Europe Adventure 2007

Leichtenstein - Its small, really really small!

We would have done as all other tourists do in Leichtenstein and simply walked the small pedestrian shopping district however a number of obsticles made it very slow going. How lucky we were to find that this tiny little itsy bitsy country is a key stage in the Silveretta Classic car rally. The obsticles mentioned earlier were the procession of vintage and veteran sports coupes including Austin Healey, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Buick, Bristol AC Cobra, Bug (VW), Corvette, Fiat, Jaguar, Lotus, MG A & Bs, Mercedes, Porsche, Triumph, and a Volvo. After a few photos (A FEW!) we feel that our shopping trip in Leichtenstien was well out of our budget.

We needed a tea to wash away the lead petrol fumes so we drove off in the opposite direction to the stream of classic cars still coming into town and found a waterfall on the side of a mountain overlooking the valley. Revived it was time to drive along a winding mountain pass into Switzerland making our way towards Zurich. After endurring our first traffic jam in months we set up camp at the very busy Lake Zurich campsite looking back at the city from the western shores. It was a long, hot and tiring day having driven more than 340 km in 4 countries so we had an early dinner and went to bed early at 10pm. Just as our heads hit the pillow we were startled by the sound of a massive explosion!

Ordinarily we would have been scared however the simultaneous eruption of dodgy 80's music from the speakers surrounding Zurich lake it could mean only one thing, fireworks. Our welcome to Switzerland party had obviously begun without us! Within seconds we were scurrying through the campsite pulling on cloths and cameras for a magical fireworks display across the lake.

Zurich - 7 July

Our day in Zurich started on the bus before walking thruogh the deserted streets, a quick stop in a well stocked model railway shop then settled by the lake to watch the swans. All around us and throughout the streets were festival stalls, open air bars and restaurants, fun park rides etc. It wasn't until then did we realise that we had arrived in Zurich in the midst of one of Switzerlands largest tri-annual festivals.

We mixed up our time between stopping at the shows, smelling all the wonderful food stalls, window shopping in the classy shops and taking in the beautiful old city streets before lunch by the lake. Some of the highlights included breakdancing, swiss military helicopter and stunt plane shows, high diving, dragon boat races under the bridges of the river, feeding the swans, a bit of LOTRs under a willow tree, and a final spectacular fireworks display from the comfort of the campsite private park.