Vals part 2

Part 2:
R and I woke up early despite the time change. (Switzerland doesn't start "summer time" or end it when the US does.) We went down to the pools immediately and it was wonderful. For quite a while we had R's favorite pool entirely to ourselves. And I was the only one sitting in the lounge chairs in front of the window wall. The day before it was impossible to get a seat.  After a while, though, it was time to go to breakfast.

Breakfast was like breakfast we've had everywhere: bread, fruit, cheese, meat, drinks, yogurt. But it was also very different. The first thing we saw when we walked in were teacups already holding filters and a choice of teas next to teapots full of water. The bread selection was huge and included excellent croissants. We filled a napkin lined silver basket and then checked out the huge variety of jams and honeys. We took some forest honey - it turned out to be pine forest honey and really did taste like pine. The butter was molded into flower shapes. The orange juice was freshly squeezed. The cereal milk was in a silver urn. Everything about breakfast was high quality and beautifully presented. It's funny how a sugar cube is so much nicer than a pack of sugar, but it is, and everything about the breakfast which could be similarly improved was. The buffet was instantly refilled, and our empty plates were taken away immediately. It felt like brunch. Usually with this kind of breakfast I just feel like I am fueling up.

We lingered over breakfast and then went upstairs to pack. After checkout we had an hour and a half before the next bus out of town. We considered going to the hotel craft shop but we accidentally walked by it and decided to keep going. With everyone checking out at the same time and just one bus we figured it would be smart to walk to the next stop up. There was still plenty of time to spare, so we wandered around Vals.

All the houses had woodwork doors and balconies and decorative little shingles. They also had white lace curtains. In the town square across from the church and fountain there was an old woman with braids on her head and an apron leaning out of her window and talking to some young men. After a while she gave them something to eat. It was like a story illustration come true.

A couple of views from town.

Swiss woodpiles are always very neat.

Empty milk cans behind the cheese shop.

The hotel gave us bottles of the local mineral water for the ride home, but R figured she might as well fill up at the SWF (suspicious water fountain) anyway. It's a good thing she did. The mineral water was with gas.

 Here is something I love about Switzerland. We often see things like hats tacked to boards or mittens on fence pickets or notebooks on a wall with a stone paperweight. When things are dropped or lost, the Swiss pick them up and put them in the closest reasonable place until their owners can come back and get them. Usually they are kids' clothes. And I think the system works. If I see something on my way to the grocery store or train station it is never there on my way back. If the owners aren't finding them, then who is taking these things? I don't have a lot of hope for this hat, though. It had probably been there since at least Saturday when the shop was last open. A local would have picked it up already. 

It's fun to watch a river. Notice the Sprungli bag behind R. There was some chocolate this weekend, even though we weren't in Hershey.