We’re back, baby.
Back in France, from Italy via Switzerland and Germany.
In Australia, you can drive all day and be lucky to see 2 states. Unless you visit Cameron’s Corner where you can see three, but that’s cheating.
But today, we had breakfast in Italy, lunch in Switzerland, afternoon coffee in Germany, and dinner in France.
I’m tired just thinking about. Yet we only drove about 450km.
We were up early so we could leave early. We told Fabio – out host – that we expected we’d be gone by 8.30am. At 8.30 I was finishing loading Claude when a car pulled up beside me and a guy jumped out to introduce himself .. “Hi, I’m Fabio …”
Fabio’s place is very nice. We learned that while he lives a short distance away, his parents live directly below. I hope we didn’t say anything bad about him 😞
There is a train line that goes right past the apartment block – I mean, directly next to it, but all you get is a bit of a rumbling sound each time the train goes past. No screeching of brakes, or tooting of train whistles … but with the constant rain, each time it went past I thought it was thunder.
Some hosts provide the minimal amount that they have to, but Fabio provided a fabulous selection of cups, crockery, cutlery, and cooking stuff. All good quality stuff too, where you don’t get the feeling that he’d furnished it from shopping at Lifeline.
Plus he had enough spare toilet paper in the cupboard to survive a COVID-19 pandemic.
We got away from Fabio’s place around 8.40 and hit the road. Getting away from Milan was stress-free. The sun was shining and all of the crazies were having a sleep-in.
All of the crazies, except for me. I was driving towards France.
As forecast, the trip was uneventful. We went through a few tunnels and eventually saw Como in the distance, so we decided to stop and have a look at Lake Como. It’s a really pretty spot on the lake, and we had a stroll around the waterfront and stretched our legs.
We have been quite taken with the ricotta and truffle oil pesto paste we bought, and we saw a supermarket on the way out of Como and thought we’d stop to see if we could get some more to take home.
They didn’t have that exact paste, but we did buy some bread rolls for lunch, some pistachio croissants for … well, for whenever, and some milk and other boring stuff.
Claude was loaded up again and we headed out of Como.
A few minutes after leaving Como we hit some roadworks, or maybe something else going on. We weren’t sure. Traffic was being diverted and there were Police there, and then we realised that we had just crossed into Switzerland.
We made a bit of a tactical blunder because we hadn’t considered if there were any toll road requirements in Switzerland, so … better late than never.
Although, to be frank, late really wasn’t a good option either, when you read that you must have purchased a vignette (pass) before entering Switzerland, or risk a hefty fine.
So we purchased an eVingette. It appears that the vingette is just a pass to allow you to use the motorways, and it is not enforced through toll points or cameras. It is only checked if you are pulled over by the police and asked to show evidence where you could come unstuck.
We didn’t want to break any rules or risk a fine, so we bought one. About AUD$75 which is good for the year, even though we only need it for a few hours.
Today was tunnel day, and we went through some spectacular ones. We suspected that we were approaching a tunnel because there was a big mountain ahead of us, and the traffic was slowing to 80km/h.
As we slowed, 4 Lamborghinis went past in formation. Probably a bit of a bugger to be driving a Lamborghini and be limited to 80km/h, but it is what it is.
So as we were entering the tunnel, the sign said it was 16,942m long. Nearly 17km!!
Do you know how long it takes to drive through a 17km long tunnel at 80km/h? About 15 minutes.
As a side note, do you know how long it takes to drive through a 17km long tunnel at 80km/h in a Lamborghini? About 15 minutes.
If you have any anxieties or phobias that are triggered by tunnels, a 17km long tunnel is not a good place to be. It was actually quite confronting to think that if there was a breakdown or (God forbid) a collapse, a walk out of the tunnel could potentially be anything up to 8.5km, and that is a bit scary.
Best not to think about it.
But we made it out safely, and it was nice to see sunlight again.
It’s a funny thing – some of these tunnels are so long that you can have one weather system (sunny with blue skies) when you go in one side, and a completely different weather system (cloudy with rain) when you come out the other side.
We stopped for lunch in a little place called Gurtnellen in Switzerland for lunch. Such a pretty and picturesque little village, but very cold – maybe 10°C.
We were keen to stop in Lucerne, but the traffic and crowds were against us, so we told Joséphine to keep heading towards France.
We stopped for a cup of tea somewhere still in Switzerland, then went through another significant tunnel that was about 10km long.
We were of the belief that we would exit Switzerland and be deposited into France … but we were wrong. I should have paid more attention in year 8 Geography.
Another border check point – without any checking – and we found ourselves in Germany. I had read on the DFAT website that all border crossings into Germany were used to check passports, but ours wasn’t.
Once again we were woefully under-prepared for toll road requirements, so we jumped off the motorway to stop for coffee and do some research.
We’ve only had one decent coffee this morning, and mine was via a coffee bag, so only half decent.
You have to understand that we had a serious excess of coffee yesterday, and so we were suffering withdrawals today.
MBW sourced a coffee shop nearby that was open (… don’t forget it is Easter Friday, but I suspect it isn’t celebrated in any meaningful way here).
Once again we were woefully unprepared, as we had failed to learn any German. So ordering 2 coffees could be tricky.
And tricky it was. The cafe owners spoke next to no English, and we speak virtually no German.
In fact, the only German word I know is “Gesundheit” (when someone sneezes), and I couldn’t envisage any conversation involving ordering coffee where that word could be helpful.
But as luck would have it, the lady cafe owner was Italian, and MBW knows enough Italian to be dangerous (or at least to order coffee), so we were good.
2 coffees and one piece of pistachio pie to share please.
2 pieces of pistachio pie and 2 coffees turned up, so I suspect that MBW only knows enough Italian to be dangerous.
Probably close to the best coffee I’ve had in a long time. I like these Germans.
We decided to use their facilities and – once again – realised how unprepared we were for Germany. There was a word written on each of the toilet doors, and we didn’t recognise either of the words. A quick glance inside both toilets, and one had a urinal … so that clarified which one was the men’s.
We continued on to Colmar to our AirBNB and checked in. Not the best AirBNB we’ve been in, but not the worst either. This one does feel as though it was furnished by Lifeline.
And for an apartment with a “single level and no stairs”, I was disappointed having to haul our suitcases up a flight of stairs to get to our single level apartment. There goes one full star from our review rating.
We went for a wander around Colmar once we’d arrived, and it is such a pretty little place. I feel like we (myself and MBW) are Hansel and Gretel.
Pasta again for dinner tonight, and tomorrow we are going to fill up Claude for probably the last time, and do a day trip. We are here for 3 nights, so we might go back into Germany just so we can take Claude on the Autobahn and see how fast he can go.
We are both feeling a little travel-weary tonight, so it will be an early one, for me at least.
Only 9 more days and we will be heading home.
Sad face emoji.
But 9 more days of boulangeries.
Happy face emoji.
Ciao
#Europe2025
What an amazing day you had! Beautiful scenery. I would not like the long tunnels! Seeing the countryside in spring must be a bonus!! Safe travelling