This morning we packed up and departed for Switzerland! It is really fun being in a new country. We've been in Germany for over four months and it's time for something new. Mostly we are ready for new weather! But for the next two nights, it's more snow for us, as we have stopped over in Chur, Switzerland.
The drive started out really bad, with swirling snow and strong wind blowing the semi-trucks around. But it improved before too long, and the rest of our drive south was lovely, surrounded by mountains. We went briefly into Austria (a leg that consisted mostly of a very long tunnel) before arriving in Switzerland, and then the freeway went along the border of Lichtenstein for awhile before we reached Chur.
Sadly we did not get our passports stamped at the border (Switzerland is not part of the European Union so it seemed a possibility), but we did get stopped to pay a toll for the privilege of using Switzerland's fine roads. The border control officer first spoke to David in French, which really confused me since we were in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Then David reminded me we have French license plates! Ah oui, bien sûr.
Chur (pronounced "koor") is a nice little Alpine city, but not super-exciting. I mainly chose it because it is in a good location halfway to Italy.
Our first item of business was to pick up new SIM cards for our cell phones from a post office, as the ones that get us the best deal are only available in Switzerland. The phone numbers that come with them are based in Lichtenstein! Interesting. I'll update our numbers on the blog tomorrow.
After that, we meandered toward the cathedral, which is a fairly small one but is filled with wonderful Romanesque carvings! They are in a dark grey stone that I don't love, but the sculptures were very interesting:
Our hotel room in Chur (partially shown below) is nice; adequately piney and lodgey but not quite the Timberline Lodge sort of place I'd imagined from their website. There are also some noisy renovations going on in the entrance area, but everything is very clean and the receptionist couldn't be nicer.
After an exploration of the town we had dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was stupendous. Again, didn't bring the camera and I'm sorry I didn't. David had the "Chur Councilman's Plate" which included a small steak and veal and small delicious dumplings whose name we can't remember. I had a really unusual dish called Maluns, which consisted of finely chopped potato mixed with some kind of grain, served with homemade applesauce and slices of Alpine cheese. It is apparently a local specialty and it was so very good.
Tomorrow, a rail tour through the Alps to St. Moritz. Then we leave for Italy and hopefully start to warm up a bit!