Despite major amounts of rain lately, you might say that Switzerland has been a highlight for us. Continual breathtaking alpine panoramas with lush green slopes looking more like groomed parks than typical farm fields. Quaint villages sprinkled about between immaculate lakeside cities like Geneva, Lucerne, Zurich, Bern, Montreux (with its amazing medieval castle “Chateau de Chillon) and Lausanne (the IOC Olympic Capital) all add up to one impressive and very beautiful country.  The Swiss people are friendly and helpful and we have been treated wonderfully. The only downside so far has been the inflated cost of just about everything and the somewhat limited camping availability compared to neighbouring countries. We were told the minimum hourly wage in Switzerland is very high and that’s why a simple cup of coffee at Starbucks can cost about $8 with a pizza and beer for two costing about $100 Canadian. We tend to eat at the motorhome as much as we can and shop the supermarkets for our culinary inspiration. Margot has done a fantastic job of learning to cook a variety of interesting and tasty dishes in the limited motorhome space. Campground choice has been limited and sometimes nonexistent, like in Basal and Davos. The famous ski resort village of Davos has special meaning to me as this is the town I worked in for a part of the winter of 1972 at the Davoserhof Hotel. So I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t spend more time showing Margot around because of the limited camping issue. Sneaky street camping was not even a remote possible considering the preparations that were under way for the yodelling contest. Now you may be thinking “Big Deal!”… and you’d be right. This small alpine town, in two days time, was about to host 10,000 yodellers from around the world and 100,000+ supporting spectators. You can imagine the temporary infrastructure going up to handle all this and the resulting organized chaos in the streets as we drove into the village. Parking was tough but camping was impossible so we headed over the mountain to Klosters where Bert had worked (and learned to ski like a pro) hoping, but unfortunately not finding, a place to camp.  We had to quickly move on before darkness so it looks like a return visit to Davos/Klosters is now on our bucket list.

Road Ramble:

Since my first ramble stated off on the topic of “Safety”, I can’t think of a better topic than “Health” for my second one. We were in a Zurich and it was late, about 1:00am and a large group of us campers were sitting in a  designated viewing area beside the lake watching the World Cup Soccer “shoot-out” between Holland and Argentina on three big televisions placed on posts in the water. To expedite my late trip to bed, I grabbed my floss, and while watching the soccer action, I began the mindless task. Bad safety judgement on my part; as the intensity of action on the screen grew, so did my flossing, Just as the Dutch scored the winning goal, I felt that awful sensation of a rough tooth from under a now missing dental cap. Margot grabbed a flashlight and we scoured the grass for my dental work to no avail. I went to bed excited for Holland and ticked about my tooth. It must have been a good balance because I slept well and when I awoke, I give the ground search one more try in the brilliant sunlight. After a few minutes of working a strategic “search grid”, I amazingly found my tiny white “cap” nestled in the grass about ten feet away from where I was sitting (Wow!). We were told that dental work in Switzerland was very expensive so we decided to drive back into Germany where we found a very kind dentist.  He actually specialized in tooth implants but after hearing my sad story he took pity and invited me into his chair. He was a pro… Zip-Zap! he had everything back to normal and we were on our way with a dental bill of only 46 Euros. Considering our free Stellplatz for the night and a cheap diesel “filled-up”, we actually broke even on the ordeal. Yes, It’s a happy ending to this frightening story, but I end with this dental safety warning to all of you… do not floss your teeth while watching horror movies or gripping sporting events.