Switzerland

1. In the 1960's we had one of the very first Mini Coopers. Climbing a pass in The Swiss Alps the clutch failed. I allowed the car to free wheel down the pass into Italy. The first garage we saw sold Morris Minis. The mechanics had heard about Mini Coopers but had never seen one. They took two hours to repair the clutch, test drove it a terrifying speeds and made no charge. We never saw another Mini show room during our entire stay in Switzerland and Italy. 2. Touring Switzerland one year in the late 1960's we stopped at a very small cafe a few miles from Lake Lucerne. We found the cafe had a few rooms to let and decided to stay there overnight. When we signed the guest book we were amazed to see that my parents had stayed there a few weeks previously. We were certain of it because of our unusual surname. We hadn't even known my parents were in Switzerland; we had thought they were in France. My father had left a pair of pyjamas in the bed. He was amazed when we returned them to him.