Snow, sleet, and slushy rain
were the weather order of today, Friday, as we drove from Burgundy
in France slipped in to Switzerland at Basel where for the fist time I can remember there
was nobody at the border checking passports or even to see if you had bought a Vignette
to travel on Swiss roads. Then we turned east and drove right on to Chur. We
have driven by Chur dozens of times and we have stopped there briefly many
times to change trains on holiday trips to St Moritz. We have recently found had an urge
to stay in the town. We thought it must have an old town area and so we have
made a stop this time just for two nights.
When Steve told me that he
had sneaked this extra weekend into our plans without saying a word to me,
after I had told him that we should not have any more treat trips for a while
and when I finally did wheedle out of him what he wanted to do this weekend and
that tickets had already been bought for the event we were making the trip for,
I did a bit of a step back but insisted that there were no posh hotels booked.
That turned out to be a
mistake because when we got to the much cheaper hotel Steve had booked, it
looked as though it was closed or that work was being done on it. The doors
were all locked and a notice on the door said that the hotel was closed temporarily.
Anybody who had booked must ring this number not before 4pm. It was 2pm at the
time so we left the car in a car park in the centre and explored the old town
which as we have long thought was very quaint indeed.
When we went back to the
hotel, Steve rang the number on the door. They were an agents office and did
know about our booking. Steve was directed to another part of the exterior
where there was an envelope addressed to him. He was talked through how to get
in. There was nobody else in the hotel. No lift to be found and our room was on
the third floor. We found the right room after doing several turns around that floor
because ours was the only room without a number on the door.
The room itself at first
glance was ok. It was quite big enough and had a small kitchenette. It was
newly renovated. Not quite complete though; no coat hangers or hooks. Minimal supplies
in the bathroom that was a very odd little open shower room.
There was all new furniture but
no fittings, utensils, cutlery in the kitchenette. Nice new TV though and desk
and free Wifi.
When we went out again to find
somewhere to eat the handle fell off the door as Steve closed it. He had to re fit
it.
I suggested to Steve that we
should not pick an expensive restaurant since this was an extra trip we should
try to keep to the frugal rule. I chose the restaurant in the huge Migros supermarket
and that turned out to be a very good idea. We both ate schnitzel and fries freshly
cooked while we waited with a fresh salad. It was tasty and a ridiculously huge
portion, a whole plate full of chips in fact with the schnitzel plonked on top.
No complaints there.
We did a test walk to the
station to walk off the meal and check on the train times for the morning. I
marched up the ticket desk and gave a big burst of my best German asking what
time the trains went to St Moritz
in the early morning and from which platform. The man listened very politely
then said “I will print out the times and the platform number for you” in English.
I carried on in German and asked it that as right that there was only one train
per hour. He said “Yes that is correct”. I thanked him politely again in my
best German. He smiled. We will catch the 5.58 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment