It poured all day today, so we drove from east to west pretty much without stops. One pitstop as we crossed into French country at the first “convenience store” we have seen since arriving. French Switzerland seems more familiar in style and function, with billboards, more varied and modern houses and shopping centres, punchy road signs including one with a skiing cheese wheel beckoning us into town. Anyway the familiar gas station / shop combination off the autobahn exit was not too different from the US, other than maybe the Toblerone and entire aisle of chocolates and the whole rack of adult magazines. And the cashier asking me something in French, to which I replied no and that seemed acceptable. I find no to usually be the right response in a store scenario. I’m pretty sure she asked if I had a dime since the bill ended in .10
We blew past what I am sure is beautiful vineyard country, though low and threatening clouds and heavy rain dampened the views. Everywhere you could see, up the “sunny” side of the mountains were grapes, row upon row. Maybe we will swing back through later if we return to Zermatt.
We arrived in the Gruyeré area and found our hotel in Morlon village, separated a bit from the action but very charming. Supposedly excellent eating as well. Our hotelier is French speaking, but we managed to check in without much trouble as she was expecting us.
As the rain continued, we decided to scratch the day and head for the nearest laundry we could find, in Lausanne on Lake Geneva. I’m sure the Lausanne tourism board would not like to know that all we did in their town was wash clothes and eat at McDonald’s!
Our Cheeseburger Royal combos were right on, very authentic, although I’m not sure the same exact burger exists stateside. Like a quarterpounder with two cheeses. McDonald’s is a delicacy here it seems. The bill? CHF 26, about $34.
The laundry was CHF 7 per load times 2 plus 1 franc per 4 minutes of drying. Add soap and the 1 franc I was cheated by the change machine that ran out mid-dispense, and the total for two loads was CHF 23.50, about $30. Somehow we left feeling that wasn’t too bad.
Nevertheless, our max budget is still well above what we are spending, which is good as I think we’ll be accelerating that soon.
Tomorrow is cheese Factory day and Chateau de Chillon, weather permitting.