4/26–On our way home

Sigh.  We have to leave.  But if we have to leave, today is the day to do it. Wow! What a change in the weather.  From blindingly bright blue skies with warm temps for 3 whole days to overcast, rainy and chilly on our travel day. Well, at least we aren’t hiking today!  Packed up and ready to go, we make our way back to Zurich, once again navigating straight through the heart of town. There’s another way to go to the airport on the highway, but for some reason the GPS does not send us that way.  Oh well, we’re experts at navigating through Zurich by the time we are done.

Rental car turn in, airport check in, security pass through – all goes like clock work and we are in the terminal waiting to find our gate in no time.  We’ve managed our Swiss Francs carefully and have only 1.28 left.  Surely we can find something to buy – but no – nothing costs 1 Swiss Franc here – nothing!  Our gate is announced, and on the way we stop by one last kiosk, asking the salesperson how much this little 1 1/2 ounce candy bar costs.  2 Swiss Francs. Really? Darn it.  I thank him, but tell him we don’t have enough left. And he says, how much do you have?  I hold out our measly 1.28, and he says wait a minute, there’s a discount on this candy bar.  He rings it up at 1.50 – which we still don’t have, but he takes all our money and hands us the candy bar anyway. What a sweetie! 

So, off we go to our Iceland Air no frills flight with our candy bar made even sweeter with kindness!

The flight is uneventful.  There are movies, the food isn’t all that bad, even though we do have to pay for everything.  But, that’s the whole premise of Iceland Air.  We land in Reykjavik on time, and make our way to our final flight to Orlando.  Easy enough – although we’re late leaving, which doesn’t thrill us all that much since we have over an hour long drive to get to the hotel in Flagler Beach.  Nothing we can do about it, except try to enjoy the flight – which we actually do – especially the view over Greenland. 

We actually make up time and touch down in Orlando right on time, then make our way through passport control at record speed (love Global Entry!), and then, disaster!  The bags take for freaking ever to arrive.  One of the airport guys we talked to says this happens all the time with Iceland Air, they don’t have enough people working, and so it takes longer than normal for the luggage.  Darn. We were so hoping to get out of here fast to make that drive, but that is not happening tonight.  Finally after 45 minutes, the bags start to show up, we grab ours and trot outside for the shuttle to the parking lot.  We’ve texted ahead and the car should be ready, but there too, we arrive and it isn’t waiting for us. Sigh.  Ed goes to stand in the long line at the counter (even though we’ve pre-paid and the car was supposed to be waiting for us when we got there).  Finally though, I walk over to the guys in the arrival/delivery lane and ask them – and they go get the car right away.  Phew! No waiting in line – we can finally get on the road. 

I’m driving, so I choose the route, and decide to go I-4 instead of that horrific toll road.  I hate the Turnpike, it’s dark with very few exits and it costs a fortune.  I figure at this time of night, I-4 should be fine. Oh ho ho. This place is more like Washington, DC, every day. There’s a TON of traffic out at midnight on a Thursday.  Really?  Come on people!  We manage to make decent time though, and get out of Orlando as fast as we can to arrive at Flagler closer to 1 am than the 11 pm we had originally anticipated.  Travel adventures – always going to have them!

Sleep comes really easy tonight – after our long, long day and what seemed like even longer drive here.  We’re actually up a little later on Friday, than our normal crack of dawn, but we’re still on the road by 8, with a relatively easy drive (including a stop at Costco) which puts us back into Asheville around 4pm.  It was a great trip, but it’s really nice to be home, and we’re looking forward to spending the entire summer here, settling back into our Asheville routine until the next great adventure begins….in October! 

4/25–Dinner in Chur

We arrive downstairs to meet Gaby and Sigis at the appointed time, and are whisked off to Chur, a quick 15 minute ride away.  The beautiful day has turned into a beautiful evening and we enjoy strolling through the old medieval town center perusing restaurants. 

Our first choice, a Mexican place, is packed with people waiting outside, so we continue on through town, finally landing on the Calanda Restaurant and Bar.  What a fitting final dinner here – Calanda!  The local – and best – beer in the land!

It’s a cool place, with a totally lively atmosphere, an immense outdoor seating area and nicely appointed inside restaurant with bar height tables and chairs.  We grab seats and dig into pasta for Sigis, Spicy beef wrap for Gaby, Swiss Cordon Bleu for me and a mixed salad, pretzel and sausage for Ed.  None of the pictures do the food any justice, so you’ll just have to take our word for it that it was wonderful (and quite frankly, after I’ve pictured bombed you to death over the past few posts, you’re probably happier with more text and less pix for now!).

The evening speeds by far too quickly, and before we know it, we are back in the car heading to the hotel.  We have a final farewell drink at the Alte Post and tearfully bid Gaby and Sigis goodbye – promising to see each other soon – and for us Americans to not take another 13 years to come back to visit in Switzerland! 

We reluctantly return to our room, finalize our packing, then sit on the balcony and reminisce over the last 3 wonderfully special days spent with our wonderfully special friends.

4/25–Afternoon at the cabin

We have arrived!  It is our first look at the newly renovated cabin – and it is wonderful.  The contractors did a fabulous job of melding the new and old structure together, from a visual perspective, and the additional room inside is great!  There is now a huge open kitchen and eat in area, with a sleeping loft above, plus a wood burning stove and gas heated water. 

After the tour, we have the honor of helping to open up and christen (so to speak) the cabin for the summer!  After moving the long picnic table and benches out onto the patio (boy, was that thing heavy!  Just what you would want in the mountains where the winds can be ferocious – that baby isn’t going anywhere in any storm!), we set about organizing a bit, while the boys work on getting the grill started for our sausage lunch!

And what a great lunch it was – sausage over a wood fired grill, enjoyed under the brilliant blue sky while staring out over the mountains.  Simply sublime! 

Hours later, we finally drag ourselves away from the deck, tidy up our lunch utensils and make our way back to the car for an adventurous drive back down the mountains.  The views are still quite scenic but those roads!  They are little dirt lanes that seem more like cart paths than actual roads. Thank heavens for Sigis – the #1 best driver in the world – because let me tell you….those roads were amazing, and he handled them like the pro he is!

Sigis drops us off at the hotel for a little rest and relaxation, before we embark on our farewell dinner in Chur.

4/25–Bonaduz to Rhazuns to Feldis

It’s another picture perfect day as we set out from the Hotel Alte Post to the Bonaduz train station. Gaby and Sigis meet us outside, and with precision timing, walk us to the train station to get the train to Rhazuns, where we will transfer to the cable car for Feldis, to begin our hike to their cabin.  It all works perfectly (of course, it’s Swiss run – both the government and the Rageths!) and we arrive at the cable car with plenty of time to spare.

Our ride up to Feldis takes around 10 minutes, and is absolutely beautiful, if you can get over the fear of the gondola which takes you up 4800 feet with minimal supports.  At one point, as we rise above the Rhine river, past the Schloss Rhazuns, you can look back and see the long length of cable behind us, with absolutely no towers supporting it.  Yikes!

We finally reach the top – much to our relief – and step out into the beautiful coolness of sleepy little Feldis.  Population maybe 200, this little town is so perfectly Swiss, with it’s lovely town square, half timbered and full on log cabins (including the cool wood carvings).

Sleepy in the summer, the proximity to ski slopes keeps it hopping in the winter, but we’re happy to be one of the few people here on this gorgeous spring day.  Before we embark upon our hike, we stop for sustenance in the form of cappuccino at the Hotel/Restaurant Mira-Todi, and bask outside in the cool air and abundant sunshine.  It’s just too pretty up here in the Mountains.

Finally we tear ourselves away from the town, and begin our hike, thought scenic pastures, dotted with cows, past little (and big) log cabins, a church and multitudes of beautiful Swiss Alpine horizon landscapes.

 

As we climb higher, we encounter the last remnants of snow, still clinging to the trail, belying the increasingly warm spring temperatures.  We pass rushing streams, that Gaby explains aren’t usually even trickling but are heavy now because of the abundant snowfall (and rain) this season.  It’s just magical up here, the views and the company are simply stunning – we couldn’t have asked for a better last day here together with Gaby and Sigis.

After about 45 minutes, we reach a cross roads where Sigis left the car earlier this morning (then biked back down to town).  We’re going to drive the rest of the way to the cabin, parking just a little ways away, before the new bridge being constructed that isn’t quite ready to support heavy vehicles quite yet.  Good call!  The drive doesn’t take very long, and it is still incredibly scenic, but the best part is the approach on foot to the cabin, over the bridge with the rushing water, up the slight incline past their nearest neighbor, until we are looking out over the snowcapped mountain peaks rimming the town of Domat/Ems.