Hello from Heidi land!!

Greetings from Switzerland. We have been here for about a week now.

This is a beautiful country, the scenery is amazing. We wish we could see more of it with blue skies though. It was beautiful the first day in Switzerland, and that was it. It has been cool and rainy everyday since!!! No good when you live in a tent and travel by bike!!

We crossed Switzerland from the southwest to the northeast and are now working on getting into Austria tomorrow with a little climbing in our future. We have had some awesome campgrounds on lakes and rivers and a couple other very nice ones under a apple tree and several just in the middle of caravans. They have all been quiet though so we have really enjoyed that. No singing Y M C A in the middle of the night like we had in France one night!!

The country is so different from France. Very similar to the U.S. in many ways. The one thing we have noticed though is that the people are not very outgoing. They never smile, rarely even look at you. They seem so un-happy. Vanessa told me before we left that Switzerland was one of the happiest countries, I think not. They do appear to have a lot, nice houses, nice cars, beautiful scenery, but then why not smile, just once in a while. It may be a cultural thing as when we have been lucky enough to talk 1 on 1 with them they slowly come out of their shells and liven up. Just no random smiles.

Other than the people though, the country is beautiful. We have biked thru mountains, vineyards and farms and big cities and camped next to castles. The biking is amazing, almost entirely on specific bike or rollerblade trails. Today we biked from lake Bodensee to Bad Ragaz all of it on a paved trail next to the Rhein river in a valley surrounded by the mountains. We biked by Germany and Lichtenstien but didnt cross the river to actually set foot in either. I am downloading pictures now so I hope you can see these mountains. They are incredible, even in the rain!!!

This area is where the story of Heidi came from. Tomorrow we will bike by the Heidi House and village. Not sure what to expect!! But, you can imagine the views of little towns in the green hills of very large moutains.

Tonight we are going to treat ourselves to a dip in the hot springs. This area is also famous for its mineral baths. These waters are supposed to have healing powers, we both agree that our bodies need some healing!!!

Today is also a big day as we have completed out 7th week!!! Hard to believe! We only have a month and a half left and feel like there is so much more that we want to see!!