January 16 - "Go With the Flow"

We started off a little before 9 AM, which was fine, as we had "voted" not to get entangled in trying to park and walk into Annecy for breakfast (which would have required 8 AM departure). We stopped in a French bar/cafe, and I went in to ask if we could have "petit dejuneur" and the man at the bar replied, "Cafe". Ron and I recall earlier experiences in France never being able to find breakfast. So we continued on, and ended up in a Marche (a self-serve kind of cafeteria with multiple stations with various food items) on the autoroute. We just wanted something to "tide us over".


From there Mike drove - and then we, unintentionally, went through Zurich, which was not a good thing. We had been heading toward a restaurant near Rapperswil and wanted to go down the WEST side of Zurichersee, and the GPS was sending us toward St. Gallen, which seemed sensible. It is too long a story, but ended up in much traffic in Zurich and then going down the EAST side of the lake anyway. By then we knew we would be too late for lunch in Harden, so we stopped at another Marche (autobahn stop) for a bite of lunch. Two "cafeterias" in one day. Food was pretty grim. I had a sausage Ron suggested, thinking it would be like an Austrian kaesekrainer (cheese sausage), but it contained tomato and bacon in addition to cheese and was very coarse and not tasty. Ron had a salad. Pat and Mike shared a pizza. I think the bill for this meagre meal was about $55.00 with only water for beverages (this is only for Ron and mine, Pat & Mike's was a separate bill).

Marche on the autobahn

Less than tasty sausage

Ron's soup and salad

Ron drove us to Trin, about 15-minutes outside Chur, where we had agreed to rent a lovely home for 10-days. However, Ron could not maneuver the van up the steep hills without chains. We got to a certain point and thought we might slide off the back of a hill through a small picket fence. White-knuckle time for sure! I later commented that Pat, Mike and I should have jumped out - why all three of us go over the cliff? This elicited a big laugh from Mike, saying "Bye-bye Ron."

As soon as we escaped from that disaster we went back down the hill into the town, parked in front of the post office, and called the owners of the house.  Gabby came to meet us and even offered us the use of her car but we were not comfortable with that scenario. Ron and Mike rode up to the house with Gabby and said it was incredibly beautiful, but no way to get the van up there or if we could even park in the garage, no way out. Another learning experience of questions to ask - "What is the access like in winter?" It was a very good thing we had not pre-paid for this accommodation. The people usually exchange their home rather than rent it, and we had initially been in discussions to exchange for Maine, but it didn't work out.

We drove back down into Chur. Mike and I went into the Hotel Stern (a nice hotel in the old city), but they had no rooms available. Pat and Ron waited with the van in an illegal spot. The rooms at the Stern were quite expensive anyway with additional 30 CHF per day for internet and 18 CHF for parking. We drove past the Drei Konige, and did not go in, as it looked very bleak, but did stop at the Hotel Freieck, as there was a place to park outside. Mike and I inquired as to availability and price, and went up to have a look at the rooms. One was an older decor and with a tub instead of shower. I asked if there were two rooms with shower and there were. It turned out to be an excellent solution to our dilemma, and fairly priced. The rooms had an ante-room with closet and luggage shelf, bathroom with walk-in shower with "rock" floor, unusual colored lights above bathroom door (three - changing colors continuously), king-size bed, flat-screen TV. A very nice 3-star hotel. Pat, meanwhile, stood guard over a good parking spot and warded off an "intruder" so that Ron could put the van into the spot. The lady, owner we assume, of the hotel was a jack of all trades, and was checking people in, answering phones, tending bar, and every other task people asked her for help with.

We wandered in the pedestrian zone which was quite deserted, and tried to find a restaurant that looked light and busy. We ended up in the Wein Stube Drei Bunde, which we later read was very hospitable and welcoming. That is exactly our experience.

Visiting the kitchen with friendly owners

Ron's tomato cream soup

Mary's Salsiz (a dry Graubunden sausage)

Well, between the lunch plans and the accommodation plans, it was a day of disappointments, and "going with the flow". We had all been looking forward to unpacking our suitcases and settling in for 10 days in one place - in a beautiful environment with gorgeous views, and being able to cook our own meals instead of paying outrageous prices due to the strength of the Swiss Franc. As I read somewhere recently, you have to be adaptable or you will end up angry and frustrated. This is especially true with travel when out of your familiar surroundings. But, the good experiences more than make up for the painful ones.