clevelandbrown

Here is a report of our trip primarily through the Valais. I include many costs (exclusive of tips) so others can better plan.

clevelandbrown

Our plan is to fly into Geneva, train to Boltigen, then Brig, then Sion, then Martigny, then Vevey, then Geneva airport for the flight home. The flight home leaves at 0800, so we will have to be up before the cows to get to the airport.

I bought a round trip from Continental, upgraded with miles and wads of cash. The second and fourth legs were upgraded with the purchase, the first leg was upgraded a week before departure, the third leg still is on the wait list.

For this itinerary, we had to leave Cleveland fairly early in the morning, and dawdle around in Newark all day for a 1745 departure, or take the one afternoon flight they offered at 14:50 with an hour and a quarter connection. The short connection seemed reasonable. (Cue ominous music)

On departing, we arrived at the Cleveland airport to find that our flight was being held to 3:20 by the air traffic control people. I checked with a Continental agent, and she thought it was possible we would connect, but we should prepare ourselves for being bumped to the next day. She did take our tickets and type something into her terminal. I went back to my wife and we considered our options. It was early enough that we could have emailed all our hotels and cancelled without penalty, but we really wanted to see Switzerland in the Winter. I had, uncommonly, bought trip insurance, because my insurance does not cover overseas medical treatment, we are old, and we were planning to learn so sled, and thought there was a good chance of injury. We decided to risk it. The FAA countered by changing the hold to 3:40, but I guessed that the delay was caused by weather in Newark, so it was likely that our overseas flight would also be delayed, and that possibly we could make up time in the air. We stuck with our decision. We made up a little time in the air, but lost it when our landing gate was changed. I had abandoned hope, but when we left the jetway there was a Continental agent there calling our name, who put us on a cart and got us to the departure gate, where the plane was already loaded, but they were waiting for us. The agent assured us that our baggage would make the plane (he was right). So Continental probably took a ding in the statistics for not leaving on time, but I can’t help thinking that we were treated exceptionally well.

In business class international, Continental has a power outlet at every seat. That’s two for me, since my wife doesn’t use it. I thought of that as I stuck my spare PC battery in my checked luggage, to free up a little space in my carry on. They also have, in many planes now, satellite TV, so I was able to watch the US/Switzerland hockey game on the flight to Newark. Alas, they don’t have it on international flights, so I missed Canada/Russia, which I had really wanted to see. After I settled into my seat on the international flight, I checked the power ports, and both had the green light that shows they are working. I should say shows they are getting power, because when I plugged in my PC, the connector was not getting power. I tried my wife’s with the same results. A couple of flight attendants tried to help, but could not get it to work. They tried my power supply at another seat and it worked, but they didn’t have a vacant seat to move me to, and I didn’t want to bother everyone by asking for volunteers. On long flights, I usually play a favorite opera on DVD, then play whatever I am in the mood for from my decent supply of mp3 files. Since I still bring my mp3 player, I figured I could run down the battery on the PC, then switch to the mp3 player. Surprisingly, the high capacity batter I had ordered from Dell with my computer proved extremely capable, and I had all the power in the PC I needed for the whole flight. When we deplaned, I reminded the attendant that they should write up the problem so the next passenger wouldn’t be powerless, and he said they already had. Good work.

At Geneva I went to the rail center to buy tickets. I noticed no one was using the machines, which were different from those I had seen elsewhere, so we stood in line with everyone else.

I had my choice of routing: Geneva to Montreux, to Zweisimen, to Boltigen; or Geneva to Bern to Spiez to Boltigen. I chose the latter, because I thought we would exit the train in Boltigen on the right side, and avoid a trek up and down the stairs and through a tunnel to get to the right side. We had more than the usual amount of luggage, with our Winter gear. Alas, the trains were fairly crowded and I ended up standing with our luggage in the exit area, since I hate to leave luggage unguarded on a train. And when we got to Boltigen, they routed us onto the left track as a higher priority train coming the other way apparently needed the right track, so there we stood, facing the prospects of the tunnel. I noticed a gravel path going down the trackway, and we took that a hundred meters to a road, and crossed the tracks on the road, avoiding the steps.

The hoteliers put us in the same room we have had for all our stays, so it seemed like home. There was almost no snow on the ground in Boltigen, which is on the floor of the valley, but there was plenty showing in the mountains. The hotel appeared empty when we arrived, but in the late afternoon all the skiers came back from the mountains and the hotel was quite full, mostly with families as the nearest ski area is for family skiing. Since we didn’t sleep much on the plane and lost hours on the time change, we did some serious napping after lunch. The hotel’s restaurant is generally open from 0830 to 2200, but they suggested 1830 would be a good time for dinner. We weren’t late, as we really like the food here. My wife had a special of soup, salad, fried trout with boiled potatoes and brown butter, and a sweet for desert. I had escargot, which were deep in their shells and a challenge to get out, but good tasting, and sliced veal in gravy with rosti, delicious, and a small sweet. With a bottle of a spiezer white wine, which was quite good (I’ve found Swiss wines to be on average quite good, but you never see them outside of Switzerland). My dish was large, and came in two servings, but was so filling that I had to decline the second serving. The charge was 114.50 CHF.

The next day was to be our first day of sledding, a gentle (child’s) range in Charmey, about 50 minutes from Boltigen by bus. There were departures at 0814 and 0914, so we aimed at the first and were up early. Alas, I had forgotten that you have to make an advance request for early breakfast, as they normally open at 0800. The young man who sets up the breakfast room was there a little early, but it was too late for the 0814 bus, so we took our time with breakfast, knowing that the 0914 bus would be there.


1

When we first went to Switzerland, each town with a train station had an agent, and they were always helpful, often more helpful than the Tourist Information Office. When we next went to Boltigen, the agent and his office were gone, replaced by a machine, which had a speaker on it so you could ask questions of headquarters if you were confused. The machine would accept Swiss currency (but would give no more than 20 CHF change), and cards. It demanded a PIN when I tried my credit cards, and since US credit cards don’t have PINs implanted, they were useless. I was able to buy with my ATM card, which is also a debit card and has a PIN implanted. This time we got to the station about 15 minutes early and they had the same machine. I punched in the relevant information, it gave me the price and asked how I wanted to pay, I put in my ATM with my PIN, and it rejected my card. I tried again with the same results. I tried prefixing and suffixing my PIN with zeroes to make a six digit PIN, but it continued its rejecting fancy. I called for help, and he said my ATM card should work, but since it wasn’t, he would contacts the conductor to prevent my being jailed for being on the train without a ticket. He said when next I was in a larger town that had an agent, I should ask him to investigate. I said don’t bother calling the conductor as it is a bus and I would work it out with the driver. At this point the bus had arrived, and it was a contracted van, that doesn’t have the machinery to sell tickets. The driver spoke German; I didn’t, but I think we agreed that he only took us partway, then connected to a regular bus, and I could pay there. Then a young lady came up who spoke both languages, and confirmed what we had said. Then the driver spoke to her in German, and she told me he thought it would be better if I bought the ticket with cash, but all I had was ATM money, which is usually big bills, my smallest being a 100. The driver was going to change it for me, but he didn’t have anything smaller than 50s, and I didn’t want to lose money to their practice of limiting change to 20 CHF, so we were back to out plan of me paying when we connected to the larger bus. We were then off on the first very scenic leg of our trip. We saw snow, wildlife (deer and a fox) and thrilling moments when we passed oncoming traffic with space that appeared to me to be inadequate, and mountain views that are indescribable.. We got to the area where we were to meet the larger bus, and it wasn’t there yet. My original driver told us where to wait, then came out of his break area to explain our problem to the new driver. He also took one of my 100s and got change in a store. Alas, the new driver couldn’t get his machine to handle my situation, and was apparently due to leave, so he just took us and motioned me to keep my money. When we got to where we were to catch the next bus (Jaun), he put some numbers into his machine, came up with a fare of 16 CHF, which I paid, and gave me a ticket for a round trip from Jaun to Charmey, with some zone numbers he handwrote on the ticket. I thanked him.. He actually got out his own car and drove us from the connecting point, which is away from downtown Jaun, to the downtown area, and pointed out some interesting things to see while we waited.. The connecting bus came and we shortly arrived in Charmey, a pleasant little town, where I had to switch into my ne parlez Francais mode. We had planned on buying a half day ticket, but I didn’t know it that meant morning or afternoon, or a certain number of hours. We rushed to the base of the lift and noticed a lot of inactivity. There was a hand written note on the closed window that said the establishment was closed due to global warming. I’m not fluent in French, so I’m certain it said they were closed, but I’m just guessing about the global warming part, perhaps it just said warm weather at the top. It listed a couple of other areas that were open, but they were for skiers, not sledders. We were disappointed, but at the same time, no one got injured, so that’s a positive. We walked around the town just to see it. They have a little museum there, but they close for two hours for lunch so we didn’t wait around. There appeared to be a lot of eateries there, but many were closed, as in for sale, and others had limited hours. We found a little place that offered baked goods, sandwiches, and pizza. We decided on a local variety of pizza which was quite good. With a small beer and a small glass of wine, we were quite satisfied and the check was in the area of 17 CHF.

We missed a return bus by two minutes when we were seduced into a chocolate shop, so we had a 58 minute wait. I had been worried that perhaps there was a valid reason for my ATM card to have been refused, so I found an ATM and was successful in getting more big bills. So now I know the problem is not with my card. Then it started to snow heavily, so heavily the mountains disappeared. It was later in the day, but I was hoping they might open the sledding area, but there was no sign of life at the lift station. We finally got our bus, and it soon filled up with schoolkids, who spent their time trying to steal light bulbs from the overhead lights in the bus. It was just like home. Because of the vagaries of the schedule, we had an hour wait in Jaun for a connecting bus. When it came, the driver was quite fluent in English, and I told him the story of how I thought I still owed 10 CHF, but he looked at the ticket and said the handwritten zones made it valid all the way to Boltigen.

On the one hand, I always want to pay what I owe. But on the other hand, the drivers all treated us very well, and I think if I push it now I risk getting one of them in trouble.

Dinner at the hotel in Boltigen was, as usual, excellent, but a bit hectic as they had more customers there than I had ever seen. My wife had a special of soup with a pork cutlet and vegetables, and a sweet. It looked very good, and she enjoyed it. I had pork medallions with noodles and a sauce with Calvados. It was excellent, and I ate the second serving. We had a bottle of good red wine (no 1 cuvee obrist) from the area around Geneva (Vaud) which was quite good. The bill was 111 CHF. It was late by then and we went to bed.

Although we had not gotten any experience with the sleds, I decided to go ahead to Zweisimmen for a more advanced experience. We were up early, and had time to straighten our room before the breakfast room opened. Another excellent Swiss breakfast, yogurt, sliced meats, sliced cheeses, some cereal mix that my wife likes, fresh bread and rolls with butter and jellies, orange juice (in tiny glasses) and excellent coffee with hot rich milk. There are other options, but I don’t know what they are called. We then dressed in our sledding outfits, which turned out to be too well insulated so we were often overwarm, and walked to the train station to buy our tickets, with cash. Zweisimmen is a very nice looking town, with a lot of skiers. We were actually going up into the mountains further to Sparenmoos, an isolated restaurant that also rents sleds. They have a bus to get there that actually goes up the sledding trail, so they have to have it organized so that no sleds are coming down when the busses are coming up. There is a half-way station, so you can rent a sled for 6 CHF and slide all the way down to town, or stop at the half-way station, bus back to the top, and sled again (for another 6 CHF rental fee). You buy the bus tickets at the train station and the half fare card is applied. I asked the agent what the problem with my ATM card was, and he said it should work. He suggested using it to buy my bus tickets, as it was the same system. When I used it, the machine asked for a signature, but did not ask for my PIN? So there is apparently some systemic problem involving American ATM or Debit cards and the machine, which has no option to ask for a signature, and isn’t happy with a PIN. So my advice is to buy tickets at a manned station (where you can use a credit card or a debit card) and carry enough small bills to pay cash when you are in a more remote location where they only have the machine.

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The agent was quite helpful, and sold me one-way tickets to Sparenmoos, explaining that the bottom half of the run was closed because of lack of snow cover, and they would thus give us a free bus ride from the half-way station to Zweisimmen. The bus ride up was nice, right through a winter wonderland. When I asked at the rental office for information, they got a translator, who said there were two trails down to the half-way station, the one the bus uses, and a separate family trail, that is smoother. We needed no selling and opted for a ride down the family trail, then, if we liked it, lunch at the restaurant followed by a ride down the bus trail. The only disadvantage was that you had to walk to the top of the family trail, and we saw many people doing it, and the elevation was gradual and less than 200 meters to my eye. We rented two sleds and were off. Now, we live near sea level, so we are not used to thin air, and there isn’t a lot of elevation in Ohio, and we are both older than we want to admit to ourselves. So we had to stop to catch our breath, I mean observe the scenery, five times on the initial ascent. The descent starts gradually, and we had a hard time getting the sled to start, because we hadn’t appreciated how less flexible out legs are than they used to be. I don’t know what the ski terms are, but this trail was a place where some machine had compacted the snow a bit, about 4 meters wide, but it left a lot of ruts, and if you went off the trail you plunged easily a meter down into the uncompacted snow. My wife was doing pretty well, but I had a hard time steering and slowing, as my feet kept hitting ruts, and my sled apparently had not been broken, and seemed to enjoy going down the hill with the runners on top, and me on the bottom. At one point I was implanted in the soft snow so deeply that I couldn’t have gotten out on my own. We continued this foolish pursuit about a two kilometers, when the path bottomed out and headed up another hill. I hadn’t realized that on some trails, you have to get out and drag the unbroken sled up to the top of another hill. We were both short of wind by that time, and I started to realize that I was not going to be able to break this pony on this trail. So we decided to walk back to the start, since is was apparently nearer, and have lunch. The process of walking back so tired us that we didn’t even try to coast down the initial ascent where we had labored so hard. In part, I didn’t know if they would ticket us for going the wrong way, but mostly, I didn’t want to embarrass myself doing a double flip with full implant in front of all the kids in the parking lot.

We decided we were too tired even to eat, so we turned in our sleds and sat there about a quarter hour until the next bus came. I pled my case to the driver, but he was not impressed and said he had to charge the full 24 CHF (for two) for the one way ticket to Zweisimmen. I semi-trumped him with my half fare card and we took our seats. I watched the trail carefully on the way down and it looked a lot smoother and unrutted, and there did not appear to be any places where you would have to dismount and walk up a grade, so perhaps that would be a better option than the family trail, but there were some fairly sharp turns that would require more skill than I have.

Incidentally, their system for avoiding collisions is that the busses come up on a rigid schedule, stop for only minutes at the restaurant, then start down on the hour. Sledders are only allowed to start a few minutes after the busses have started down, and I guess their experience is that the sledders have all completed the course before the busses start back up.

Any way, the scenery was lovely, but the experience was demanding, and one would be well advised to honestly appraise one’s own fitness and athletic capability before trying this. And I think time spend on a beginners hill would be invaluable.

When we got back to Zweisimmen, our appetites had been restored, but it was 1330, and this is one of those towns where everything is closed from 1200 to 1400, so we walked around a little and sat around for a little. At a bit past 1400 we found a café (Café Parrot, I think, but my brain is still suffering from being implanted in the snow) that was open, but fairly crowded (I guess everyone had been waiting for 1400). We grabbed a nice table and I was wrestling with the German menu ( and not doing too badly) when the waitress realized we were tourists and brought us English menus. We selected fruit tarts, but they had only one serving left, so my wife took that and I opted for the soup of the day (a good pea soup). My wife had coffee and I had 2 dl. of a nice white Swiss wine. I did steal a bite of her tart, which was fairly large, and it was very good. The bill was 23 CHF. By this time, we were tired and sleepy, so we hopped on a train back to Boltigen. I am updating the while my wife naps, in anticipation of another good dinner.

They have picked up the habit of assigning tables, and when we arrived for dinner there was a reserved sign on the table we had used the day before. I was going to sit elsewhere, but my wife said it was probably reserved for us, and she was right. This is a very old hotel, and the dining room has ancient paneling and low ceilings. Because the hotel was crowded, then had opened a couple of ancillary rooms, usually used for private parties. The staff was kept busy with the larger number of patrons, but managed to keep us all happy in many languages. My wife was not too hungry, so she had the soup of the day, shrimps with rice, and a desert I talked her into. I had a special of the soup of the day, a salad, fried trout, and a desert. We had a nice white Swiss wine, Yvorne, and was quite good. All of the food was good, especially the soup of the day, a bouillon with pieces of omelet, which to me looked like a sliced thin crepe. I have the belief that soups of the day are always a good choice, as the chef has the opportunity to show his talent with this dish. The tab was 111 CHF.


3

Our plan had been to go sledding the next day, but my lack of talent warranted an adjustment, so we made it a day for rest and recuperation. We inadvertently slept in and the breakfast room was almost emptied when we got there, but we still had plenty. The sliced cheeses were gone, but they always have a block also, so I showed off my slicing talent (and got thicker slices). We decided to explore more of Boltigen (which is pretty small) so we put on our boots and started off at the train station, where I got the costs of our next tickets so I would be sure to have the right amount of currency. I had never gotten to the other side of the valley where the river is, so we set off on a trail behind the train station which led us by the sewage treatment facility, then to a covered bridge crossing the river. The river is quite rapid, with a lot of brooks feeding it. They have built stone containments on each bank, and apparently the flow is so steady that they don’t have a lot of flooding; at least there were very many ancient farm buildings along the path that look like they would have been gone if there had been a violent flood.. We hiked two or three kilometers downstream, and back, and enjoyed the flatness of the trail, just like home. We then explored the industrial section, mostly lumber mills and auto repair companies, coexisting with some barns where the cows were all inside. We found two bars, but one appeared to have been closed, and the other must be seasonal, and this wasn’t the season. So the only places to eat are at our hotel, a bar downstairs and the dining room upstairs. The food is good in both, so I have no complaints. We went to the hotel bar for lunch. We both had soup of the day, a rich beef vegetable soup, and my wife had hot chocolate, while I tried ovomaltine, which I see heavily advertised, but had never tried. I think it is a malted milk with a little chocolate, and I recall it being sold back home when I was young as Ovaltine. I’m not sure if it is still sold at home as it is a taste I outgrew. They had the same good bread with the soup that we had enjoyed at breakfast. The tab was 24 CHF (I should point out that I’m certain the downstairs bar and the upstairs dining room share the same kitchen, so the food in the bar is of better quality than what I expect in a bar. I think our waitress was handling both the bar and the dining room, as she was constantly going up and down the stairs; I wish I were that energetic.

We rested in our room this afternoon; my wife actually went out and sat on the balcony, but came back inside as the wind made it a little too cool. I tried to catch up on the olympics on the TV, but the time difference doesn’t help, and what is shown reflects Swiss interests which are not the same as mine. It seems no matter where I go, I can’t escape curling.

For our last dinner here we had beef goulash Stroganoff. I started with s nice salad, then came the entree, in two servings. It was more like goulash than what I think of as beef Stroganoff, but the meat was excellently prepared and the sauce quite good (I even ate some with some bread after the noodles ran out). The noodles are tender and well prepared; my only complaint is that they are often quite long, so I had to cut them when I am used to just rolling them up on my fork. We had a bottle of local red wine (Spiezer Blaubundner, spelling not guaranteed) which was very good, but I think a more robust red would have suited this entree better. We finished with sweets (all their deserts here are some form of ice cream or sorbet, and all are quite good, so choosing takes us a long time. I’ll have to remember to look up Cassis when I get back to the internet to get more information. The waitress translated it as black berries. The tab was 127.50 CHF.

We don’t have to be up early tomorrow, since the trains to Brig are frequent and it is not a long ride, so I switched on the TV and found the gold medal hockey game was on, so I was set for the evening.

After breakfast the next morning, we checked out. We declined a ride to the train station as it is only a couple of hundred meters, all downhill, and our luggage has wheels. The machine is set to have a departure from where you are, and lists about four likely destinations, but you can make changes to both departure and destination by going to a second screen. Brig was not an option on the first screen so I went to the second. When I put in Brig, it offered the option of via Spies, or other routing; I accepted their recommendation. When we got to Spies, we hopped on the first train going to Brig. It soon entered a very long tunnel that I hadn’t remembered, and when it came out, I was checking my records and said it would be about another hour. It wasn’t, we were already in Brig. Apparently two trains run this route, a fast one through the tunnel, and a slow one with scenery, and I had picked the wrong one. We found the Hotel Ambassador an easy walk from the train station, and since our room was ready, they allowed us to check in quite early and we walked around town a bit before lunch. Both this and the hotel in Boltigen are family run, with friendly and helpful service. The hotel in Boltigen has the largest rooms I have ever seen outside of Las Vegas, with a bathroom that is easily three times the size of our bath at home. The Ambassador has normal sized rooms, and I suspect the bathrooms were not original, further reducing the size of the room. But our room has a nice balcony, all the space we need, and plenty of hot water. Like every Swiss hotel I have seen, it is very clean. Their cuisine is primarily French, with some Swiss dishes too. I had read that lunch is the big meal of the day here, and that seems true. We had French onion soup, coffee, and a glass of wine. The men next to us had a large multi-course lunch. Our tab was 26.30 CHF.

We spent the afternoon shopping, napping, and cataloguing the pictures I am constantly taking.

We had dinner at the hotel. I had escargot, a Swiss sausage plate with home fries, and a desert. My wife had a green salad, a dish they didn’t call raclette, but which had all the ingredients and was prepared in the kitchen, and a desert. We had a very good bottle of Cornalin. The food was delicious (especially the escargot, which were served in a little plate with indentations, and no shell, with toast and a superb sauce). Service was excellent. The tab was 131.50 CHF.

clevelandbrown

Breakfast the next day was excellent. In addition to what I think of as a normal Swiss breakfast, the had trays of scrambled eggs and bacon, a choice of fruit juices, and a machine that looks like it could program a satellite, where you can get your special variety of coffee. They also have a TV with the Swiss weather, including a lot of web cams, so you can make a better guess as to the weather where you will be going.

Nowhere but Zurich was the weather really clear, so I decided to try to see the Aletsch glacier.

There are about three places where you can see it, but the lady at the desk said the best view was from Eggishorn, above Fiesch. Since Fiesch was already on my list because of a praised cable car ride and a long sledding trail, we went there. It is only a short train ride from Brig and seemed a very pleasant and athletic town. Skiers were everywhere. Don’t these kids ever go to school?

When we went to buy our tickets, the agent advised against going due to the weather, and showed us the web cam which was pure white. We sat outside and watched the clouds for an hour, and they seemed to be dissipating, but of course you can’t see the top from the bottom. We decided since it was approaching lunch time, and there is a restaurant at the very top, we could as easily observe the weather from the top. As we approached the midway station, a winter gale set in and I was starting to wonder what kind of weather limits they have on cable cars, but we made it safely to the intermediate station, which has multiple hotels, restaurants, and sports shops. We misread the signs and exited to the outdoors, and it was windy, snowy, and cold, and thick with skiers. I don’t know how they keep from running into each other. We finally spotted cables, and made out way to the second leg of the ascent.

Strangely, the weather seemed to clear a bit at the very top, with no wind or snow, and it was actually warm, but not warm enough to eat on the patio. The restaurant is run by Hotel Alpina Fiescheralp, and is a very small building (what you would expect on top of a mountain) with a lot of tables outside in the snow. We opted for indoors. The man running it was very friendly, and the menu was more extensive than I would have expected. We had gulaschsuppe (very tasty and filling) two nice pastries, and two beers. The tab was 35.50 CHF but the meal was just the right thing for that place and time, and while the other peaks were still obscured and we didn’t get to see the glacier, we both really enjoyed the day.

We considered stopping at one of the other sites (Riederalp or Bettmeralp) on our way back to Brig (the conductor confirmed that you can get off and back on a later train at an intermediate stop), but it was getting a little late and I decided to wait for another day to try to get better weather.

I’m back on the internet now, sort of. The hotel in Boltigen doesn’t advertise that they offer it and I didn’t ask. This hotel reports that they offer it, but what they are is a hot spot for Swisscom Mobile and you buy your time from Swisscom Mobile. It was a little confusing setting it up (I’m confused more easily as I age) because the instructions say log on with your browser and follow the instructions. When I logged on, my PC naturally tried to hook up to my home network and failed. So I told it to look for another network and it found about 7, none of which was named Swisscom. There were two with identical names, one a secure network and one not. Through experimentation I found that the insecure network is the one that works. Once I was on that network, I logged on (I was a bit worried because I use a browser other than IE) and all went well. For 15 CHF (they do take credit cards) I got 3 hours of service and they have a site to log on and off through that lets you know how much time you have used, and how much you have remaining. I was a little concerned because I have a lot of programs that self-update, such as Windows, and my anti-virus program, which checks for updates every ten minutes. But I have been on it over a day now and haven’t found any minutes gone that I didn’t use; I suspect the automatic updating programs can’t complete the Swisscom Mobile log on page. Still, other than checking reservations, etc., I have a lot of better things to do with my time in the Alps than surfing.

The restaurant was almost empty tonight. My wife was still full from the lunch atop the mountain, so she ordered an omelet. I tried their specialty of sauerkraut with multiple meats. We had a bottle of Humagne Rouge from Valais. The omelet was excellent. The sauerkraut was good, with a variety of meats including sausages and salt pork. Both of us were unable to eat the whole serving, not that it wasn’t good, but that the mountaintop food really sticks with you. A beer would have been better suited for my entree, but I stuck with the wine. I did add a sweet and a glass of Calvados. The tab was 114 CHF. We are now in our room trying to plan tomorrow’s excursion.

We had another excellent breakfast, but switched to a table where I could see the TV, which shows web cam reports from almost everywhere in Switzerland. For a change, all the sites were remarkably clear. But of course, clear at 0700 is not the same as clear once you get there and get to the top. We elected Zermatt and hopped on the train. The train ride from Visp up to Zermatt is pretty dramatic, with a lot of gorges and avalanche potential. They often have to switch to cogwheel mode because of the steepness of the ascent. It took about an hour and a half to get there. Zermatt was very clear, but the Matterhorn was very hazy, especially by the time we found our way to a good place to take a picture. I didn’t particularly like the town of Zermatt. While it has a lot of old scenic buildings, it is also very touristy, with everyone clumping around in their ski boots and displaying their finery. The stores had nice stuff, but very high prices. I like to eat lunch in a bakerei, or more precisely a bakerei tea room, where they have tables, and there weren’t many of them in Zermatt. We finally settled on a very small place called Boite a Chocolate, because I thought their sign said they had Panini. There were four small tables on the ground floor, and the waitress had to go upstairs for everything; I don’t know if there were more tables up there or not. The menu had a lot of drinks, many featuring chocolate, a lot of chocolates, a soup of the day and some pastries. I had a tortchen mittel lemon (just like the tartlets citron I loved in Paris) and a small glass of white wine. My wife had a brownie with coffee with whipped cream. That is the kind of small lunch we like. The tab was 18.50 CHF, which is less than I expected to pay in a town like this. We walked around for a while, then caught the train back to Brig. We were back by 1515 and stopped in the tea room Rafji for two chocolates (6.40 CHF). There bakery section was almost emptied, but we usually limit our selves to one pastry a day, but I’m thinking this may be a nice spot for lunch. The army is out in numbers today; they seem to train fairly frequently.

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When we got back to the hotel we made reservations for dinner and advised them that we wanted the bouillabaisse, which the menu said needed 45 minutes for preparation, so they set a time when it would be ready. When we went to the restaurant, the waiter said the bouillabaisse was a very large dish, and recommended against any starter, so we concurred. I went through their list of white wines from Wallis, and only two were new to me, so I asked for a recommendation. He suggested Heida, which turned out to be a superb choice and would be good with anything. The bouillabaisse was very good, with many tastes and a good choice of fish. It was far more than two could eat. We did manage to add a couple of sweets and left feeling that we had had a memorable meal. The tab was 141.50 CHF.

We have two days left here, but the forecast for tomorrow was for rain, so we will see what we can get done.

At breakfast, the webcams showed a mixed picture, with some sites socked in and others fairly clear. Both Riederalp and Bettmeralp were fairly clear, so we picked Riederalp, the closer of the two. At the train station, I said we wanted to go to Morel to visit Riederalp. The agent sold us a ticket that included the initial cable car, from Morel to Riederalp. I and my half fare cards were happy. I didn’t want to buy a ticket from Riederalp to Moosfluh until we got to Riederalp and judged the weather. Riederalp is a nice town, a skiing town, but less pervasively commercial than Zermatt. There is no doubt you are in Switzerland here, with plenty of skiers and no MacDonalds. We walked around a bit taking pictures and watching the skiers, and wondering how long it takes to get used to this thin air. There was a little cloud layer below Riederalp, but above it was fairly clear. We bought tickets (half fare, again) and rode to the top. It was fairly warm and windless, with quite a few skiers, but we were there to see the Aletsch glacier. We stumbled over to a bench (our sunglasses are too dark, and make it hard to see, and without them it is hard to make out the terrain). We could see the mountains on the other side of the glacier, and into the valley it has dug, but couldn’t see the glacier itself. It was covered with snow. Only then did I realize that all the pictures in the ads and guidebooks are taken during the summer, when the glacier shows. We had wanted to hike down and step on the glacier, but it was a steep descent with uncertain footing due to the snow. No one was going down by the glacier, and they did not even have a ski trail headed that way. We watched the skiers for quite a while. They are everywhere and I don’t see how they keep from hitting each other. They were of all ages, too, with some kids looking to be no older than four or five. We were surprised that with so many skiers, we saw no one fall. Finally, we descended and caught a train back to Brig. I’m catching up on this and my pictures, and my wife is napping. I don’t know if it is the air or our getting older, but we tire more easily on this trip than on earlier ones.

For dinner my wife had a marrow bone, followed by a salad as a main course, and a scoop of ice cream as a desert. I had a green salad, coq au vin with spaetzle (tiny dumplings) and a desert of mixed fruit and ice cream. We had a robust red wine called Tourmentin made from four types of grapes, which was quite good. Coq au vin was a new experience for me so its hard to compare, but the gravy was very dark and rich, which made it a little hard to cut up the chicken, but it tasted good. The tab was 145 CHF.

We went to bed early, as tomorrow will be our last day in Brig.

At breakfast, the webcams showed that many of the mountaintops were clear. We decided to go to Bettmeralp. We walked to the train station, bought tickets (you can get a ticket that takes you to the bottom on a train, then up to the town on a cable car; this one was 30.40 CHF for two round trip second class ticket, after application of the half fare card). We found the platform, the train came in 20 minutes, and I was stepping into the car when I remembered that I had forgotten my camera. I knew if we went ahead without the camera, the weather would be perfect, and hazy if I had the camera, but I decided to risk it and we walked back to the hotel and got the camera. The weather fooled me; it was perfect even though I had my camera. Bettmeralp is a lovely town, just what you think a mountain village should be, but with plenty of service. We planned on catching the next higher cable car to Bergstation Bettmerhorn, but as we walked through the village we realized it was lunch time and stopped in a Bakerei and Tea Shop. Two delicious pastries, once coffee with cream, and 2 dl of Fendant, a nice white wine, restored us and we set off again. Alas, we could find no signs, at least that I could read, pointing the way and when we got to the other end of town we saw the cables leading to a spot behind us and further up the mountain. By this time it was getting a little hazy, and it was not clear which path we would have to climb to get to the station, so we decided to be happy where we were. It helped that they had a ski school for tots going on, which distracted us for over an hour. It was interesting to see the varying speeds of development, with some kids picking it right up. We also found a scenic outlet on the main street that had a picture identifying the mountains, and were clearly able to see the Matterhorn in the distance. It was three by now, so we took the cable car and train back to Brig.

In four days now, we have been to ski villages. All were full of people skiing, except Zermatt, which had a lot of people dressed, but none actually skiing. I think in Zermatt you probably have to catch a bus or a limo to the actual skiing area.

I know nothing of skiing, but Fiesch, Riederalp, and Bettmeralp all had a lot of people skiing and they certainly appeared to be enjoying it. I would stay in one of these villages in preference to Zermatt, (probably Riederalp or Bettmeralp, which have small hotels at elevation; much lodging at Fiesch is at the base) were I a skier. I’m not going to pick a favorite, because the weather on the day we visited would color my judgment, and I don’t think it would be accurate to say one has better weather than another. All were excellent places to see.

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For dinner we had fondue with salads; the manager remarked that this was perfect fondue weather as the temperature had dropped. The fondue was very good, but very rich, and I doubt anyone could eat a whole serving. We had a bottle of petite arvine, a nice white wine, and two decadent deserts. I’ve been picking wines here that are new to me, rather than ones I have had before and liked, and all have been good. The tab was 123 CHF.

After another nice breakfast (is there anything better than Swiss bread?) We checked out. They thanked us with a box of chocolates. A short train ride later we were in Sion, what a difference.

The people in Brig had told us Brig was the German speaking area, and Sion was the start of the French speaking area. Brig is a smaller town, and its old town is very well kept up. In Sion, we are staying at the Hotel Rhone, which is right on the border of the old town. The old town has a very French feeling, not just in the language, but in the types of shops. We almost felt we were in another country. Sion overall seems pretty large, but the old town, while extensive, seems very quaint and village like. Because our trip was short, we were at the hotel well before check-in time, but they found us a nice room, and we set off to visit the tourist office and look over the old town. There are a lot of artisans and art dealers here. We had a light lunch at a patisserie (two pastries, a coffee, and a glass of fendant. The tab was 15 CHF. Its nap time this afternoon, then we will check out the restaurant. So far I can report this hotel has a good sized room and a good sized bathroom, and a safe large enough to keep a medium laptop in. Internet access is free, and they have a PC in the check in area if you don’t have your own.

The hotel has pretty good breakfasts, but dinner was a bit of a letdown. The salads were a bit limp and with less variety than what we had become used to. We each had a dish of Rosti covered with thin sliced Jambon and two oef that were very lightly cooked (New York style). There was only a little bread. The wine, of course in this area, was excellent, and we had two sweets to finish.

Breakfast on Sunday was abundant and good, but we resolved to keep an eye open for another place for dinner that night. Alas, almost all the restaurants we passed were closed on Sundays, as was almost everything. The Office du Tourisme has created a walk of discovery and we had picked up a copy; since our hotel was near the ending point, we decided to do the circuit in reverse, not that clever an idea as all the signs were posted facing the other way and we got a bit lost a few times, but finally found our way UP to the Valere castle. The walk was a challenge as there was constant elevation, so we stopped often to take pictures. I have twelve pictures of one bird. We got to the top just before 1100, which is there opening time, and as some of the staff walked in with us (they have a parking lot around back and don’t have to do the whole climb) they welcomed us and said that there were no admission fees today. We headed first for the church, which had a lot of scaffolding on one side and inside that you can’t see from below, but did not obscure the building itself, and the repairs should help preserve the structure. I wanted to see the organ, famed due to its age, but I knew I wouldn’t get to hear it as their organ festival is in the summer. There was a handwritten sign on the door that appeared to say a mass was being conducted, so we waited outside, but some other people came and entered so we followed and the organ is lovely. We sat in the back and watched the mass, but could not understand much as it was, I think, in French (but it might have been Latin) and there is always a lot of echo in stone buildings. Even though the congregation was very small, it was a pleasant experience, and some tourists in the back even joined in, and we were all made welcome. After the mass, we went through both parts of their museum, which showed local artifacts from before the Iron age to today. It was especially interesting because it is within the original rooms of the castle, and they haven’t torn out walls or installed elevators, so you go through a lot of small rooms, and up and down a lot of stairs and are often reminded that people used to be shorter. In places they have plastered a wall to hang exhibits, but they leave gaps where you can see the original wall. I’ve never been in a public place with so many steps and so few railings, so it might not be a good place for someone with mobility impairment.

We had a small lunch in the very pleasant cafeteria. My wife had soup of the day (a very rich carrot soup) and coffee; I had a nice tarte and a glass of white wine, and we both had a lovely view, all for 14.70 CHF.

I would rate this a must see if you visit Sion.

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We didn’t visit Tourbillon castle; it is on a hill right next door, but had a fire and only some stonework is left, and we felt we could see it well without another climb. As we descended, we came upon the art museum, which had not been in any guidebooks. It is in two ancient buildings, both towers, so there were a lot of stairs involved in seeing all six levels (and the views out the windows). Much of the art has local subjects, and we enjoyed picking out what we had seen. The top three levels have a lot of modern art. Some is interesting, but some is justifiably, in my opinion, untitled. Admission to the art museum was also free. Perhaps there is something about the first Sunday of the month, or perhaps I’m just lucky.

All this walking and climbing had tired us, and we hadn’t found a place for dinner, so we abandoned the walk of discovery, returned to our hotel, made a reservation for dinner, and took a nap.

For dinner, my wife skipped an opener and I had onion soup. It was not bad, but different from what I am used to, with one piece of toast on top with cheese, and a body that almost had the texture of pea soup, while I am more used to a broth. My wife had pieces of chicken on herbed rice which was quite good, and a very large serving. I had seen varieties of dishes called Cordon Bleu, but I didn’t know what it was, so I did an internet search without edification. It was described as a cooking award, or a chef’s best dish. I’ve had similar bad luck with escargot; the first ones I had, in France, were served in a large bowl with a delicious sauce, almost like a soup; every time I try to look up the name, I find many varieties served in the shell, but never the soup style I fondly recall. Anyway, I decided to risk on of the chicken Cordon Bleu. It turned out to be a split breast, filled with vegetables, coated and baked (I think) and was quite good. We had a nice bottle of Cornalin, and two deserts. Many of the people around us were having an oil fondue, which was apparently a special, and looked quite good.

After another good breakfast, we resumed our walk of discovery. We were too early, as most places don’t open until 1000. Still, we worked our way to the tower of the sorcerers, which was impressive, but did not appear to have an entrance. We then went to the cathedral and, as it was not locked, entered. It is an impressive building with excellent stained glass windows, which look old, but have labels indicating they are newer. Someone was playing the organ, well, and we sat there for an hour enjoying the music, We then went next door to the eglise Saint-Theodule which, while ancient, had a much more modern look. If we go back, it will be to the cathedral. The museum of the cathedral, which was recommended in the tour guide, was not open.

We had now completed the tour, so ventured out of the old town to get a feel of the city. It seemed very active with a large variety of stores and restaurants as far as the train station.

We again had a small lunch at the bakerei Kondittore Café, then visited the COOP to buy envelopes.

After a rest in our room we went to La Verre a Pied, as I wanted to sample the local schnapps before deciding to buy a bottle. We were early, as they didn’t open until 1630, bus sat outside and pounced when they opened (they are reputed to be very crowded). Unfortunately, the lady opening the door advised us that they did wine only, not spirits, and referred us to COOP. We crossed the road and went into a small bar, and they gave my wife a coffee and me a small eau de vie Abricot. Years ago I had some peppermint schnaps, and this tasted the same, but for lack of the peppermint flavor. I resolved to stick with Calvados. It was too early to dine, so we returned to our hotel to rest, and eat some chocolate my wife had found at COOP. At 1815 we set off for Au Vieux Valais and found it easily (earlier we had passed it, then forgotten where it was). They serve only Fondue and Raclette. My wife had a herbed fondue which she really enjoyed. I had a starter of the sliced meats, and a raclette. Both were excellent, as was the bottle of Heida. We paid $113 and left well fortified against the cold evening. On the way back to our hotel we noted that the Chateau de Valere is illuminated at night and is an impressive sight, hovering over the city.

We wanted some more mountain experience, so after another nice breakfast, we got into our warm clothes and walked to the train station and bought tickets to Iserables. Actually we bought tickets to Riddes, where we were instructed to buy cable car tickets to Iserables. I couldn’t find Riddes listed as a stop on any of the station boards, but I knew it was toward Martigny, and there were plenty of trains going there. I returned to the ticket line and the agent confirmed that we took train R 4128 at 0948. I noticed that the clock at her window did not agree with that by the tracks. A little hesitant, we stood on the platform and at 0936 a train for Martigny was to leave (they don’t seem to post train numbers) and when the crowd rushed to board, we followed. Ten minutes later Riddes passed in a blur; we had apparently gotten on an express line to Martigny, rather than a local. We couldn’t get off until Martigny, and when I asked the agent what to do, she told me to get on a return train in about an hour which would be a local. So we got a preview of Martigny, but didn’t really have time to look around. We finally got to Riddes, to the amusement of the conductor, and set off toward the cable car, which is about a ten minute walk, and well signed.

Iserables is an agricultural town, with the village buildings clustered very close together and every inch of ground terraced (but hardly flat) and planted. Their major crop is apricots. We were too warmly dressed, as it was very temperate there. There were hiking trails everywhere. This must be off season for hiking as many establishments were closed. I suspect this is an attraction for local hikers, rather than tourists, as there seemed to be only a few very small hotels, and we found no one who spoke English, so we limped along on my very limited French. The views were great, but there was no snow. The few cafes we found were closed, but a couple of bars were open, and one had some food items. My wife had a small quiche Lorraine, and I had a croque monsieur. They were the type that are premade and heated by the bartender, but were still good. My wife had a beer. I had a vin chaud, which was new to me. It is mulled wine, spicy and hot and served in a glass mug. I found it hard to taste the wine because of the spices, but I expect this would be quite good in very cold weather where you needed warming up. There was a small dish of candies on the table, but they disappeared and my wife said they were quite good. The tab was 16.70 CHF and we were filled and warm. We walked around a bit more, then descended by the cable car and got the right train back to Sion. The day was longer, and warmer, than I had planned, but it was quite interesting.

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I stopped in Cellier du Manoir in old town to buy some souvenirs. A small bottle of Williamine Douce Morand (a pear brandy) was 32 CHF. A small bottle of Kirsch Vieux Morand (cherry brandy) was 25 CHF. A bottle of Cornalin de Siere was 25 CHF, and a bottle of Cornalin Montibeux Rouvinez was 31 CHF.

For dinner, we went to Restaurante La Taverne Sedundise in old town. It is a rather plain looking place we had stopped for coffee in and they advised us that dinner could not be ordered before seven, but we were welcome to be seated and wait. As I tried to read the menu, they came and said they could serve us early. We had specials consisting of a mixed salad and beef Strogonov for my wife and langue boeuf for me. Both were superb; I think I have never had more tender beef. We had a special bottle of Cornalin and two deserts. The tab was 116.50 CHF, but this is misleading because the wine, which was truly excellent, was 67 CHF, so in fact the tab for food was very reasonable. This was an example of a place that looks rather plain from the outside, but delivers a really good meal.

We are back in the hotel now, plotting how we will spend our last day here.

It’s the morning of our last day, and we haven’t thought of a think to do, so we started out with a walk around old town to be sure we knew the location of the restaurant where we plan dinner. My wife isn’t an avid shopper, so we just looked in many windows. A bit after ten we wound our way to the cathedral and went inside. It was almost deserted and pretty dark, as the sun wasn’t oriented to many of the lovely stained glass windows, but the organist was playing, so we took a seat and enjoyed the music for over an hour. I don’t think this music is a performance, it seems more like practice playing of various segments, but it is very skilled and a very relaxing way to enjoy a morning. I couldn’t find a notice of when it was scheduled, but it has been there both mornings we walked in, and I think I would put this on my list of things to do in Sion. We were then at Avenue de la Gare, which is pretty much the western boundary of the old town, so we decided to cross over and see what the rest of the town was like. There were many office and apartment buildings, but relatively few shops or cafes, so we walked back to old town for lunch at Bakerei Kondittore Café.

My wife had a ramekin, which I had thought was a small ceramic dish, but which resembled the quiche she had yesterday, but larger. I had an apricot torte. With a coffee and 2 dc of Fendant, the total was 16.40 CHF. We’ve eaten here before (it is conveniently near our hotel at the entrance to the Old Town, and always busy with people speaking French) and I’ll never understand how it works. They have a lengthy section of counters, with pastries and breads at the left end, sandwiches and ramekins in the middle, and prepared dishes and salads on the right. They always ask me what I want while I am still looking, as the display is impressive. In previous visits we picked pastries, they asked if it was for here or to go, we said here and they put it on a plate, took our money, and we went to a table. Shortly after we got to the table, a waitress asked what we wanted to drink and brought it, leaving a bill for the drinks on the table, which we then paid. This time, my wife picked the ramekin, to eat here, they had a huddle and decided they wouldn’t hand it to her, but told her to take a table. Meanwhile, I had gravitated to the pastries. When I made my choice, they somehow knew I was with my wife and rather than giving it to me, took it to her table, with her ramekin. I sat down with her and the waitress asked our preferences and brought our drinks and a check for the whole meal. Perhaps the difference was that they had to heat her ramekin. Its confusing, but the food is good, so we keep going back.

Incidentally, our hotel abuts what they call COOP city, which includes a restaurant. We have walked by it often, and they have a menu board with very good prices, and always seem to be full. We won’t have time to try it this trip, and I don’t usually eat in restaurants that are a sideline of a big store, but I can remember when I was a child, there was one pretty elegant department store in Cleveland (Halle’s) and they had a restaurant that was open during the day, and was considered one of the best places to eat lunch in all of Cleveland. I’m curious if COOP is that type of place.

For dinner we went to Au Cheval Blanc, in old town. They had a sign saying they would open at 1800, but when we got there shortly thereafter, they were just opening and said come back at 1830, when their chef, or perhaps his oven, would be warmed up. We walked around in the cold until 1830, when they welcomed us. I had been hesitant about going here, as their menu is strictly French, which is supposedly a good sign, but that makes it difficult for those of us who don’t know what a homard is. I tried to resolve this by looking at their menu on the internet and looking up a few words (a homard is apparently a lobster) and making a cheat sheet. I was still confused a bit as they have two menus, one with specialties, and the other with interesting things that may or may not be a lunch menu. In any event, we wrestled with the menu and my wife got a salmon patty with salad, french fries, and bread. I got a green salad (very good) and a dish of crevettes (tiger shrimp) and rice, which was also very good. My only criticism was that the crevettes were large and untender, which I think is the nature of the beast. I think smaller shrimps are always more tender. I forgot to order some oysters, and some escargot (sea snails) which really tempted me, but would have been too much to eat. With a bottle of Fendant and two deserts, the bill was 120.50 CHF, and I thought the meal worth more than that. The restaurant was fairly crowded, but service was good, and everyone seemed to have an excellent meal.

We walked back to our hotel, and my wife said she wanted some pictures of the illuminated Valere hovering in the sky, so I got my tripod and camera and we went out and tried to get some. I’ve bought what they call a tourists tripod, which is small and easy to carry, and which helps a lot when you are taking shots with longer exposures.

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After an early breakfast, we packed and headed for the train station. I might have to recalibrate my thinking on packing, as it seems we do it a lot quicker with experience. We caught the same train we had caught by mistake before, and were in Martigny in almost no time. The Hotel Alpes and Rhone says they are 800 meters from the train station, but I think those must be big meters. In any event, it was an easy walk of about eight blocks, slowed a bit because the street was closed for a fair and we naturally had to see and smell everything. There was a large variety of fruit and produce, and I’m not sure how much was local. We were attracted by some very nice thick asperigras, which we have seen everywhere, but which is from Mexico. There were meats, sausages, and cheeses of every description.

We ended up getting to our hotel at 1100, well before check-in time, and they regretted that our room was not yet ready, but took our luggage and sent us off to see the town. Back to the street fair, but just to look. We soon needed food, and found a little boulangerie that had nice looking baked goods and beautiful chocolates. My wife got a demi sandwich with salami, while I got an almond tart. They didn’t have wine, so we both had coffee.

We then returned to our hotel and checked in. We have a fairly spacious room with a lovely view of the mountains. They have old-fashioned radiators which are handy for warming your underwear while you shower. Like many hotels we have seen recently, the hallway lights are on a sensor, and the hallway is quite dim if you don’t keep moving. This hotel has an especially quick trigger, and unless you are really quick working your key, you are in the dark unless you jump around a little.

Hauling our luggage on and off the train (someone stuck a few bottles of wine in our suitcases) had us tired, so we napped until dinner.

We had dinner at the hotel in the very nice restaurant. My wife was going to order a salad and a rosti special, but the waitress pointed out that the special included a salad. I had the plate of the day of legume soup, a salad, veal slices on rice, and pineapple slices in kirschvasser for desert. My wife had a scoop of ice cream, and we split a bottle of Cornalin. The food was very good, and my wife especially enjoyed the rosti. The tab was 81 CHF.

Breakfast was served in the restaurant and was very good. I went to the buffet for my usual meat and cheese, and a bowl of pears instead of yoghurt. They had no croissants there, but had some nice looking multi grain bread. Greedily, I took two pieces. When I got back to our table, they had brought containers of yoghurt and a basket of two croissants, and a surprisingly large pot of coffee. Tomorrow I’ll know what is coming and be more moderate.

We had a recommended walk that had been posted here (thanks Hambagahle), but altered the order as my wife was especially interested in seeing the Saint Bernards. We first visited the area of the old church, but didn’t go in as a funeral mass was in process. It was interesting seeing that quaint neighborhood, which is fairly hidden and would be easy to miss. We then found our way to the Musee et Chiens du Saint-Bernard, but as we got nearer we realized we were early as they don’t open until 1000. Fortunately, right in front of us was the remains of a Roman Highway, and across the street the Roman Amphitheater. We wandered around these and listened to the distant barking, until it was 1000. As seniors (they didn’t even ask for proof) we received a discount and soon were almost the only customers in there. We watched them grooming a puppy, then watched as it entered its quarters (each dog has a private room (with plenty of windows so they really aren’t private) with a platform bed and some stairs and toys, with access to a pretty roomy outside space via a doggy door. As we stood outside on a bridge spanning the outside spaces, the lady who had been grooming the puppy brought an adult out for training, and stopped by us to talk and let my wife fawn over the dog. She said they have only about eight dogs at this facility, but have about 30 overall, with most at another facility. We watched the training for awhile, then went inside to tour the museum on the second and third floors. The second floor dealt with the history of the dogs and the hospice and pass and was quite interesting, including some movies. The third floor was a temporary exhibit of masks from the Himalayas, including current life there.

We ended by visiting the gift shop where I purchased a little bottle of Liqueur du Grand St-Bernard, to balance my luggage. It was still early, so we walked about some more, then found our way to Confiserie Jacquerioz, near the center of town, where we had two pastries, a coffee, and a small glass of Fendant, for 12.70 CHF.

Restored, we walked our Rue Marc-Morand to see the wooden bridge and Chateau de la Batiaz (closed in the winter but making a lovely sight from our hotel room windows). Again, we found ourselves in a charming quaint neighborhood that we would never have guessed was there without instructions. The end of this walk is steep, and we knew the Chateau was closed, but hoped to get a good picture out over the valley, and as we got to the point where we were having to pause often, I looked and realized that it was too hazy to get a really good picture, so we turned back.

For dinner we had the specials of a soup or salad, and a filet of fish with sauce on rice, and a desert, with a bottle of muscat, which was a new experience to me and very different tasting. The tab was 85.50 CHF.

clevelandbrown

We still have the Gianadda foundation to see, and plan on a train to see Mont Blanc. Museums here apparently don’t close on Mondays, so we have more than enough time left.

We loitered at the hotel until 1000 the next morning, as the foundation opens then and is only a short walk, and it was cold. The foundation is in a modern building, surrounded by a sculpture garden. At admission, I asked about photography, and they said it was approved, but not in the traveling exhibit of Russian images of saints. The building is a combined gallery and performance hall. At the entrance level around the balcony are archeological treasures and exhibits, showing excavations in the area, and meaningful events. It seems the whole town rests atop Roman ruins, and many have been excavated and are open; I was glad to see that there was no vandalism apparent.

The lower level had the exhibit of Russian works, and was extensive. They have a long ramp down to the basement where the car collection is. The ramp has many etchings and illustrations from the area, particularly the monastery, pass, and historical events. Their permanent collection is in a room here and while there are only ten or twelve paintings, the quality is quite good and well worth a visit. We then toured the car collection, which is well presented and extensive. It made you remember when cars had hood ornaments, cranks, and tillers.

We thought of eating at one of their cafeterias, but decided to delay lunch as we had only the sculpture garden to see. It had warmed up nicely, and the garden is far more extensive than I had realized, so it took us quite a while.

I thought the whole foundation was excellent, but I liked the sculpture garden best of all.

When we left, most places to eat were closing, but we finally found a bar café that had some nice sandwiches. For a coke, a small Fendant, a croque monsieur, and a mixte sandwich (ham and cheese on a long baguette, more than I could eat), the tab was 16 CHF. We went back to our hotel to nap.

We had dinner at the hotel again. Green salads, rosti (one with veal sausages, one with legumes and carrots), chocolate mousse, and a bottle of Dole. The rosti here is pretty good. The tab was 96.50 CHF.

I’m a fan of Formula 1 racing and I knew the opening race was Sunday, but I was having difficulty finding the time of the broadcast, considering the different time zones and the possibility that daylight savings time would surprise me. I had estimates varying from 1300 to 1700, and the man at the desk checked the paper for me and said it would be 1250, so I decided to defer our trip to Mont Blanc and schedule nothing for Sunday but the race. This worked well, as the hotel restaurant is closed Sundays, and we could spend the morning walking around town to find likely restaurants that would be open and seeing more sites. We were fortunate to be in the area around the church when a service was starting and enjoyed the bells, followed by a carillon number. Little was open, but we enjoyed a walk, then sat in the sun for awhile (sitting on a bench in Switzerland in March, watching the people, and getting sunburned; can it get any better?) As we were looking at restaurants in the central place, the lady who runs the restaurant in the hotel walked by, recognized us, and made a couple of suggestions.

We had an early lunch at La Nonna, which is a nice restaurant and far more than a pizzeria. When we entered, we were whisked to a table and bread and herbed oil and aperitifs were before us in no time. We ordered one Nonna pizza, an iced tea, and 3 dl of Fendant. The pizza, which included tomato sauce, cheese, mushrooms, lard (bacon, nicely smoked) and an egg was excellent. My wife had some bread with oil and reported the oil was very spicy. The tab was 32 CHF for a lunch far larger than we usually have. As we left, the church was letting out and another service starting, so we enjoyed more bells. We were back to our hotel just in time for the race. The broadcast was interesting, with far fewer commercial breaks than one gets on US television.

We waited until 1830 to leave for dinner, to make sure anyone who was open would be open. Our first choice was La vache qui vole. Although they did not have hours posted, the door was locked and there was a bartender inside who waved us away. I don’t know if he meant come back later or not, but we were hungry now. My second choice was La Nonna, where we had eaten lunch and which had an interesting menu, but my wife was drawn to one of the restaurants the hostess at our hotel had recommended, as they had lasagna. So we went to Le Loup Blanc, which turned out to be a good choice, They had a lot of seafood on the menu. My wife had a nice green salad and lasagna, which she said was excellent and very filling. I had asperges with mayonnaise, the petite portion, which was quite a bit as it was very large white asperigras. I followed with spaghetti gamberoni, which was very good. It had a herbed oil sauce with vegetables. We had a bottle of Fendant, and for desert a scoop of Swiss chocolate ice cream and a tarte du jour, both excellent. The ambience was nice, and the tab was 112.20 CHF. We had a short walk, then returned to our hotel.

clevelandbrown

We had an early breakfast today and walked to the train station to see Mont Blanc. Trains leave hourly (we caught the 0901) and the trip takes a bit over an hour and a half, with a change of train at Vallorcine. It is a scenic trip, you start out seeing the floor of the valley, then head up and up past gorges that seem thousands of feet deep and there is no space between the track and the edge of the cliff. I thought the left side of the train going up (and the right coming back down) had the best scenery, but the other side was good too. Our train, both ways, was uncrowded and we could move from side to side as the scenery changed. Part of the route is cogwheeled, thus slower, and better for taking pictures. On our return, we had a compartment alone, so I just opened the window and took more pictures than I could count (or pay for, if we were still in the film age). The round trip fare for two (this is a uniclass train) was 64 CHF after application of our half-fare cards.

Chamonix reminded me of Zermatt, but less pretentious. Alas, it is too close to Mont Blanc, so it is hard to get a good picture of the top of the mountain, although there were plenty of mountains you could see well. We didn’t take the cable car, as it was very crowded. The weather was very clear. Prices seemed high, but I guess you should expect that at a distant resort. We had a small lunch of an almond/orange tart, a tart citrone, a US sized cup of coffee, and a deciliter of white wine was 13.80 EURO, quite a premium over similar meals in Switzerland, but the tarts were very good. We spent quite a bit of time just walking around the town, and didn’t get back to Martigny until well after 1500. As we walked around, we saw many sets of ski tracks where there was no piste. With all you hear about avalanches, I don’t see how anyone can take such a risk, but young people don’t seem to see the risk in anything.

We had dinner in the hotel again. Two specials consisting of very good barley soup as one finds in the Grisons, a nice mixed salad, and rosti with veal sausage. A nice bottle of local Syrah accompanied the meal, and deserts were called Singapores, consisting of a layer cake with pineapple slices, custard, and a lot of whipped cream. I celebrated our final night with a very good glass of Calvados. The tab was 88 CHF.

We had all the time in the world the next morning, as the train from Martigny to Vevey is only thirty minutes, and runs often. I awoke early however, and while my wife was washing her hair, I went to the lobby (the wifi here works only in the lobby area). I badly needed to find the directions to our hotel in Vevey, as the web page I had saved had only a small map, and to manipulate it, I needed an internet connection. Somehow their connection was spotty, and I was constantly being limited to local access, and it took me almost an hour to make the thing work, but I finally got my map. This trip I had made an effort to avoid printing a lot of things, to save weight, and I guess intermittent access is the price you pay for such a choice. When I got back to the room, my wife had already packed, but I had to redo it a little. She had put all the wine and spirits in once suitcase to facilitate showing it to customs, but it made the case so heavy I could barely lift it, so I did a little redistribution. We had a nice breakfast, said goodby to the people at the hotel, and checked out. Despite the healthy walk to the rail station, and my taking time to buy both Martigny to Vevey, and Vevey to Geneva Airport tickets, we stepped onto the platform and the train arrived almost immediately, so we were in Vevey before 1000.

Incidentally, you suspect you are getting old when a lady edges ahead of you at the train exit, and unloads all your bags for you.

Vevey is a larger town than I had expected, and doesn’t have a lot of straight streets, nor through streets, so despite my map, we got lost a few times before finding our hotel, Les Negotiants, but it was a very scenic type of getting lost, as we are in the old town. Often a map doesn’t help a lot when they don’t put up many street signs. I finally asked a lady and she gave instructions; we had actually circled the hotel twice without finding it. In any event, we were far to early to check in, but they let us leave our bags and we set off to explore. They were having the Tuesday farmers’ market and we spent a lot of time there soaking up the sights and smells, and learning the French words for some of the foods we have been eating.

clevelandbrown

We then sat on a bench overlooking the lake and tried to figure out which peak was Mont Blanc. It was a little cold so we set out to find warm food. I’ve forgotten the name of the small café we ate it because they didn’t serve wine, but my wife had a nice salad, an omelette (it looked like a slice of pizza to me) and coffee; I had a nice ham sandwich with apple juice (nice and sharp, right on the edge of fermenting). The tab was 21.60 CHF. It was still not check in time (1400) so we walked around a bit more, sat in the sun for awhile and watched them clean up after the farmers’ market, then stopped in a café for hot chocolate. My wife ordered hot chocolate, but the waitress apologized that she did not speak English. I saved the day with a couple of the 15 or so words I have picked up, Chocolat Chaud, and we were all happy. The table we sat at had a plaque saying, I think, that Rousseau had sat at this table, but he hadn’t carved his initials, so I didn’t either. I did try to think a couple of deep thoughts, but I don’t think I made it.

Back to the hotel and check in. We will have to leave very early Thursday to get to the airport, so they are going to check us out Wednesday evening. The hotel looks like a very old building, but the inside has apparently been redone and looks new. Our room is nice, long with a couple of windows over the street. The toilet and shower are in a small room with another window, while the sink is in the main room There is a small safe in the minifridge, not large enough for a camera or PC, but the internet access is in your rooms and has worked quite well. The desk closes at, I think, 2130, so they give you a code for the outside door.

We ate at the hotel. The restaurant seems fairly popular, and I had neglected to make a reservation, but they fit us in near the kitchen. I know this is not reputed to be a good table, but I rather enjoy watching them cook and wondering what the good looking dishes are as they bring them out. My wife had a salad and perce fillets with rosti; I had a salad and crevettes (crevettes means shrimp, here) on rice which were both quite good. A local white wine went well, and my wife had a scoop of Swiss chocolate ice cream, and I had a delicious tarte au citrone. The tab was 101 CHF.

For our last day, we decided to visit Chillon. They have local bus service (bus 1) that doesn’t honor the half-fare card, but a ticket is only 3.80 CHF one way. Tickets can be bought from a machine on the bus, but it takes only coins, so be prepared.

The weather was pleasant and there was no crowd, so no lines. It is a very interesting place, and we were able to see everything by following the numbers in a pamphlet they give you. The hotel had given us a riviera card, which let us get in for half-fare. We were lucky to be there when it was uncrowded, as a lot of the rooms and passages are quite tight.

Returning to Vevey, we got off the bus a few stops early and walked the rest of the way along the promenade. We had lunch at a patisserie in old town; a salmon sandwich, a ham sandwich, two pastries, a coffee, and 2 dl of white wine was 29 CHF.

We had dinner at the hotel again. I had a salad and filet mignons with noodles, while my wife had the special, a seasonal salad called Dent De Lion and rosti. We had a bottle of Gamay recommended by the waiter which was very good. A scoop of chocolate ice cream and a tarte au citrone completed an excellent meal 97.90 CHF. We then checked out, as we will be leaving at 0430 to catch a train to the airport.

clevelandbrown

All went well the next morning, but I had been unable to check in on line and there was some problem with the agent, who had to call a supervisor, who had to call someone else to override something, so I’ll have to check that out before our next flight. We hadn’t gotten our upgrades (this flight was full, but the day before and the day after had plenty of space, so I guess I should have picked another day. They had the regular security at the airport. And it was about 0700 by the time we got through and to the Swiss Air passenger lounge (apparently if you are in a Star alliance frequent flyer program at the gold level, or better, they allow you lounge access even if you are in tourist class. We had just gotten our orange juice and were contemplating a nice selection of continental breakfast items when I noticed our flight had been called, so we had to head to the gate. It turns out it had been called early as they were doing another screening, so we were back in line to be wanded and questioned. The flight was good and arrived early, and immigration and customs at Newark were not crowded and went very smoothly, although I did get my usual special interview because someone with a name like mine has gotten on some list. The customs people did give me an address I can write to to try to avoid these interviews and we will see what comes of that.

Many of the places we ate had chefs, and I think it is traditional practice that chefs create their own dressing when you order a salad. When asked, I request French dressing, but the French dressing we get in Switzerland is not the cloying red stuff you get in the US; it is a very tasty white dressing and I have become very fond of it. Does anyone know where to get this in the US, or have a recipe?

swandav2000

Thanks for this delightful report, clevelandbrown! I've enjoyed the small and overlooked town of Brig, also didn't quite catch the charm of Zermatt, and dearly dearly love Lake Geneva. So I really enjoyed walking along with you!

One note -- that Riviera Card gives you free use of the bus system along the lake. Ah well, 3,80 didn't break you, lol!

Thanks again!

s

Melnq8

Lovely report clevelandbrown - I savoured every detail, but oddly, I'm suddenly craving pastry. I love sledding in Switzerland, but I came very close to permanently maiming myself on my last attempt (I'm no spring chicken either mind you)

I believe Cassis is black currant.

Ingo

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this excellent trip report. I love it. I especially liked the report on Sion since I haven't been there yet and it is on my list. My, you did explore the Valais!

Your meals sound delicious. Must go and get something nice for lunch right away. A Grisons barley soup would be perfect ;-)

Ingo

annalynn

Thanks for the detailed trip report! I loved your humor, the battles with the bus driver, and how you trumped him with your 1/2 price card. LOL!

I had been keen to give sledding a try, but I'm now having second thoughts on this. Yikes!

clevelandbrown

There were plenty of people there having a good time sledding, some of them past middle age. Our problem was that we are way past middle age and didn't get a chance to learn at the kids' hill because of the weather, and were on a trail that required some experience and skill. I was reminded of the one time I tried skiing many years ago. My friends who ski told me to lean away from the hill, and to make sure the tips of my skis didn't cross. When we got to the slope, there was a lot of powder and I looked down and couldn't see where the tips of my skis were, so I went down the slope in the posture one would use in a Turkish toilet; but it worked.