Switzerland 7: Chamonix

Saturday, September 22

Here we defer a little from the Swiss themed itinerary, with our final night planned in Chamonix, Mont Blanc. On yet another early morning, we found ourselves leaving Montreux for our final destination. We had a leisurely paced drive to Chamonix, in eastern France, at the base of the iconic Mont Blanc.

Mont Blanc, the Alps

Travelling at the edge of the peak summer season, we'd experienced some good and bad weather for our journey. Most days were still sunny and warm, but we occasionally hit some mountain rain. Today was no exception - it was time for the fall weather to catch up with us.

Top of Mont Blanc (2009)

Due to some rather torrential rain, we went to the only indoor place we could find - the marketplace. There were few shops open in the mall, so we geared up with rainproof attire to face the damp outdoors. We hovered from shop to shop down the main street of town, and when the rain had cleared temporarily we stopped by the fresh food market for some strawberries on our way back to the car. They were the good kind of strawberries - small, sweet, freshly picked, with nary a bruise and clearly not genetically modified like the ones in North America. (I'm not on the pure organic locally produced wheat-free etc etc bandwagon, but I don't like the giganticised and starchy texture of genetically modified fruit).

Chamonix town centre

With check-in time finally upon us, we arrived at our hotel, which was about 5 minutes walk from the town centre. This hotel felt luxurious compared to the B&B accommodations we'd been staying in previously, and perfect for a good nights sleep before our flight home.

Since we had just walked around the town, we drove out of town to see what there was to do in the area. If the weather was better, we'd have taken a gondola to the mountain top. We thought we'd try to drive to Val-d'lsere, because Mike had heard it was a nice town to visit. We hesitated when the road turned up a toll road tunnel, of unknown length, with an estimated over 30 minutes wait for traffic to enter the tunnel. This wasn't what we were expecting, so we turned back to Chamonix. Somewhere along this route, we stopped at a tourist sign for a waterfall. Apologies that I can't for the life of me remember the name of the falls, or exactly where along this route, nor can I find it online to show you. It was a short uphill hike to see the falls, but the path was blocked part way up for maintenance, so we didn't see the entire thing either.

Mont Blanc

Back in Chamonix, we researched places to go for dinner and reviews, then got disappointed when our two top picks (both a 5 minute drive from town) were closed. We decided to try our luck in town parked right next to the restaurant we ended up going to. After wandering and browsing menus unproductively, we decided to return to the car, and discovered the right restaurant to top off our gourmet culinary tour of Europe. They had a price fix menu that was perfect for what we wanted. Right down to the chocolate souffle dessert. This was the kind of restaurant to bring a small appetiser before the first course, and a cheese plate before dessert. Even with all of the good food we'd enjoyed on our trip, the Panier des 4 Saisons still managed to impress us.

With that, we settled in for the night. The following morning we departed via Geneva Airport.

Previous: Montreux

Switzerland 6: Montreux

Thursday, September 20

As I mentioned, we were a bit tapped for time in Interlaken. We could have easily spent 2-3 days exploring the town and surrounding mountains and lakeside. 

But, after hang gliding we set off again. It was almost 2 hours to drive to Montreux. We experienced a slight hiccup checking into our airbnb here (it seems the price has fluctuated a bit on this one since our stay too), mainly because without a phone, it was not clear to us how to go straight into the locked building, where our host was expecting us to arrive at the apartment on the top floor. So we waited outside while he waited inside for about half an hour, until some residents of the building allowed us in to go upstairs. No matter, once we reached the apartment we received a warm welcome and some great suggestions of what to see, how to get around, and where to eat dinner. 

UNESCO Heritage - Lavaux Vineyards

After settling in, we explored the local area. We were intentionally very nearby the lakefront boulevard, as I had been to Montreux prior to this trip and my main memory was of the beautiful lakefront. We went for a walk to view the Chillon Castle, and on the way back detoured towards the inland streets of the ‘old town’ Montreux. Like the other old town centres, again this featured my beloved narrow stone-laden laneways.

Montreux lakefront promenade

We followed our host’s suggestions to take the car out to dinner that night. He had drawn us a crude map that took a route south out of Montreux, along Col de Chaude Sonchaux, with a right turn onto Route des Raveyres to our restaurant, where we followed the hairpin turns up a mountain, and arrived to our restaurant just as the sun was setting. It's good to have the map because our GPS didn't know what we were talking about. He had recommended this place specifically for the atmosphere and their fondue. Surprisingly, we had gone this whole time in Switzerland without trying the fondue yet, but for a reason. My last time in Geneva I went for some overpriced fondue in their tourist district and was severely disappointed. This time, I wanted a place that was recommended, to know I was getting a well made Swiss style fondue. The Auberge de Sonchaux really delivered on this front.

View from Sonchaux at sunset

We were seated by the window, overlooking the sunset on the lake, when the waiter brought us the ceramic fondue pot and some fresh baguette. He brought as much baguette as was needed to finish the pot of fondue. When we thought all was done, he ensured that we dig up the crusts of cheese at the bottom of the pot, and tickle me pink if that wasn’t the best part of the meal. We shared the fondue along with a salad, since it’s fairly rich on its own.

Friday, September 21

The plan for the day was to see Les Diablerets – the Glacier 3000. I have done this trip before, as a tour from Geneva that honestly, I don’t recall being too expensive, and I was a student at that time! In the morning, we drove first to Gstaad, which is a charming town about 45 minutes out from Montreux. This town showcases the quaint Swiss log-style buildings and cabins.

Gstaad

We warmed up with some hot chocolate from one of the only places that was open that morning, with the town clearly seeing mostly afternoon traffic (much of which is from tour bus groups). Gstaad is a small town and it only takes an hour or so to adequately see the area. We had lunch at the supermarket, which had a variety of prepared meals offered Ikea-style, as a less expensive lunch option.

Glacier 3000

We then made our way to Les Diablerets, with the intention of going up the mountain. For some reason, I got the impression that a single cable car ride would not be that expensive. But there is only one payment option – 77 CHF for an all-day cable car pass. Now, in winter this would make sense to me, since you would be skiing down the mountain and taking the gondola back up. But in summer, when tourists are clearly only going to go up once, this pricing scheme made no sense.

Now, if you haven’t seen the Glacier 3000 before, it really is spectacular up there, especially as an Aussie that had never seen a glacier before let alone walked on one. It really is one of my most memorable Swiss experiences for this reason. But having already done it once, it just isn’t worth that kind of money to me to go again. Having seen glaciers in Alberta and Alaska, the novelty of walking on one has worn off a little too. And Mike, growing up in Montreal with seasonal access to snow and ice, also felt that money could go to better use. So we gave this one a miss for this time. If you haven’t seen or walked on a glacier though, I don’t think you’ll regret the money spent on this experience. They also have sled dogs that will take you for a ride on the glacier if you’re interested in that.

UNESCO Heritage - Lavaux Vineyards

We made alternative plans to stop by the UNESCO heritage terraced wineries just outside of Vevey on our way back into town. If you take a bus or train from Geneva to Montreux you will no doubt see a great view of this world heritage site. It’s the main reason I returned to Montreux, to be able to drive and walk around in these fields. There is a small town at the south shore of the wineries that we walked through that was so adorable, although we didn't see much else to do there except walk through it.

Vevey

Our next order of business was to check out Vevey. Yet another beautiful town, we sojourned in a shopping mall a short while in the heat of the day, then explored the outdoor shopping district and lakeside promenade.

For dinner, we went to Chez Gloria in Montreux's old town for a spectacular meal. Just when we thought the food we'd experience in Switzerland couldn't get any better, this dark basement medieval-style restaurant impressed us yet again. The service here wasn't as good as elsewhere, we waited a while for our meal and drinks, but we were glad to be sitting down and enjoying the rustic decorations so that wasn't an issue for us. 

We tried really hard this whole trip, to go to restaurants recommended by locals, and I feel it made a huge difference in the quality and authenticity of the food we received. You know, at any tourist destination you go to, there will be those restaurants that will cater to what they think the tourists want, rather than to the strengths of their local cuisine, and this is what we want to avoid. Our local host's recommendations were spot on every time for what we wanted.

From here, we ran home in the rain, stopping at the Coop minimart for some snacks to get us through the next morning's road trip to Chamonix Mont Blanc.

Previous: Interlaken   Next: Chamonix

Switzerland 5: Interlaken

Wednesday, September 19

Today was a treat. This journey just keeps getting better and better. After a restful sleep at our cozy airbnb, we followed the road along Lake Como's south shore towards Milan, and returned to Switzerland (yes, this is a mainly Swiss trip, remember). To this point, most of the drive was unremarkable. Our next stop: 

The Verzasca Dam

You may remember this Dam from such filmography as - the opening scene in Goldeneye. Yep, this is where James Bond bungees to the base of the dam and then swiftly takes out the bad guy on the toilet. This dam is so much better than filmed!

Now, to start off, we had some trouble locating the dam thing. Heehee, get it? I should have printed a map to this, because the GPS sounded very confused when trying to locate the Dam. We tentatively followed it's directions for an hour in what felt like the middle of nowhere, until we finally reached a small town. Then the GPS said we'd reached our destination. We were lucky to have found within that town, a single sign towards the dam. Following that, it was a while before we saw another sign. So my suggestion? Firstly, bring a map, or a googlemap printout, something to get your bearings. Then, you may have better luck and confidence locating the nearest township - eg: Selvatica, or Gordemo, then finding a sign to the attraction from there.

Getting back to our time there. Man, do I wish we had packed a picnic for today! We saw the dam, you need to pay for short term parking at the attraction. There's a visitors centre and some restrooms here. After this, civilisation was sparse, and what few restaurants we did see either didn't appear appetising, or didn't appear open. The dam doesn't take too long to see, but it's a stunning vision. Now, for any die hard fans out there, there is a company that does the 007 bungee jump from this location. How cool is that! Sadly (and thankfully) for us, we arrived a week after peak season ended, so this company only ran trips on weekends and we couldn't rotate our itinerary around that. I'm not too fussed about missing it, I doubt I'd have the guts for this. Usually bungee jumping is over a body of water, but this one is into a narrow gorge alongside a slightly concave concrete wall. It feels like you'd be closed in on 3 sides doing this jump.

Verzasca Valley

Verzasca Valley

From the dam, we headed further up the road into the Verzasca Valley. This valley feels like a step back into another era, it almost feels enchanted. The road winds around the mountainside, and in the escarpment below you can see a crystal river flowing across the shallow green-tinged rocks towards the dam. Then you discover medieval-looking buildings. We would have loved to find a way down to the riverbed, or drive further into the valley than we went, but eventually our hunger got the best of us.

Verzasca Valley

We returned to the nearest Coop supermarket for some snacks. I also picked up some Coop brand Gianduja chocolate - at about CHF 1 for 100g, it's the cheapest Gianduja (hazelnut melt-in-mouth chocolate) I've ever seen, and I regret not buying more for my trip home.

Sustenstrasse

Our day took another spectacular turn as we drove to Interlaken. All I know, is that this is the name of the street we took, according to our GPS. I can only imagine how spectacular this road would be in full visibility, because we were dropping our jaws with every turn and we could barely see ten metres in front of us.

Either we were up in the clouds, or it was really foggy. As we reached the valley on the other side of the pass, it was raining heavily. It's possible the low visibility added mystery, adventure and beauty to this road, but I can't imagine how it could be less impressive when you can actually see it. And even if not, it's a fun drive with lots of turns.

Brienz

Brienz waterfront

On the way to Interlaken we stopped by at Brienz, which is a town on the lakeside. We visited the free Brienz wildlife park, which is just inland of the lake, you follow signs to the parking lot then walk up a hill through the woods - then you see some enclosures with animals, and there are food dispensers to buy food to feed the animals with. It was a fun way to spend a half hour.

Brienz Wildlife Park

Trümmelbach Falls

Trummelbach Falls

This waterfall flows through a slot canyon. You can walk within the canyon tunnels to see some parts of the waterfall, and outside of the mountain to see other parts. We checked this out as a side note on our way to Interlaken, mainly out of spontaneity. It's an easy walk to the waterfall. If you don't want to walk too much uphill, there is an elevator available to take people closer to the top of the falls, so then you only need to walk down.

Interlaken

We arrived at Interlaken before dark, and checked into our hotel. Our hotel was off a pedestrian-only zone. This made it a little tricky to figure out where to park. We ended up parking in a pay zone for a short time to walk and find the hotel, then they told us how to reach the free parking which was about 5-10 minutes walk away. The hotel was associated with a Mexican restaurant, which we had our included breakfast at the following morning.

We browsed the streets and did some window shopping before settling on a restaurant for dinner. Honestly, I'm struggling to remember where we went for dinner, because the place was great and had a price fix 3 course menu. I want to say it was the Belvedere Brasserie based on its location, so if not this restaurant, it was one nearby that provided a price fix menu with mainly French/Swiss cuisine on offer, and faced the Hohematte park. I mention this because yet again, we were very content with the quality of our meal, and felt the value was good for the price fix.

Thursday, September 20

Having taken full advantage of our first opportunity to sleep late, we went downstairs and found a brochure for the Schilthorn, which is yet again, another James Bond fan site, which boasts a panoramic mountain-top view and restaurant. We had plans for the afternoon and didn't have the 3 hours it would take to see this site without the stress of getting back in time. If I were to do it all again, I'd have woken up earlier and gone to the Schilthorn for breakfast. We had a lazy morning shopping the main street of Interlaken.

On to our exciting afternoon plans - hang gliding! Now, I've been wanting to go tandem hang gliding for a long time. And not the kind where you're pulled up by another vehicle, but the kind where you jump of a mountain and fly. It's a really tough thing to find, and I couldn't find it anywhere I've travelled in Canada. Where is more perfect to do this than in Switzerland?

Our tour guide was Eddie, an Aussie bloke that decided to drop everything and move to Switzerland for his dream. He picked us up promptly at noon, and we drove up a mountain to a take off site. We only had one guide for this trip, sometimes there are the two guides that will go up together. So Mike and I each took off separately, and watched each other glide down from the landing site. That was a great photo opportunity so we were happy with that. You have to help carry the equipment about 300 metres to the take off site from the car drop off, and he showed me how to assist assembling the glider and then checked my work afterwards.

Then on to the challenge - running as fast as you can down a steep hill, then jump! It's a bit nerve racking to run down a hill at a speed that you know you won't be able to stop. We had a few practice runs before bringing the glider with, because you have to jump at the right time. Then, we were up in the air. We were up for probably about 10-15 minutes, although I wasn't looking at the time. The view from the bird's eye is spectacular. We had clear blue skies, a stunning blue lake, and tree studded mountains. If you're up for some tricks, and the conditions are safe, the guide will happily do some dives and spins. Eddie took some photos of us from the air, with a camera attached to the glider, and Mike and I chose to purchase the photos later - hey, it's once in a lifetime!

I couldn't be happier with my experience through this company, and if you've ever wanted to try hang gliding, this is the best location I can think of for it. If you're in the area, and you're a bit hesitant, I can't imagine how you'd be disappointed if you bite the bullet on this one - go for it! It is expensive to hang glide with these guys in Interlaken (currently at 235 CHF), but I certainly don't regret a single cent.

Previous: Lake Como   Next: Montreux

Switzerland 3: Stelvio Pass & Bormio

Monday, September 17

This is the day! Pretty much the whole itinerary revolved around today, the day we did the Stelvio Pass. As mentioned previously, this has absolutely got to be one of the best drives in the world, as featured on Top Gear. Be aware, many roads in this route are closed in winter.

Fluella Pass

Now I'm sure there's a few routes that can be done here. You need to know what route you plan to drive before leaving. We found that the GPS kept trying to stick to main roads and avoiding the whole point of today's drive. So we had to tell the GPS to take us to random places along the route in order to stay on track.

The drive from Davos to Bormio

We began our drive heading east out of Davos, towards the Flüella pass (28). This is the most important step to get started in the right direction. The Flüella pass was spectacular, with silver rocky mountains for turn after turn, and a couple of clear and calm lakes to stop at. I wanted to get out of the car every minute to take pictures, until Mike got fed up and refused to stop - he was excited to see the Stelvio Pass. We turned right at Stradun (27) and followed this all the way to the Mount La Schera tunnel, as per the GPS instructions. We felt a little anxious waiting at the tunnel entrance, not quite sure where we were or where the tunnel would lead us. We waited about 10 minutes for the one-way traffic from the other side to come through, then entered the tunnel. The tunnel runs about 4km, and is dead straight the entire way. That alone makes for an intriguing time, with absolutely no variation in what you see for 10-15 minutes, just the car in front and in the rearview mirror, and the lights flying past.

Fluella Pass

When we exited the tunnel, the scenery had changed drastically. The grey pebbled mountains gave way to an expansive still-water lake and abundant spruce trees. And oh yeah, keep an eye out for those marmots! Those cute little guys were spotted a few times just off the roadside.

Marmot on the roadside!

From here, we followed the GPS directions to Bormio. We passed what initially looked like large touristy ski towns, and then progressively smaller local mountain towns. The alpine Italian towns just became more and more surreal until we finally reached Bormio.

Stelvio Pass

We quickly checked into our hotel, then continued to Stelvio, with Mike so anxious to drive the pass that even lunch had to wait!

Stelvio Pass

The Stelvio pass, when driven from Bormio, just becomes more exciting the closer you get. Honestly, I can't adequately describe the feeling of driving up and down those hairpin turns (mainly because it was Mike driving), but the exhilaration was as anticipated. The only way it could have been better was if we were driving an Aston Martin. That would have been cool.

A toll for the pass was introduced in 2013, just for the tourists. Be careful driving the Stelvio pass, there are a few hold ups with cyclists (how or why they cycled up that I'll never understand), motorcyclists, cars and buses. The buses do a three point turn at every hairpin turn, so if you're stuck behind one, it can kill the fun for a bit until you can pass.

We reached Stelvio, which is a tough town to drive in, with the roads only barely fitting a single car going one way. We struggled to park in the half-parking-spot at the only restaurant we could find in town. The pasta there was that perfect texture of fresh homemade pasta. I just wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the bee that stung me killed my spirit for a little while there. I survived, and we headed back to Bormio, very happily, the way we had just come.

Stelvio

           

Above is a video of the Stelvio Pass. Apologies for the poor quality - the upload size is limited so it appears compressed and pixelated, but on the small viewer you can get the point. Any solutions someone can offer for this would be grand.

Bormio

Bormio is an Alpine spa town, and we stayed at the Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi - which has the best reputation for a spa hotel that I have ever seen. The hotel had several decadent indoor and outdoor baths, pools, spas, and saunas which we were able to enjoy at our leisure. Usually admission is about $50 per person, but it was included in our hotel stay (we splurged on this). Even if not staying at the hotel, it is worthwhile to visit the spa for a half day or so. With the hotel being high upon a mountain, the outdoor pools have breathtaking views of the town and valley below.

We spent the afternoon exploring the old town of Bormio. This is another city of cobblestone narrow pathways, stone buildings, courtyards and archways. We decided to have dinner in town, and being Italy, most restaurants appeared to be closed. We found a pizzeria that was open, where we had a fairly ordinary pizza.

I regret not having dinner at the hotel restaurant. The prices were moderately expensive, at about mid-20's for a main. The restaurant was in a glamorous dining hall, beautifully decorated and furnished, providing an atmosphere of prestige. We ordered dessert, and were presented with a platter of delicate candies as a palate cleanser before our dessert arrived, even though we hadn't had dinner there.

Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovi

View from Bagni Nuovi

Our comfortable stay in this premium hotel topped off the best travel day of our Swiss vacation.

Previous: Davos   Next: Lake Como

Switzerland 2: Davos

Sunday, September 16

After a delicious traditional Swiss breakfast provided by our gracious airbnb hosts, we collected the white Yeti from parking and set off on the 2 hour drive to Davos. The roads, as with all roads I've experienced in Switzerland and Italy, were well maintained and smooth sailing.

We checked into our hotel first, which was a basic private accommodation with a shared bathroom (although it didn't appear we were sharing it with anyone for the duration of our stay, the hotel felt pretty quiet).

Our plan for Davos was simple, we were going to rent mountain bikes and enjoy biking down the mountain trails. Our devilishly laid out plans were thwarted when every rental store in the town was closed by noon on Sundays. While deciding where to go next, we randomly drove as high as possible within the town limits, and stopped at the highest point to eat our Coop sandwiches. 

The plan became to take the gondola up the top of one of the mountains for a hike. It's really tough for me to nail down which mountain we went to and which gondola we took - there's a few in the town - and honestly we struggled to locate the gondola departure point from town while driving around with the car. I imagine all of the mountains are just as beautiful though, so I really don't think you can go wrong.

We followed a trail that wound around the mountain to a second gondola station that would return us back to town. We forgot to bring water so had to buy the overpriced water at the top of the mountain. I feel the photos are self explanatory for this part of the journey. We did see cyclists on mountain bikes, and, having walked the trail, as amateurs to mountain biking I am very glad we couldn't get bikes that day - there were some parts of the trails that were unexpectedly dangerous if you don't have the experience to look for them. One wrong move could be very tragic, though the idea of mostly downhill slopes sounds fun.

We consulted the concierge at our hotel about where would be best for dinner. He indicated that most places in town will be touristy and nothing special, and suggested that we take our car to a small town Monstein which was a 15 minute drive away. We reached the town just before sunset, and spent a good 20 minutes just walking through the one-street town and soaking in the vista of the valleys below.

Monstein

We went to Hotel Ducan for dinner as advised. Again, the mains were pricey but food was incredible. This restaurant, and the town, was a great surprise after being in Davos which overall has a bland feel to it in comparison. We were impressed with our second dinner in Switzerland. The restaurant offered some game meats and Mike ordered the venison while I got the steak frites. My only slight annoyance with the restaurant, was that because my main came with frites, they brought a giant bottle of ketchup to the table which made the meal feel a little cheaper and made me feel like an out of place foreigner. Most people would probably find it considerate, but for that price I guess ketchup should come in a little side bowl. Maybe I'm just being picky.

Monstein

Anyway, I'd strongly recommend visiting Monstein if you are ever in the Davos area, and it's worthwhile arranging dinner at Hotel Ducan - which probably requires reservations during the peak season.

We drove back to Davos in the dark, and took a randomly selected unpaved road uphill into a forest, until we found a clearing to stop the car. We used this opportunity to watch the stars, in perfect darkness.

Previous: Zurich   Next: Bormio

Switzerland 1: Zurich

Here it is, Switzerland in 9 days. This is my dream vacation, the one that was so perfect that I would happily go back and do it the exact same way. Okay, so it wasn't only Switzerland. We also saw a bit of Italy and France, but that only makes the deal sweeter. This trip was designed around a couple of pinnacles - my idea to visit Switzerland, followed by Mike's idea to do the Stelvio Pass, a drive that he saw featured on Top Gear. The idea of some James Bond sites fuelled us further - like the Verzasca Dam, the Villa La Gaeta, and unintentionally the Schilthorn fitted into the itinerary too.

And so was built, our ideal holiday. Think pristine roads, gourmet food, blue skies and charming towns.

9 Day Switzerland Itinerary

Trip Style: Self directed

Transportation: Rental Car

Average Accommodation Cost: CAD$105/night ($80-130, excluding Bormio's luxury accommodations)

Travel dates: September 15-23, 2012

Saturday, September 15

We arrived near midday into downtown Zurich. We had picked up our Scoda Yeti at the airport, GPS included, and found some paid parking downtown near our airbnb accommodation. Mike's quite a car fanatic, and his response to our little Scoda Yeti - that's an ugly car! By the end of this trip, we dream about the days spent in that reliable little fuel conservative car, and I even find it cute. But more on that little car later.

We only had a day to explore Zurich, so we had to make it count. From our airbnb we followed my prearranged walking tour map. Our route took us through Neiderdorf [B], which is the city centre area full of boutique shops. My favourite of which was the Sprüngli store and associated restaurant. For anyone not familiar, if you look at the packaging of any Lindt chocolate, you will see the brand name is actually Lindt & Sprüngli. Here they incorporate their chocolate into all sorts of desserts. Sadly I couldn't read their menu, but I saw the desserts brought out to people on the terrace and they looked delicious. Their store sells not only Lindt chocolates, but a variety of other candies and macaroons.

We walked down multiple alleys searching for the famous Augustinergasse [C], which is a narrow alley that was actually fairly difficult to find because it was poorly signed. But looking for it introduced us to the entrance to the old town, Lindenhof [D]. We explored the old town extensively, enjoying the cobblestone pedestrian-only plazas, the boutique stores, cafe terraces and gardens.

We eventually meandered our way towards Bellevue [D], the riverside promenade. This area was associated with a more modern pedestrianised area. We stopped for some street food and watched as a colourful parade of sorts (or possible it was a riot, but it certainly looked celebratory) marched across the bridge.

We followed the riverside back to the Platzspitz park as the afternoon drew to a close, and hung out there for about half an hour until returning to the apartment. We stopped on the way at the Coop mini-mart across the street for some minor groceries. We fell in love with the Coop, and ended up getting lunch from this supermarket nearly every day.

The view across the river from Platzspitz (not in any way reflecting what the park looks like)

Our hosts were just wonderful. They made a great suggestion for dinner that night, and provided us a delicious traditional Swiss breakfast in the morning. By recommendation we went to Drei Stuben for dinner. This was the best rosti we had in the whole trip. Rosti is a traditional Swiss dish of grated potato that has been roasted, although each restaurant had a different variation on this (think the way home fries can differ so much depending on where you go). The restaurant had a traditional and homey atmosphere, with wooden tones and warm lighting. The price was high, but standard for the country and well worth it given the quality of the food. Overall, when it came to dinner, mains averaged about $40 each. Keep in mind, tax and tip are included so for a high class meal, this price competes with Canadian restaurants. We were charged for water everywhere, except for in circumstances where we purchased another drink, then most restaurants provided complimentary water in addition to the drink.

Next: Davos