It was six in the morning on September 3rd and I couldn’t sleep. Too excited, too much noise, I really don’t know why, but I laid in bed for 1 hour before getting up. Alex had been awake too. So we packed the car full, bringing our camping gear (just in case) and cleaning out the fridge.

We left Munich and drove toward Lake Constance (Bodensee), then through Austria for 45 minutes, then into Switzerland past Berne (Bern) toward Lausanne along Lake Geneva (Lake Léman or Genfer See) and finally stopping at Divonne-les-Bains, in France on the Swiss/French border. We stayed at a Citéa Hotel for 60 Euro and it was perfect for what we needed.

lake geneva in coppetLet the vacation begin with a visited to Lake Geneva, the second largest freshwater lake in Central Europe. This was my first view of a glacial lake, which was formed by a withdrawing glacier. The water is a beautiful blue-green color and the sun was invitingly warm subsiding my shivers from the fresh lake breeze. We drove around the country side enjoying the mountains in the horizon and fields of sunflowers and corn.

Divonne: flowing water, don’t fall inWe then walked around in Divonne and found a van parked in a closed supermarket. They sold pizza, the french way. It bothered me that I couldn’t read the french words or order a pizza. Luckily, Alex’s French isn’t that bad, just a little rusty. The pizza was served with a chilli sauce -a combo of veggie oil and chili oil extract. Not bad. Divonne has several casinos and a spa. There is a stream that runs through the city and I was surprised by smell of mint apparently growing along the water banks.

The trip between Munich and Vaucluse is approximately 9 hours. We split our drive in half to visit Geneva. Our destination on day two.