Basel - Innsbruck

We have decided to write both in this blog - Xoff writes in black, Lorenz in blue.

On Saturday we said goodbye to our families and friends: in the morning in Gümligen near Bern with a fine brunch and in the evening in Basel with a barbecue at the Holzpark. Thank you for coming, being interested in our vehicle and our journey and spending the last day in Switzerland with us!
I got more excited by the minute, probably had a bigger grin on my face and just was bloody happy.

The first night in the Muni was very pleasant. Under my duvet it was warm and cuddly ... :)

Today it was time: we drove off.

The farewell to Basel was surprisingly easy for me ... probably because when I drove over Schwarzwaldbrücke with a last look at my beloved city, including Käseraffel, somehow was not really aware that I will not have this view for six months. That's not too bad, because that will be all still here in the fall.
Much more drastic was my farewell to my loved ones. My life partner, my daughters, my parents and many friends will certainly be missing and sometimes it was quite emotional. And just beautiful!

We drove eastward.  Zurich - St.Gallen - Feldkirch - Arlberg - Innsbruck.

With perfect road and weather conditions, today we ate kilometers ... in Switzerland on the motorway and in Austria as far as the Arlberg, where the ban on driving over 400 kg (which the Austrians have for lightweight trailers!) puts a stop to us. Instead of chugging slowly over the country lanes and saving on tolls, we had to turn back at the foot of the serpentines in Stuben, as a friendly taxi driver told us that the police on top of the pass would send us back and a hefty bus will distribute. The scramble would have been no picnic anyway and when we realized that the Go-Box, which is necessary for driving on Austrian highways with vehicles over 3.5 tons, costs only 5 €, the decision to change to the highway and to drive through our neighbor country on the fastest way was quickly made...we can visit it when we are old.

However, we were amazed that the device announced every few kilometers with a lamentable whistle the settlement of an unknown number of euros ... how long will the hundred euros last that we have charged?


Not far from Innsbruck, after about 350 km, it was enough for today: on a truck parking, I cooked Bratwurst with Rösti and Zwiebelschweitze, our first homesick dinner, which we devoured with relish and hunger.

Now I am looking forward to the second night, certainly as warm and cuddly as the first.

The adventure has begun ... Mongolia is getting closer ... :)