We arrived at the Beau Rivage hotel in Interlaken following an uneventful drive through some well-travelled highways (read, same roads), although winter had miraculously appeared and the hill tops that were previously green and luscious were speckled with snow. On arrival we were given a welcome drink of prosecco and once Husband had unpacked, recovered from the lack of ironing facilities, and hung up all his clothes, we went for a swim in the spa and hung out in the steam and sauna rooms. The “textile free” zone confused us momentarily as we tried to work out how to make ourselves “textile free” without being naked in a public area. Clearly the British sense of modesty is pretty high for us. We worked out something that seemed to work and sat chilling (read sweating, although as in previous blog on Hot Yoga, I have an inability to sweat) for as long as we could. Dinner was at a great place (Benacus) although we chose the 7-course tasting menu “We Love” and, in familiar territory, started fading after course 3. We were a little confused at the beginning of the meal when the waitress put about 8 dishes down and introduced them as tapas… was this the whole meal? It seemed large enough to be a meal but I wasn’t convinced there wasn’t more to come. We managed to persuade the waitress to let us skip course 4 (or 5) and went straight to the molten chocolate cake. We were truly stuffed. It was all delicious.
Waddling back to the hotel, we window-shopped although it seemed to be mainly watch shops, chocolate shops and tat shops selling Swiss souvenirs.
Breakfast was good – the bircher muesli seems to get better and then drops down again. Here it was ok but the second morning it was very runny and not nice at all. We checked out the train that takes you to the ‘Top of Europe’ but it was almost 400 euros and took all day. We considered taking the short funicular near to the hotel but it was cloudy. So shopping it just had to be. And I do love a chocolate shop. Husband found places to sit while I browsed each and every chocolate available. It’s amazing how blind one becomes in a chocolate shop to prices – you just see slabs of gorgeousness that you know you want to eat. I spent so much in one shop that I was given loads of free pieces as a thank you.
While my weakness is chocolate, Husband’s is watches. He wanted to find a specific one. A green Rolex. He muttered something about £7000 or £16000 and I felt glad that it would be very hard to spend that much on chocolate. It seems like there are waiting lists for green watches. And they are worth more second hand than first hand. Definitely not like chocolate then.
We found a shop selling trainers which were a poor substitute for a watch, but after much deliberating (including a walk back to the hotel and a cup of tea), we went back and Husband bought some bright orange ones. He was getting a bit anxious that he hadn’t bought anything. So it was a relief all round.
England were playing Bulgaria (yes, even on holiday, there is football) and the Driving Adventures team had found the only Irish pub in Interlaken (surely, in Switzerland) was showing the game LIVE. And apparently the fish and chips were superb. So we hiked through the ‘burbs of Interlaken and found said Irish pub. I had 90 minutes to spend chatting (texting) with friends and family back home. Someone even took a photo of me (and others!) clearly disinterested in the Big Game. England won. Husband said that wasn’t a surprise. But the fish and chips were tasty (forgot to have lunch given the chocolate fest). A couple of times the locals seemed to be trying to pan-handle us out of the pub by walking through wearing enormous bells and clanging them loudly. While a fascinating distraction, no-one turned the footy off. In fact, after the footy, Celebrity Catchphrase came on. Now that’s worth a trip to Switzerland for. Quite a few of us engaged in the muted programme, shouting out weird words that didn’t really make any sense (or was that just me) until the staff realised that it was Saturday night and the locals probably didn’t appreciate the tv being on, showing a British quiz programme in mute. We left abruptly. Time to pack and get ready for our last journey through Switzerland and into Germany and the Black Forest…
Snoo's kitchen 