I still remember the pleasure I gave my girlfriend in autumn when we slept on the Nufenen and Simplon Passes. Here & here to read.
I will never forget her beaming face when she counted the stars in the sky in the evening and hopped around the little mountain lake like a chamois in the morning. The nights high up in the mountains are always special. Falling asleep in absolute silence and waking up with the sun shining on the mountains is simply magnificent.
This time, too, I try to make such an experience possible for us. We drive up the Bernina Pass, at the top of the Ospizio, as the pass hostels are also called, we ask if we can stay here. "Sure, you just have to pay the normal parking fee!" We scrape together the last coins (here is actually the only parking machine that works without my beloved easy-Park app) and are ready for the evening and the night.
The view is magnificent, the Rhaetian Railway's Tschu-tschu train winds past Lago Bianco, the white lake, like a postcard. If that's not a cool spot. We sit in our Felix, sheltered from the wind, take a break and are happy about our idea of spending a holiday in this area.
Either you stand apart and have your peace and quiet. Or in really great, mostly touristy places. This time - and this is often the case in Switzerland - the really great places are touristy during the day. Coaches are constantly stopping next to us. Erika-Reisen, Freundlich-Reisen, Alpen-Reisen and Travel-Spass, to name just a few of the nice names of the coaches. Most of the time it goes like this: Door opens, lots of people get out, run to the edge of the viewing platform (and our car park) with their mobile phones drawn, take photos, mountains, trains, lake and then themselves again including mountains, trains, lake. Barely five minutes later, everyone rushes back into the bus and it's on to Erika, Freundlich or Alpine travel!
I, already somewhat hardened by such events, smile mildly. My dear friend laughs uproariously, she has never experienced anything like this before. Sitting in the middle of the action with the sliding door open and being completely ignored is a funny experience.
Astonishment spreads through us. Is this beautiful? Do I want to travel like this? And deep inside me I feel admiration: every age has its way of travelling. At the moment, we may not want to travel like this. But later, when we can no longer drive ourselves, why not? Nice people, maybe lots of information from the tour guide and with a chauffeur? Yes, I might like that, later, sometime. Not yet.
While I make myself comfortable and make plans for autumn with our daughter on the phone (big things are coming up!), my girlfriend goes "just for a short walk around the lake"! In a sunny mood she leaves Felix, in storm, hail and rain she comes back two hours later in rain gear and with a bending umbrella. As a precaution, I have switched on the heating, the weather and temperature forecast for the night shows something around 2° Celsius and rain.
I think the heating was a good idea! Regula warms up, we cook something nice, chat into the night and at some point we even have to move Felix again so that he is more streamlined. None of it helps, we are shaken up and the night is not really calm. But, as we had planned, my dear friend should get to know the whole range of van life. Not just the sweet side!
The morning, on the other hand, is calm and sunny. Around 9 am the first pass tourists arrive. By then we are long awake and fit for the onward journey!
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
Do you think our travel experiences might be of interest to others? Then you can share the Share post quietly. By e-mail or however you want to do it.
In addition, if you haven't already done so, you can use our Newsletter subscribe. Here you will receive all our experiences in your mailbox whenever we publish something new or once a week on Fridays: live-pur.ch/newsletter
We are also very happy to hear your views, your tips or your questions. Just comment on the post!
