Wow Switzerland!

Switzerland has been a wonderful surprise! Of course, we were told that it's beautiful, and Josh and I had been here once before briefly, in the winter. But Wow! The scenery is incredible and everything is so tidy, green, lush, spacious and refreshing. Generally, people are polite, though don't often engage unless talked to. They do give us a friendly beep or a wave when we pull over for them if we've held them up (not a scowl or a blast of their horn!) and there is not a single scrap of rubbish in sight.
We haven't yet been to the big cities (we have been avoiding those as we're having more trouble with the camper taking off in first gear and reverse, so we're better off sticking to the highways) but have been following the more scenic routes between small towns and the lakes.
The lakes are almost bright blue, with the enormous mountains framing the water in the background, covered by meadows and spruce forest, with those tiny little farmhouses or barns dotted on the green slopes.

Looking over Luzern

We have also been amazed at the amount of mown grass we've seen. Even up high, where we managed to convince Poupe to traverse and then where we walked high up into the mountains, there have been very neat and freshly mown meadows, with little brown log barns alongside almost any paddock.

Cows grazing on the hillside. The bells they held around their neck made so much noise!

On a hike up to the Rodelbaan. Enjoying the view over a wildflower meadow.

The only thing though, is that everything is very expensive and you have to pay for any place you park almost. Even in the small towns. But the first night here we were very lucky to find a gorgeous park right on the lakeside that didn't have any no-camper signs and had a wonderfully relaxing day swimming and kayaking on the lake, doing washing and trying to get into bed early for a change.

The following day we drove to Luzern, where we ventured up another steep mountainside, into the meadows full of alpine flowers, thick fur forests and tiny log cabin barns and huts. We walked for a couple of hours, seeing only one mountain biker, to a place where there were dozens of people all waiting in line to go on the rodelbaan (the luge).  Everyone one else it seemed had gone up the gondola to get there. (Smart!) The luge was fabulous and such a treat - each of us whizzing down the hill on a tiny cart, past the meadows and cows ringing their bells. 

There were so many ripe wild blackberries growing on the roadside here. We picked this big bowl-
enough to share with our picnic-ing neighbours, and to make jam too.

A beautiful community garden by a lake we swam in. I noticed that many swiss houses had great vege gardens and lovely cottagey flower gardens too. Very nice!

And then we were off again, this time to the city of Bern, to visit Josh's Uncle Helmut and Auntie Ann. They have recently moved to Switzerland from the Netherlands, and we were very lucky to be able to stay with them in their apartment right in the center of the ancient capital city. Often when we visit old cities I've wondered what it would be like to be inside one of those houses that we can only stare at from the road. And this time we were inside! 

A window seat in the apartment from where the girls enjoyed watching the people on the street and writing and reading.

The apartment was 400 years old, but nicely modern inside, and Ann and Helmut treated us to wonderful food, hot showers and an opportunity to wash our clothes. (All these things have become such treasured commodities!) And right on their street was the home of Einstein, alongside 6 km of alluring boutique shops and the famous clock tower of Bern. 

They took us on a tour of the city too, and we were so happy to use the very efficient public transport system- buses, trams, and even a cable car. So brilliant to not have to find our way around with the campervan and have the added stress of expensive parking! Thank you, Ann and Helmut for your hospitality and kindness. A holiday from our holiday.