Europe is behind us

On Monday morning European time we left Unterseen and drove to Bern.

This was a distance of around 60kms and was for quite a distance alongside the Thun, one of the lakes on the outskirts of Interlaken (between two lakes) - the lake was a glorious sight but alas the camera was packed in the suitcase in preparation for the flight later in the day.

We spent a few hours in Bern walking around the old town area which boasts both an astronomical clock and also a covered promenade shopping strip of approx. 4 kms.

At the end of the promenade there is an enclosure which houses at least three bears (the mother bear, the father bear and the baby bear - just joking) and two of them were lazing in the shade quite close to a viewing area.

After lunch we set off for Zurich, another 150kms up or was it down the motorway and we arrived there around 4.30 so parked the car and had a walk around.

In arriving in Zurich we completed a full circle!

It was 7 weeks ago that we were there and the place had changed - the Zurich fest was obviously well over and the streets in the area where it had been held were free of people, marquees and rubbish and presented far more pleasantly than when the fest was on.

Also in Bahnhofstrasse they were undertaking footpath improvements on both sides and there were barriers etc. all along it which changed the character of the street considerably.

Our last drive was from the city to the airport where we met Paulo, the Peugeot lease representative, and signed the car back into their loving care.

While we had it we had driven 6,163 kms (I had budgeted for 6,300), we had used 338.65 litres of diesel at 5.49l/100kms and at an average cost of €1.44 per litre and had paid €157.08 in tolls and vignettes - oh and €10 to that crooked cop in Bosnia!

During our driving we recorded vehicle registration plates from 38 different countries - if you would like a list of the countries include your email address as comment to this post below.

A very efficient self check-in gave us around 4 hours wait at the airport before we flew out to Hong Kong.

11.5 hours after leaving Zurich we landed in Hong Kong and taxi'd to our accommodation on Hong Kong Island.

The place is just as I remember from the previous time we were here - chaotic and with different smells on each corner.

Tomorrow we will have a walk around and see what it has to offer.