Thankful Thursday: Switzerland and Lake Como

I started this post late evening Thursday and finished when I woke early Friday morning.

This evening we are on Lake Como at a place called Menaggio at the Hotel du Lac.  In the mid 1980s I read Anita Brookner's book of the same name.  I can't recall the detail other than that it was about the people staying at the hotel. but I still have the book.  I shall try and re-read it when I get home to Lewis.

I cannot tell a lie by saying that I was not disappointed when I woke to see clouds and rain this morning.  I had hoped for a dream drive through Switzerland seeing the Alps in all their glory.  As it was what we saw was rain-shrouded mountains of awesome proportions with a few glimpses of something better.  I also drove through the St Gotthard Tunnel (the tunnel is just under 16.4 kilometres (10.2 mi) in length and is the third-longest road tunnel in the world after Norway's Lærdal Tunnel (24.5 km), and China's Zhongnanshan Tunnel (18 km).

We then drove down to Lugano on the Lake of the same name, stopped and had a coffee in a lakeside cafe and then drove over to Menaggio on Lake Como.

After booking in at the hotel we found a very friendly and typically Italian trattoria for our dinner.

Then we came back to the hotel and sat on the roof terrace overlooking the lake after nightfall with all the noises and voices in the square and harbour mingling.  It was as lovely way to spend an evening with friends as I can imagine.

So tonight I am exceptional;ly thankful for the fact that I have such wonderful friends and for the opportunity to share this experience with two of them.

I managed 350 photos today despite the rain and so on so here are a few.  Hopefully at some time I'll share some more.  The first stop was at Beckenried on Lake Lucerne.  It appears to be a popular walking centre and has the longest cable car in central Switzerland.

The A2 autobahn which was our route South through Switzerland.  An amazing feat of engineering.

Through the St Gotthard Tunnel at the rest stop in the pouring rain.  Note the magnificent mountains that you can't actually see for the mist and rain.

Then a stop for coffee at Lugano:

The cafe on the lake where we had coffee

Quite a lot of Lugano precariously perches on mountain sides

And finally Menaggio on Lake Como:

View from the hotel bar

The hotel showing the terrace on top of the hotel.  My bedroom is in the 'attic'.  The most luxurious attic bedroom I'm ever likely to sleep in.

A nightcap on the terrace overlooking the lake and the town square.  Bliss.

Arrival in Switzerland

After a very solid night's sleep in Arras we left this morning just before 0900 to drive across Northern France and into Switzerland at Basle.  Our 'target' was Leistal in Switzerland.  We had one of the most enjoyable and relaxing 400 mile (640 k) drives I've ever done.   I'm not quite sure what happened but when we got to Leistal we discovered we were actually in the centre of Sissach.  I parked and just opposite was the Hotel Zur Sonne (The Sun).  We booked in.

It's a very strange thing is travelling.  For the evening and day we were in France my French language skills seemed to be adequate and I had no problems (not that I was exactly taxed, you understand).  There was a time when my German was better than my French by quite a long way.  This evening it was as if I'd never spoken the language before in my life.  The simplest of words seemed to desert me.  Fortunately when it actually mattered they returned but that was not before a delightful lady had acted as interpreter whilst Mo and Diane sorted out what they were going to eat.

If you ever happen to be passing through Sissach in Switzerland then I would heartily recommend the 

Restaurant Wystube zum Sydebändel.  We had a wonderful evening.  The atmosphere was very friendly and the patrons were obviously frequent and very much at home with some playing cards after the meal.  As an aside this reminded me very much of the days spent in Berlin in the '80s and a visit to the Kreutsberg District - something worthy of a post in itself - and some of the establishments on the Ku'Damm (short for Kurfürstendamm) where games of all sorts were played in the evening.

  It says a lot for a place when a shop in the centre of town can leave it's display out all night.

I could not resist showing you the view from my bedroom window as I post this just before midnight UK time and just after Swiss time.

Night night.  I'll speak again tomorrow - all being well.