little town very similar in sort of size and scale that I would say we saw in Greenwood just not with such epic mountains around it the valley was a little bit more shallow but even more untouched it was it was very young Christy that didn’t seem to be many English speakers first language in the area or the other tourists were either from Germany or from Switzerland and the caravan park was once again sensational it was basically like the middle of the paddock they literally were cows on the back fence 20 metres walk from from our caravan and this had absolutely amazing views of the little valley and the iconic little red trains going through from time to time we pretty much just checked in and had time just to wander up to the main little town um we found a little Tavern that we set the settled into and have a couple of beers and yeah walked back and go to the night.

We arrived at ____ train station, which was a small town that didn’t have much besides the gondala station up the mountain, and some cows drinking for the glacial stream that ran past. 

we arrived the South day you take a cable car up this sort of does that some of the heavy lifting of the of the mountain to the start of the day and then we got once we got there we discovered that there’s a few guest houses see so we hiked up to another guesthouse called ______. Here we had a beer and so just looked around and enjoyed so really really really nice atmosphere in there like it would have been quite nice to stay in one of these guest houses particularly basically this one or even the ones that are a bit quieter um after that we were initially planning on hiking back down and seeing a lake first but we sort of just ran out of time because it was quite a long hike up and we we had a lot of stops and sort of took a lot of pictures and took our time we then just sort of hiked straight back down to see Aetshers guesthouse. The high down aces guesthouse was really cool especially towards the end when you’re walking along the sort of Cliff face that the guesthouse is built within yeah like there’s a huge drop to your right which looks amazing it’s really cool flying the drone up over over there and looking back at the at the mountain The Walking alongside and the guesthouse is is all worth all the hype when we arrived there was competitive dancing I think like river dancing or something competition going on so it was absolutely packed and buzzing there was barely a table free and as you expect a full full working kitchen and and bar we just had time to have a couple of boozy hot chocolates and then we were planning on heading down the way we came but we were then informed that information was incorrect that we were getting off Google and that the last train had already left so instead of hiking down there we were told hiked down to a another area which is a bit more of a main town and there was one there was a chance of catching one final train so we basically walked slash ran down there which at one point caused a bit of a funny moment when we ran past a a herd of cows who excited by us running and basically started chasing after us and caught him panicked thinking that about to bowl so whatever um and we eventually made it back down to the bottom of town unfortunately discovering that we missed the last train by 15 minutes and the next way home was a bus which was an hour away I looked up the time to walk to back to to appenzell and it was about a 50 minute walk so we decided that we would walk slash run to appenzell just for a bit of extra fitness and for something to do rather than sit around for a for an hour which we said that we did we sort of got there in about 40 ish minutes so saved a little bit of time and yeah man it made in to jump on the train and take the train back to Jack what’s bad back in Jack’s bed it was pretty late as well because we we’ve missed so many trains and had to take the long way home so I think we’ve got back at about 10:00 PM where we just had a super late dinner in the van and relaxed.