11:00am, in the car to the airport (thank you Lisa!!), right on time.  We sort of breezed through security – would’ve been fine if the power didn’t surge a couple of times knocking all the TSA machines offline.  We made it through the scanner, our bags, not so lucky. But we’ve got plenty of time, so the delay to get the bags through and us to the gate didn’t really matter.  It is a small airport after all!

Flight to Newark went off without a hitch – our new bags actually fit in the overhead on these brand new Embraers.  Bonus!  Plus – excellent mountain and Biltmore views. Nice.

And then it was 2 ½ hours in the new United lounge with a full food buffet and well, then the long haul (or short long haul) to Zurich.  Managed to upgrade to Premium Economy or Premium Plus or whatever the hell United is calling those seats now, and had lots of space for our flight to the Continent.  Which will give us more leg room and a few amenities at least.

The layover goes quickly and before we know it we are at the gate, in line to board.  That was quick too and we are all situated in our bulkhead extra space seats, with plenty of overhead space for all our bags, and ready to fly away.  The flight goes well, except for the 30 minute delay in dinner when the captain made all the flight attendants take their seats for rough air.  But other than that (and an inedible piece of meat for my dinner – Ed’s was fine) it was all good.  I slept a while, Ed sort of, and 7 hours later we were landing in Zurich!

After a quick coffee and bathroom break, we were in our cool Toyota CHR hybrid and on the road by 10am.  The drive to Domat/Ems was easy, on a ring road around Zurich and out into the mountains.  We stopped at Lidl on the way to stock up (2.95 Swiss Francs for a Liter bottle of wine!!!) and made it to Gaby and Sigis’ place at precisely noon. 

We had a wonderful reunion, sitting and chatting and getting caught up with each other.  Then it was off to our adorable little Airbnb 4 minutes down the road in a lovely house facing a pasture and of course the mountains.  The room (complete with a miniature kitchen and excellent bathroom) was once used by the owner’s daughter – and now they rent it out.  It is perfect for us for a couple of days and so close to Gaby and Sigis, we can walk over there easily.  In addition to the adorable room, we are greeted with a wonderful welcome present – created by the Dominic, Elisa and Matteo!  The sweetest drawing of our plane and the Swiss flag, a section colored by each child along with a huge box of Toblerone chocolate.  The perfect Swiss welcome package.

We organize ourselves, freshen up, then are picked up by G&S for a walk around Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland.  We had been to dinner here on our last trip, but had not explored, which makes this afternoon a perfect time to do it.  The old town is a delight – narrow streets, old beautiful buildings.  We wander through the area, past the Postplatz, with it’s cool new statue of a man on stilts (of which I couldn’t ever get a good picture) then to town hall before stopping in front of the Obertor, one of the Medieval fortification towers, then on to the Cathedral of Mary the Assumption.

The Cathedral is beautiful, with it’s fabulous stained glass windows.  This was the center of the Episcopal seat of the old country and incredibly ornate – and somehow I managed not to take a single picture!  Put it down to jet lag, or to the fact that I was just so happy to be here and listen to Gaby and Sigis give us the history – or whatever!  I sort of blew it – and of all things, Ed left his phone at the apartment, so I was the designated picture taker.  Oops.  ☹

Next we walked over to the St. Martin Church, where I finally snapped into life!  St. Martin Church is the largest Gothic church built in the Graubunden canton, built after the city fire in 1464.  It has wonderful arches and frescoes and an amazing creche that is placed on an angle – and we never could figure out why.  The information Gaby had never addressed that little oddity. 

Outside we circled around to the tower which was built after the church. It doesn’t really fit with the Gothic style of the church, but does make for a lovely view with the mountains in the background. 

Circling the old streets we visited an older cemetery with amazing gravestones where Sigis’ uncle is buried, but the mountain vistas were what really drew our attention.  Gorgeous! And look at the snow!  All within the last week.  So gorgeous!

From here we pass by the Sennhof, which is the old jail, currently moved about 20 minutes outside the city.  Sigis worked here as a young attorney before moving on to his career focus on wills and estates.  The prison is now closed and not really being used for much, but there a section has been converted to a new café and pub that we utilize as an opportunity to sit and have some excellent cappuccino (for Ed, Sigis and myself) and a lemonade for Gaby.  Nice little break and excellent atmosphere.

Then we are onto our last stop:  The Kaffee Klatsch in the old Post Office/Library building.  The building alone is very historic and great architecture, and the café only enhances it.  On two levels, it is a bustling busy place serving everything from light meals to desserts to coffee and spirits.  We opt for spirits and take this opportunity for our first toast to our overdue reunion. A very fun end to an excellent excursion in Chur.

Afterward, G&S drop us off at the apartment for a bit of a break and to freshen up, then pick us up again for dinner at Iris and Gianni’s.  Reuniting with the kids (twins now 6 and Dominic 9 – can you believe it? We’ve not seen them in 5 years!), and Matthias who has come in for tonight so he could see us (we feel so honored and so excited to see him!!!), we spend a lovely evening learning a teeny weeny bit of German and trying to teach the little ones more English while catching up with everything Iris, Gianni and Matthias have been up to!  In between we enjoyed a fantastic meal of Raclette complete with pearl onions, baby gherkins, cherry tomatoes, pickled squash, peaches and steamed red potatoes.  Oh, such a spread!  Plus the best spices that we will never be able to recreate.  But we will definitely try when we get home!  Saganaki, you have a competitor – especially now that we’ve had Raclette with all the accessories – so much better than just bread!

We regaled the kids with the bear videos, then gave them the US states game which Dominic particularly liked.  Dominic treated us to an excellent flute/recorder performance, then we handed over the brownies and headed back to our cozy little apartment for a very needed deep sleep.  An excellent first day of our reunion.