# WILD STORIES of ADVENTURE # ... Switzerland & Apricots

     It's hard to imagine apricots to be associated with the beautiful mountainous country of Switzerland isn't it!? 

     Well ladies and gentlemen,  welcome to another story of Wild Adventures where connections like this happen now and again!!  :))

     My friend Fiona and I had just "dun-a-runna" ( run away )  from the campsite we were staying in.  This campsite was just outside the gorgeous town of Courmayeur in the Valle  d'Aosta region of Italy.  We were on our way to Switzerland.  We were getting extremely low on money.  Luckily water is fresh and free in that area.  There are natural springs in abundance,  clear and cold.  Our bottles were filled up all the time.  There were no shops near where we were hitch hiking from and we needed cigarettes badly!!  :))  But we were so low on money that I'm sure we could not afford to buy any.  On our way up the winding road we found an open cellar.  I'm sure they wouldn't notice a couple of bottles missing  :))  Later the champagne went down a treat!!

     So at the junction where we stood were a set of traffic lights.  Seemed like an ideal place to ask drivers for cigarettes to us!  They can't go anywhere when the lights are on red can they!?  :))  After getting a small supply to smoke while we hitch,  it was time to get closer to our main hitch hiking point.  We needed to be closer to the St.  Bernard Tunnel which runs into Switzerland.  But looking at my map I realize that because of the distance and locality of where we were standing we needed to be further up this huge mountain range. 

     We were slightly exhausted,  hungry and in need of a good shower,  but march onwards we had to!!  Despite lots of protests from Fiona ( that's kind of putting it politely  :))  ),  we made it to,  what I call,  a "user friendly spot".  Meaning,  a good place to hitch hike from.  :))

     We soon caught a ride in a Mercedes Benz.  His car was so loaded up with luggage and stuff that we only just squeezed into it.  It was hard to enjoy the luxury of the car!!  We were grateful though because we were on our way to somewhere  :))

     Actually we did have a plan.  We were trying to get to the capital of Switzerland,  Bern.  We were going to meet Fiona's dad's friend,  Wolfgang.  He's a German/Swiss professor at a University in Bern.

     We meandered our way through the beauty of Switzerland.  Breath taking mountains,  small villages with cool looking houses,  lakes with large country manors sitting by the waters edge and of course cows with bells around their necks are what greeted us as we made our way north to Bern.

     We found a fairly large town that would be suitable to handle a money transfer.  Luckily there was a campsite near by.  The campsite was very close to an orchard of APRICOTS!!  :))  As we walked to the campsite I jumped the fence and grabbed heaps of apricots,  enough to fill our stomachs for a while and kill those hunger pangs!!  :))

     After setting up our hammocks we walked into town to sort out a money transfer from Australia.  It would take a couple of days.  That's cool,  we were in no rush,  everyday was a holiday,  but we were low on money so the sooner the better as far as I was concerned.  Beer could be nice in Switzerland ... would we be able to drink some!!?  Basically for the next 2 days we ate A LOT OF APRICOTS!!  For quite some time after I didn't buy or eat apricots ... I'd had enough!

     We did have a lucky break though.  During our stay at the campsite we went for a walk around town, or were we hunched over in the orchard binging on apricots!!  Well,  it rained!!  It rained heaps!!  Every possession of ours was out in the open because we were sleeping in hammocks.  Everything got soaked!!  :))

     The campsite has a laundry and this is where we spent the remainder of the afternoon.  We had some important things in one dryer while the larger items like hammocks,  clothes,  sleeping bags and rucksacks decorated the laundry like some badly organised flea market stall!!  :))

     Now and then people came in to do a load of washing.  When their washing finished it would be casually put into a dryer.  Looks of   "What the hell is going on in here?"   shot our way sometimes  :))

     We watched the dryers spin with envy!!  :))

     Down I went on all fours,  hands and knees,  to look under the machines to find some coins that people may have dropped.

     A French mum and her kids came in.  They smiled politely,  and we talked about our flea market situation  :))

     They left.

     We continued watching the dryers.  Occasionally shifting our gear to the next dryer that was spinning so we could get the warmth from it. 

     A little later the French family came back.  They were staying in a caravan and invited us to have dinner with them!  :))

     It would certainly make a change from apricots!!

     We ate heaps of delicious French home made cuisine.  Lots and lots and lots!!

     We thanked them immensely and went back to check our gear.  The situation had improved.  Everything was much dryer  :))

     Our introduction to Switzerland was starting off really well.

     What else was install for us in this land of milk chocolate,  fantastic views and friendly people!?


                            ... stay tuned for PART 2 coming to your PC soon  :))