We are woken by the sun and enjoy the beautiful view of Mount Rigi from our roof terrace. Breakfast is included at this hotel. We order three hot chocolates and enjoy the selection from the buffet and the scrambled eggs. What a great start to the day!

Our first stop was unplanned: we discovered Hohle Gasse on the map nearby. Of course, we couldn’t miss this piece of Swiss history: it was here that Swiss national hero William Tell ambushed and shot the Habsburg bailiff Gessler. ‘He must come through this hollow lane,’ wrote Friedrich Schiller.

The Grand Tour of Switzerland route now takes us along the shores of Lake Lucerne. We stop several times here to enjoy the beautiful view. Lakes and mountains – Switzerland has it all! That’s why we find it a little strange that our next photo stop is not the view of the lake, but the Rigi Railway station.

In Gersau, we take the car ferry. And we have to admit: it’s not really about getting to the other side (we almost drive the same route back again afterwards), but about the beautiful view from the ship, which we can enjoy together with Auto LucY. And the car ferry itself is also a photo spot on the Grand Tour route.

The next stop is the Tellsplatte. This is before the Hollow Lane this morning. After William Tell had to shoot the apple off his son Walterli’s head because he had refused to salute Gessler’s hat on the pole, he was to be taken to prison by boat. In a storm, he jumped from the boat onto land, onto the Tellsplatte, and escaped. But you have to earn your visit to the Tell Chapel, which was built here on the lake shore. A steep path and countless steps lead down to the chapel, where the story of William Tell is depicted in four large paintings. And then it’s back up the path again… ugh!

The road and motorway run adventurously along and through the mountain here. We stop off in Brunnen. After all that exertion, we definitely need a hearty lunch. Gabi and I share a Cubano sandwich from the well-reviewed takeaway, while Chrige orders a wrap. We take our food with us to Auslandschweizerplatz. I’ve only seen it in pictures before and think it’s great to be here myself, even though I no longer work for the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. The Auslandschweizerplatz is the 27th stop on the ‘Wegs der Schweiz’ (Paths of Switzerland) trail, which has 26 stops for the individual cantons and was inaugurated to mark Switzerland’s 700th anniversary in 1991. It’s really nice to sit here on the bench, look out over Lake Lucerne towards Rütli and the beautiful mountain panorama, and eat my sandwich. On the way back to the car, I quickly stop by the poster exhibition. I had worked on this myself.

Our next stop is Einsiedeln Abbey. According to Wikipedia, it is Switzerland’s most important place of pilgrimage and its most famous Baroque building. The Black Madonna of Einsiedeln in the Chapel of Grace attracts around 800,000 pilgrims and tourists every year. The building is indeed very impressive with its opulent ceiling paintings and the circular window in the ceiling and on one side, which glows orange-red like the sun.

The route continues over the Pfäffikon dam to Rapperswil, which acts as a bridge over the narrowest point of Lake Zurich. We recently saw a television report about how the dam is chronically congested with traffic. And indeed, we find ourselves stuck in a long traffic jam today.

We make a stop at a bakery: Gabi has found the best cinnamon rolls in the area here, which we naturally don’t want to miss out on. The bakery turns out to be a meeting place for car enthusiasts, with a Lamborghini in the room and a Pilates studio. And why not? With a box full of sweets, we drive to Stäfa. This is where the next photo stop on the Grand Tour is located, in a charming little harbour where several people are already waiting for the ferry. We sit under the chestnut tree for a long time and enjoy the sun.

Then we continue on to Meilen. Here, too, there is a photo stop by the lake. From here, a car ferry crosses to the other side of the lake, and it is very busy! Now, at the end of the working day, many people seem to be using it to get home from work. The large jet of water next to the landing stage bobs merrily along with the waves caused by the departing ferries.

Shortly after 7 pm, we arrive at the Hotel Placid in Zurich. Gabi and I stayed here near the Letzigrund Stadium last year after the Taylor Swift concert. Our corner room is incredibly stylish, but style isn’t everything. Unfortunately, the room is impractical in many ways, with only two sockets in the entire room, no bedside tables and no light switches by the bed. And when the curtains are drawn, all the tables and storage spaces are hidden behind them. Oh well.

I set off again to pick up takeaway from the Mexican restaurant La Taqueria, which Gabi has had on her list for a long time. The restaurant makes a great impression, and the tacos and burritos we order are just as full of flavour.