04/15/16 day 13: Bad Ragaz, CH

Nic and Christina prepared a nice little spread of sliced challa bread, yogurt, really killing Swiss cheese (not American Swiss cheese, just cheese from Switzerland), coffee, homemade jams, and soft boiled eggs around 10. We met their son Mark who emerged from his room with a haze of pot smoke and told us tales of his recent motorcycle trip to Vietnam.  Said our goodbyes and exchanged CDs and dragged our luggage back up the narrow cobblestone street.  Peter and I took the rental car while Jeff joined Tommy in his car.  The drive was really stunning.  This time we jogged south of Zurich which was good because some heavy traffic was developing as we got closer and closer to the city.  In the foreground, rolling hills dotted with farms and pastures, to our left beautiful lakes, all while the alps stood sentinel in the background.  We drove through a series of tunnels which would spit us out in these stoic and dramatic mountain scenes. Once we passed through the tunnels we entered a broad flat valley which led us to Bad Ragaz.

The town of Bad Ragaz is really beautiful. We slowly wound through the pristinely clean streets and soft pastel buildings and found the entrance to the Grand Resort which takes you past a couple other really nice hotels. Grand Resort is stunning. It's not excessive or opulent, it's just really, really nice.  We were assigned our rooms and well, this was my view from my balcony.

Dropped my stuff and Peter and I went down to the fitness center to do our exercises. We are on track to do 3 this week.  Feels good. We even decided to add 25% to our reps which I felt around the time we do the burpees.  Fitness center was pretty well outfitted.  We did our routine on turf grass surrounded by brand new circuit training machines.  This cat chatted us up when he heard we were American.  This cat is from London but living in a suite in the Grand Resort since January to finish a project in Lichtenstein... I thought I had it good. We peeped the spa next door which offers some thermal baths, saunas, steam rooms, etc.  All very civilized.

Got rinsed off for a 3PM sound check in the sitting area where the gig is going to be.  The hotel put together a small stage with some lights and moved some things around for us.  I think they do music once or twice a month maybe.  Our liaison with the hotel's cultural programming, Yves, is a singer/songwriter himself (Greenfield Story) and dug the music when Tommy sent him an email about us.  After sound check the crew changed into bathrobes and slippers and shuffled down to the spa for a dangle.  We started out in the thermal bath and then found the "Textilfrei Bereich" (clothing free area) which had the a couple different saunas, steam room, cold water tub, ice pack machine... I opted for the steam room while Tommy and Peter dangled in the Finnish Sauna complete with lavender salt rub down after the fact.  Jeff percolated quietly in the hot tub.  I think this spa might take 1st prize for best spa over Neuruppin.  I know, it's kind of sacreligious but it's the truth.  Neuruppin will always have a special place in my heart, but I think this spa wins. I can't believe I'm rating spas now... What the hell happened to me?

Reconvened back downstairs in the lobby at 6 for dinner.  They weren't ready for us so we posted up outside and tried the hotel's own brew made with the spring water we were just dangling in... Well, not the actual bit where we were...Stop it, you know what I'm saying.

Tasty brew for sure.

Into the dining room for a three course meal.

I went with the onion soup, truffle filled scallops, and venison... It was kind of unreal.

We hit at 8:30 to about 25 people lounging in oversized chairs and sofas. Felt cozy. They were appreciative, reserved but appreciative. We did our thing and while it was still in essence a hotel lobby gig (they are probably the same all over the world), I was still grateful to be playing all original music on another continent with my friends in a stunning resort hotel.

We decided to check out the casino after the gig. Partly to see where we will be playing tmrw, partly to try a hand or two at blackjack. Peter and Tommy went straight to roulette; peter trying to recapture his luck from Lindau, Tommy hovered over his numbers and ended up hitting it three times... Direct hit! Peter could be seen out of the corner of my eye darting about the table with a frenetic  energy ultimately unable to recapture the magic. I was up, then even, then down. Like I said. I'm not sure about this casino tour idea...

Another fun night with the crew.

Night from Bad Ragaz.