With only two full days left in our vacation, we needed to leave Leysin and motor towards Munich. Our path would take us across the southern part of the country then north. We departed after checking out of the condo and drove up the Rhone River valley past Martigny, Sion, and Sierre. Beyond Sierre, the autobahn ended but we were on a wide highway with excellent signage and visibility. We stopped at a grocery market in Brig and Meredith bought provisions for a picnic lunch. We passed a train depot at Oberwald where we could have loaded the car, and ourselves, on a train and taken a tunnel ride under the mountains before us – but we don't do tunnels, remember? The road continued to climb as we drove through Gletsch, but it was still in good shape, wide and not too curvy.

Gletsch is at the intersection of two roads, one leading north to Grimselpass and the other east to Furkapass. We continued east, and the road became less accommodating (as you can see in our pictures). Near the top is a pull out where one can get a closeup view (about 200 meters) of the glacier from which the Rhone River descends. Just a little bit farther and you come to the summit (2431 meters – about 8000 feet). We parked, took several breaths in the rarified air, and had our lunch. In one of the pictures, you see our trusty vehicle which has brought us all these kilometers.

The road from the summit of Furkapass to the east is even more fun than the road up from the west. As we were creeping down, we noticed the car ahead of us stop and back up. We wondered "What the ...?" Our question was soon answered – the car had backed up to let a tour bus come around the bend. (See picture.) We were happy to be on the inside – uphill – as we sat frozen in place while the bus went by.

All good mountain roads eventually arrive in valleys and this was no exception. We stopped at the Hotel Rossli in Hospental for an appropriate beverage. While there I promised Meredith that I would never again bypass a tunnel in favor of a mountain pass.

The remainder of the day's trip was interesting, but not dramatic. At one point, the road passes Urner See (lake) that leads to Lucerne, and we crossed Zurichsee near Rapperswil. We avoided both Lucerne and Zurich, however.

We arrived in Stein am Rhein in late afternoon and found a room in the Hotel Schiff, just inside the city walls and right on the Rhein (Rhine) river. (If you visit the city's web site, click on the links under Fotos.) Here we had a few beers and a delicious German-style dinner. While we were dining, we saw several pleasure boats in the river. The one the really caught our eye was one that looked just like Playpen – that's right, a Bayliner on the Rhine!