From the hotel to the start of the Gotthard pass was only few kilometers. And so early morning was extremely beautiful and perfect timing to pass one of the most beautiful Alps roads, Darrell was all alert with his camera, and took at least a thousand pictures!

No tunnel for these guys, we take the old pass and even the side road, on cobble stones….

Darrell thanks the weather Gods…:)

Darrell take even risks some times to get the right angle shot…

We made it! Yes!!! The top of Gotthard pass, 2106 meters!

The road down south is more beautiful as the North side up…. for Darrell it was all just a thrill!

Also Nicolas had a good time, a very good time!

Mountains and VW buses, they don’t come any better…:)

Very natural between cows with bells…:) Seems like we’re back in time…

Next was maybe less impressive, but at least as beautiful, the Nufelen Pass, or Passo della Novena in Italian language… the highest from this trip  2478meters

The buses before the lonely mountain cabin…:)

Ever saw David this relax? Hey David, mountains are good for you!

We passed several little mountain towns, nestled cozy between the mountains, I always feel the churches do stand out…

….and Darrell? He was just one happy fellow… or according to him… the Alps been the highlight of his trip!

The way down from Nufelen pass…

The last one for today… Simplon pass, 2005 meters. David had a fuel problem, or at least his pick up….on the way up…  in a tunnel, in road works…. and it was about 42°Celsius… real fun is different, but part of a trip… we fixed with a quality electric BBT fuel pump and continues, nothing can stop us now…

Tomorrow we drive into Italy, because of some breakdowns we’re slightly behind schedule… so we skip Lago Maggiore, (damn!) and drive straight to Tuscany….  stay tuned!

Friend of Da Houze, Dr Pete Keesling, from San Martin California  a real super VW fellow, and especially a very nice person, had a major crash in his oval window beetle, sad to see, but good to hear  Dr Pete will all heal  ok

here is Dr Pete’s own message…

Since the cat is out of the bag (so to speak), I’ll let you know …I was T-Boned yesterday by a young guy in an SUV. Both of us were at speed limit (45mph). He had a stop sign and didn’t see it….hit  me on the right side, sending me into the windshield and the car into a fence, a piece of which ended up in the car. 1.2 miles from home…..almost made it…

I’m okay and will recover fully. Broken ribs and a cracked cervical vertebrae, along with large number of staples and sutures to close a lot of open wounds. Tough day….my herd was reduced by one…Pete

Pete out on behlaf of all BBT VW friends we wish You a speedy recovery! Man oh man, don’t do that again!

….leaving the Bugatti Museum it was only a mere 100 kilometers to BBT’s exclusive distributor for Switzerland, Cagero AG. Roland, Gery and their team very welcomed us…. and Darrell off course!

Cagero is one of the most nice VW shops of the entire globe, if you ever pass Switzerland a stop in Birr is really mandatory! David is all over it!

Roland shows how they use their “shelves” for quick pick…. no work for pussies here!

In between the Cagero private collection was this Meili tractor, very nice original one, powered with a VW engine!

After engines cooled down and we refreshed a little (it was close to 40°C) we continued our trip and the real beautiful was about to come….

But first we saw this VW dealership and the church right behind, we couldn’t figure out if the church is from the VW dealership????

It became later afternoon when we drove along the borders of the lake Lucern, and when we continued to the much smaller Sarnersee, sunset was impressive….

Darrell greetz all of us, VW lovers, out of the roof of the 58 samba, his favorite picture stand! 

it only became more beautiful!

… and Darrell was all over it now, here we see Darrell at speed!!!

a small stop….  what we wanted to do?

We decided to call it a night right before the Gotthard pass…

We booked a small local mountain hotel and had a good rest of sleep… in the morning the two 58’s awaited us for a new adventure, let’s go “over” the mountains….

more tomorrow!