The-PITTSTOP

August 4: Interlaken, Switzerland

We drove south through central Switzerland from Luzerne to Interlaken - a huge tourist area squeezed between two beautiful lakes.

We stopped for lunch next to the northern part of the lake - talk about dining with a View! (pun intended)

We found a great campground in a valley south of Interlaken rimmed with snow-capped mountains.

Driving through the little town, we had to share the narrow roads with bicycles, buses, pedestrians, campers and cars.

The valley is known for its hundreds of waterfalls

In the campground

Typical home in the valley with loads of flowers.

We are Home! Catch-Up Updates to Follow

We arrived home safe and sound Monday evening. As many of you know, we had some challenges and opportunities that we could have done without.

We could not update the blog because we had three systems fail on us - the propane (powers generator, refrigerator, stovetop), the batteries (powers lights, refrigerator, water pump, fan), and most importantly, our magic voltage converter box that allowed us to plug our 110 volt RV into the 240 volt European electrical system that normally powers everything electric while we are stopped at a campground. We managed some fixes, but we were always critically low on energy, so could not charge the computer I needed to download our photos off the camera and update the blog.

I will catch everyone up with all the gory disaster details plus some fabulous photos from the last part of our trip covering more Switzerland, more Germany, a little Italy, and lots of Holland once I have reacquainted myself with our South Carolina timezone.

Sunday, August 3: Luzerne, Switzerland

Lake Luzerne Ferry

We woke to beautiful blue skies, but by the time we were ready to go downtown, thunderheads were all around. We took a ferry from a dock next to the campground to downtown Lucerne and walked around in the rain, admiring the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower that were part of the town's defenses from the 1500's and wandered around the old town.

Swans, swans and more swans on Lake Luzerne

Many, many bicycles

The Tower was used as a prison, guardhouse, and torture chamber

The Chapel Bridge - part of the town's early defenses. All decked out in flowers. We walked the entire length where they have old paintings on wooden plaques telling the history of the town

Ironwork marking many storefronts on the old town

Painted Frescoed Buildings were Beautiful

Language has been a problem here. Although many speak English, there are few signs in English. I liked this one - translation: Restaurant serves food all day.

Jack stopped at a chocolatier and picked up an assortment of barks and we found a baker to get a nice loaf of bread to have with dinner. We caught another ferry back and this time it was an old-time steamboat side-wheeler....

Steam engine viewable from above with the paddle wheel through the window in the back.

Saturday, August 2: Lake Constance to Lake Luzerne

Woke to a cloudy morning and by the time we were ready to leave, it was raining. We drove across the top of the Lake and then south, going from Germany to Switzerland and back to a small slice of Germany before staying in Switzerland. When we crossed the Swiss border, no border patrol was there and we sailed right through. I knew that we needed a highway sticker to travel the major highways, so we stopped at a gas station and paid 40 Euro. An hour later when we were leaving Switzerland, the border patrol stopped us and told us we had the wrong sticker. After some paperwork and language confusion, we got everything straightened out. It actually cost us a little less, but we need an overweight vehicle sticker good for seven days, not the whole year.

We spent some time strongly conversing with the GPS about where it thought a grocery store would be, but it won and we had to abandon the idea after traveling miles out of our way. Back on track, we drove south through the middle of Switzerland to Lake Luzerne. We stopped at a campground on the Lake, got our spot then headed out again to find a large grocery store. No good. This is a tourist area and all the stores are small with little or no parking. The good part was we got to drive for a good 10 miles north along the lakefront – beautiful.

Friday, August 1: Black Forest to Lake Constance

We woke to the tinkling bells of the whole herd of cows coming out of the barn and into the field – we smiled a lot!

We left the campsite and drove south on through the southern part of the Black Forest to Konstanz, Germany on Lake Constance. The lake sits between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The traffic into the city was horrendous and we could find no place to park. We found that we had tried to get into town on Switzerland's National Day and a massive fireworks display was to happen that evening.

We gave up on trying to get into the city proper and headed back north along the lake to a campground right at the northern tip. Lots of sailboats and folks enjoying the small lakeside beach a the campground. We enjoyed a nice afternoon of sunshine on Lake Constance.

Thursday, July 31: Colmar, France to Black Forest (Furtwangen)

We drove east across the Rhine into Germany through beautiful rolling hills eventually becoming dark pine-covered high slopes. We kept seeing these huge square buildings that appeared to be hotels and/or restaurants, but there were so many of them! We finally figured out that they were farmhouses with barns and outbuildings all in one huge building. We could tell the home from the outbuildings when we looked close because the home portion at pretty lace curtains in the windows.

We stopped in the touristy town of Triberg, known as the heart of the Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks. We shopped about five different stores with hundreds of hand-made clocks – most traditional, but also some modernized ones that ranged from under $100 to well over $5,000. Jack decided on one that both of us liked and had it shipped directly home.

Our rural campground

Now that is a Bell!

We continued south through the Black Forest to a very small rural campground on the side of a hill. We kept hearing tinkling bells, but couldn't find the source until we realized that the cows in the adjacent field all were wearing large bells around their necks! After that, every time we heard a bell, we would smile.....

Wednesday, July 30: Colmar, Alsace-Lorraine, France

Yesterday we woke to a light steady rain. We filled with fresh water and drove ¼ mile away to an Aire where we could dump both our black and gray tanks and then stopped yet another Wal-Mart type store called E.LeClercs for a few groceries. We were going to continue on the wine trail south to Colmar, but the mist rain and fog in the foothills made us rethink that and we headed down the expressway directly to Colmar.

The sculptor of the State of Liberty was born here in Colmar and they have this mini statue at the entrance of the city

We got a campsite right on the canal in the city's marina where we stayed the rest of the day while it rained steadily all day. We enjoyed watching the duck-like birds cruise the canal and then we were treated to a playful river otter feeding.

This "New Jersey" camper showed up in the campground, but I never got to talk with the owner..

This morning, we decided to go into town regardless of the threatening weather to see the old section of the city. We walked about 1 mile into town and found the visitor center when it began to rain pretty hard. We decided to take a mini train ride around the city with English taped commentary. It was not very good – it did describe a few of the old buildings we passed, but gave no real history of the city and played a lot of music.

Our lunch cafe

We walked back to a couple of the buildings to get some photos and stopped for lunch at a river-side cafe in the section called Petite Venice. It didn't look anything like Venice, but it was pretty with colorful half-timbered homes along the canal and bridges festooned with flowers.

Brussels presented this mini Mannekin Pis to Colmar as a friendship gesture

Now this is a great stylized water tower!

We spent most of the day ambling about the city (that's what you call it when you are lost most of the time due to the winding streets and inability to read 'you are here' maps.... We got back to the RV late afternoon for a nap and when we awoke, the dark heavy skies were getting higher, promising better weather tomorrow when will cross the river back into Germany to explore the Black Forest.

Monday, July 28: Ribeauville, Alsace-Lorraine

Woke to threatening skies, but it is not supposed to rain until this afternoon, so we decided to stay on at this campground an extra day so we could tour the village and spend the afternoon doing laundry and internet.

Loved this village - here are lots of photos!