Into Switzerland

Wed 30 Aug

Casual morning but still up early (funny, my auto spell checker made that word 'wearily' as if it had read my mind!) and MF1 and I went for a nice morning walk around Johannismarkt which is the neighbourhood where we are staying (named after the church St. Johann). Quiet still because main shops don't open until 10 a.m., except for cafes and, interestingly, the hairdressers or coiffeurs (of which there seem to be many!).

I did the same walk after breakfast with MF2 to show him around. It is a very pretty town.

Nice breakfast back at the hotel; the reception guy is a delight; he has just returned from living in Switzerland near the Italian border for 15 years.

We walk to the station, stopping to get sandwiches and water along the way. Great start to our journey is that our first train (albeit an hour earlier than originally planned) is now a TGV which would normally be much more expensive but we have had our ticket stamped 'gültig ohne Zugbindung'; I love the way the Germans put capital letters on words - in this case I think it is a pretty important word because basically I think this means we can journey as we please 'without tie' which means TGV or whatever - because of the problem of the track works at the border.

MF2 has his headphones on and eyes shut seemingly oblivious to our bonus TGV journey to our first stop at Mannheim!

We pass through towns, forests, lots of tunnels, even a station called Frachenstein😂!!

We have a 20 minute delay along the way (due to 'a vehicle in front of the train' so we miss our connection at Mannheim. The next train about 35 minutes later is then delayed 30 minutes - fortunately I was checking our info board on the platform and couldn't see it scheduled and got a wonderful station attendant fortunately (blonde, pretty and spoke perfect English) who explained that the train was delayed but that there was another due in a few minutes on another platform - so off to another platform very quickly (lugging suitcases up and down stairs between platforms)!! Chaos seems to be the order of the day!!

This train took us to Rastatt where we required the bus. I have found more information now on the tunnel problem:
'On the 12th of August, a land slip at the construction site of the new 4.27 kilometer tunnel being built at Rastatt caused major damage to the construction site and adjacent railway track. A twenty kilometer stretch of railway from Rastatt to Karlsruhe on one side, and Rastatt to Basel on the other side, has become inaccessible for train traffic.'
I have been spending much of my time today on the internet (thank goodness the trains so far have had internet) planning timetables ahead as our schedule is now completely kaput!

The race by all mankind to get on the buses is like what I imagine station scenes during the war would have been like. Totally insane. Every man and his dog (and there WAS one!) trying to get on board. Buses without compartments for luggage! EVERYONE has luggage. People are sitting, standing, propping on their bags in the aisle. Bus after bus fills up. As I say, like a war zone. (And thank goodness we hired bikes; this would have been a nightmare if we had brought our own!).

So into Baden-Baden by bus we arrive and onto a train to Basel (Switzerland). The Milka chocolate I had been saving from being eaten by the MFs for the past week made a welcome appearance as an afternoon snack.

A hugely long tunnel before Basel. Train was fast and smooth BUT it slowed down just before arrival into Basel and of course it arrived a few minutes late and - so we missed our next connection AGAIN.

Next train to Zurich - by now we would arrive an hour later than scheduled. What a day. I was hot, sweaty, feeling desperately in need of a shower. Train was very crowded with little space for suitcases. To this point we should have had a pleasant trip on two trains; instead we had 4 plus a bus.

And we had yet another train to Zug - a total of 5.

It was one those days where the transfer times got narrower, the trains came in late and it reminded me of one of those nightmares where you have a ball rolling down the hill behind you: as you try running away, it gets faster and bigger threatening to run you over - then you wake in a sweat. Or am I thinking of a Road Runner cartoon?

Of course Zurich station is huge so it took more than a few minutes to work out where everything was - plus, just as we sighted the ticket machines, a long line of young Swiss Army cadets - all loaded up with sub-machine guns and dressed to the hilt in khaki - marched across the station concourse in front of us; we didn't dare to break rank (we didn't see anyone else do so either!) so we waited, and we waited.

Finally got to ticket machine (such an extraordinary price to pay to just go a relatively short way to Zug - we paid less to come all this way from Saarbrücken!). But this IS Switzerland!

AND OF COURSE WE MISSED OUR CONNECTION. So, another wait and then onto a very crowded train - we scrambled for seats (nowhere really for luggage - AGAIN) and half an hour later we were in Zug. What a day! Feeling very hot and bothered!

But how wonderful - there on the platform waiting was Gilbert, with a smile bigger than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. That smile made it all worthwhile. It was so wonderful to see him. Many hugs and handshaking (if you're a guy, that is!). He whisked us away and we stopped briefly to leave our luggage, get the keys and say a brief 'hi' to our AirBnB host - Mirjam is very nice.

Then dinner with Sabine and Gilbert and Elodie. Elodie is so tall! Six years since we've seen them last and she is now 9 with a very nice tortoise-shell cat called Milo.

We had a lovely evening - a late night ending with grappa. Walked back to our AirBnB - it is just 10 minutes away - and fell into bed.