Switzerland March 2002

On our way to Italy, we were to go through several countries, including England, France and Switzerland. On our way home, we would return via Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg, France and then England. We didn't spend much time out of the bus in Switzerland, Belgium, Lux or France other than just coffee or lunch stops. We had our night stops in France, then it was back up to Scotland on another overnight journey. A lot of the Switzerland pictures were taken out the bus window doing 100kmh, so, some have reflections or are blury, or just are out of focus. It was a beautiful country, and it would be a great trip if you were into hill or mountain climbing. Next time, we will take more than 20 minutes every 2-3 hours for picture taking.

Unfortunately I don't remember where any of these pictures are, so this will be more of a scenic tour. I have grouped the picture into a couple of different groups including mountains, villages, a couple of city shots, some ruins, and a couple of lake shots.

Switzerland - City - Most of the cities we saw were mere villages. Something that you would imagine Heidi or the Ricola men (we passed by the Ricola factory by the way) would live. This is the only major city that we passed thru. There is of course Zurch, however, we got about 15 miles away from Zurch, and then had to turn off onto another road.

Switzerland - Villages - These villages have no name. They are the unknown villages. Some of them are where Heidi live, the others, where the Ricola men grew up. Other villages, are training grounds for the St. Benards carrying wine and rum to skiiers trapped by their own fluffy powder snow.

The person in the top house has it really easy to get to work or school in the winter - voosh, down the hill in 20 or 30 seconds. Getting home, sure I know - going up hill, in a blizzard, 3 miles home...

This picture could make a decent postcard - houses are in focus, mist in the hills, nice white church front center. It would be a much better picture if it wasn't for the stupid power lines that litter the country. In so many pictures, the power lines zig-zag thru the scene. I could have doctored this picture, but that would take hours. For now, just imagine that they are not there.

There was a serious developing problem with this picture. I think it was just at the end of the roll. I actually salvaged this from a bigger picture. It was probably just the first signs of my new, very expensive camera's problems to come. Unfortunately the camera only took 2.5 rolls of film before getting homesick, before going back into the shop to find another home. Switzerland really doesn't look that brown.

Wouldn't this be a great start to every day? Look out your window at the beautiful nature, sorrounded by overhanging mountains and mother nature at your doorstep.

This has two really good examples of why not to take picture from moving busses. First, you never know when a sign post will jump infront of you, making the picture from being a decent picture, to one where the viewer guesses what is on the top of the two posts. Second, you get really bad reflection and can see the outlines of the seats on the other side of the bus. Other than those two problems, it would have made an OK picture.

See? This is a much better picture than the above. Still, a moving bus, but without the reflection or posts in the way.

Wouldn't you like to live here? Beautiful mountains, and a really nice lake. Sure, this is only March, and you'd probably freeze if you went for a swim, but it looks so inviting.

Switzerland - Ruins - You don't really think of Switzerland as having ruins, like Germany or England, but here are a couple quick snaps of ruins that we found along the journey.

Switzerland - Mountains - Switzerland is probably best known for it's mountains. And, to close off this slide show, the rest of the pictures deal with mountains.

This one is kinda like Gorillas In The Mist, but playing with mountains instead.

Woah! You wouldn't be climbing that one in a day. Maybe you could after a bottle of Bucky.

As if the trees and power lines weren't enough to ruin my shot, this hotel decided to get into the act as well. I don't think I would want to stay there anyways - according to the signs, you can get gas (fair enough, but is that for me or the car?) Your car will get rained on, so leave the top up. Someone in the hotel is a basket case, and beware - something in your room will be on fire.

For some reason this little road caught my eye. I think it was partially because we were on this massive bus, and if you were to travel along that road, the bus would take up more than it's fair share. I think it just looked interesting how the road was made part of the hillside.

Switzerland - Traffic - After spending most of our morning on the twisty roads, we were greeted with a ton of stopped traffic. It seemed that there had been a really bad accident several months ago, which blocked the upcoming tunnel. The police were letting only a handful of vehicles thru and then waiting for about ten minutes. We were actually quite lucky, as we left our hotel early. Our wait was only an hour (read - oh my god). The other two tour busses left 30 minutes after us from the hotel, and were stuck for over 3 hours. As if the trip wasn't long enough. The tunnel that we were to go thru is one of the longest in the world, totalling over 30 miles. I really don't know why the police weren't letting more people go through, as once we were past the road block, we were cruising all the way. On our way home, knowing of this little detour, our tour guide knew of the old route. Instead of having to wait another 3 hours like the other busses, we had a senic drive thru three towns, arriving on the other side of the detour. When we arrived at the hotel, our tour guide had a really nasty phone call from another guide that was stuck for 4 hours in traffic.

Goodbye from Switzerland, and here's hoping that if you get the chance to go, that the roads will be clear. Good night all.