Oberriet is a lovely small place Jan lives at now and from his apartment windows you can see Austria and Liechtenstein but the thing that was capturing Jason was the plasma tv with 175 channels! Being in another country we explored the local supermarket on our first night and of course realised we now had Swiss Francs as a currency and no longer Euros.
That night we checked the weather forecast to see what we would do the next morning and after discovering it would be overcast locally Jan let us know Italy was only a few hours away! The morning greeted us with low clouds and refreshed from having home made pizza and watching the world cup on the massive TV the night before we jumped into the car to head to Lake Como in Italy. Upon nearing the Italian border we made our way up a steep windy descent and although it was summer there was snow in the Alps.
It was an ideal chance to jump out of the car to take some photos and also time to put on beanies and very warm jackets! We made our way back down to a sleepy Italian village where we could finally spend some euros and of course enjoy Italian coffees as the sun beamed down on us in this very peaceful scene. Continuing on the long windy roads towards our destination and a habit that was to develop throughout our stay begun.....Anja falling asleep in the back of the car. :)
The scenery as we got closer to the Lake was so green and surreal and the sun shone as we made it to Menaggio a very pretty town on the western side of Lake Como. From there we strolled along the lakeside watching the interesting locals and the yachts on the lake. Being in Italy it was impossible not to sit down and have a proper pizza which was indeed as good as expected although it made it hard to make room for the even more compulsory gelato but being seasoned travellers we made the sacrifice.
The town that lends it's name Lake Como which is obviously Como was where we made our way to that afternoon to wander the streets and the Cathedral of Como (Duomo) is huge and a very daunting and impressive church. Funnily as we sat down at a cafe we realised none of us really spoke Italian assuming they would all speak English so ordering was quite a bit of a laugh but somehow we made it.
Amusingly as we left Como it was only minutes to the Switzerland border as we went back a different way where the scenery was just as amazing and as we went back to the clouds it made it more unreal like. A lot of driving had been done over a couple of days but the changing scenery seen out the car windows had made it all very much worth it.
Understandably we took it a bit easier the next day but still we went to St Gallen in the morning which is home to the Unesco World Heritage listed Abbey of St Gall in the heart of the city. Inside on the day there was a service in a smaller part so that made it even more interesting than the normal tourist set up you encounter when you visit churches.
As you do we visited some stunning Switzerland scenery for lunch as Jan took us to a favourite spot of his called St Martin where you proceed up some suitably impressive windy roads to reach an idyllic destination. We sampled for the first time a very refreshing drink called Fassbrause which is literally 'keg brew', it is a non-alcoholic German drink made from natural fruit and spices and malt extract, traditionally stored in a keg. It came in a cool looking brown bottle and combine that with wurst and pommers frites and you can't go wrong!
Having two cameras is always a bonus as we couldn't get enough of the surrounds after lunch but we had to make our way back down again and it was a one way road for certain periods of time before it switched so time was of the essence.
In the afternoon England were playing in the World Cup in the last group game so we were able to go to where Jan works in Liechtenstein for what is referred to as a "public viewing". Simply translated it is where a large group of people gather to watch on big screens a sporting match such as a football game but this was of course very popular. It was in the capital of Vaduz that we took this in and Jason was disappointed to see no real borders as he crossed into his twenty second country visited. Still it was a unique experience as this German speaking country (the only one not to share a common border) all cheered on the English as there were a few shirts in the crowd. For the record England beat Slovenia 1-0 to go through to the next round but at the same time the USA made them come second in the group making the next game for the English very interesting and unexpected (read all about it in Part 4!).
Going back over the border (a simple bridge that marked the difference) it was only fifteen minutes before we got back to Jan's apartment. Tonight though was also the final group games for Australia and Germany so the plasma was able to be split screened as we watched both games simultaneously. Both teams won but the margins were not enough for Australia to not get knocked out so it was worked out that when we arrived in London the same day Germany would play England (read all about it in Part 4!) but we still had a few more days to enjoy Switzerland.
Mt Santis is 2502 metres above sea level and was to be our destination for today after we drove through Appenzell and checked out another very pretty town in this alpine region close to where Jan lives. We were greeted by some goats in the car park that strayed from the little farm at the base. A gondola took us up to the summit as we made our way through the clouds but it was sunny and not too cold up at the top. Swisscomm has a transmission tower there which adds to it and after some fun in the snow we wanted to have some lunch in the lovely cafe whilst we could spot very adventurous hikers making their way up. Unfortunately by the time we sat down the clouds had engulfed us but that made our surrounds even more interesting and very different. The descent down through the clouds in the gondola was also something you didn't do every day as well but we made it back to the bottom without any dramas as we watched in amazement a technician perched precariously on the area where the gondola changes it's angle.
Throughout the duration of our stay in Switzerland whenever we left Oberriet we drove past the Austrian border so in the afternoon we visited Feldkirch a medieval town dating back to the 12th century and it has buildings to prove it. It was also a chance for us to indulge in some grocery shopping as there are certain limits that can be taken over the borders (if they check you!).
The next day we were off to Zurich! Anja had been a few times before when she worked in the south of Germany so we had to visit an Australian bar called the Outback Lodge which she had frequented. It was quite different to other Australian bars as it was styled in an older way than most bars and it was quite an event to have an "imported" VB. We also took advantage of a boat cruise on Lake Zurich and this was one of those times it was to Jason's advantage he didn't understand the locals!
Many streets and lanes makes Zurich such an easy place to get lost in and we could have done just that but soon it was time to head back to Jan's for our final night. It is such a quiet beautiful spot in the world as is shown in the photo of a church in Oberriet above so it was very sad to leave as we made our way to London.
Luckily Jan agreed to drive us to our airport which is in "West" Munich about 100 kilometres west in a small place called Memmingen where a former army airport has been converted for small cheap airlines.
For budget reasons we had chosen to fly with Ryan Air a famous Irish low cost airline for our flight to Gatwick so it really shouldn't have been a surprise to arrive at 7am to see a bar full of English lads still drinking beer!
We farewelled Jan reluctantly but we hope to see him sooner than later back in Australia. Standing in the line to get through security at this tiny airport behind the English lads was certainly a memorable experience and it was also the only time we were asked to pull apart our camera. As we waited for our flight we still couldn't fathom why our boarding pass said seat 90 and 91 but once we saw everyone race onto the plane we did likewise to discover it was sit wherever you could!
No other major dramas occured as we headed together to the UK but we loved how they sold scratchies and phonecards. Soon we touched down at one of London's three airports which was forty five minutes out of London and massive.
It was a beautiful hot day as we jumped on the train to head into London.
To be continued.....
