Which way's home?: EURO-JOURNAL DAY 8 (OBERENTFELDEN

Bit of a disaster today. We set off later than expected for the "two and half hour drive" south to the lake. Carol's parents are there for the summer and had invited us down. I drove the first hour or so and when we stopped to get petrol, I accidentally broke the key off inside the petrol tank lid. Oops. Carol was cool about it, but the German caravaner behind us waiting for petrol wasn't as he clearly had no idea how to reverse with a caravan in tow. So we pushed the car a bit and then called Carol's parents. Luckily they have insurance for such things so after a long wait on the phone to the insurance company, they sent assistance. Two "mountain people", as Carol calls them, towed us back to the garage, but not before enjoying a sandwich and a chat at a leisurely pace. Carol tells me that these mountain people, like to do things their own way and take their time about it. "Just like their valleys", she said; "their minds are narrow".
After a little more waiting around we received a courtesy car, or courtesy "tractor" as Carol called it. It's quite amusing to listen to Carol's big city attitude since she herself is from a village. The tractor was fine though, yeah, a little smelly and dusty and an old crow's feather sticking out of the mirror was a bit weird. But nonetheless, the old Mitsubishi Lancer was fine for the remaining hour and a half journey.
We got to the lake at five. It was lovely; surrounded by mountains on all sides and little colourful houses and flats pinned on to the steep hills leading to the water. Any awkwardness I felt about breaking the car quickly disappeared when I met Mariann and Rolf - Carol's parents. They were both warm and welcoming and I felt comfortable right away.
We went for a swim and I enjoyed helping Rolf with his new hobby; collecting wood from the lake. A year or so ago there was a big storm in this area. And since that time trees and pieces of wood have been getting washed down into the lake, some of them quite big. I thought Rolf was trying to clean up the lake for swimmers and boaters, but actually the wood is to be used for burning as they come here about ten times a year, not just in summer. Gathering the wood was quite satisfying in a caveman kind of way and the swim worked up a good appetite for dinner.
At eight we met up with Carol's neighbours and took the boat to the other side of the lake. There we had dinner on a cobble-stoned street by the water. A very classy little town indeed with Swiss mountains silhouetting in the dark blue sky.The others had pizza, but I tried Rolf's recommendation of risotto el dente, a local specialty. The taste was good, but I think in future I'll leave the el dente to pasta and eat my rice fully cooked. Then, with the almost-full moon rising, we explored the village. Many classy restaurants and expensive shops and even a lounge under the bridge. I can definitely see why this is one of the countries most visited places, but I think you'd need deep pockets to really enjoy it. The ten thirty boat was the last, so we caught it home.

All was going well until...