From Alsace, we made our way just over the border to Basel, Switzerland. Foolishly, I didn’t manage to get my camera out, but we did learn a couple of things about Switzerland:

1. You need to buy a vignette (tax stamp) in order to use the Swiss motorways. At the border, they barely look at your passport, but they’re very efficient at taking your money and slapping a vignette on your windscreen.

2. The expensive vignette does not mean that you get better roads. In fact, 90% of the Swiss motorway network seems to be under construction.

3. Helen Keller could have done a better job of signposting Basel. For a country noted for it’s efficiency, the road system in Basel looks like it was designed by chaos theory.

4. Trams are bloody scary. They have the right of way, and they’re a lot bigger than you are. They’re much scarier as a driver than as a pedestrian.

5. “Geschlossen” is the German word for “closed.” Which is what every bloody shop in the country does at precisely 7pm.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful evening with several of Aude’s old colleagues. We sat outside and enjoyed a barbeque in their new home.

I was envious of two things — the sheer floorspace that is available when you don’t live on an island (unlike our tiny houses in the UK) and the quality of the Swiss workmanship. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such high-quality construction anywhere in the world.