A lot has happened since the last time I wrote a blog. We’ve crossed borders, visited some castles and experienced our first car troubles. We also have left the rainy and cold days behind, had great hikes with friends and cooked our first meal!
So, we feel real advantourists now. Driving the van is a lot of fun. We have had 18 thumbs up, countless smiles and many compliments. But, like I said, we also experienced our first car troubles. So let’s start with those.
Welcome in Liechtenstein
On our way from Apenzell to our friend in Zürich we crossed into Liechtenstein and Austria, without many troubles. Going back from Austria into Liechtenstein went as easily as from Germany into Switzerland. A couple of questions about what we were going to do and where we are from.
Liechtenstein is just a small country in a valley and honestly it doesn’t even feel like a different country. Except for the flag and the border on Google maps it just feels like you are in Switzerland. The border patrol we spoke to on the border from Austria into Liechtenstein were actually Swiss. But, it was fun to explore a capital city without tourists, without the fuz that most cities have, it had one traffic jam! And probably one street but ok.
Van problems
Anyway, after our quick visit to Liechtenstein we went to our friend who lives in Uster, next to Zürich. While driving the very scenic highway along some lakes suddenly the battery light of the car starts flickering. Oh no. Normally that means; stop the car. But I decided to continue to Uster (we were close) and see there what is going on.
Well… finally in Uster we parked the car somewhere to see where we actually had to go to. You have to know that the car sometimes has these minor issues with electricity. So of course, I thought, well something must be wrong there. However, after checking out our address for the night I tried to start the van but nothing. She didn’t make a sound. That’s not at all like her.
We checked all we know, couldn’t see anything so decided to push her. Which she enjoyed so she started again. We went to our friend, turned off the van, tried again to turn her on and voila, no problem!
Visiting our friend in Uster
While at our friend we had nice diner, went to bed not so early to have a day of work planned ahead of us. We both had to do some work so this was a good day to do so. Of course with a break to check out the nearby lake. A hike of two hours – very doable. We also had a vegan kebab for lunch, which was nice, but of course not like real kebab.
The next day we worked in the morning, had lunch with friends of friends and went for a hike in the afternoon. A short hike this time but with an amazing view on the Alps. We headed to our friends house in Zürich and had real Swiss fondue for diner! It was so much fun we went to bed quite late actually, whereas we had plans to hike the next day. Which of course we did. A hike of about 5 hours over the ridge of a mountain. For some quite scary, for us not so much. We are not afraid of hights but if you are, this hike might not be for you. We ended the hike in the cute little town of Baden, where we had a beer on the street.
The bars may be closed but in Switzerland you are allowed to drink wherever you want. So many bars just open a place outside where people can get alcohol and drink in the square in front of it. We loved it! A good way to end our hike.We went back to Zürich by train and had nice typical Swiss rösti, and as we were all so tired from the hike we went to bed early. Also because we were going to leave the next day, onto our next advanture which will be taking us south.
Love, Milene & Yuri
