“What time is it?”, asked SP.
“About 12:15--no wait, that was in French Swiss, it is
12:13 and 40 seconds in German Swiss”, I replied.
SP retorted, holding his hand out, palm up, “That will be
ten francs!”
That exchange pretty much sums up our first week in
Switzerland. We have discovered that
there is a French part and a German part and never the twain shall meet,
except, of course, when charging you an exorbitant amount of money for, well,
everything. A tall Americano at
Starbucks was $5.40; I kid you not. And
since the Swiss Franc is almost on par with the US Dollar, there is no savings
to be had upon conversion.
So we decided to put the cost of Switzerland behind us in
order to enjoy the beauty around us.
With Pepper locked away at the Geneva Porsche repair shop
for longer than anticipated (new brake pads [Salt is heavy!], three new tires
to match the one purchased in Spain after our blow-out, oil change and about
300 other little things that were bothering us, including fixing our steering
issue at high speeds—it wasn’t just us, there was a problem) we decided to
leave the city for the Alps and head to Kanderstag via bus and train for two
nights at the Alfa Soleil Hotel.
But first a note on Geneva: We have been there before so it was nice to
feel a little at home. Our campground
fee came with free bus passes (including two for The Noses!) and getting to downtown
from the campground was a breeze. SP
took a day alone and visited CERN and I took the next one and headed downtown
for some shopping. (Finally! A new town outfit!) We spent one day bussing to a gondola and then
up the mountainside for a delightful lunch overlooking the city. We were surprised at the value of the Plat du
Jour until we realized that we had crossed back into France.
I cannot rave about Geneva, it is not very picturesque
(hence no photos in the link above) and we happened to be there when it was
over 30/90 every day. One or two days is
plenty, which is why, when Day 4 arrived and we knew that we couldn’t free the
Pepper, we decided to head to the mountains.
Upon arriving at the train station, we realized that SP had
only priced our train tickets with one-way options--and we had thought that was expensive! So our train budget immediately had to
double. Actually, we would have saved a
lot of money had we forfeited the non-refundable hotel room and just returned
to Salt, but that was unappealing after anticipating the fresh mountain air and
healthy hikes. So we pulled out the Amex
and jumped on board.
I cannot say enough about the Hotel Alfa Soleil (you can
see our review here on Trip Advisor), the service was exceptional and the food
in Nico’s Restaurant (run by the son)
was a delight; often fresh from the garden and Lake Thun. They pride themselves on using local ingredients
so don’t be surprised to learn that the chicken you are enjoying grew up next
door.
As for hiking, well, the weather was as poor as expected
but we did take the gondola up to Oeschinensee Lake for a quick four mile hike
the day we arrived, returning to the hotel drenched from a thunder storm. The next day we set off for Gemmipass which started
with a bus ride ($30 round trip) to a gondola ($60 round trip) and then a nice
long hike, strenuous in a few areas, reaching the pass after six miles.
Over coffee in the restaurant at the pass, SP asked,
“What time does the gondola stop running?”
With my stomach dropping, I looked it up on the map and the last run was
at 6:00 p.m. It was 4:30 and we were
six miles from the gondola. This was not
good. So we brainstormed some options:
1)
Take a different gondola down the other side of
the pass, drop into the town, search for a bus and then a train back to
Kanderstag (not to mention searching for a credit card with some limit still on
it), hoping that the trains will run that late on a Sunday night; or
2)
Walk back the way we came, obviously forgoing
the gondola as we would never make it back by 6:00, adding another two miles
straight down the mountain to our already sore feet; making our total hike over
14 miles, or 23 KM. Not to mention it
was likely to end in the dark.
So . . . after seeing the look on the nice French people
at the table next to us when I asked about a bus and train combination back to
Kanderstag from the opposite side of the mountain (deep breath in, slow blowing out of air through billowing cheeks, a slight rolling of the eyes which
terminated in looks of pity; universal meaning: “You are up #*%! creek”) we opted for going
back the way we came.
It was a long, long hike. The fog rolled in and for most
of the way back we could only see about five feet in front of us. With aching knees and two very tired Noses,
we dragged ourselves to the bus stop only to find that we had missed the last
bus. It was 9:00 p.m. Desperate, we opted to ask for a taxi at the
closed, but still occupied, restaurant next door.
The workers were having a drink at the end of their day
when I knocked on the window. They spoke
no French and no English and I spoke no German but we managed “taxi”, “Hotel
Alfa Soleil” and “ten minutes.”
Apparently a nice lady would give us a ride on her way home. But while we waited outside, I noticed her peak
out the window and take notice of The Noses.
The curtain sharply closed and I feared our ride was over. At this point, tired and aching, I had no
choice but to pimp out SP.
That’s right, I asked him to stand up and limp around
making sure they could see his brace in the glare from the street lamp. He rolled up his shorts a bit to completely expose the brace; we had no
shame.
Out came a gentleman, who, after laying a blanket in the
back of his car, invited the dogs inside.
We climbed in the back seat and he then proceeded to follow the nice lady’s
car back to Kanderstag to our hotel. We
were eternally grateful and, just like the French families’ looks of “!*(# creek”,
I am sure he could read ours of, “You saved us.”
Upon entering the hotel we were warmly greeted and invited to enjoy dinner even allowing time for a quick
shower. Incredible service, like I
said. We kept the kitchen crew up later than
normal but were just as enthralled with dinner and the service as the night
before. I opted for the home-made pesto
pasta—yes, fresh basil was actually ground into the pasta dough—delicious! And
we thoroughly enjoyed a local wine recommendation from the host.
You can imagine how difficult the next day was; not only
did we have to get up (ouch), pack (sweaty, stinky hiking clothes), and leave
our gorgeous room but we then had to put our packs back on, walk to the train
station, take two trains and a bus to get back to Geneva—all in time to pick up
Pepper. But hey, if you have to arrive
somewhere exhausted, why not a Porsche showroom? Leather couches, fresh coffee, juice and a
small rug for a little Crazy Dog. Oh yes
he did.
By 5:30 Pepper was ready and wow, is he running like a
dream! We have landed in Chateau D’Oex,
a lovely village nestled at the base of the Alps. We have two hikes planned but unless they
completely knock our socks off, we are likely to head to the Italian Dolomites
where we might just be able to afford a latte.
Maybe even a Grande this time.
-K
