Tour de Europe - Days 7 - 8

Braving the Italian traffic for the better half of the day was indeed tiring. Things got worse when our hungry party couldn't find a restaurant, resorting to spewing obscenities in hopes that one would turn up. When we finally found a place, we were reminded of the local custom of "siesta", that is, going for an afternoon nap in the middle of the day. This of course meant that no restaurants were serving food.

After a slight rest and a coke our morale improved in the face of such adversity. We saddled our bikes and made way to leave this traffic ridden, afternoon napping country for good. It was also time to part with Kari and his wife, who headed back home to Wiesbaden while we continued towards Lugano, Switzerland.

Crossing the border to Switzerland was as simple as riding past a welcome sing, but the clean surroundings, well maintained roads and an absence of mad traffic truly told us we were no longer in Italy. Lugano was an incredibly beautiful city cradled by mountains and set beside a lake. Incidentally we happened to stumble upon a jazz festival, and after a comically difficult search for a hotel, we walked down town for an enjoyable evening. We sat for a brilliant meal outside an Italian restaurant and soaked in the atmosphere as we watched the passers by head towards the concert square. By the time we had finished, the square was utterly packed with people. We walked around admiring the city and lake, then realised tired we were and headed back to collapse into our hotel beds.




The following morning we spent doing some shopping around the city, among then a Swiss army knife key ring and a stylish Swatch watch for mum, who when she received it commented several times amusingly on how much like cardboard it looked. Walking along the sunny lakeside, we began itching for new scenery, and hurried to the hotel to continue our journey towards the city of Montreux. Once again we ascended, this time to the Alps of Switzerland. This was one of the most spectacular and enjoyable legs of our journey, with mind blowing scenery and refreshingly cool weather.




We stopped at a small alpine cabin built into the side of the mountain. Inside was a small room decorated with all sorts of motorcycle memorabilia, and a kitchen from which were greeted. Our alpine lunch of local sausage and cheese could not have tasted better, and as we talked with the cabin's owner we discovered, he had been to Finland, twice!


One of the most amazing moments of our journey surprised us as we came out of a small tunnel in the mountains. Directly in front of us opened a huge scenic valley, and down the mountain on our left was a magnificent glacier, completely free of any tourist build up.

Waiting for us at Montreux was another jazz festival which ensured us another challenge in finding an affordable hotel. Finding one was difficult, and we had to settle for one of a higher quality than originally planned. Although our plan was to see what this jazz festival was like, after our bounty full dinner we found ourselves far too tired for such exploration.