Wednesday 11th September- We sadly left Stechelberg and headed towards Lucerne for a new adventure but unfortunately our little boy threw up everywhere about 30mins into our drive so we had to pull over to sort it out. We think it might have been because he literally just had his milk before going into his car seat and his tummy hadn’t had enough time to digest it a bit and so up it came. It was absolutely everywhere to the point where we had to throw tea towels away, strip him down and do my best to scrub his car seat before I had no choice but to put him back in it as we had just pulled over into what looked like a tiny private car park and we needed to move. The car seat was the hardest part as it went in the buckles and all the little crevices within it. Great!
Unfortunately we had to bypass Lucerne as my husband was getting stressed with little man crying whilst he was trying to navigate his way around foreign roads. We also hadn’t looked at the map to find a suitable place to stop and needed to get little mans car seat washed sooner rather than later. Lucerne looked pretty though as we drove by and so we added it to our ever growing bucket list for another time.
We stopped in campsite Gerbe, which was a farm really. It didn’t look great from the outside but it was one of those campsites where you should never judge a book by its cover because it was actually alright- it had hot showers that ran constantly (no push button) and it had all the basic things you would want/need from a campsite as well as a small playground and you could choose your own pitch. I say pitch but it was more like choose your own spot as it was basically a field with no pitch numbers or anything. We managed to wash our little boys car seat, buckles and all so they were smelling fresh once more. It was good actually because they needed a clean anyway after all the food that had become stuck on it day after day. It was pretty amazing how you could strip every single thing off the car seat and wash it- we had to put the buckles in a spare pillow case though to try and protect the washing machine from getting damaged.
We stayed just the one night though and left for Zürich the following day- my husband has been before with work but I had never been so it was a new place for me. We found a car park near the marina and then walked into the centre and then along the river before going back to the motorhome to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Aside from the crystal clear water of the river, Zurich was just like any other city so there is not much to comment on really. Oh, there were some sun bathing areas that were just for women which was quite a bizarre spectacle seeing as we were in a big city surrounded by thousands of people! We had decided to head towards Germany as the nearest campsites were either an hour back the way we had come or an hour north into Germany. We found what we thought was the campsite even though it looked just like a camper stop and parked up before trying to find out how to pay when we noticed the reception across the road and another section which must be the actual campsite that we was looking for. We decided that the camper stop was good enough for us though as it was so cheap at €12 a night!! And it had everything that we needed for the night- there were no showers but we had showered that morning and so could go without one the following day. It was a bargain!
When we awoke and got ready, we set off yet again but this time back into France. We were doing so because there was a place I wanted to visit and we weren’t far from it so we thought we might as well seeing as we were here. The place we were headed to was called Colmar- if you are on Pinterest or Instagram and follow anything travel related or maybe even photography then you probably will have heard of this place, also known as little Venice.
We got to the campsite only to find a notice on the gate saying they were full but luckily we struck lucky yet again as there was another cheap camper stop up the road which was even closer to the town- in fact it was in walking distance. Again, it didn’t have showers but who cares- we could shower tomorrow and just smell a little bit longer for now- we were embracing our wild lifestyle! The camper stop was right next to the canal, had security gates that closed at a certain time and also had electric hook up and all for €15! We were on a roll.
We walked into Colmar and our first stop was a slushy for our little girl- we knew we would pay for it later when she was all hyper! And then my husband who was starting to resemble a hobo went and got his haircut. The three of us walked around trying to find little Venice where we then waited for my husband to come join us. The place was beautiful and so picturesque with little boats travelling in the canals and under the lowest bridges you’ve ever seen that I actually thought they were going to take people’s heads off as they went under. It was stunning and the rest of the town had so much character and charm with little cobbled streets and unique buildings that looked very old. It was cute and a right little gem.
We wondered along the many streets before stopping in a shop that advertised itself as a gingerbread shop. Our little girl absolutely loves gingerbread and had been asking for some every now again throughout our travels so we couldn’t pass up the chance to finally get her some. It had gingerbread everything but she settled on the classic gingerbread man which looked quite chunky compared to usual ones back home. However, it turned out not to be anything like the ginger bread we were accustomed to and our little girl’s reaction was priceless; we realised at once she didn’t like it and thought it was her usual fussy self not liking something yet again. With a look of distaste on her face she said “It’s getting puffier and puffier” well that comment alone had us in stitches but I instantly knew what she meant when I gave it a try myself. It was more like a soft biscuit, cake thing as opposed to a snappy biscuit that gingerbread is supposed to be and the taste! Well, it was not gingerbread that I know of that’s for sure- it tasted as though it had aniseed in it or something and was so vile I immediately spat it out into a tissue not able to even bring myself to swallow it. I felt sad for her as she had been craving it all this time and finally she thought her craving was going to be fulfilled. However, our little angel really didn’t mind and like the little trooper she is said that it didn’t matter and laughed about it instead.
We walked back to the van where the little ones played outside with the stones and bit of wood separating ours and our neighbours van whilst we cooked dinner. We always thought that a grassy pitch would be better but it turns out that all our children really want is a bit of space and whatever is there will do and strangely stones are preferable than grass!
K.E.E.N Explorers 