On Friday 6th we left Tübingen reasonably early and drove through the Swiss border to Winterthur where Simone was living. I was very excited about seeing her again and she’d taken the day off work for us. We collected her and she suggested we go to a vegetarian restaurant in town for lunch before carrying on – she said it was different to what we get in NZ and much more choice and she was so right! They had all these amazing salads and hot dishes and little bits and pieces laid out as a buffet and you just take a bit of whatever you want then take your plate (or takeaway dish) and they charge you by weight. It wasn’t cheap, but then my plate was pretty full too because I wanted to try all the yummy-looking food! So we had a delicious lunch before we decided to drive to Lucerne and have a look there before heading to her parents near Interlaken.
Don’t much like this photo of me, but it’s the only one of us together and it was so cool so see her
Unfortunately being Friday afternoon by this stage the roads were quite busy – Simone said lots of people finish work early on Fridays – so it took us a while to get to Lucerne and it was starting to get dark by the time we arrived. But the drive was really beautiful once we got off the big motorways and into the more hilly and windy roads – Switzerland is an amazing place. In Lucerne we walked across the famous covered bridge and just looked at the amazing view, then had a bit of a wander around town and managed to resist buying anything despite all the bright shiny shops.
When we arrived at Simone’s parents house in Goldswil (near Interlaken) they had dinner organised, but first we had drinks and nibbles. Simone’s parents are lovely, all weekend her mother Judith prepared beautiful food and wouldn’t let me help at all, her father Rudi shared his wine with us and they made the effort to speak English with us and make us feel comfortable. We had a great evening just eating, drinking and talking, and sorting out what we going to do the next day.
Reece got his own room and his own bathroom even, and Simone and I shared a room upstairs 🙂 Their house is really nice, it was the house Rudi grew up in and instead of buying or building a new house they decided to renovate so now the living area is more open plan and they have a modern kitchen, and there’s a even basement level with a storeroom rivalling my parent’s walk-in pantry! Only difference is Rudi had a lot of wine in his and I think my parents have way more preserved fruit instead!
Once again the central heating was great, Simone and I chose to have our window open so we didn’t get too hot overnight. Off to bed – Schilthorn tomorrow!