The drive from Vaduz back into Switzerland ended up taking much less
time than I had anticipated – the river running just by Liechtenstein’s capital
city was the border. A little way into Switzerland I stopped to admire a
particularly fine alpine lake and, bugger it, set off a migraine. I bunkered
down in the car for a couple of hours until I could see properly again and then
decided to take it very slowly and gently to my next campsite – anything was
better than having a migraine at a roadside stop where you had to pay 1 CHF
(around $1.60) every time you had to go to the bathroom.
To give you some idea of scale - those tiny white specks on the surface of the lake are boats.
The trip was easy enough – these alpine countries have made driving
very easy by pushing their main roads through tunnels under the mountains
rather than circuitous routes around or over them. Of course this way is less
scenic but that’s probably a good thing for the road toll – I know every time
I’m on a freeway and come across a particularly fine view (which in this part
of the world, is roughly every 10 minutes), I can’t help having a dropped-jaw
moment, which isn’t the best thing for one’s driving.
Speaking of which, the road up to Engelberg was just one long series of
such dropped-jaw moments, as this small town is nestled at the heart of some of
Switzerland’s highest mountains. I found a dreamy site, with pleasant people around,
good shops, and lots of shade, and decided to hunt down some cheese (my
post-migraine recovery food) before settling down to rest. Well, I tell you –
if you’re going to have a migraine, this land of cheese is the place to have
one. I walked into the supermarket and there were aisles upon aisles filled
with the stuff – many varieties I had never heard of before. I ended up getting
a beautiful little wheel of camembert and some soft, sweet fresh bread,
thanking my lucky stars that I had happened upon a place so perfect for my
post-migrainey state.
And now for a deep, life-giving sleep, to the harmonised lullabies of
cow bells and waterfalls – and hopefully I’ll wake early enough
tomorrow to head into town to hear the alphorns which are to usher in
tomorrow’s Swiss National Day.