Swiss Family Grass

We left Uetliburg bright and early the next morning bound for the Ticine region of Switzerland. We drove for a few hours on the autobahn (after picking up a permit of course!), and found our way to Locarno. Southern Switzerland has warmer weather and is considered a Swiss Riviera of sorts. The weather was mild and the sky dotted with clouds.

Before checking in at the campground we stopped at a Migros (a large supermarket chain) to pick up supplies for the week. Shopping at grocery stores in Europe is quite different than in the states. First, you must always remember to carry a franc or two to leave as a deposit for the shopping cart. If you don’t have the proper change you’re stuck with a hand held basket, which can make a large shopping trip quite tedious. Next, you have to remember to bring your own bags. Bags cost money here, so recycling is a must. If you forget you bags (which we did the first few times), you end up putting all of your groceries back into the cart after they have been scanned, and then packing them loosely into your car. It’s a real hassle. Finally, I’ve made the mistake of being caught day dreaming as I stand at the checkout stand watching as the clerk scans all the items. In Europe, you are responsible for bagging your own groceries. So you better stay on top of the pile from the second the clerk begins. Otherwise, other customers in line can become impatient as you quickly try to shuttle all of your items from the belt to your cart. There’s a learning curve here, and I’ve been a little slow on the uptake.

The campground we stayed in was in Tenero, a five-minute bike ride from Locarno. Campgrounds in Switzerland are clean and usually come with amenities. The campground we stayed at had a lovely lakeside swimming pool, restaurant, and bar. The facilities look like upscale trailer parks, with grassy lots for each tenant and communal dish cleaning areas, showers, and a laundry room. The resort like atmosphere comes with a price. At most campgrounds in Switzerland you pay a fee for the site, each adult, your dog, and power (sometimes billed by the hour). Total cost, forty plus dollars a night! Not cheap, considering you can still camp in the states for about fifteen dollars per night.

We set up camp and then decided to try to connect the van to the outlet box. BAD IDEA! I was in the van and heard a loud popping sound. I called out to Andy a few times, and when I heard no response I quickly headed outside. Andy said that the power converter he had purchased in the states had not worked, and that a breaker had tripped. He said that he would make sure the converter worked by using the converter with our hair dryer in the restroom. Five minutes later Andy returned to the campsite with a blackened hand and a story of flames shooting out of the wall. So, the power problem was solved…we would have no power. Luckily, our van has two marine batteries, so we can power the appliances for two days without having to start the car to recharge them.

The following day we went for a bike ride around the lake. It was a beautiful, warm day. Andy stopped for a kabob from a street vendor and was delighted with the flavour. We walked around town searching for an internet café, and I ducked into a newsstand to pick up a Sinalco (a bubbly orange drink like Fanta, only less sweet) and a pack of my favorite Swiss chocolate wafer cookies.

At the internet café we did some research on power transformers and checked our e-mail. Then, we telephoned a family friend and Andy’s relatives to make arrangements for our upcoming visit to Luzern

Back at the campsite we met our neighbors who asked if we always drove with our bikes attached to the front of our van. When we responded in the affirmative, the man looked amused, while the woman looked horrified. She insisted on calling a police friend of hers to verify the legality of driving with bikes attached to the front of a vehicle. We received from our neighbor the news we had been expecting. It is illegal to drive with bikes attached to the front of your car, and the penalty if caught is five hundred Swiss francs. Pretty steep penalty if you ask me. The man gave us advice we had heard from others before…play dumb. The woman, on the other hand, gave us her number should we “need any help during our stay.”