A Quick, Spontaneous Slip Over the Swiss Border.

My husband Bill and I have been living in Germany for about four months now. The first six weeks of our stay were spent in an austere German hotel while we waited for our new home to become available. We settled into our house in November and ever since then, I have been itching to do some traveling. We brought our two beagles Flea and MacGregor with us, though, and that makes it hard to take day trips. We had a golden opportunity arise yesterday, when Bill arranged for our dogs to spend a night at a local doggie hotel. The hotel's owners wanted our dogs to spend one night before we leave them there for four nights next week as their way of "interviewing" our pets and finding out what they're like.

Bill had initially told me that the hotel owners wanted our dogs for the night and that led me to consider taking a road trip to France or Switzerland, both of which are located somewhat close to where we live. But then there was a miscommunication and Bill thought the hotel owners would only need to have our dogs for two hours, dashing my hopes for a road trip. We took them to the place yesterday, initially thinking we'd come back for them in two hours. As we handed them over, it soon became clear that they would, indeed, be spending the night at the hunde hotel. But by then it was almost noon and a large portion of the day had already passed. What's more, we had some errands to run.

Then, we couldn't figure out where we wanted to go or what we would need to get there. I was getting cranky and annoyed, actually thinking that maybe we should just hang out at home for the day. Bill finally said he wanted to go to Switzerland. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and we had no idea what to expect, but we started driving south... It turns out the Swiss border is only about a 90 minute drive from our house.

Bill's anxieties...

The funny thing about this trip is that we really didn't have a specific destination in mind when we set out. We didn't have a map or a GPS. We had heard that we needed a special Swiss sticker in order to use their autobahn, but we didn't have one on our car. Bill and I had both brought our passports along, but we were nervous about what a trip over the border would entail. Initially, Bill said we'd just stop in Konstanz, which is a German university town on the border. Konstanz overlooks Lake Constance/Bodensee and it sounds like a charming place.

I looked at Bill and said, "I see no reason to drive all the way down to the Swiss border and not actually cross it, especially when neither of us has ever been there."

Bill kept saying he didn't know where to go. I told him that surely there were signs available that would explain the process of entering this beautiful, expensive, non EU country. We kept driving, marveling at the stunning beauty of the Bodensee as we went further and further south. Finally, we got to the border.

Switzerland awaits!

There was the Swiss flag in all its glory... Bill pulled out his passport, got up to the border patrol, and said he needed to buy a sticker (vignette) so we could drive on the autobahn. The guard, who spoke excellent English, waved us to a handy parking lot. We parked, Bill got out his money, passport, and car registration and went into the little office. He walked up to the counter, again greeted by a Swiss national who spoke English. He asked for a sticker, which was priced at forty Swiss Francs. When he pulled out Euros, the clerk said, "You have Euros? That'll be thirty Euros, then." Bill paid and got change in Euros and Francs. The clerk was not interested in looking at passports or other documents. When we were done with our business, the clerk thanked us by saying "Merci!"

As Bill affixed the sticker to the car, I visited the ladies room, which reminded me an awful lot of the rest stops so familiar to me in the United States. As we left the border, we were confronted by two routes, one of which was only for people with stickers on their cars. Apparently, you only need the sticker if you're going to be driving on the autobahn. We got on the autobahn and noticed we were practically the only ones on it! It took us through a long tunnel and spit us out near the town of Kreuzlingen. As I looked around, I was amazed by the differences. Yes, it's close to Germany and part of the German section of Switzerland, but I could definitely tell we weren't in Germany anymore.

Impressions

We parked in a huge parking lot near the massive St. Ulrich church. Figuring out the parking meter took a little situational awareness, but we managed it. It was late afternoon and we milled around the main drag, listening to the different dialects of German. One thing I noticed and liked was the fact that the crosswalks, painted yellow, don't have the lights on them that tell people when they can walk or not walk. In Germany, those lights are everywhere and people tend to obey them. In Switzerland, we noticed that as soon as we stepped into the crosswalk, drivers stopped for us! It's a small thing, but I thought it was kind of cool.

I took a deep breath and smelled the air, which smelled a little like a cow pasture. I don't know where the smell came from, since I didn't see any cows in the area. As we walked around, the cow smell went away and my nose picked up the smell of laundry detergent. I didn't see any laundromats in the area, but that's what the air smelled like... fresh, clean clothes.. until, of course, we got back to the car. Then I could smell cow patties again. It was remarkably warm outside for a January day. We needed our jackets and I broke out the gloves once or twice, but we weren't that cold.

Another thing I noticed were beautiful houses that had a style similar but different to German houses. I saw a few homes that looked like those I'm used to seeing in Germany, but I also saw some homes that looked Mediterranean. And I saw one house that was absolutely gorgeous. It was intricately carved out of wood with ornate designs, polished balconies, and a large window bordered with lots of healthy looking plants. I have seen "carved" houses in Germany, but none so far that were as intricate and polished as this. I also saw a house that looked like it belonged in a snow globe, with cute little shutters, window boxes, and huge balconies in dark wood.

Bill got some money from a bank, in case we wanted to eat dinner in Switzerland. Again, the clerk spoke German, but thanked Bill in French. We ended up in a small shopping mall, where we wandered around for awhile, noticing that some items, especially compact discs, were very expensive, while others were quite reasonable. We saw a nice looking top of the line HP computer being sold with a monitor for about the equivalent of $1600. Gas was also a little cheaper in Switzerland, too. Right now, it looks like the Swiss Franc is on par with the dollar in terms of exchange rates.

As it was getting dark, we headed back to our car. We thought about going to dinner, but the only places we saw open appeared to be working class bars where a lot of people were smoking. So we got in the car and headed back to Germany, secure in the knowledge that we'll be slipping back over the border soon, especially now that we have a good place to keep our dogs. Crossing back into Germany was a snap, although there was a lot of traffic.

The best part?

My favorite part of our little impromptu trip to Switzerland was walking with Bill, having him turn to me and say, "I'm so glad I married you. I always have fun on our little adventures, even though I need to be encouraged." It's true. Bill often doesn't want to take a chance, but once he does, he never regrets it. Next week, we're headed for Garmisch, which is right next to the Austrian border. I'm sure I'll have lots to report then!