THURSDAY, JUNE 23RD – TRAVEL FROM BAD RAGAZ TO INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND:
Decided to work out in that fabulous fitness room again today instead of jogging. I know there’s no fitness room at the Interlaken hotel, so I’ll have to jog there.
I was packing all my things when I found a spider in my suitcase. I must have chased him around the inside of it for 10 minutes. It was small black spider and the lining to the suitcase was black, so he “hid” very well. But I got him. Can’t imagine if he had gotten away. I would have been scared to open my suitcase!
We met in the lobby at 12:00 noon for our 12:30 pm departure. Tim had accidentally broken a crystal wine glass in his room and was worried the hotel was going to make him pay for it. I had the desk clerk ask him if he had broken a wine glass and then tell him he would have to pay 120 CHF for it. Tim was horrified but agreed. We got the whole thing on video and he’s definitely going to pay us back. LOL.
It was about a 4 hour trip and we didn’t have to make any stops. I worked the entire way. The scenery was, of course, breathtaking. We all felt “comfortable” to be returning to Interlaken because we’re very familiar with the hotel and the surrounding area. I knew that the hotel had changed names, management and been renovated. But, usually “renovation” means “improvement”. We were all shocked by the changes to the hotel…and not in a good way….
The rooms are one-half the size they were previously, very dark, and have a strange “odor”. The desk clerks were all very nice and accommodating but all very “new” on the job. When I walked into my room, there was a bed. Period. No desk or chair. I had to change to another room because there was no where to put my laptop! Mine, David’s and Howard’s are the only rooms that are air conditioned. Only David’s room WASN’T! So I had to move his room as well. There are no mini-refrigerators any more and the Bellamys have medication that has to be refrigerated. David got a bag of ice and Howard put his in the hotel refrigerator – which is extremely inconvenient. We were also supposed to have fans in our rooms but didn’t get those either. At least the air conditioning seems to be working.
Before I unpacked anything, I checked the WiFi … and it was not working. The front desk gave me a different server and password and it didn’t work either. I gave up and walked over to the Indian Restaurant with David while the hotel supposedly “fixed” the problem. The food was good and we sat outside because it was cooler than inside. It started raining on us just as we finished eating.
We have coupons for the restaurant in the hotel but the menu didn’t look especially “enticing”. Might try it tomorrow night because some of the guys had it and said it was okay. I sat and talked to Jim for a long time and then ventured back into my room. The WiFi was working and so was the air conditioner.
I got a message from Delta that I needed to finalize my flight plans for Sunday. I had to upload “contact tracing” information. Sent all the group a message to log into their accounts and do the same as everyone needs to have it on their phone. David and Howard had to download the Delta App to their phones but I think everyone has finalized the paperwork now.
Had a message from Tracy Lawrence’s tour manager that their flight was delayed out of Nashville but they made their connection and are on their way to Zurich. Should land at 9 am and hopefully be at the hotel by noon.
It is almost 3 am and I’m TIRED and going to bed now.
Jude
FRIDAY, JUNE 24TH – INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND ON LINDSEY CHANCE’S BIRTHDAY: I “forced” myself to get up after only 3 ½ hours of sleep this morning. I went for an early morning jog in absolutely perfect weather. I could have run a lot farther than 3 miles but just didn’t have the “time”. Showered and went to the lobby to make sure all Tracy’s group had their rooms ready. They had already arrived at the Zurich Airport and had all their baggage. They were going to arrive at around noon and rooms would not be ready until around 2 pm because the hotel was full last night. I did ask the front desk for a fan since so many people had checked out. They said they would have housekeeping bring one to my room. A man arrived at my door a few minutes later but did not have a fan. He asked if I was having trouble with my air conditioning. I said, “We are from the USA and…”. He didn’t let me get any farther than that. He said, “I understand. I will go get you the fan” and he did! LOL Tracy’s group arrived and we got their luggage stored. Then I walked down to a restaurant to meet Iris and Jrene for lunch. I miss working with them at the festival but they are both doing really well with their businesses. It was wonderful to talk to them for over an hour and the food was excellent. I hope I get to see them again for a few minutes while we are here but it’s doubtful with my busy schedule. It started pouring rain and the temperature dropped while we were having lunch. I had brought an umbrella and the rain had slowed down so I was able to walk back to the hotel. Once I was back at the hotel, I checked out Tracy’s room as he and his family were due to arrive at around 3:30 pm. I was very shocked to learn that his room was bigger than the rooms we had when we visited in year’s past. I found the hotel manager (who looks like he is 12 years old) and we had a nice, civilized conversation about the rooms in the hotel. He said the hotel did not get the information from the festival but I find that hard to believe. The same person at the festival has been booking our rooms for decades! Anyway, we couldn’t even move to a larger room because all the rooms were sold out! Tracy and his family arrived around 3:40 pm and their rooms were ready. This is the first time I have met him and I really like him and his wife and daughters. They had been sightseeing in Italy before arriving and were going back to see more cities after performing here. While I was waiting on Tracy to arrive, a friend of our from the Gola tour came into the lobby. It was great to see Zappo again after so many years due to the COVID lockdown. While we were in Austria, the government announced that there was going to be a lock the country down again in August and September because there will be a “terrible” new variant to that is coming out. If a person is not vaccination, then they are fined and have to pay 3600 Euros a year – that’s Unbelivable. The WHO (World Health Organization) is also considering make monkeypox an “emergency situation”! Tracy and his wife and daughters arrived and are all such nice people! After getting them checked in, I walked down to the Migros to see if they had some chocolate that Lindsey wanted me to bring home. No luck although I went in 3 market and 2 candy stores. Will have to check at the airport on Sunday morning. I did find some sinus medicine that she wanted. Had about an hour in my room and then grabbed a quick meal before going to the radio interview with Howard and David. A nice surprise was seeing Gola, Heidi and their two darling daughters just as we were leaving for the interview. Tracy did the interview as soon as the Bellamys finished and I was back at the hotel at around 9:45 pm. I walked down to the casino where Jim won on a slot machine last night. Sadly, someone was on the slot machine he had been using. I tried one with the “cherries” on it but didn’t understand the betting process. I put 50 CHF in it and through sheer luck, won 150 Chf. I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes. Came back to the room and still working at 2 am. Zoe got home from a “week” at camp today. She had fun but said she was “exhausted”. Going to shut down and grab a few hours sleep now. Jude
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