Blobbing in St Moritz

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Thursday 1st October
Blobbing in St Moritz
Even after the drama with the semi trailer on the Malojapass yesterday we were both able to sleep soundly and in fact we didn’t wake until after 7.30am.
The location of the hotel at Silvaplana just outside St Moritz is very quiet and that probably helped the sleep in.
Breakfast is included in the deal here and so we don’t have to organise ourselves for the 6th morning in a row.And it wasn’t a bad feed either with yummy fresh croissants and bread to go with cereals and almost more hot coffee than we could cope with.
We decided to use the guest washing facility here and get ourselves right up to date with our washing.In fact we have so much to be washed between us that we commandeered two machines.The only drawback is that the washing machine is like all the others we have encountered in the UK and Europe they take for ages to complete a wash,like 80 to 90 minutes.We reckon F & P smart washer top loader would be a winner in Europe and the UK as they complete a wash in half the time.
So with the need to standby by the washing machine and to switch clothes to the dryer we staying in for the morning and sorted out some forward accommodation while we had a secure internet connection for free.
Options of accommodation in Italy are more extensive than the rest of Europe and the UK with farmhouses,apartments and camping grounds included in the main web booking sites we are using.In fact near Venice we are staying in a fully s/c mobile home for €35 per night,a real bargain considering that Venice is the most expensive place to stay in Italy.
So we found accommodation for 4 nights in Tuscany between Siena and Florence in a villa at €45 per night and 4 nights on the Amalfi coast over looking Naples Bay in an apartment also at €40 per night.Both are fully s/c so we can cater for ourselves as we want.
After a lunch of fruit from our days in Bad Peterstal,Germany that needed to eaten as it was “maturing” a little too quickly,we drove into St Moritz to take a look at the town.
The town sits in a basin surrounded by mountains with ski runs on a one side and on the other side tree lined mountains.The place looks very dry and it seems to have a similar climate to Central Otago,NZ except that it has permanent snow in the winter.
Right now there are few tourists around as the main time is winter and spring for all snow activities and the height of summer when people probably come here for the outdoor hikes.One of the very large hotels we walked past had a closed up look about it and sure enough it was closed from 3rd September to 3rd December when things will be full on with snow a plenty.
A good thing for the BBA coming to St Moritz at this time of the year was the car parking was FREE!!.
The large capacity gondola from the car park up to some of the lower ski runs was operating but we decided we had seen enough scenery from heights and so opted for a 2 hour walk around the lake that sits in the middle of the township.We had seen a programme on one of the travel programmes when we were in Lake Bled which showed the lake frozen over and a horse race meeting being held on it in February.
We rode the twin escalator up from the lake edge through a car parking building that was virtually empty to a shopping street where all the big name shops,Chanel,Gucci etc etc were closed presumably for the same reason the hotel was,to give staff some time off before the real season got underway.Not that we intended to spend any money in the big name shops!!
The walk around the lake was a pleasant stroll with the only adverse feature being a cool wind that was coming off the lake.Today is the first time in ages that we can recall having anything more than a breeze to walk into.
From the lake it was easier to make out a train that travelled up the mountain behind the town.Given the steepness of the line we assumed it was a cog train.We thought about talking a ride on it but after the Matterhorn experience nothing would compare and this train didn’t rise anywhere near as high as the Gornergrat.So we gave it a miss.
The town doesn’t have a lot of character with a mix of old Swiss style buildings,chalets and hotels along with modern designed structures making for a bit of a mish mash compared to other places in Switzerland where the traditional style gives a town character that is unique to the country.
The autumn tints on the trees here were quite well advanced and we noted that the overnight temperature was going down close to zero tonight even though the humidity was very low and dry.This will advance the look of autumn quite quickly and we are looking forward to getting back down to sea level or thereabouts and further south into Italy over the next week or two as autumn marches on.
With the microwave back in use we visited the Co-Op for dinner supplies on the way back to the RR and then headed back to the hotel.Dinner tonight for me is going to be a couple of meat balls that look like rissoles but had a fancy Swiss name so I guess they are something traditional while Gretchen has a chicken leg and wing also with some fancy Swiss names.Wine in Switzerland is not as cheap as the rest of Europe although it still isn’t too expensive while beer is quite cheap with a wide variety of makes to choose from.
We enjoyed our usual pre dinner drink before the meal of meat and three vege before we settled back to watch the two English speaking channels,BBC and CNN, on the TV reporting from the tsunami in Samoa and earthquake zone in Indonesia.
It had not been a busy day for us and perhaps we were ready for one of those blobby days that are necessary when there has been so much to see and take in over the past week or so and also after the incident on the Malojapass yesterday!!

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Photos

Ruths Boutique,Silvaplana
Ruth,is this the shop you secretly opened when you were here in readiness for your emigration to Switzerland!!!

Comments

[R& O]

Ruth's Boutique.
No, folk, Ruth's Boutique was there before us and my budget wouldn't go far in St Moritz. We stuck to window shopping as well.We spent two nights there in a hotel up on top of the hill above the railway station. NO not the Big Flash one !! We took the Bernina Express to Torano Italy, from there. We went down that big escalator as we walked down to catch our departing train.Yes, we walked up again as well :)

[R&O]

P.S
Forgot to tell you, we have plenty of snow over here if they want it.600 odd people stuck in their cars on snow bound roads in the central Nth Is, half a metre deep in places. Snow reported down to Huka Falls so can't wait to see the news tonight. 7.4 deg high in our carport today !!