Switzerland after five fast days

We just left the laundry after being chewed out by Brunhilda, the Swiss witch that runs the place. We dared to make the error of thinking it was self service and walking over to an open washer in which to place our laundry. She informed us in unfriendly and utterly precise German accented words that this was not self service and we needed to wait until she could help us. After waiting the length of time it takes to prove who is in charge of the laundry, she then told us to put the dirty clothes into the washers that we were going to put them into anyway. She told us it takes two hours to wash the clothes. It is 9:10 AM on Saturday morning, with an 11:00 check out time looming, so we informed her that we would be back at 11:00 to check on things because we had to pack our clothes and leave. She was not happy about this, and let us know this adventure in the laundry was going to set us back 34 Swiss francs, or $28 for two loads. That will teach us to not wash our own clothes! These are two tiny loads, too.

Although the laundry story is not so pleasant, almost every other thing about Switzerland has been great. We have been city hopping- a method of getting from Spain to Italy in a week that we would not recommend to anyone. We take a two-four hour train ride every morning, spend the afternoon walking around the city and having dinner, then sleeping until time for the next train. Although we will get to Milan on schedule for meeting Caitie on Monday, this is certainly not the way to see Switzerland. We just barely get on the ground in a city and it is time to move on. Nevertheless, we love it here. At Maryann's suggestion, we are trying the chocolate of every town to ensure that we are getting our antioxidants. It is dark chocolate, of course. We have nibbled the truffles of Interlaken, the chocolate covered nuts of Montreux and the dark chocolate almond bark of Lucerne. Almost every town has streets loaded with Konditerei, these wonderful shops loaded with baked goods and chocolates. Some of them have sandwiches on baguettes also, so we stop in the morning and pack sustenance for the train trips. What a way to go.

Our Swiss hotels have been expensive, in the range of 180-220 Swiss francs per night, or almost $175 some nights. This hotel we are sitting in right now while waiting for our laundry across the street is wonderful. We have a corner room on the fifth floor of the Three Kings hotel. Because of the corner we have five double windows with a couch in front, providing wonderful views and lots of light. Unfortunately, like most of our rooms, it alos provides lots of street noise. Mike was awake for several hours last night listening to the kids party down on the street.

We have briefly visited Geneva, Montreaux, Interlaken, Lucerne and later today we will arrive in Lugarno. The first three cities were in the French speaking part of Switzerland, while Lucerne is German and Lugarno will be Italian. The Swiss all speak English, though, so it has been easy to get around here. It has been humbling to be in German speaking Lucerne, though, and realize how little of my five years of high school German vocabulary have disappeared. Mike's French is equally gone, so we need some refresher work on our language skills before we spend time in France and Germany where we aren't as able to rely on our English. Just as in Spain, we have enjoyed the smaller towns more than the larger cities, although it we did enjoy walking around peaking in the impressive shop windows in Geneva. I took a picture of one chocolate shop window which is indicative of how impressive all of the windows are.

One of the most memorable facets of our Swiss experience are the train trips. For all of the frustration of Portuguese trains, the Swiss is the exact opposite. Trains go everywhere, so cars are not necessary at all. The trains are clean, efficient and luxurious. The train schedules are posted in the stations and are clear and easy to read. Our train pass is all that is required to board a train, so there is no advance reservation required, and therefore no additional expenses incurred. And the scenery is spectacular. The mountainous passes with the homes perched on the side of the slopes are unique to this area. Tiny little villages, each one an inviting place to visit are short stops of the "Panorama Trains" we have chosen to take. While these trains take slightly longer to get to the destination, they go over the mountains and stop in the little towns rather than go around the mountains like the faster trains. We have been mesmerized by the scenery.

Several of you have written about the food, and you are right. Swiss food is very good. We have enjoyed cheese fondue, rosti- the hash brown like potatoes, steaks that seem tastier than those we tried in Spain, wonderful thin crust pizza, and of course, chocolate. The morning coffee, while good, is much more like home than the Spanish coffee. We enjoy it, but miss the stronger coffees we left behind in Spain. Starbucks are in all of the major cities of Switzerland, and we stopped in one in Geneva, and although we are stockholders of this fine company, we don't miss the Starbucks coffee compared to what we can enjoy in the small coffee shops. Mike loves the croissants here, and doesn't leave the breakfast table without making sure that each place doesn't have a better croissant than the last place we visited.

We have not seen any street people or beggars in Switzerland. They have not a hassle anywhere, but they have been around the edges of our visits, particularly noticeable in Avila, Spain. In Portugal the beggars were primarily elderly women, some of whom were quite aggressive about following you around. In Spain the beggars were usually young. We aren't sure what they do here to eliminate the beggars, but we have not seen them around. At night we hear inebriated revelers, but there are no drunken bums around in the morning.

Well, I am going to pack up the computer and go risk my life with Brunhilda. This is only our second time with machines for laundry, and given the expense and risk to our dignity, we are going back to hanging socks in the shower.

Later- Deanne