I tried this biscuit chain in between Bulla and the new library (also think Shake Shack and Trader Joe's area) Wednesday at lunch. The name kept making me think of Aaron Judge. I grabbed the Righteous Chicken Biscuit (buttermilk) to go for $6.75. It was fine. Ok seasoning. Thicker and squatter chicken than the fast food places. Ok biscuit. Not excessively salty or dry (or moist). There you go. Not much offered. Not much to write about. They stick to their knitting. A cheese biscuit. A roll. A blueberry biscuit. You can add fake chicken and sausage. Real sausage, bacon, egg and maybe ham. A few sauces. Cheese (pimento and another). Almost all variations cost more. Sides included tots and a few other things. Donuts. They try and to avoid any inter-personal contact. You order at a kiosk and they put the bag in a locker. The guy directly behind the counter (ordering tablet) never even looked up once. I'm not sure what his job was. They open at 7am and close at 2pm. It is a small, long, rectangular foot print. Like a Domino's. Much more cheap, take out like than I expected (or saw in Savannah). Modern. White. Only seating (limited) is outside). I believe they started in NC. Finally opened this store around a week ago. Two others here while I was. Not much new or mindbending. You can just go to say you have. I don't get the biscuit (or bagel or muffin or donut) as bread line of thinking anyway. Just seems like being different for the sake of being different. These things are too thick to get into your mouth or too flimsy to keep their fillings in. And a biscuit is just formed sawdust.
*Travel Notes - Switzerland: CH is for Swiss Francs. Exchange rate was 1 to 1.15. Not in our favor. It was over 90 and sunny every day. I flew Delta through JFK to Geneva for $770. Late PM there. Midday back. Three hour delay in JFK for air-con issue. A minor air-com issue delayed us on the return. Same plane? Took the bus to hotel for 3CH. Internet said they had a free one. It stopped two years ago. I took train for same price back. I think that was faster. Stayed at Hotel de Geneve that first day for $105. All hotels had some city tax that sometimes the booking sites included and sometimes did not. I will leave those out. Figure 2-4CH a night. Maybe per person. I was alone. I walked the old city and lakefront. Cathedral, Rousseau's house, Parc des Bastions, Red Cross birthplace, beach, waterspout. Not my first time here. I'll add at this point that I did almost no eating out. Just supermarket buys because everything was double even our inflated prices and the selection was good and I was usually tuckered out. I'll list the goodies at the end. I also bought a train pass. Last time I remember choking (and telling them to f off and get me a ticket to Milan) at the prices. It was worse this time. I do think the tellers (especially if you get a jerk) quote you the first class price, etc. There is on online site called Trainline.com where you can by exact time departure tickets for less. I wasn't sure if it was legit though. A conductor told me it was later on. I decided I just didn't want to play 20 Questions while jetlagged with an extra three hour delay and bought a six day Flex pass for $384CH. It was smart. This is why. You start getting more for your money the more days you add. I could have done eight. That might have been perfect. Maybe one day too much. If you stay two or three nights in each city, you can make it all the way back to the start with no drama. And I advise you to hit two or three cities in one day to squeeze the most out of these cheapskates. You will see how I did this as we go on. To Basel the next day. Through Neuchatel and Olten. Stayed at the Hotel Metropol near the station for $197 for two nights. It was supposed to be the Hotel City Inn. They ran three hotels next to each other. This listed for more, but, had no AC. I didn't notice the switch. Just decided to leave it be after I did. Easy walk to city center. Saw the usual. Rathaus, cathedral, tower, museums, city walls, etc. Bathed in the Rhine River. Walked both sides of it. They have Art Basel here. I had never been. I expected more. Still it was cute. Took train through Zurich to a town in the north called Schaffhausen. I should add that many of these place I learned of through this guy on PBS that has a show where he rides trains around Switzerland. It was cute. Paid 6CH (though I learned later that my flex pass probably was good for this) for a return bus pass to these waterfalls about four miles away (you pass them on the train) called Rhein Falls. Came back and walked the town up to a fort (Munot). Back on the train (this was a slow one) aside the Bodensee (we call it Lake Constance) to St Gallen (named for an Irish monk). Stayed at the Hotel Elite for $224 for two nights. Same sort of things. The best part was a trail above the city. You pay 2CH for funicular that is behind the Cathedral. I only walked it a few miles. You can take it to the lake. It passes by these three ponds that the locals use to swim in. Great views of the city and beyond. It was Sunday and almost everything was closed. Next I took the train to Zurich and on to Chur. I should say at this point that I never checked a schedule and just showed up and no matter where I was going (big city or small) that I never waited more than 15 minutes. Chur is on the way to St Moritz (in the southwest). I came here to check out a small ski village nearby called Arosa. It was cute. Slow train to there. Oddly, it was full of Hassids. I read about in USA Today. Before that, I checked with the ticket office to see if they had open spots on the Glacier Express. Amazingly they did. I paid the extra 49CH you need to reserve a seat. I used my flex pass for the rest (it is usually $100 just for that). If you can get a seat. My seatmate said he booked three months ahead. I probably shouldn't have jumped at that opportunity. I should have asked if they had seats two days later. They might have. Then I could have done St Moritz too. But, I have been there before and hotels were in the $200 range (outside of the center) and I did end up having fun not doing much at the end of the journey. So, because of the jaunt to Arosa, I didn't see much (not much anyway) of Chur. Cathedral. museums, etc. Stayed at Hotel Franziskaner for $90. Glacier Express to Brig the next day. Most go to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. But, I have already been there and wanted to stay on the main line because I wasn't sure how up to date it was. It was just like the rest of the country. I probably should have gone on to Zermatt. The ride was ok. Not life changing. Brig was cute. Very busy rail/bus hub. Same things. It was some stupid holiday, so, all the stores and markets were closed. Had to scramble for food. I had a room with a balcony at the Hotel Victoria across from the station for $112. Onto Lausanne. Stopped at Martigny. Roman ruins (arena, etc), cathedral, fort, Barryland (St Bernard dogs museum). You can get to Mont Blanc from here. Stopped at Montreux. This is back on Lake Geneva. Walked the lakefront to the Chateau de Chillon. Lord Byron made it famous and some say it started the whole "Grand Tour" romantic movement. It took about 45 minutes. I think you can get a bus or train too. Onto Vevey. Same things. Charlie Chaplin ended up here. His grave is here. You can tour his house. It was too late for that. Onto Lausanne. I stayed away from the lake this time. It was grimy up there. Up two stations on the funicular to the Hotel Crystal at $256 for two nights. I also chose to stay up here to hear the town crier at the Cathedral. Went up there for a great view. 3CH. Walked the area. Took funicular down to the lake again. They have the Olympic Museum here fyi. They have some new area of converted warehouses called FLON. Too many addicts, etc though throughout the city. Lots of young girls. Onto Bern. First time. Now my favorite city in Switzerland. The capitol. Uncorrupted. Feels like the old days here. On the Aare river. I rented a locker at this park (Marzilibad) for 5CH and put my stuff in there and floated/swam down the river five times. Or you could buy a dry bag for 50CH. The best part of the trip. Dove off a bridge. Would have gone five more times, but, I got a huge blister walking barefoot from the point to point. That was day two. On day one I walked the town. Clock tower, Parliament, casino, Einstein's house, bear zoo, waterfall, bridges, other side of the river, churches, museums, theater, etc. Stayed at the Hotel Pergola for $210 for two nights. It was slightly west of DT. But, in a great, quiet neighborhood called Monbijou. The city was so clean. Quiet. The people were well dressed. Not so many tourists. My pass ran out here. A ticket to Geneva was 51CH. I stayed at the Hotel Astoria for two nights for $212. Near the station. Quiet somehow. They had AC. Cute hotel. I immediately put on my suit and walked to that beach on the lake. It was Sunday. So crowded. Still good. So many girls. Swam, etc. Walked a bit further to a private beach area and back and past Park la Grange on the other side of the street. The next day I walked past the WHO complex on the opposite side of the lake in the morning (great stroll) and back to the beach after lunch. Not as crowded. That's it. I won't list the wines I had. Mostly Swiss. There were so many vineyard areas throughout the country.
Ate alot of roast chicken and smoked salmon. Tried these meats: chorizo, ochsenmaul (like beef head cheese) and schinken (ham). Samuel Bell was the brand. Cheese: Frontal, Helvetikuss, Aarganer Traum, Moron de Jura, Herzstuck, Tome Aletsch, Fromage frais au lait de Brebis (sheep), Ziger, Tomme de Geneve and three other goat cheeses. Most were Swiss. A few French (ie the goat). Maybe a few misspellings in there. I also had Johannisberren, watermelon and hazelnut yogurt. Some cheese topped bread called Langenkase Knopf. I bought from Coop and Migros. Migros doesn't sell alcohol. The best values were Migros .60CH dark chocolate bars and 2.50 CH pasta salad. Coop had 6.50CH half a roasted chicken, $4.50CH smoked salmon, .60CH liter soda, .60 yogurt, 1CH mozz, and 1CH rice cakes. That became the go to with goat cheese. Watch for prices marked in 100g. I really only had two other purchases - great cassis gelato at Cuckoo in Bern and some cheese and beer and bad cider (oh yeah, I tried about five Swiss beer brands) from Zenhausern (a fancy market) in Chur. I also had one McD's hamburger for lunch at 2.50 (or a cb for 2.90) a pop on most days. Too hot to eat much else. I think the increase in my page views may be ChatGPT related. I understand that you can ask it to make you a travel plan. It scours the Internet for the info. Maybe I'm being scoured?
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