Road trip - day 12 - wednesday Up & out a bit earlier today after the first breakfast of the trip to involve croissants! Praline croissants yum yum! We decided to head off for Montbenoit & visit the Abby. First we went to Pontarlier as we had seen the signs from there & there was a small market near to the parking. We had a quick look around & decided it might be cheaper to get a few bits from the stalls rather than visit a supermarket!! Yoghurt...

Road trip - day 11 - Tuesday Very chilly & misty; we were actually in the clouds first thing with a temp of 6c rising to 11c later in the day Headed out to explore the possibility of taking a train ride to Switzerland over the next few days. The lady at Pontarlier Gare didn't speak English but was very helpful; we asked about visiting Lausanne but knew after just a few minutes that we wouldn't be able to negotiate a conversation about options of going furt...

Road trip - day 10 - Monday Mums birthday! Today is chilly & raining with exceptionally low cloud ..... but it is the day we decide to visit Switzerland. Again it's a late start, we take a ride into Pontarlier & arrive just after noon; the Tourism office of course is closed until 2pm. Wifi will have to wait!! We set off to see what Lake Neuchatel has to offer. The road is very pretty even in the rather bad weather, at times we are in the cloud. There...

Road trip - day 9 - Sunday A real nothing day. Irrationally unhappy about the Gite .... no dishwasher & an overwhelming feeling that this was an old persons home that had been bought & nothing much has been changed or thrown out. Also a bit fed up of pine trees & windy roads. Stayed in bed till maybe noon/1pm ish. Grumpy, emotional & unhappy!!! At least the bed clothes are ours from home & feel 'safe'. Every stage of getting up feels like a...

Road trip - day 8 We had a continental breakfast at the Bluhotel before packing & deciding to follow our plan to investigate Old Freiburg by tram. We drove as per our instruction map to the tran station around the corner from the hotel & parked on the street. It had sounded easy to just get Tram 3 into town ..... the tram itself ended up easy but buying a ticket was not!!! It took 29mins with trams coming & going before we managed to board with a va...