Today was another full day of travelling, and we expected it to be difficult with lots of tightly timed changes. We said goodbye to Andreas who had helped us with everything we needed during our stay. He knew the history of the town including the Krazy Kanguruh.
We walked to the station and just before we got there Lyn noticed this on a wall.
We looked in the driveway of the house and saw a familiar smiling face. A white Mitsubishi iMiev.
Having read the SMH article on charging points by Toby Hagen, we wished we had time to chat to the owner and see whether he actually sold these units.
Our first train was to Feldkirch and it arrived at St Anton right on time. Yeah! A good start. We started talking to the ticket inspector about how to make our first change at Feldkirch when the train stopped at a station and did not take off again. He excused himself and came back much later to explain they had a faulty door which had to be fixed and we would be delayed by 39 minutes. This was the message on the onboard screen.
All our plans were now kaput. Malcolm pulled the Thomas Cook Timetable Book out of his jacket pocket, thinking that this is exactly why we bought it and brought it. He found that there would be a direct train from Feldkirch to Zurich one hour later than our original time that would cut out two changes and get us to Evian two hours after our planned arrival. A quick dash to the Reisezentrum at Feldkirch produced a new travel plan, courtesy of very efficient lady from OBB. It was smooth sailing from then on, with one exception. At Bellegarde, our first station in France, we boarded the Evian train but could not work out why the interior indicator said St Gervaise. We realised it was the old trap of the double train which was due to split halfway to Evian. We quickly moved to the front half and all went well. We had to show our passports and be sniffed by a big black customs dog, which was barking at a miniature one on a nearby seat.
We arrived on time at Evian and went to the taxi sign, but no sign of a taxi. We rang the number on the wall several times but it was always busy. Then we rang the nighttime number and a driver arrived quickly. He arranged a share with a young man also needing a taxi and followed our instructions very skilfully to identify our chalet. We compared our photo of the place with the back facade of the Chalet Royal and the driver waited till we had opened the front door before taking his leave. A super fellow. This photo proves we are actually here.
The house is lovely inside and very roomy, and the setting is beautiful with views across Lake Geneva. The Kings have left a big pile of information that gives us dozens of possible things to do for the next week. Tomorrow we shop and explore.
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