Hiking in Switzerland with a thermal bath ending

Slept in until 730 this morning, much needed after a couple days of going and going. It's very nice to take it easy in the morning. A quick pack of the tent and we tried to pay for our spot but no one was there so we moved on to our secret (not really) spot in Vals. 

We got to Vals at 9am and got some coffee and pretzel rolls at the local bakery- yum! I paid in Euros since I forgot Switzerland isn't in the EU and now we have lots of Francs. We got a map and planned our hike for the day. I wasn't really up for the hike to the top of the mountain and neither was my foot which is still healing from our Iceland hike. We decided to take the gondola up the mountain and hike around but they went on break for an hour. How do these people always go on breaks? The US should take note, the Swiss are always on breaks and their economy is better than ours. Since Andy and I aren't patient, we decided to take a local bus up the mountain. 

The bus was 8 Francs pp (damn that's expensive) and hauled us probably 5km. We went through a cool tunnel built in 1970 that was nothing more than a hole drilled into the mountain with sealant on the walls. We had to wait for the light to turn green since it was a one way tunnel that was 2.5km long, the bus barely fit. The bus stopped at a restaurant and the driver told us the next bus back down the mountain leaves in two hours. OK, I guess this is where we walk. 

We walked across the dam. The lake was an amazing blue that really was bright when the sun came out. Up the hill for a bit, working the soreness out of our feet and calves. The sun came out now and the lighting up the steep Alps and small villages below, looking like something out of a movie. We started our ascent up the mountain, too steep for a car to make it. At the top it was a rolling path along grassy fields. The goats had large bells on their necks which sounded like wind chimes in the distance. 

The first town we got to was the top of the gondola. We continued walking to make sure we earned our meals. Up and up we went until my foot couldn't take it any more, plus I was ready for food. We started down the mountain headed for a small restaurant we ate last time we were here more than 3 years ago. Apparently Tuesday is the towns day of rest so there closed and we were sad. On a Tuesday?! Not to fret, we will find delicious food. On down the mountain to our parked car and we drove into Vals. We hopped in a small restaurant and ordered two beers immediately, Andy ordered the cordon bleu and I ordered the rosti with cheese ham and egg in top. It was soooo good. We walked 4.5 hours, not bad, we definitely deserved this. 

The last but not least stop was to the thermal baths! These thermal baths are pretty special and fancy. The walls are made out of dark stone and there are various rooms with different pools of water temperature. The main bath was 36C and went outside through a layer of stainless steel chains. Wen we were outside it just started raining, the cold water from the rain felt good vs the warm water we soaked our bodies in. Another bath was a hot 42C which felt like it was melting my skin off. The one next to it was a freezing 14C. Completely ridiculous, we jumped in the freezing water and then ran to the hot water. Not a good idea, the hot felt like magma after the numbing from the cold. The next couple times we did the hot water first, then the freezing. I could only be in the freezing water for 5 sec, just enough to dip my body in there. Andy went for the full body and head dunk. I couldn't do it. Once out of the freezing water, standing outside in the cool air feels refreshing and your legs tingle. It definitely wakes you up. There was another room that had fresh mountain water pouring into a well you could drink from with the brass cups. A truely unique and relaxing experience. 

Back in the car for a shorter drive tonight, only an hour or two to Lake Konstanz. On the way we stopped at Gieger Bar in Chur, Switzerland. The bar was designed by the guy who did Aliens. It was pretty cool, the floor was very detail as were several huge chair at the bar that looked like alien spines. We had beers and took pics. We drove around a bit looking for a camping spot at the lake. The first spot had nothing but old people in RVs that are almost permanent. With no one to help us, we drove to another spot which had the gate down. I was 10 and I guess that's closing time. We drove back to the first spot and the gate was down so we drove around it, set up the tent, went to bed- another long and fun day.