SWITZERLAND 2010

Since the last time we went to Switzerland in 2007 we knew that we wanted to go back, even though the trip ended up with a broken car engine. So this time we descided to go before the warranty on the car was ended...... well this time the "story" ended in the same way, on top of a breakdown van...

We were going to stay at Verenas house, she is the owner of Xafhirs mother and sister. From Alnö where we live, to Roggenburg where Verena lives, is it about 2200 km one way. Our plan was try to go to some shows while we were down there. Verena found a 2 x International Show in St:Gallen/Switzerland, and we also found a International Show in Hilleröd/Denmark that we could enter on the way down to Switzerland.

..:: Day 1 ::..

We started the trip with a visit at our friends Linnéa and Robin (Kennel Mehr Angiz), and the great grandchildren to Emir that still lived with them, Ciara, Hannes and Egon. Xafhir was happy to see one of his best friends in the whole world: Doris!

Photos

After the stop at Linnéa and Robin we drove to Enköping, there lives my sister Sara and her boyfriend Andreas and their colecat Donna. We stayed the night at their place and in the morning before we started the drive to Denmark, Xafhir got his first tic of the year. It was only walking on his nose...

On the way down to Denmark we stoped for lunch in Huskvarna, at Tomas workmate Joachim and his wife Reny. Reny had made soo nice Indian food for us. This day "statued a example" how the weather was going to be the rest of the trip.... RAIN and more RAIN...

We took the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingör, and then we drove to the hotel in Lyngby where we were going to stay over the night. The hotel is placed in a shoppingcentre in Lyngby about 10 km från Kopenhagen. It took a while before we found the hotel, the GPS was right BUT the Hotel signs was so high up that we couldn't see them. The hotel parking was in a parking house, but it was too low for our car because we had the "roof box" on the car. With help from a friendly person (who we sa at the show the day after!!!!) we finally found a place to park the car.

Everything down there was soo much more green than at home, at home we still had snow in the garden.

Photos

Up early to eat breakfast and then off to Hilleröd. When we came to the exhibition, we learned that the judge was another one than what we had enter for. It was a swedish judge that we never had enter any of our dogs for. Only two dogs in the openclass, Xafhir won with excellent and was placed as Best Dog-3.

After Xafhir was placed in Best Male we started packing all the things in the car again... we had a couple of km left to go....

First we dorve to Rödby where we took the ferry to Puttgarden. On the ferry we ate some dinner.

We stopped in Hannover to sleep in the car for some hours, from there we had about 700km to Roggenburg. Verena met us at the customs by the German/Swiss-border and from there we drove to Reinach. In Reinach Verena bought some things for her grill at the Migro-shop, and then we also stoped and bought some food at Coop in Laufen for the evening. It was so nice to be down there again and recognize shops, churches and places that we saw and visited last time.

After the stop at Coop we drove to a place where the dogs can meet each other on a neutral place. It went very well!

For dinner this day Verena made real Swiss fondue with "kirsch" (cherrie liquor), wine and a lot of cheese in it!!!

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We all slept long this morning after the long drive. The weather was very foggy this day, but we took a long walk in the woods. Lehzael wasn't so nice with Xafhir, she teased him, running around and around him! At the walk we saw a lot of snails, in different colours: grey, black, orange and white, I really don't like them, so every little step was important, so I didn't crushed them. Verena and Tomas laughed at me.

Later that day we drove to St:Jacob, outside of Basel, to a big shopping centre. There I bought a new wallet and me and Verena bought some music CD:s. Outside of the supermarket there was a little pizza stand, there you could choose how big piece you want and then they warmed it up in a oven. The price was determined by how much the piece weighed. I think there were three or four different types of pizza. We all tasted the one with salami.

After the pizza we shoped some things for breakfast and dinner in the supermarket. In this shop and alomst every other shop you can find the famous swiss chocolate in the supermarket we saw the biggest Toblerone that ever have seen. It was about one meter long, weighed 4,5 kg and cost 70 euro!

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This day I had longed for a long time, we were going to meet Mannes son Idris and his owner Ilona in the Grün 80-park in Münchenstein outside of Basel. In 1980 Münchenstein was the host municipality for the 2nd Swiss exhibition for garden and Landscaping. We found a good place in the park to take photos of the dogs in various constellations.

After the walk and the photo session we stoped at the big self-service Migro restaurant. They had so many things to choose from: sandwiches, food, cakes, pastries and much more. It was alomst to many things, me and Tomas just stood there and looked around "what shall we eat". When we stood there came Ilona and said that in Switzerland there is a cake that is called "Schwedentorte", swedish cake. She said that she has always woundered if it comes from Sweden. She showed us the cake and yes it "comes" from Sweden. It was a "Princess cake".

On the same place I saw a sign that said "Schwarzwaldtorte", this Schwarzwald was nothing like the Schwarzwald that we have in Sweden. In Sweden it consists of cream and meringue and chocolate, but the one in the self-service Migro restaurant was made of a chocolate base with a cherry-cream mixture. I just have to taste it, even though cherries are not my favourite it was my choice. Tomas took a cheese cake, both of them were really good!

The Swedish-Schwarzwald

Thank you so much Ilona, it ment alot to us!!!!

Photos

In the middle of the day we took the car to the motor cross stadium in Roggenburg. This was the place that we took all the photos on Manne and Galifa last time that we were in Switzerland. We took some standing and running photos of Lehzael, Xafhir and Ghazal. After that we walked with the dogs around the track.

After the walk with the dogs we went to Media Markt outside of Basel. There we looked at things for the computer and the camera. Some things are much cheaper in Switzerland than in Sweden. It was close that we bought an external hard drive to the computer for all photos, but we decided that we will do it at home instead.

In the evening we "defied" the rain and grilled. Verena had bought the same sausages with bacon that we ate last time we stayed at her place. She had also bought veal sausage and ostrich meat. We hesitated a bit when we saw veal sausage, it was very white, but after Tomas grilled it, it looked better! It was very good infact, better than it looked! None of us had eaten ostrich before, and I can say, it has become one of my favourites, I just love it!

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In the morning we took the cars and drove away to a place where Verena use to go walking with the dogs. It was a gravel road that just went up and up. This was the first day that we could see a little bit of the sun. It was a really nice walk. Very big trees and the well known Jura yellow/white bedrock. After a while the road went down and down, and not long from where we had put the cars, Verena stoped and told us about the time when she had a encounter the wild boars. The wild boars were chasing each other so they didn't see her. Good for her!!

When we came back to Verena we ate some lunch and after that we started driving down to Jegenstorf (about 17 km north of Bern) where we were going to visit Susi and Heinz Keller, the owners of Mannes daughter "Sari".

Besides Sari they also have a Podenco "Perona" ( a rescue dog from Spain), a spanish galgo Baccara del Viento "Baquita" and a longhaired whippet called Ayana. Ayana is imported from Czech Republic.

Susi and Heinz gave us coffee, tea and biscuits and after we took a walk with all the dogs.

Thank you so much again for your hospitality, Susi and Heinz!

Photos

What an experience to exhibit in Switzerland, such chaos! Compare to this we have very well organized shows in Sweden.

The show was inside (this is no different from Sweden, but the parking was... CHAOS, to say the least! We parked in a parking garage (you could also park outside but Verena thought it was better inside), the garage was (atleast it looked like) in the centrum of the city. The buses couldn't drive because of all the cars. The police had to come and direct the traffic.

Once you've managed to park it was time to huddle with all the other people who wanted to go in to the show area (you walked directly from the car park to the exhibition) and with all the things that people had with them ... and it's not little packing that some people have!

Everything is so diferent from what we are used to. In Sweden you get information about the show about two weeks before the show (how many dogs in the ring, approximately what time the dog is going in the ring etc.). But in Switzerland you only get a confirmation that you have entered to the show, which came with coupons for admission for one person, catalogue and a little thing (we got a small bag and a water bottle for the dogs). So you must be there when the show starts (even if it means that your dog will go in last... that you don't know before you come there), otherwise you can miss when you should be in the ring!

Before the show began ( 10 o'clock) we could go in and out with the dogs, and only show the rabiesvaccination for the dog, but after 10 o'clock, you must submit a deposit in order to come in again! It could be the dog passport, a cellphone or as we did, took the driving license... then you got a post it note with a number on it, so they knew who owned what... the driving license was a "eye catcher", the people that let dogs and their owners in never forgot who owned it!

Before it was time for the salukis, I sat and looked on the borzois. I found a lovely bitch from Italy that I liked (Dobrinja), she won her class with CAC and later also CACIB. There were also some borzois with Swedish/Nordic-lines at the show: Le Sphinx Killing Me Softly (Norway), Kazar Tara (Norway, the daughter of one of the best looking borzois I've ever seen: Kazar Olympia, she is also niece to our close friends Cilla and Lars' late Kazar Oda) and Kazar Sveta (Norway, also a daughter of Kazar Olympia).

It was 10 salukis entered on Saturday (7 males and 3 bitches). The judge was Mrs Monica Wall from Sweden. Monica had, not that I know of, judged salukis for over 10 years in Sweden, and we have never entered non of our other dogs for her. I hesitated a bit when I saw that it was going to be a swedish judge... drive 2200km and be judge by a swedish judge!

There were three males in the champion class, our Xafhir, Marhamati-Malek Dorr-E-Dorrân (Switzerland) and Furat Ten Dolen (Belgium). Xafhir won the class with CAC and then also CACIB and became Best Male!!!! Lehzael won CAC and r-CACIB. BOB was Marhamati-Ma'Sûn Dorr-E-Dorrân, owned by our friend Christoph Wittwer.

There were also two other salukis (besides Xafhir and Lehzael) how had swedish background. One bitch who is imported from Sweden to Switzerland, Garamyias Ghadwa and her son in the intermediate class: Ferid Sharaf-Al-Bait.

At the show we met Claudia for the first time in almost three years, she was the one who flew to Sweden with Xafhir, so nice to see her again! We also met Mannes half sister Hassemy Nafeesa'Jumâna
Al Asmaanii and Haniya Har Kala Rahci (the sister to Cathrin and Anders import from Belgium, the black smooth bitch Husniya Har Kala Rachi) and their owner Myriam Schmid-Eigenmann, she is a good friend to Verena.

Mannes sister "Jûma"

"Haniya"

After the show we drove to Claudias place and selebrated todays great results with some champange and pizza toghter with Verena, Claudia and Myriam.

Vielen Dank Claudia dass wir bei Dir übernachten durften!

Photos from both days

The photo above is taken from the car when we drove from Claudia on Sunday morning, I think it is the Austrian Alps. Just love that photo.

This day we had 98 dogs in the ring before the salukis... not ideal for Xafhir, the longer he has to wait before he must go in the ring, the more bored and tired he gets! This day he was third in the class with excellent, he didn't show himself from his best side... and I think he wasn't elegant enough for the judge.

To bad we can't read a thing in the critic because the judge had to write it himself.. because of all the chaos because 52 Rhodesian Ridgeback and 26 Dalmatians wanted their critics and CAC, r-CAC, CACIB and r-CACIB cards.... Poor Luis Catalan had to write, as good as he could, by himself..

This day Lehzael had the same results as on Saturday, CAC and r-CACIB.

Lehzael on the show in St:Gallen.

BOB both days Marhamati-Ma'Sûn Dorr-E-Dorrân.

Congratulations Christoph for the great results and last but not least the Group placement on Sunday! (Nice to see you at Lövudden again).

After the show we drove back to Roggenburg, on the way there we stoped at a "Mövenpick"rest stop/diner/mall and ate some food, bought breakfast for next day and window shoped chocolate, they have a lot of chocolate in Switzerland.....

There were so much food to choose from at the restaurant, we could hardly descide what to eat, of course I ate ostrich meat again!

"Long time, no see"

This day me and Tomas got up early, we were going to meet Ilona at a Landi store outside of Möhlin. She was going to take us to Emirs halfsister Binshay who lived in Sweden, at my father and his ex wife, 7 years ago.

Binshay and her owner Karin lives in Germany,not long from the border to Switzerland. It was so nice to see Binshay again after so long time. She didn't recognice us, but we saw that she "understood" some swedish words. You could not believe that she, in a couple of weeks, will turn 10 years of age.

We spend some time in Karins apartment, and then we took a walk in the rain with all the dogs. It felt special to see her again after such a long time, and to see that she has a good life toghter with Karin.

Thank you Ilona for taking the time to show us the way to Karin.

Karin, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to meet Binshay again after so many years, we will never forget it!

Photos from when we visited Binshay and Karin

This day was the only day, besides the days when we were in St:Gallen ath the shows where it was sunny weather. So on the way back to Verena we stoped in Laufen to buy some food for the evening, not a big surprise, we were going to barbecue (One can almost say that barbecue is a kind of tradition when we visit Verena, if one can call two visits a tradition?!). And YES we bought ostrich...( 3 times in 5 days...)

But before we ate we took the cars and drove to Lucelle. Lucelle is a village situated on the Franco-Swiss border. It is divided between the two countries. The northern half (47 inhabitants in 1999) being part of the commune of Lucelle, Haut-Rhin, in the Haut-Rhin département, the southern half being part of Pleigne, in the Swiss Canton of Jura.

Lucelle Abbey or Lützel Abbey (French: Abbaye de Lucelle; German: Kloster Lützel) was a Cistercian monastery in the present village of Lucelle, in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace, France, but located right on the Swiss border.

The name of the original foundation was Lucis cella, the "cell of light". Lucelle was founded in 1124 as a daughter house of Bellevaux Abbey, which in its turn was a daughter house of Morimond Abbey. It was dissolved in 1792 during the French Revolution.* (Info from Wikipedia)

Photos from the walk in Lucelle

Photos from the BBQ and Roggenburg

The BBQ was a good way to end an eventful and fun day with, but it was also a but it was also a bit sad because it was the last night....

More info about Lucelle visit:

http://grenzen.150m.com/lucelleGB.htm

http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/G7376.html

We got up early and ate breakfast, said a tearful goodbye (for now) to Verena and the dogs, and started the long drive back to Sweden. Our goal was to stop and sleep in Puttgarden, and get up early the next morning and shop in the big Border Shop-ferry.

Driving through Germany is not the best thing , it becomes just a "transport route" of the journey to get to Denmark. If Germany not existed , or that Switzerland was closer to Sweden, we would probably spend more time there ...

We came to Puttgarden around 9 o'clock in the evening, it was very windy and it rained.

Photos from the trip back home

We started the day by shoping at the Border Shop, I just had to buy my absolute favorite... Stroh Rum ( I will not write the % here... ;) ), we also bought a lot of other things, the whole car was full on the way home.

As I mentioned in the beginning the car broke down last time we went to Switzerland (one other than the one we had this time). That time we came to Jönköping/Sweden, then we had to take a rental car the last 700 kilometers home.

This time we had about one hour to go when the indicated that something was wrong with the engine, we took no chances and called a breakdown car, it was not as bad as the last trip when the engine broke down, and we had to pay around 2500 euros to fix it.... Thank God that the warranty hadn't expired!

We phoned or relatives and said that we were waiting for the brakdown car to take us to Sundsvall, and that we needed help with all the things in the car and Xafhir, because we couldn't have him in the rental car that we got with help from the Ford-assistance. No one believed us when we phoned, I can't blame them for not believe in us!!!! But unfortunately we were not kidding.....

Photos from the las day

The next time we will go ( if we ever dare), we will come all the way home or the car will burn on autobahn......