Gullibles Travels: Franc-ly Swiss

Our passage into to Switzerland was aided by a professional table tennis player from Poland who couldn't speak English but happened to have a couple of spare seats in his car. Unfortunately he dropped us off on the side of the road somewhere in Switzerland that we are yet to identify and left us to fend for ourselves.

We had our first couch surfing experience in Switzerland. Couch surfing is an internet based forum where peole offer their spare couch to travellers for the night (www.couchsurfing.com). The idea is that you then offer your couch to others when able. Our first night in Zurich we stayed with a girl called Alma who lived in Winterthur. She looked after us incredibly well not only making us dinner and breakfast but also preparing a snack for us on our onward train journey. We would definitely recommend couchsurfing to others who are planning on travelling as a fantastic way to meet local people and get insider information as well as saving money! Incredibly we unexpectedly stumbled upon our next couch surfing host from Liechtenstein while we were still in Switzerland! We were all staying in the same hostel and he recognised Renee's photo when we were both cooking in the communal kitchen.

From Zurich we travelled to Notwill, a small town set on a magnificent lake, that is home to the worlds best spinal cord injury unit. We were given a personalised tour of the facility for an entire morning by the head of physiotherapy department and her assistant. Most impressive were the gait devices (mechanical assisted walking on a treadmill) worth over $250,000 , the swimming pool that could have its depth adjusted, and the hippotherapy facilities (unfortunately all the hippos were out that day!) It definitely made Shenton Park look very basic.

The scenery around the unit was stunningly majestic. We perched ourselves on the end of a jetty over the lake and ate our picnic in total isolation. The jetty then became the site of stage one of Tim's beautician / barber experience, (beard trim), performed by Renee. Stage two (the haircut) commenced on the balcony of our hostel!

Site of Tim's much needed haircut - it may not be the best one he's ever had, but it's definitely the most scenic

From Notwil we travelled to Lucerne, which is a medievel old town with ancient rampart walls and towers set on a gorgeous lake, surrounded by snow capped mountains. It even comes complete with medievil markets on the weekends run by a group of people who like getting dressed up in period clothing and selling axes! We were very impressed with the beauty of the town, it being the first place to rival our favourite country (Laos) in scenery - however when it comes to value for money Switzerland isn't even in the competition!!

Lucerne's postcard pretty scenery with a pin up boy in front (note the stunning new haircut!)

Apparently the most well known monument of Lucerne, Kapellebrucke or Chapel Bridge dating from the 1300's ... I'd never seen it before (but have been told I live in a cultural black hole!)

It's also the most photographed monument... so we thought we should include two pictures

On the other side of the lake is the dying lion monument, carved beautifully into the side of the hill. It is probably the most impressive sculpture we have seen so far - with so much expression and such a difficult place to work (not to mention that you only get one attempt. It's not as if you can easily get another piece of mountain to replace a mistake.)

Dying Lion Monument (in memory of Swiss mercinaries) - For scale purposes, the Lion is approx 2m high and 6m long!

Near the Lion Monument is the Gletschergarten or Glacier Garden. This was found some years ago by a Swiss fellow who was planning to build a wine cellar. In the process of excavation he discovered glacier tracks in the ground into which he was digging. The wine cellar idea was quickly abandoned and instead the glacier garden was uncovered. Most incredible were the giant glacial potholes created when the movement of the glacier over the ground trapped a "marble" or rock and spiralled it down into the earth. These apparently provide proof that this area of Switzerland was once a prehistoric subtropical palm beach.

Giant glacial pothole in the glacier garden

A highlight of Switzerland was a day trip to the town of Engelburg. Even the train ride up to the town was an incredible experience, though this paled in comparison to the triple cable car ride needed to reach the peak of Mt Titlis at just over 3000m. Despite Tim having jokingly made many comments about the name and it's reference to female anatomy, it was confirmed for us that the mountain was actually named due to it's supposed similarity to a woman's breasts!! At the top we were able to walk/stumble/slide out onto the glacier although we only tolerated about ten minutes at a time as it was freezing cold. We also explored a glacial cave which is a constant -3 degrees all year and has been carved out 25m below the glacier.

The cows in this part of the world must go stark raving mad! There is the constant sound of cow bells ringing and each of the beasts has one strung around their neck, even if they are enclosed in a paddock. Every time the poor creature moves it's head the bell sounds. It's a pleasant sound initially, but 24hours a day right next to your ear would be a bit much to take!

The very picturesque town of Engelberg

Aweseome snow drifts being lifted off the peaks of Mt Titlus above Engelburg

Our cable car breaking out of the clouds as we descend Mt Titlus
(Evidence, Tim says, that he no longer has his head in the clouds)

We also visited St Gallens on our way out to Liechtenstein (having been unsuccessful in trying to meet up with my Swiss friend Veronique who I met in Montreal four years ago). The little town had it's origins in 612AD with an Irish monk called Gallen, a bear and a bush. When the itinerant monk fell into a bush he interpreted it as a sign from God and built a hermitage there (and legend would have you believe he achieved this with the help of a passing bear??)

The town had a gorgous, cobbled, pedestrian only old town that lacks only one thing - Fondu! We went on a great search for this famous traditional meal only to find a solitary fondu restaurant, that was inconveniently open only in winter, amongst an abundance of kebab shops.

In Lucerne we found a mirror maze which occupied the two of us for hours (as you can see from the photos at the bottom of the blog)