The two sides of the Swiss coin
I will have gone through a wide range of emotions in Switzerland, one of the countries I was most looking forward to visiting. There I will have encountered snow and sun, disease and chicken broth, hospitality ... and rejection!
Basel.
After my crossing of France, I went from Alsace to Switzerland on April 17, where I entered through Basel. A few days off at the YMCA youth hostel allowed me to visit the city, and to clean my clothes and my bike.
The atmosphere of the youth hostels is something quite special. Since most of its residents are seasoned travelers, there is often a little friendly competition over who makes the trip the most intense. I don't know if I'll get tired of seeing the faces of people when they learn my route!
When I was in Basel, there were also university clarinet auditions. I think that all European youth had made an appointment for these hearings. I had never seen or heard so many clarinets in my life!
After Basel, I resume towards the east, and I start to climb the Alps! I do my best by taking a panoramic photo, I find the view so nice. That same night, my little nature failed me and I had my worst indigestion of the last fifteen years during that night!
The next morning, I'm so weak that it takes me like four hours to pack my things. I am leaving for the sole reason that I have no more water. It goes up in dirty, and after 1,8 km, I am burnt and I lie down in the grass in front of a house. I managed to drag myself to the door and ask the owners if I can pitch my tent on their land because I am a living weakness. Who could say no to that ?!
Its.
This is how I meet Su, a German Swiss, and her husband Koen, who is Flemish. Su quickly cured me with chicken broth, supper, and finally inviting me to sleep in the house.
Over the course of the conversations, I learn that Su has been living with cancer for four years. She quit her paid job but now helps immigrants and refugees integrate better, teaching them how to garden a few times a week.
Saying goodbye to her early in the afternoon, and thanking her for her kindness, she told me that she needed to meet me more than I needed her. She believes it was no accident that I knocked on her door. Is it what Zufall is?. Wow
Aeron.
After this day of forced rest, I take the road to Zurich. Despite my late departure, I arrive in town in good weather. Along the way, I meet Aeron, a Briton who will have done more or less the same route as me ... but in 6 days instead of a month!
I probably would have had better memories of Zurich if I hadn't dropped my camera on the ground at my first photo, smashing my viewfinder against the city's beautiful sidewalks. I chose my place wrong, Zurich is the third most expensive city in the world !
The next few days are quite difficult. The rain does not stop and it is extremely cold. Being in a tent overnight, I am unable to dry myself or actually warm myself up. At the end of one of these days, I really want to be invited inside. I knock on a door of a house where I see someone inside. Either way, my phone screen is so wet that I can't even access my route anymore. The lady who answers the door does not even deign to answer me and waves to me to crown my camp.
A few miles further, I'll crash into the end of what looked like a BBQ for a local soccer team. It's like nothing, someone will come and talk to me. Well no, no one, despite my engaging smiles. And the sun is going down.
As I resign myself to finding a place for my tent, I then see a children's cabin in a tree in the distance. I visit her, she is wonderful. It has a table and a chair, built on the top of the cut tree, waterproof curtains, and it's big enough that I can stretch out on it with my mattress! Sold.
The castle of Sagans.
Walenstadt Lake.
On my last night in Switzerland, I wake up in my tent and wonder why it has a weird shape. I quickly realize it's because it's covered with at least ten centimeters of snow! I have to get up and go get my water filter that was left in one of my bicycle bags, because if it freezes, it will no longer be usable. Fortunately, the snow will melt quite a bit the next day ... but I was still far from suspecting that I would soon see more of it than ever in Austria!
Evening.
The morning !
On April 25, after driving 450 km in Switzerland, I crossed Liechtenstein quite quickly. Not that I don't want to do it slowly, but being one of the smallest countries in the world with its 160 km2, the visit is done quite quickly. At the tourist office, I am given maps where the entire country is drawn like a comic strip. I see that the borders follow the tops of the mountains on three sides, and the river to the west. From there, I go a little north to join Felkirch in Austria.
Switzerland was definitely very beautiful - the cities as well as the mountains. But I found it more difficult to meet people on a daily basis. As I was mostly in German territory, maybe this is partly due to the language barrier? Perhaps it is also due to the fact that the Swiss are aware of their geographical paradise and that they do not wish to share it with too many people. I'm still very happy to have been there, if only to sleep in a treehouse in the mountains!
Along the way, I remembered that about a dozen years ago my father and I met a British couple riding their bikes on the road near our family home. We invited them to share a dinner with us. We had not spoken of much deeper thing, and yet welcoming these travelers for an hour will have marked our family for life. The bicycle has this unifying effect, especially when used for epic long journeys.
While waiting for sentences like that of Su, who tells me that she needs to meet me, and thinking of other meetings before, I wonder what impression I leave on the people I meet. And what influence these same people will have on me. To be continued, as they say.
