Day 27: Zurich to E-ville, Observations of last 11 days

Day 27:  Zurich to E-ville, Observations

Quote of the Day: We are pleased to …

Weather: Cold in Zurich, raining at the airport, just right in E-ville

There's an outdoor deck in the Swiss Air lounge. Hadn't seen that before, maybe for smokers? In any case, it's raining, nobody is out there smoking or otherwise

Department of hypocrisy: DB gets an e-mail from Cosport, the US company in charge of the Olympics ticket sales:

After financial reconciliation with our partners, we are pleased to be in a position to credit the amount of $155.68 based on your ticket purchase back to your credit card.   

THB goes into cynic mode: really, Cosport is happy to give us money they grossly overcharged us for on top of very expensive price of  O’s tix? How generous…they didn’t keep the money, maybe just maybe because as part of the financial reconciliation they weren’t allowed to keep ALL the money due back to their customers. Just maybe…

Repeat

Except this time THB orders something called Purple...ice tea of sorts

Breakfast at John Baker, repeat of yesterday except THB has Purple (ice tea) instead of a flat white. $25

Check out of the Ambassador de Opera Hotel. Very cozy and extremely well laid out. The bathroom was easily the second best on trip even if it didn’t have a bath tub. Nothing compares to our room at the Villa La Coste, now that was over the top. $645 for two nights. By Zurich standards, a real bargain.

Train is due in at 10:11...right on time!

Train station a short walk from the hotel, and the train is right on time (see pic). The ride to airport is smooth and we know to get off as the airport is the last stop. $14 for two, considerably cheaper than the $75 cab ride into town from the airport.

Shuttle inside airport...you can't see the carry-on bags, they are squished in there somewhere

The airport is huge, gigantic, bustling. It’s quite a distance to the Swiss Air check-in. Security is easy, and now we have to catch the shuttle to the departure gate in a different terminal. The first sign of Swiss ineffectiveness: the shuttle is several cars short and four car full of passengers (with carry-ons) crams into two cars. Not pleasant. Airport is also very warm. And, in our car, THB swears they are playing Taps over the loudspeaker in the car. Hmmmmmmm…

Cold on the top, hot on the bottom per THB's lounge buddy

DB has a quick snack in the business class lounge and heads out to spend leftover euros; we managed to spend every one of our Swiss francs before catching the train to the airport. She’s on the clock: 40 minutes until the scheduled boarding. In the meantime THB admires the “drink” slurped down by the guy sitting next to him in the lounge.

"Chicken" was our main meal on the flight home...odd shape for chicken

Once on the plane at 12:45pm, THB immediately falls asleep as it is the middle of the night in E-ville and THB is trying to get on local time asap. Only hours later does DB enlighten him: the plane left over an hour late awaiting people making their transfer.  THB slept right through the delay and that’s why THB can’t figure out why the flight is taking so long.

Good news: THB finishes another book on this really long slow flight. It is a winner:

Book Review: The Last Whalers, Three Years in the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life, Doug Bock Clark. Masterfully told, the story of a small tribe, maybe 1500 total combined living in the village on an island in the Savu Sea and ex-pats, the Lamalerans are dealing with an ever infringing modern world on their primitive subsistent hunting of whales as a means of survival. Much larger topics are gently addressed as part of the deep reporting on village life: conservation, merging of different religions, honoring the livelihood and territorial claims of indigenous people, integrating widely disparate sub-groups into a nation. If you travel to any “under developed” country, this is a great book to read while there. Very pertinent when THB and DB will be in Raja Ampat early next year.  Highly Recommended

Observations for the last 11 days of the trip: in reverse chronological order

MB and DB (and THB and DB) in a classic art pose

One of our two art purchases in Paris, comes with a swatch of the fabric behind the painting

The other purchase

Anniversary Tour: so many things went well that we managed to laugh off and adjust for the excesses of Calabria meals. After all, we scheduled our own marathons at Bauminiere and Arpege, both terrific. Tons of great art, even a few purchases. A great time with SMC in Venice and with MB and DB in Paris and some interesting characters on the Calabria tour. Not a single flaw with the logistics. Five nights in a honeymoon suite. Villa La Coste, a giant splurge that lived up to its world-class reputation. A great apartment in Paris, living like locals.

A trio of art chasers

a quartet of chaser

YT and YT at Al Covo in Venice, a "summit" meeting 

On the art walk around Chateau La Coste

What a year it has been and there’s still 3 months of celebrating left!

Susch, about as out of the way as you can get in Europe

Zurich: A perfect combination of chasing art, pretty countryside, excellent meals at new places and a few at old favorites, ease of getting around, and breaking up the long trip from Calabria to E-ville. Great way to make cost of living in Bay Area seem reasonable.

Calabrian Food and Wine Tour

First: The tour lived up to its name, there was a ton of Calabrian food and a large vat of wine on offer. Expectation exceeded.

Most of the tour

The group in a typical pose: lots of wine glasses and a meal yet to be started

Second: the tour members were about as congenial as any group of 17 mostly random people could be, even accounting for the impressive congeniality of THB in being flexible and accommodating in all things requiring constant human interaction (Ed. Note: nice use of words to hide a bold-faced lie). Rather than a rundown of each couple (there was one foursome: parents, adult child, and Coco the purse dog), THB will use the last valuable posting space on the tour itself.

Our only wine purchase (2 bottles from this Riserva)

Third: The wine for the most part was unexceptional and you could drink all you wanted (and a few tour members did just that). We bought two bottles of the only wine we really enjoyed and at that it was a different vintage than the one we tasted. There were some very unusual wines: the “light” red, the salty rose’, the red served chilled (very good cold not good at room temp), etc. For the most part wines were very inexpensive, a truism in this part of Italy as well for all expenses. On Wednesday “no alcohol” day, THB only sipped and spat. That turned out to be a good way to handle the many days of 10+ wines to taste and THB semi-adopted that method after the first Wednesday. For those paying close attention, on the day in Tropea THB actually had a mid-afternoon aperitif. What was he thinking? It was pizza night so THB managed a brewski instead of vino.

Chiara and the owner of the estate, a guy she claimed was better looking than Marlon Brando

Even with mediocre wines, the wine consultant/sommelier expert accompanying the tour, Chiara, was exceptional. Totally unpretentious, full of gentle advice on how to enjoy the wine, a wealth of knowledge about the entire process of making wine, what made Calabria a unique wine region, and a genuine sense of humor in her second or third language (not easy to pull off). How she managed to fairly describe each wine, no matter its quality, with the winemaker standing or sitting next to her is an innate skill. Even though she wanted a “back-office” job in wine, everywhere she went people told her she should be public-facing and thankfully she finally gave in to the advice; the input was right, she is a very poised and impressive 32 year old (well, to THB that seems very young nowadays).

Note: Tips were recommended for the driver and Chiara and THB and DB gave Chiara 100 euros for the tour. That is probably less than what might be recommended on other tours…this is Italy, everything seems less expensive here and the tour on a per person per day basis was definitely cheaper than almost any tour we’ve taken.

DB at the pool at the Borgo

Fourth: Our lodgings in general were adequate. THB’s biggest complaint: we didn’t get enough time to spend on site in the afternoons. The long lunches were too long for most part. So resting was generally done on the bus watching not-all-that-interesting scenery rather than by the pool or maybe even using whatever fitness stuff was available. At the Borgo the hospitality was above and beyond. At Populia it would be hard to find a more surly, unhelpful and disingenuous staff, though at times (like hooking up to wifi) they were extremely helpful. At the Castello de Serraguimenta, it was somewhere between the two other lodgings.

One tour member has taken many Tauck tours and Tauck’s input on Calabria: not enough quality places to stay. A bit elitist and apparently true.

Ed note: THB and DB have discussed that we may have outgrown the large tour group travel mode, even though we have taken many enjoyable group tours and overall this tour was no exception, it was a good tour. So take the following with the usual THB mode of skewing the point of view more negative…or as THB likes to think: constructive.

Chiara with the winning winemaker at our professional tasting

Will this couple make it to their 50th?

The best dish THB has a pic of...there were a few that topped the Potato Souffle stuffed with Porcinis that THB did not capture a pic of

Fifth: Calabria for most part is pretty arid; the picturesque hill towns are way up in the hills; and the wineries similar (i.e., vats, barrels, pumps, etc.) though we saw a nice range from boutique to enormous by local standards.  You get a lot of views of the seas on both sides of this mostly thin and long province. We lucked out by being here at beginning of the olive harvest and near the end of the grape harvest because it meant our stops had some interesting moments. And for the most part (if you followed along at all), a pretty monotonous diet of dishes.

Leno leaning in

Ours was not one of the 250 weddings held at this winery each year

Co-leaders 

Sixth: Both co-leaders were for most part very congenial and very proud of their contacts, home cities, and all things Calabrian and most things Italian (a bit too prideful for THB’s flexible and accommodating taste).

Day 26: Zurich Day 2, in the Swiss Alps

Day 26:  Zurich Day 2, in the Swiss Alps

One last anniversary tour pic, THB with his two favves in the Muzeum Susch

Quote of the Day: Young talent? How young?

Weather: In the 40s and no wind in Zurich, warming during the day and very pleasant at 8pm

Department of Crushed Hopes: During the night tragedy befell THB when the A’s lost their wild card game. In the last 20 years the A’s are 1-15 in elimination games. That means they were knocked out of the playoffs 15 times and managed to get through to the next round only once. Guess that counts as a trend, and not in a good way. They have had pretty decent teams, they just can’t seem to get over the hump. 

Very young talent, sort of impossible to answer the question: which one doesn't belong?

The good news: they have a very talented young team with even better players coming up in 2020. Now THB goes into hibernation until late March next year.  At least the trip in January/February to Raja Ampat will alleviate sun deprivation.

Today is really another travel day as we have long train ride from Zurich to Susch in the Swiss Alps, and then back to Zurich. It’s the last full day of the trip and we’ve returned to chasing art, visiting a private museum high up in the mountains in a small town. The cost to take the train and sit in first class: $365 for two (as it turned out, on only 3 of the 4 legs).

THB is wearing the last piece of clothing unworn to-date on the anniversary tour: a long sleeve mock turtle cold weather undershirt (stylish enough to be worn as an overshirt, at least by THB’s low standards).

The gun is intentional, pointing at the Reduce Reuse Recycle messsage

Before dining at John Baker, we stop and purchase all-day passes on the tram, $18, which is exactly what 2 round trips for two people paid individually would cost. We’re taking the tram to/from the hotel to the train station.

Breakfast at John Baker: 3 flat whites, 4 pastries, and one loaf of bread as a “we’re starving” back-up in case our hunger overwhelms us on the train rides. Total: around $30…hey, it’s expensive here, the flat whites are $5 each for a small cup!

Tram, not crowded at 9:30

Take the tram (4 or 5 stops) to the train station, we’re early and walk the station awaiting our train to Susch via Landquart (two of the lesser known spots in Switzerland). Our train is right on time (of course, this is Switzerland, the Japan of Europe), our transfer is a walk in the park, the second train is on time, and the Muzeum Susch is a 3 minute walk from the Susch train station (which is all locked up).

The train ride is spectacular; THB has put all the pics to/from Zurich and Susch into one long stream below.

Muzeum Susch was founded by Grazyna Kulczyk, a Polish entrepreneur.  It's, of course, very near the Santiago de Compostela, as is almost every city or town in Europe. Basically, lots of Polish artists (though not all) in permanent collection and then a temporary exhibition. The focus is also on female artists that for the most part the art world overlooked.

There is a tunnel running under the street; the building on either side is just as they looked before the Muzeum moved into them

After excavation

The Muzeum is about 3 years old, two primarily ex-brewery and monastery buildings (one from late 1100s and the other from late 1800s). The locals didn’t let the Muzeum architects change the external features of the buildings so they dug a tunnel underneath the street to connect the two as well as carved into the rock to create additional rooms.

After paying our entry fee, $25, we head immediately to the bistro for lunch. It’s already crowded even though the Muzeum only opened a half hour ago, so we end up sharing a table. For this out of the way spot, there are at least 50 people roaming the exhibitions. Amazing!

Pics from Muzeum Susch:

Front door

Gallette of mushrooms

Roast beef, both mains shared

Lunch was around $50

"Books, Words, Ideas (2018)" a room full of different items and just a subset of the collection of  works by 47 artists, all dealing with the role of text in contemporary art

THB's fave: Monika Sosnowska, Poland, "Stairs" 2016-17. Site specific, part of permanent collection, a massive deconstructed staircase (45' tall),  placed in cooling tower of former brewery

the top of the staircase

Zofia Kulik, "Ethnic Wars. Large Vanitas Still Life" (1955/2017)

Made for 97 Venice Biennale and then not shown; images of bare skulls superimposed on patterned scarves as a way of understanding the Yugoslav wars

Joanna Rajkowska, "Painkillers" (2014-17). The artist commissioned film-industry professionals to cast a series of life-size replicas of firearms. The artist looks at the idea that bio-weapons are made in the same facilities as medical drugs

Piotr Uklanski, "Real Nazis" (2017), THB and DB think we saw this same work at Documenta in 2017. In 1998, the artist did a piece with actors portraying Nazis. This one, done 20 years later, had pics of real Nazis

Heidi Bucher, "Herrenzimmer" (1974-79). Skinnings made of latex casts...evoked Eva Hesse's work

Magdalena Abakanowicz, "Flock" 1990, burlap and resin. You can see a large installation of bronzes in Chicago. 

Pics from the temporary exhibit featuring Emma Kunz, entitled Visionary Drawings. Not really to THB and DB's taste. This is just a sample of the work...there's lot more where this came from.

There are a few photos in homage to Kunz;  grottoes Kunz like to visit over and over again, by Francois Halard

We catch a local down to Landquart, sitting in 2^nd class; there are no 1^st class seats nor are they needed as the local isn’t crowded and is still comfortable.

Tram back to the hotel, rest for a while as sitting on the train for over 2 hours can be exhausting.

Dinner at Sternen Grill, right around the corner from last night’s dinner spot, Kronenhalle. Sausages, 3 brewskies, 2 glasses of wine, sauerkraut, rosti, rolls, $85. No, THB did not drink 3 brewskies even though it was Thursday and he had been alcoholic free for almost 48 hours. 

The two guys sitting next to us re-arranged the seating so we could sit down rather than wait. At check-out, you go up to the register and pay by giving a card to the guy at the register. Your bill is coded, we were number 22 and the guys were number 20. They told us if there was any switch-up to let them know. THB and DB moved two of their beers on to our tab, the register-guy handled it with a few key strokes. Total of $85 which included a $10 tip and $15 for the extra brewskies. Tipping is sort of hit or miss, strictly up to the payer. In general, THB and DB tipped around 10%.

Even more amazing, one of the guy's dad lives part of the year in Susch (we’re talking maybe 500-750 residents). He knew about the Muzeum, hadn’t been there yet.

It’s our last night on the trip, celebratory scoops at Movenpick, $9.

Pics from the train:

Other towns on the route: Earthpint, Oceangallon, Mountainmeter, Islandtonne

DB was thinking about another summer house on the lake

Pics from around Susch:

Buildings next to Muzeum. Clock tower is accurate, THB and DB exited at train station right on schedule

Clock tower as seen from auditorium in the muzeum

Historical marker for the two buildings (these are not the Muzeum buildings)

Not launcry, art flags

Mush type of crab apples, it's still early in apple season and these are already past their prime

Closed Susch train station

Not our train

Random pics: 

There is a button on the train you have to push or they don't stop at Susch. DB noticed it or we might have ended up in Germany. Only 3 of us got off the train and the other guy was not going to the Muzeum, he was some sort of outdoor sports type

At the train station there is a similar button to request the train stop. On the way down, it seems like the trains always stop, many people got on the train here, most arriving on one of 5 buses that pulled in while we waited.