Eurobike Tour: Day 1: St Moritz

by Miss Penny Black

Let’s talk pillows. In the hostel in Zurich we had square (‘European’ in Australia.. do they call them that here?) feather pillows that, when you lay your head on them, squashed completely flat. Even doubled over they barely had the thickness of a sandwich, and not a decent salad sandwich either.

In our current hotel the pillows are marginally better but seem to be stuffed with marshmallow-sized chunks of foam that gradually migrate to the corners, once again leaving the head unsupported. Have Europeans not heard of polyester filling or memory foam? In the words of an irate London bus driver, it’s 2023!

Anyhow, rant temporarily over, let’s talk about our first cycling day!

To say Luke and I were filled with trepidation would be putting it precisely. Neither of us had cycled in the last few years and we had booked e-bikes which are are a little trickier to use and heavier to push. Still, we had the hotel breakfast to enjoy first.

Back to the restaurant room which was much quieter and cooler than the previous night. Would the hotel redeem itself with the breakfast on offer? Yes, yes it would.

There was excellent coffee, a selection of cheeses, cold meats, salmon, fresh fruit, Bircher muesli, and also omelettes and pancakes could be ordered at no extra cost. Marvellous!

We stuffed ourselves to the gills in anticipation of skipping lunch and managed to not be hungry until dinner.

Next was setting up the bikes. Now, before I go into anything else I will say that we did not have helmets as we were supposed to bring them and forgot. There is nowhere in St Moritz to buy a reasonably priced helmet and so we decided to go without. Don’t bother commenting that we should get them, we ride at a snail’s pace and tomorrow’s Sunday so we literally can’t. Just be aware that we both feel bad about it and know that we should be wearing them.

We wheeled the bikes to an empty (and, more importantly, level) car park and rode around in circles practicing changing gears and using the power assist functions.

Marginally more confident, we walked the bikes down to the lake and set off.

The sun was out but thankfully it wasn’t too busy on the track. The route we were supposed to go followed the valley and wound around four lakes. There were some small hills, some steep enough for us to get off our bikes and push, but all in all we managed well enough.

The problem with riding is you can’t take photos on the fly. We had to stop, which was fine but I probably would’ve taken many more if I’d been walking.

The fields were filled with flowers and the mountains felt almost close enough to touch.

We rode through a few tiny villages too.

Of course, the mountains make everything look small.

The trail was about 12km in one direction then a return back the same way. We got almost to the end when my hayfever really flared up. I’ve brought six kinds of medication with me – three nasal sprays and three kinds of tablets. I had fortified myself well for the morning but by early afternoon it was all wearing off so I took more and we sat in a cafe for over an hour to let my symptoms calm down and medication take effect.

This is what a $9.82 hot chocolate looks like. To be fair, it was excellent.

I felt a bit anxious about the hay fever when we left the cafe but it subsided. My hay fever is not so much a runny nose as my eyes itching and swelling. It’s properly debilitating and I’ll be better prepared tomorrow.

The only other annoyance of the day was the hoards of bugs. No biters or stingers but lots of ones the size of flying ants. Not terrible when standing still but to avoid inhaling any while riding I wrapped my scarf around my face. Luke used the band given to us by eurobikes but it was too small for my gargantuan cranium.

Looking stupid is worth it, many bugs bounced off my face.

Oh I guess we were an annoyance of the day – Luke got told off by the police for riding on the footpath on our way back into St Moritz.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 after a trip to Lidl for cheese and bread. Now we’re doing holiday homework – the blog and recording expenses. Fun!

Supermarket picnic served on the plastic shoe tray covered in a towel. We’re sharing the one mug to drink our duty free Bacardi and soft drink. Classy! This whole meal cost less than 100ml of wine in the restaurant downstairs.

Tomorrow we ride twice as far to a village along the trail to Innsbruck. Woo!

Goodnight!

9Jun2023

Zürich to St Moritz

by Miss Penny Black

Before breakfast we did a quick run to the supermarket for lunch and snack supplies. I don’t know what food on Swiss trains is like, but if it’s any more expensive than supermarket food we don’t need it.

We packed our bags and headed to the station early, keen to try to get seats on the best side of each train.

Our journey from Zurich to St Moritz is in two parts and for the first half Luke had read that it was best to sit on the left, for the second half on the right.

We managed excellent seats for the first half, having four to ourselves. The first section of the trip was along the side of Lake Zug. It reminded me a lot of the train to Interlaken. Bike paths, parks, people on stand up paddle boards and sailing on the lake. It all looked very idyllic but the lady in the hostel told me the water was around 14 degrees at the moment.

Then the train headed into farmland and alongside a milky aqua lake surround by high peaks.

We changed trains at Chur and got to sit on the right side but facing backwards. Fortunately the girl who was sitting across from us got off only a few stops along and we could move across.

There is a more expensive and luxurious train but why bother when the normal trains are spotless and have huge windows?

This is the third ever UNESCO protected train route and the rails were laid over 100 years ago.

If you’re reading this because you’re planning on going to St Moritz by train, work out where your hotel is. The walk from the station to some of the hotels is up a steep hill. There is a bus that meets the train at the second last stop and then goes much further up the hill. We would’ve saved ourselves quite a slog.

The tour company had booked us into the Hotel Arte. The staff at reception were lovely and our package for our seven night bike tour includes baggage transport and breakfast every day. The first two nights are in St Moritz, which is just as well as we’ve both only ridden electric bikes once and that was five years ago.

Our room has an Egyptian theme, including a 3D (ish) frieze of the pyramids, which had an LED strip to light it up so… that’s a thing. I’d love to see some of the other rooms!

We checked in and then decided, after looking at the menu of the downstairs hotel, that we could afford their very cheapest item, a margarita pizza. So we booked a table then went out for a walk.

On the way up from the station we passed a strip of boutiques – Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes etc. Every store in our part of town is the very height of luxury and the people walking around the extremely clean and perfectly landscaped streets are dressed in clothing that probably costs more than our entire holiday.

Behind the shopping area is a hill with some beautiful houses. Here’s one that’s brand new.

There’s a real mix of modern and traditional but they all use wood, stone or are decorated like Wes Anderson hotels.

The tower below leans more than the one in Pisa, although it is shorter so it’s harder to tell.

Is it possible for a place to be too clean? It kind of feels like a Disney set of Switzerland.

I can’t tell if we’re out of season or if there’s always no one about in summer. There is a lot of construction and renovation work being done, which makes sense I guess. Can’t do it in Winter!

After a mooch around we went back to the room and got changed for dinner. The restaurant is in the same building. The interior was all wood and they do pizza and also Swiss food like fondue and schnitzel. We had one drink each (the wine was $18 for 100 mls! The beer was 300ml and $14) neither was of particularly exceptional quality. The pizza, which we shared ($30) was mediocre and nowhere near as good as the ones we bought at the supermarket in England and cooked in the oven at our apartment. Even the bain-marie pizza from the coop the other day was much better quality.

The restaurant was also boiling hot and we both felt we would be happier eating picnics in our rooms from now on. I did Google why food is so expensive here and it seems to boil down to ‘because they can’. The supermarket food is cheaper now because Aldi and Lidl (German chains) were allowed in. Thank goodness!

It did occur to me that the exceptionally pristine environment of Switzerland, both in the cities and in the countryside, is at least partially to thank for these high prices. We can barely afford to be here and we make reasonable money – Switzerland will never be accessible to most holidaymakers. I have mixed feelings about this but I’ll enjoy it while I’m here and, to be honest, this will probably be our last visit.

Luke being disgusted by the prices and the quality of the pizza. The staff were lovely and friendly though, and didn’t charge us the $10 the menu threatened for sharing a dish and needing two side plates.

After dinner we continued watching Ghosts and then slept very well, overlooked by pharaohs and in our very cosy beds!

9Jun2023

Zürich On A Budget!

by Miss Penny Black

The day’s plans were somewhat set back by me feeling rather under the weather from the previous evening. Luke got me some toast from the hostel kitchen and made sure I was ok before heading out at 11am to join a walking tour.

I went back to sleep and by 1pm I was ready to get out and about. Fortunately, with the sky being light until nearly 10pm, there’s no rush to get into things early.

Our first activity was to do a walk from one mountain to another along a ridge. we caught a train up to Uetliberg.

There were quite a few people but most were going to the lookout. The trail we were walking featured a scale model of the solar system. But first, these weird reindeer lights.

The view was pretty good, the weather was very fair but became windy and cloudy right at the end.

I didn’t take a photo of the sun at the beginning but it was the width of two basket balls. Some of the planets were so tiny they were encased in Perspex. I think this one is Ceres (not a planet obviously).

Here’s a better one of Saturn. They were clearly in the process of installing new benches. The path was very well set up, with toilets about half way, lots of rest stops and even places you could light fires and have barbecues.

And of course many of the ubiquitous natural springs.

Almost every mountain top in Switzerland has a hotel. This is the view looking back at Uetliberg.

We saw these bright orange butterflies along the trail.

Looking down to Zürich.

We got a message from Lea and Pete while we were walking, saying they had arrived in Melbourne after an uneventful flight.

The road was gravel the whole way (sandals were a bit of a mistake, bits of rock got caught in them) and the occasional cat went past, but apart from one steep-ish bit it was definitely a family friendly walk.

At the opposite end was a cable car down but we stopped at the mountain-top restaurant for a drink first.

A very distant view of snow-capped peaks.

The cable car was short but offered a good view and wasn’t crowded. we had bought a multi-zone 24hr public transport ticket. It was about $30 each and covered all the trains, ferries, cable cars, funiculars, trams – everything. That being said, no one, at any point, checked our ticket and there were no gates that needed a ticket to get through so if you were in Zurich on a very tight budget you could probably get around for free.

Love a cable car!

Next was a walk down to the train station and a ride back into the city. We ate our cornflakes chocolate on the way. It almost had the texture of popping candy chocolate.

The cheap bars of chocolate are very good and only work out to about $1.50 AUD.

Next activity: the funicular! It was tiny. It only went a short way up the hill, from the riverside to the university.

A very cute little station house.

We had then planned to go on a ferry down the river to make the most of our ticket but the ferry finished by 6pm.

We took a walk along the river, enjoying the sun on the buildings and the dark clouds overhead.

The clock face in the background is supposedly the largest in Europe – slightly bigger than Big Ben.

I’d watched some videos online about things to do in Zurich and one suggested the “Zürich car show, which runs from January 1st to December 31st every year”. Zürich isn’t quite as luxury car-heavy as Monaco but it isn’t far off. We didn’t make too much of an effort to look for them, not being car people, but I took photos of a few.

My favourite! I don’t know what make it is though.

Actually, I didn’t see any more luxury cars here than in Windermere, but I can definitely say the people of Zürich are the best dressed I’ve ever seen. Somehow at least 80% of the population look like they’ve just stepped off a yacht, despite this being a landlocked country.

We finished off the evening with ‘Ghosts’, a series on Stan that Mark and Sue recommended. We loved it, thanks for the tip!

Tomorrow: St Moritz!

7Jun2023

Zurich

by Miss Penny Black

We farewelled Lea and Pete before 7am and travelled to London City Airport to catch our flight to Zürich.

The plane had three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other, an odd arrangement I’d never seen before.

The arrow words finally got some airplay again, keeping us entertained through half the flight.

Zurich airport’s underground train station.

It was a quick ride to the middle of Zürich and a short walk to our hostel, where we had booked a private room with ensuite. This room was costing us about the same per night as the whole flat in Camden… but it feels more spacious!

We’re on the sixth floor so there’s a bit of a view across the rooftops around us. Something we have noticed is many of the roofs have gardens, and balconies are often filled with plants too.

We had a shower then went out for a walk. The Otter Hostel is in the old town so we walked through the narrow back streets then along the river.

We stopped at the supermarket to get some food. Eating in a restaurant is pretty much a no go due to prices so supermarkets it is!

This cheese was extremely gooey and had pesto in the centre.

The prices of pre-made food in the supermarket is still high – the equivalent of $20 for a single serve bowl of fancy salad (dressing not included!) but little tubs of potato or pasta salad aren’t too bad and cheese is about the same price as at home. French champagne is much cheaper than at home but we had our duty free to drink anyhow.

This picnic was about $10 AUD each with the cheese.

We found some steps down to the river and stopped to eat.

A couple of people came by and jumped in for a quick swim. Imagine living in a city where the river is clean enough for swimming. Some people even say you can drink straight from it… I’m not quite willing to test that though.

The insanely expensive food. This is a super basic burger place and a meal is about $40 AUD.

We splashed out and bought a beer and a non alcoholic iced tea from the hostel bar. $24 AUD for both.

In the evening we went for a walk along the river and the lights reflected in the water were beautiful.

We also found people salsa dancing in a rotunda in a park.

To finish the evening we decided to unpack, and drink some of our duty free while watching Have You Been Paying Attention (an Australian comedy panel show about the news), it was nice to hear some accents from home.

Unfortunately I got a bit free with the pouring of the drinks and woke up with a shocking hangover – my first of the trip by some kind of miracle. Lesson learned! (I mean, no promises but there’s always a first time!).

Sign outside a nearby restaurant. I don’t regretti spaghetti but I do regretti too much Bacardi😢

24May2023

Keswick to Buttermere

by Miss Penny Black

We had to check out of our lovely Keswick accommodation at 10am so there was time for a couple of hours of wandering around Keswick before moving to Buttermere, a lake in a valley to the west of Keswick.

Luke kindly let me drag him around a number of shops in which I bought nothing but we did pick up some fudge, a bottle of Kin toffee vodka and a Lake District book for Sue.

Chicken, chorizo and bacon pastie for breakfast.

A last visit to the cheese counter at Booths for supplies.

The next and last stop is Buttermere. Our house is relatively remote so we need to take everything.

Mark and Sue brought their car so they are taking the bags while the rest of us take the bus. We were hoping for a double decker but ended up with the back seat on a single storey bus.