Switzerland

Heading for Zurich we pass through firstly the German border into Austria, then back into Germany and finally into Switzerland - firstly stopping off at Winterthur in a lovely pub carpark to cut Gary's hair and have lunch, in that order. Gary sitting on the step of Molly, without his T shirt on as I cut his hair, caused quite a stir from passing motorists (we were at a major junction) some tooting, some giving the thumbs up - it was quite a spectacle to behold.

Making sure we were at least mildly presentable we headed off to Huntwangen Switzerland, just outside of Zurich, to stay a few delightful days with Markus and Livia. We were only intending to stay two nights but that slowly increased to four, with some help from Livia, and we so enjoyed ourselves spending time with them. The first evening we had a fabulous dinner with Livia's mother and father, sister and new brother-in-law, their friends Reudi and Nadine and a couple of rogue policemen - one of whom was Markus. Livia put on a fantastic meal in a beautiful setting and it was very special reconnecting with everyone almost one year to the day of our first meeting. We spent a lot of time being lazy, chatting and generally getting caught up - hugging Pepo and Sydney was high on the list as well. Gary did lots of good long, uphill walks with Markus and the dogs and Livia and I did short ones. The weather was hot with plenty of sunshine. This was just what we needed - good company, plenty of laughter, warm sunshine, relaxation and good wine. Oh yes and plenty of Grappa for Gary!!!!!!!!

Our next treat was a visit to a Japanese restaurant in a cute little village in Germany. Here the German border is possibly only 5 minutes away but unfortunately i cannot remember the name of either the restaurant or the village. It was "all you can eat" for a fixed price but you do not face the food train you are side on to it so the two people closest to this revolving food heaven are at the beck and call of the two people sitting beside them. Now this is OK but..........the food train whizzes round really fast, you then have to open two sliding doors and deftly grab the requested plate. Markus has this down to a T (obviously he has been many times before) but me? Nah! Also the food is coming round towards Markus - he can see it coming miles away - but I have my back to it which is a definite disadvantage. By the time it registers that Gary has seen and has then asked for a specific dish it has gone past and is just out of reach. Solution? Grab as much as you can, when you can, and surround yourself with little plates of food you can both share.....easy! OMG though it looked sooooo greedy! Once icecream started coming round I knew Gary would be happy?????? It was a great evening and a place I would love to go back to.

Our time went quickly with our two happy friends and once again it was time for us to say goodbye and head off into the sunset. This was quite hard for both of us as we are unsure when we might see them again. Thank you once again Markus, Livia, your wonderful family and friends for such an amazing few days. Next time New Zealand?????

From Huntwangen we drove to Locarno, Lake Maggiore close to the Swiss Italian border driving through a 17km tunnel to get there. Strolling around the Old town that evening we discussed, over a glass of wine of course, giving Italy another go. We did not enjoy Italy last time round but driving around the lake and down the west side of it into Italy seemed a good compromise and hopefully a better outcome. We will let you know in due course.