Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft

That mouthful of text is the old name for the country we are staying in tonight: the Confoederatio Helvetica or Switzerland.

We made good time from Brussels, moving down through the Ardennes and into Luxembourg, crossing into France for a few hours' drive through fields of wheat, corn, sunflowers and hops, then into Switzerland at Basel. The scenery was amazing as we passed into a series of tunnels carved out of the mountains, and luckily there was no traffic to speak of, so no stress.

I found the scenery reminiscent of some parts of Canada, but the terrain reminded me a bit of my visualisations of the more mountainous locales decribed in The Hobbit story. The landscape has a lovely ambiance, and I can only imagine how picturesque it must be in winter.

We arrived here in Wassen, near Andermatt, a little south of Lucerne, around 18h, and checked into our room for four at the local hostel. it is very clean, well-maintained and was full this evening with four families.

This little town of only 450 or so is beautiful, with some great views of the surrounding mountains and the Unteralpreuss river valley. We had a walk about, exploring the town, and then a dinner at another hotel before walking back to our own place.

Tomorrow we carry on to Italy, and Trieste; it's good to know that our longest driving day is over, and we are finally on our way...