Murren to Sevelen

The forecast said we'd wake up to rain but it was a cloudless, sunny, beautiful morning! The mountain peaks were clearly visible from our bedroom window. We've been so blessed with the weather. After being here almost a week, we've only have had a couple of hours of light rain. However, the forecast is saying that there's a 90+% chance of rain for the next seven days - which is what they said when we got here. We'll see.....

I made myself some oatmeal for breakfast. Dave had the provided breaky. We chatted with the South African couple and Denise (the B&B owner) for awhile. Such nice people. We collected all of our stuff and headed off to the gondola station. Back on the ground (about 2,200' lower than the B&B), the car was packed and headed to the spot to pay - or so we thought. Turns out we needed to pay at another location and then leave the parking lot. By the afternoon, we felt like we'd finally gotten our "travel groove" back. It's been a bit bumpy until today - out of practice I guess,

The town of Grindelwald was about 20 minutes out of our way but Rick Steeves said it was a must see so off we went. There was a café - with the chairs facing the road/mountain across the street - where we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate (always made with milk.) And, to finally write postcards to the grandkids. They had to be nailed before we left Switzerland as they had Swiss stamps. Yes, leaving Switzerland is next!

We've not done a lot of driving here. Our stays have been for two nights (rather than our typical one night) followed by about two hours driving to the next stop. Today was the longest drive at about 2.5 hrs. I'm tracing our path acorns a map of Switzerland. By the end of the day, since our arrival, we've gone from the country's western boundary to the eastern boundary.

I didn't sleep well at all last night so I slept for part of the drive - which Dave said was a good thing. The road had many "extreme switchbacks" (which are both scary and make me really nauseous). There were times when Dave hands were sweaty with fear so that indicates what the roads were like. It takes a lot to get him scared. The landscape changed significantly. Mountains were replaced by foothills. There were large sections of flat ground making farms plentiful. Dave was missing the mountains already.

We stopped to stretch our legs - going into the store where you have to pay to go to the bathroom. That's pretty normal here. The first thing we see going into the store are American products - Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Pop Tarts, Snickers, etc. - all in the "English boxes/wrappers." Honestly, that's disappointing.

It was 3 pm and we still needed a place to sleep. Using Dave's phone, we found a B&B in Sevelen which is right on the border of Switzerland and Liechtenstein.  We booked it but needed to kill some time as it wouldn't be ready until 5 pm. Driving around we found an Aldi (in Switzerland)! Going into Aldi stores in different countries is fun - the products are so very different. More fresh bread and chocolate was purchased. 😉

The bridge to cross into Liechtenstein was right there so over we went. Immediately, on the other side of the bridge, you knew you were in another country. Slight but noticeable differences in the roads, signs, stores, etc. After about 10 minutes, we headed to the B&B (in Switzerland) - which is probably the most unique place we've ever stayed in. It's located on the very edge of town - so fields opposite the house and "subdivision" around it. There's a field of cows between two of the houses and another field with sheep - in the "subdivision."

The house itself is old and a work in progress. The decorating in our living room/bedroom is one of a kind - quirky, imaginative, odd - but it's delightful. The cat comes and goes into our "space". It's currently sitting on the chair Dave is in. I love it! The dogs, not so much. There are two pugs. At supper, one was clawing at my leg while I ate. Its breath was like 100 year old, rotting fish. Yuck and yuck. I'm not letting the dogs into our rooms but the cat can come anytime.

We went for a walk after supper in a light rain and then settled into our room for the night to get ready for a day of exploring in Liechtenstein.

One thing I learned today: Airbnb charges the host 17% of the advertised room fee and adds the cleaning/service fees - all of which the guest pays. So, the host is only getting 83% of the room fee and the rest goes to Airbnb. If you can connect with the host another way, you'll only pay the "83%." One place we stayed had a cleaning fee of $56. Quite a system. 

One new thing I experienced today: Meeting a Belgium women in her 70's who took a bus to Italy, with her bicycle and is biking back home. She's planning on taking four weeks to get home. She's done it before. What an incredible woman! Brave on multiple levels and in incredibly great shape at her age!

Most powerful moment of the day: Another near miss on the roads. We were in the middle lane of the express way, when a car on the left came into our lane. It barely missed us. I honestly don't know how we did crash. Angels working over time!

One pleasurable experience: Watching five mother goats and their tiny kids coming out of a trailer and going into a field (a steep, lush hill) right across the street from the B&B. So nice!