Day 15 - Newcastle

Very sad to leave our lovely hotel, but we need to go home today. Crans Montana to Geneva via the hotel in Geneva to pick up my iPad which I left behind, day 1.

We drove back the quick way after a leisurely start to the day, we really didn't want to leave Crans Montana, especially the hotel. Guarda Golf - got to come back. Staff so friendly and the amenities are second to none.

No dramas getting to Geneva and after 14 days John is an expert at navigating the trams and Geneva drivers, the lovely concierge had my iPad ready, he even said he had charged it on the day i left it behind.

We got to the airport on time, left our car behind and waited for check in to open only to find that we were on the 19:15 flight and not the 17:15 flight we thought we were on. Luckily for us the lovely man got us transferred, this means we will have a longer lay over in Amsterdam - the method in our madness is that our bags will have more chance to catch up with our flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle. Fingers crossed.

Some photos from the drive back.

The Grand Tour and Switzerland- our thoughts, learnings and take-aways.

Driving

Apart from Geneva, the driving in Switzerland is very very polite and respectful - even for silly tourists going up one-way streets the wrong way! I hadn't heard anyone use their horn and John said he heard someone use their horn twice in the entire 15 days. Although not the law, it seems the etiquette is to give way to pedestrians crossing the road, or let oncoming cars that want to turn go. On the motorway, there is no hogging of the fast lane, drivers overtake and then go straight into the slow lane again. There is a lot of money in Switzerland and even the Lamborghini's, Ferraris, and Porsches drive the speed limit.

They take pride in their roundabouts, I couldn't photograph them all, the photos above were on a roundabout at Crans Montana - who is hosting the European PGA Event next week. Topiary of golfers. There were models of stories, statues, flowers. hedges, and sculpture's - just incredible and shows a sense of pride in the way their roads or towns are represented.

When there are lane changes for roadworks, they paint orange lines to show you the new way to go - very effective once you have worked it out.

Their Toll system is so simple - pay CHF40 per year and that's it! Use any Toll road, no bills, no tags, no fuss.

The price of petrol in Switzerland is the same as it is in Aus but in Swiss Francs - very pricey.

The road infrastructure is unbelievable and the roads, so well maintained.

Leaf blowers

They are electric much to John's enjoyment. Switzerland generally has quiet stuff, the buses are electric trolley buses, trains are electric and quite a few are now run on solar. There is even a law that you cannot make too much noise on Sunday - I am serious.

One of the Sunday laws is to be as quiet as possible during this day. You aren’t allowed to mow the grass, you can’t hang laundry, and you cannot recycle your trash. Switzerland is known for its recycling laws, but not on Sundays. If you are caught sending out the trash to the recycle centers close to you, you will be fined. If you cannot pay the fine, you can choose the option of a few days in jail. Yikes! So, the best you could do is relax, stay at home with your family or friends, go out for a walk, and enjoy your Sunday.

Switzerland

Switzerland is a federation. This means that Switzerland is made up of 26 cantons, and each of them has a set of different laws. While some laws are general, there are a few specific to the region you are thinking of moving into or visiting. For this reason, you need to check out the different requirements depending on the location you’re headed to.

There is no Prime Minister or Head of State, there is a President of the Confederation. He or she is the head of Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council, the country's executive branch. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the officeholder chairs the meetings of the Federal Council and undertakes special representational duties.

"First among equals", the president of the Confederation has no powers over and above the other six councillors and continues to head the assigned department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority; the vice president of the Federal Council assumes the presidency the year after the officeholder's tenure. The president of the Confederation is not the head of state because the entire Federal Council is the collective head of state.

There are four official languages in Switzerland French, German, Italian and Romanish. One day Uscita means Exit, the next day Sortie means Exit and on another day Ausfart means exit. To ask for the bill could be "L’addition, s’il vous plaît", “Zahlen bitte!” or il conto per favore. Amazing that such a small space 41,285 km² - for comparison Australia is 7.688 million km² and England is 130,279 km². I guess that this may be the reason that it is so small and has so many neighbours that their languages spilled over the borders.

The Italian parts are very Italian and you do not feel like you are in Switzerland, this is from the cuisine to the maintenance of the buildings. The German and the French parts, still feel very Swiss and are maintained impeccably.

Very surprised about the amount of agriculture in Switzerland and the high percentage of Grape Vines. I was never familiar with Switzerland being a wine-producing country. We have had a few Swiss wines and really enjoyed them. We recommend if given the opportunity you give them a go.

SIM Cards

I researched this quite extensively, being away more than 30 days presents an issue with a Prepaid SIM card, as you want to be able to recharge. I managed to find a Pre-paid SIM card for the UK & Europe that can be re-charged. Perfect, not so if it doesn't work. These SIM Cards are costing us GBP15 per month, for 2 weeks in Switzerland it cost us CHF30. We are still trouble-shooting with the SIM Card Company as to why they are not working. Lucky I worked int he Telco industry and know what all the settings are - buyer beware.

Audi Navigation systems

I will not buy an Audi unless they change their Nav system. Very clever that you can write your destination and it has an e-sim so it always alerts you to issues and can change your route. But it's navigational maps are quite dodgy for Switzerland - seriously could have got into serious trouble if we followed her all the time. It loves tractor tracks and agricultural roads!

Heatwave in Europe

As you all drown in NSW and Freeze in WA - we are experiencing record-breaking temperatures here. John has been following this closely, whilst it gave us 15 perfect days in Switzerland - there are severe consequences. For any Climate change sceptics out there - how about these impacts?.

1. The Glaciers in Switzerland have been melting due to the extreme heat, there was a body discovered in Zermatt on the Glacier the day before we arrived, there was another body discovered elsewhere and even a plane. They must have been lost in storms years ago only to defrost now.

2. Switzerland relies on Hydro Electric Power for its Electricity supply. Hydro Electric power is generated from fast-flowing water and lots of it - with these hot temperatures the water flow is greatly reduced impacting the generation of its power.

3. In France they rely on Nuclear Power, Nuclear Power Stations rely on river water to cool it's nuclear reactors - when the rivers are drying up - it is quite a challenge and if the reactor isn't kept cool well that in itself is a disaster.

Source: John Thompson - font of all knowledge!

The Grand Tour learnings

The only thing we would change is to have packing cubes to make unpacking and packing easier for 15 days in 12 hotels and to choose the most important activities to do at the beginning. There are so many tours, excursions to do - you cannot physically do them all - so best to work out what you want and then make sure there is time and money left for those activities.

If we lived in Europe, we would do 2 week stints of the Grand Tour, do less and do it over 10 years or so. This would enable us to appreciate it so much more as you actually get saturated (thanks Suzie) with the beauty around you.

Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen, Ciao - Thanks for coming on our journey with us.