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Hi everyone, me again, Winston! Apparently people liked my last blog so I thought I'd go again, give mummy a rest.
Going back to where we left off in the last blog. Mummy woke me up bright and early the last morning in France. Apparently we were going to pop to the park then drive to another new country, Switzerland!
I was so sleepy, I dragged my paws round the park and hopped back in the car for a lovely snooze. After a few hours we started slowing down and mummy's voice was going all high pitched, you know how she gets when she's excited but what on earth for…… oh my god oh my god oh my god, she said I had a surprise coming and jeez was she right. We pulled up in this place with planes flying in and out and there on the side of the road was my nanny and grandad!!!!!! Oh my god, they missed me so much they came to visit me! Mummy said it was for her birthday but I knew the real truth. I was so happy to see them, I couldn't stop smiling, I got my kisses from nanny and then grandad got in the back with me for cuddles to our first stop, Zurich!
What a lovely city this was, and the people were so friendly! One man told me I was allowed anywhere I liked in Switzerland (within reason of course) and everywhere we went, restaurants, hotels, the lakes; everyone fussed me, gave me cuddles, brought me water and some places even had a cheeky treat for me. I didn't think I could get any more excited than the airport stop but guess what, I was!
We walked around Zurich for a few hours, unfortunately it's started to get a bit hot over here so our walks were kept to a minimum, in the shade with lots of stops (my mummy worries about me) we had lunch at a lovely burger place, saw Lake Zurich and walked the streets but city life isn't really for me, all I really see is legs legs and more legs until mummy picks me up so I can take in the views. We headed back to our hotel to rest and get ready for our journey to the lakes in the morning. Mummy, nanny and grandad played cards that I got for mummy for her birthday whilst I snoozed dreaming about my amazing day.
Mummy planned for us to stay at Lake Lungern for a few nights but on the way we stopped at Lake Lucerne for a few hours. This is only the 4th largest lake in the country but I thought it was massive! We walked across Chaple Bridge, the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world's oldest surviving truss bridge, had breakfast looking over the bridge, walked around the town and visited The Lion Monument. This was a beautiful peaceful pond with a lion carved into the rock face. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred during the French Revolution and is one of the most famous monuments in Switzerland. After some ice cream we wandered round the lake before grabbing a boat back to where we started. What a beautiful place this was but things were only going to get better.
We headed on to Lake Lungern. Oh. My. God! This place was out of this world, grandad was in his element, he even got his phone out to take photos (grandad doesn't do that) our hotel was right on the lake with the friendliest staff and nanny says the most amazing views and food! (this is where I got lots of treats) The first day we walked the whole lake! Wow that was long, over 6 miles through the hills, passed traditional Swiss houses all with the lake alongside, it was the most beautiful walk I've ever had and with my 3 favourite people, I was nearly in heaven, just missing my Auntie Jenny! Lake Lungern is so fresh it's safe to drink so we stopped for a few sips on our way round. Now anyone that knows me knows I'm not the biggest fan of water, I'll paddle but only when I really want to but I was having so much fun here I ended up actually swimming, maybe by accident cos the floor fell away from my feeties when i was having a drink, but I did actually swim!! Mummy was so proud!
The next day we went to Aare Gorge, a section of the river Aare that carves through a limestone ridge near the town of Meiringen where someone has put some lovely walkways for us doggies (and our humans) to experience the beauty (how thoughtful) as well as tunnels for us to run through (mummy gets claustrophobic if we walk slow) there is a cafe at each end of the gorge and it's about a 45min walk from one end to the other, we stopped for ice cream overlooking the river before walking back to the car via a walkway through the trees and over the mountains (or so it felt) another incredible day! Just by Aare Gorge there is a waterfall you can also visit called Reichendbach Falls where you can ride on a wooden carriage train up to the top. They say this trip is a must for Sherlock Holmes fans, with Sherlock stories linked to this waterfall and the town below. We didn't go to the waterfall because of the heat but I had my photo with Sherlock, just call me Watson!
After a few days at the lake it was mummy's birthday! We all woke up early for mummy to open her pressies and cards and we had balloons for her, it was so much fun! After breakfast we headed off to Liechtenstein! This new country is the 6th smallest nation in the world, what a place to spend mummy’s birthday. Unfortunately it was so so hot this day, we explored as much as I could handle; we walked through the capital, Vaduz, had our passports stamped, pretended to be royalty, saw a lovely cathedral called Kathedrale St Florin and walked to see the old wooden bridge over the Rhine, but had to call it a day after this. We were going to venture up to Vaduz Castle but it was covered in scaffolding and with the sun getting hotter we headed up the windy windy roads to Malbun.
Malbun is usually a ski resort but with this sun there was no snow to be seen, people were here for hikes and bike rides but we were here for the scenery, we relaxed watching the cows, listening to their bells ringing, mummy, nanny and grandad enjoyed a bottle of Prosecco that Uncle Fartface and Auntie Charlotte sent all the way from Australia for mummy’s birthday and I lapped up all the cuddles I could. In the morning we headed to Stausee steg, a beautiful lake where we walked and paddled before another long drive. This week was the most amazing week, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are both beautiful countries with lovely people and we would all love to visit again and explore some more.
For now it's onto Germany, the 4th country of our trip, let's hope the sun calms down a bit!
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