Today we say goodbye to Filippos as he must return to Greece to lead another tour. It was hugs all around. We will miss him. After saying our goodbyes after breakfast, we walked to the train station to catch the train to Levanto, meet Jean at our coach, then it is off to Switzerland! This would be a 7 hour coach ride to Lauterbrunnen. Jody said we would go through about 110 tunnels today! We headed north past Genoa and got caught in a traffic jam. I noticed the terrain changed as we headed north from rolling mountains covered in tree to mountains with only some trees. It also got dryer the farther north we went until the rivers were almost dry. We got stuck in another traffic jam near Milan. The terrain became more farmland. We took our break just past Milan. This was our last free toilet stop. We passed Lake Como. It is HUGE! We had to stop at the Swiss border to check in. We came to Lugano where we stopped at an Autogrill for lunch. Prices are high here. Jody said the average lunch costs $20 - $25. We left after lunch and Jody said Jean was going to take us over the mountains instead of on the highway through the tunnels. Much more scenic. The mountains were breathtaking. We saw snow, glaciers, rivers, waterfalls and switchback roads, We even drove under a waterfall! We stopped once to take pictures and the second stop was at a cheese shop for a bathroom stop. We reached Lauterbrunnen around 5:30 pm. We checked into the hotel then we headed downstairs for a fondue-making demonstration and sample. Yum. Then we sat down to a dinner of bratwurst, potatoes, salad and pudding. After dinner, I took a walk around toen for an hour then turned in for the night.

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