Day 50 – New Country Day: Switzerland
July 16 (Wed) – to Chur, Switzerland
- Two travel days in a row can be rough, but we were able to have a lazy morning. We packed, left our luggage at the hotel, and headed to Ristorane Cafe de la Gare for a “brunch” of pizza and spaghetti. While there, we watched an interesting group of tourists. They all ordered for Take Away, but then sat at the tables to eat (a big no no). They acted like they were all in a big hurry, but then they just hung out. We think they did that to get the check faster, but the server was clearly annoyed with them. One guy was being really rude to her, so she started to ignore him. We taught them to look at their table number and go inside to pay. They weren’t trying to be rude, but they weren’t looking around and following others to see what the norms were. Hopefully, the manager will have a chat with that tour company.
- We did a bit of walking through the cute town, but it was hot, so we went back to the hotel for some lobby AC and to wait for our train. The town has a lot of springs of water (and fountains for public use); we also filled our bottles.
- We boarded the Bernina Express (yes, the name comes from the same place as the sewing machines), the highest train in the Alps. In order to climb high in short runs, the train has some spiral tracks. It didn’t take more than a few minutes for us to say: “Italy, Italy, Italy, Switzerland!” Happy New Country day to us.
- The Alps reminded me of both The Rockies and The Shire, but with glaciers.
- It was such an enjoyable and quiet train until well after the peak. About half way into our journey, a famblee with 5 fermented cock snotleighs came bustling on board being loud with their voices, their stuff, and banging things. The three younger kids all took off their shoes. They don’t even want to be there as they got out coloring books and pencils and made a huge mess with their snacks. And then, she gave them sugar. And then they fought. I locked eyes with the worst/youngest one, “TedDEY”, and gave him an evil stare down that only a former lifeguard, daughter of two teachers, and daughter of a narcissist mom can dole out. He quit being a total shit and climbed into his mom’s lap. He must have ratted me out to his sisters because later, they tried to stare me down, but I wouldn’t make eye contact. I’m sure the older of those two (and the middle of the pack) was sore the next day from the way she had to crane her neck to stare at me. LOL.
The parents ignored them nearly the whole time and didn’t even have the decency to be embarrassed, of course. The kids were so bad that a guy seated in one of their rows got up and stood in the vestibule to get away from them. Trains need age-defined cars. Where are the stereotypical, old, quiet people???
And the dude who couldn’t abide sitting there? Y’all he stood in the vestibule for an hour to get away from them. These seats are about $130 USD each. I hope he demands a partial refund. - When we arrived in Chur, we walked through some rain drizzles to our hotel and checked in room #210 like San Antonio. We had a second reservation and would be moving to #303 like Denver.
- We trained through lunch so we were starving. We found expensive-but-good burgers and beer.
- After dinner, we walked in light rain, found a place for another beer and a Coke.
Day 51 – Chur
July 17 (Thu) – pricey little town of Early Birds
- Our hotel breakfast had a weird setup. One side was a big line for people getting coffee from the machine. We went to the other end and grabbed plates from the obvious stack of clean ones and then got scolded (in Swiss German, I assume) by the lady taking care of it all. We just wanted plates, but no. In a space too tiny for the hotel but where breakfast is included, you are supposed to wait for her to clean and set a new spot at a long table for you. The only “hot” food was hard boiled eggs, so it’s a lot of chaos for minimal food. This was also reception where people were checking out, so they need to rework their whole system.
- At least when the checkout time came, and we were to change rooms, we caught the sweet spot and didn’t have to stow our bags! However, there was a silly moment. He left to go get us Cokes while I handled the change. She needed our names again to check us “in” to the new room. When I said his, she said, “I can’t do American names” and asked me to write it. I told her “well, it’s Germanic.” And when she saw it written she said “ohhhhh [THAT name]” (all she did was pronounce it with emphasis on the second syllable instead of the first). It was so cute, and I’m crushed he missed it.
- Our new room had a full kitchen so we had a fridge! yay! (But the burners/oven are powered off, and we weren’t allowed to cook. boo.) – Our room was #303 like Denver!
- Wandered some of Old Town Chur and used our free Guest Cards to visit a Rätisches Museum. It has an odd permanent collection with no real theme, but also had a cute auto exhibit in their rotating space.
- We then made a grocery run for Cokes and wine and took a little siesta with the town.
- For dinner, we found (expen$ive) schnitzel for dinner, with buttered “nudels.” He was so happy. Next, we were going to go for drinks, but everything here is crazy expensive, so we went back to our room, instead.
- I was too tired to work on our blog. But we had some rest days built in, so I wasn’t too worried. (I’m working on this part on 24-July, so only a week behind…which is pretty good considering we post a few days late, anyway.
- Y’all, this town (Chur) has a curfew. There is to be no loud noise after 11pm, so all the little cafe bars close by then. It’s like being a high school sophomore (for those who had normal parents; I did not). I will never understand how or why those Early Birds get to run over us Night Owls. They are half the population, not the be all and end all. At least there is ample time for rest. So, we decided to sleep in as late as our bodies (and the weather) would let us.
Day 52 – Chur
July 18 (Fri) –
- We decided to sleep until we woke up – at 11am, but there were a lot of construction/trash noises, loud motorcycles, etc.. Damn Early Birds.
- We were going to try to see “new” Chur today (and hoped for more affordable food. But generally, that’s just not possible. It was going to take a lot to fill four days.) Even the most basic cheese nachos are 16CHF = $20USD:
- We found brunch at Valentino’s, the cheapest place we could find. We each had a huge chicken shawarma wrap (14CHF each). We drank water (2CHF). Our bill came to $37USD.
- We also scoped out the grocery store and bought Cokes and used that run to plan snacks for our next train ride. We don’t want to end up hangry again. Our next train had some options for food, but they all sounded weak. We sat in a very pretty city garden to drink our Cokes. By then, it was time to siesta.
- After that, we went to the Bündner Kunstmuseum art museum. They have a new building and the way they joined it to the old one is a bit confusing. We found the buildings more interesting than the art.
- We found shade under umbrella for afternoon Cokes and then headed back to hotel to plan our evening and travels.
- I had grown very tired of pasta and french fries. Even other potatoes would be great. But where are the dang vegetables? Don’t Europeans like veggies?
- And then we found dinner where I had a steak with veggies and he had more schnitzel and nudeln.
- We walked around a bit after dinner, but the evening sun is hot and there isn’t anything to do other than have dinner. This city has very little night life.
- I tried to catch up on editing/writing, but our internet connection was abysmal, which just isn’t acceptable for such an expensive everything place.
Day 53 – Chur
July 19 (Sat) – the day with only three photos – no, we don’t know how
- Despite the crazy prices, we tried Little Mexico for lunch but it was, not open. So, we went back to the grocery store and bought stuff for sandwiches and ate them at the local beautiful garden/park.
- After a small photo editing break, we walked to the “fancy” grocery store. It had a Sephora inside it and reminded us a lot of El Córte Inglés. I found a peeled/cut kiwi, a total luxury.
- Back at the hotel, we did some more planning and greatly shifted our route and return plans. Our original plan was to use the whole 90 days allowed for tourists, but, we can’t see it all. So, instead of doing Germany and Belgium this time, we decided to save them for a future trip to Europe and pair them with Denmark and the Nordic countries. So, we started looking for flights home. While we were researching, I found some Google graph that shows a flight’s prices over time. And there was a huge drop in flights if we just waited 10 more days. The difference was the same as hotels would cost for that amount of time, meaning we could stay 10 more days in France for “free.” We mapped some French towns that weren’t in any previous plan and bought return-flight tickets.
- He left me to work on stuff and went for a Swiss haircut at Eurasia Coiffeur Chur, $38 USD. Because of our long trips, he had to do the same thing in Australia, so he’s now had a haircut in all four hemispheres–no matter which way you slice it–and on three continents. LOL! While he was gone, I got some writing/editing work done.
- Despite the prices, we went to dinner at Little Mexico. Getting a seat was slow, but they opened a private room for us (but left the door open). Getting food was also very slow, but they were ginormous and very good burritos (and included peas and green beans!). The only real downside was a 2yo “TedDEY”–on a barstool–making a lot of noise. HIs mom cared that he was up that high, but didn’t actually try to do anything like hold him or take him outside to run around. She and his dad apparently believe that “gentle parenting” bullshit. They left around the same time we did and “TedDEY” was screaming his head off (because he had to be in a stroller, probably). Of course he was screaming; he clearly had not played enough. I swear, people put more thought into walking their dog than they do taking care of their child’s basic needs.
- On our way into Little Mexico, we accidentally popped into Toms [sic] Beer Box and quickly ducked back out. So, we stopped there afterwards for a drink. It’s a punk place, but there was no band, and their bottled beer selection was impressive.
- And apparently, we didn’t really photograph anything the whole day…. WTF?
