Day 7 - Cortina - Interlarken (Switzerland)

(written by Craig)

Lyn's excitement at moving on to yet another adventure, sees her waking up at 5am. So she leaves Craig to sleep and takes the camera out to catch some early morning shots. We have quickly learnt that the best photos are taken at dawn or dusk, so our strange sleep patterns have a benefit afterall.

By 9am we were packed up and on our way to see Lyn's sister-in-law, in Switzerland. Travelling via Austria which we'd heard is so picturesque. In northern Italy not far from the border we came across our first frozen lake, spying from a distance. We took a road off to explore this new sight. It ended up being a picture perfect postcard view and the camera got a lot of use!! The photo above was one of these shots ... almost unreal!!

Leaving the lake we head towards the Italy/Austrian border, nervously awaiting border patrol and customs with our passports at the ready. Tomtom tells us the border is within the next 10kms, as we speed down the Autostrade. Eventually a 'Wild Bean Cafe' sign catches our eye and we decide we'll have our last Italian Espresso Cafe before hitting Austria. As I get to the counter to order I suddenly realise the lady is not speaking Italian, but something very German sounding... without knowing we have actually entered Austria, so much for border patrol!!

If we were to describe Austria in 3 words we would say ... Fog! ... Traffic Jams!! ... and Tunnels!! These 3 words lead us to wanting to reach Switzerland all the faster. One excitement in the trip was seeing an Austrian ambulance and later in the trip a Swiss Ambulance ... of course both being frantically photographed by Lyn!

We arrived in Interlarken, Switzerland to a stunning sunset, using up an entire camera chip in one day (over 500 photos). Arriving at Romy's place at around 6pm, big hugs shared and a fantastic catchup with her. (being over a year since Lyn last saw her and with never having visited her country before) She had a perfect little flat that just happened to be empty of tenants for the few days we are visiting her.

Romy also treated us to a traditional Swiss dinner tradition ... "Raclette": Using a table top mini oven to make melted swiss cheeses which we poured over baked potatoes and added condiments, like pineapple, gherkin, pickled onions, garlic etc. I announced to Lyn "we HAVE to get one of these... the kids are gonna love this!!"