Pauline's blog about vacation rentals in Europe, travel in Europe and other thoughts
According to our currency converter, SFr 1.00 (Swiss Franc) is $0.82 USD. Swiss France is written as SFr or CHF.
VAT (sales tax) is included in all prices, but if you look at the receipt, it shows how much VAT was paid (7.6%). The price in Euro is sometimes displayed on the receipt.
On July 1, England banned smoking in all public buildings, including restaurants and pubs, joining the rest of the United Kingdom in banning smoking (Wales and Northern Ireland instituted bans in April, Scotland last year).
Other European countries have instituted similar bans: Ireland was the first in 2004. Sweden, Italy, Malta, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal have smoking bans (full or partial).
In the next two years the following European countries will institute smoking bans: France, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland. (From the International Herald Tribune.)
We have noticed smoking in restaurants here in Switzerland.
Smokers at restaurant in Leysin, Switzerland
The weather has not been good this week - rain showers throughout the day, but sunny periods too. On Monday we did a car trip, so did not hike. On Tuesday we were in a lazy mood, so just went out for a lovely lunch in Leysin, bought a bunch of French magazines and watched the rain from the apartment. In the evening we had drinks with our upstairs neighbors - four Brits on holiday for the week. The bad weather is supposed to clear on Friday and then we go back to sunshine and temperatures in the 70s.
Today I wanted to be up on the mountains and did not care about the rain. When we headed out, around 11am, it was sunny, but had been sunny then raining then sunny all morning. It was cool - in the 50s - so we bundled up with polartec sweaters, rain coats and long pants.
We did an easy walk from the house, up the hillside to the Les Fers restaurant. The walk up was 1hr, 30min and down was 1hr, 15min. Elevation gain 400 meters. The walk up was perfect. We got rained on only for a few minutes. Sometimes it was sunny, sometimes we were walking through clouds. The view down to Leysin and the valley below changed minute by minute. You would see the sun on Leysin, then the valley would fill with clouds. The wildflowers are out in full force and were beautiful. We had lunch at Restaurant Chalet des Fers, then walked back down in a drizzle that turned into a pouring rain.
Looking down to Leysin and the valley behond from the hike to Les Fers
We have always loved the coffee at cafes in Switzerland. Each cup is brewed fresh, from a machine that is sort of like the espresso machines in Italy, but is less manual. When you order a coffee, you get a long espresso with a “cream” on the top.
After our 2000 trip to Kandersteg, we bought a Swiss coffee maker at home. We got the Jura Capresso - the cheapest model which was still around $1000. Put water in one side, beans in the other, turn it on, press the button and you get a perfect coffee in 60 seconds.
It broke down last year and we were heart-broken (and caffeine deprived) until the replacement latest model arrived (given to us for half price when we sent in the old broken one).
When we arrived, jetlagged and exhausted, at Geneva airport just over a week ago, the first thing that I saw on entering the terminal was a huge poster of George Clooney advertising the Nespresso Coffee machines.
Dogs are everywhere - on the streets and trails going for walk with their owner, in the yards, sitting beside their owner in restaurants. Big dogs like Sennenhunds or Great Danes; little dogs too. But we have never seen dog shit on the sidewalks.
Yesterday, walking in the rain in Villars, a group of three male young teens were ahead of us on the sidewalk. They were bouncing around, talking nonstop, carrying junk food. One of them took an empty pop can, threw it to the ground, stomped on it so it stayed on his foot, then walked with it like that to make maximum noise. I turned to Steve and said “teenagers are the same worldwide, it doesn’t matter which country you are in”. Then the can fell off his shoe and he kicked it forward and picked it up. A few feet down the road he saw a garbage can and deposited it. Okay, maybe teens are tidier here.
Today we drove to Evian, on the southern shore of Lake Geneva! We were so excited - to be in France, to see Evian. Found a parking spot immediately, then realized we had no Euro for the parking meter! I never even thought of it. I had US Dollars, Swiss Francs and UK Pounds in my wallet, but my Euro notes and coins were in a ziplock bag, in a suitcase, back at the chalet. Duh!!!
It was raining anyway. We looked for a cash machine, looked for free parking, drove around town, it started to pour - so we drove back to Switzerland.
When I was cleaning up after dinner tonight, just around 9pm when it was still light out, I saw the fox running across the yard. It looked like a small dog or a big cat - but it was the fox. We watched him check out the yard and then the deck for the apartment below us (we are on the first floor - American second). Richard, who owns this chalet, said in his notes that badgers also come into the yard. I have never seen a badger (alive) and was obsessed with seeing them in England on a trip a couple of years ago. You have to go out at night to see them and I went out on several different nights and never saw one. Maybe this time I will.
Today we did a FLAT hike. It hurts to walk down a flight of stairs, but I can run up the stairs.
We drove to Gstaad, a 30 minute drive on a narrow mountain road through a beautiful area. The last time we were in Switzerland, summer 2003, we spent two weeks in Saanen, a village near Gstaad.
The Palace Hotel sits above the main part of Gstaad
The Palace Hotel in Gstaad was featured in the 1975 movie “The Return of the Pink Panther” with Peter Sellers.
“He is on his way to Gstaad.”
“Gstaad?”
“Yes, today a paradise in the Swiss Alps. Tomorrow a wasteland.”
