We arrived at a bank in Muttenz at noon to change currency only to find the banks close from 12:00 to 13:30. So we drove through Basel over near the airport to find the Renault car outlet where we were to pick up our leased car. We searched for the dealership for nearly an hour and finally stumbled on it by chance when we stopped for traffic and looked to our left and noticed the Renault sign. Then the kind French office lady (Magolie) led us with her car to the Basel-Mulhouse airport to drop of our rental from Zurich. We went to the Enterprise counter only to find that we had to take the car to the Swiss side of the terminal instead of the French side. So to move the car 0.2 mile, we had to drive a circuitous route for 10 minutes to get to the Swiss side. So much for Swiss-French ingenuity. But Magolie was kind and took us back to the Renault lot. Another office worker coached us on the leased car (a Dacia Duster) explaining the GPS and the switches and controls. We drove off and only went a few blocks before I realized I could not get the manual shift into reverse. Okay - you can laugh - but all of these European cars have too many clever innovations for this American. So we drove back to Renault for another coaching lesson. Then on the way back to the bank in Muttenz we stopped at a highway toll booth to buy a vignette (window sticker) that allows you to drive on the 4 lane roads in Switzerland (the sticker costs 40 Swiss Francs and is good for one year). Since I had no Swiss Francs I had to park and go inside to use my credit card which took about 20 minutes.
Got to the Muttenz bank just after it closed at 5:00 (are you feeling my pain yet?). So went to the post office only to find out that they will change swiss francs to Euros or visa-versa but will not exchange USD to either.
So we went to the Coop (grocery store) and picked up some carbonated apple juice, Spatzli and tomatoe paste, bread, peanut butter, and Nutella (a chocolate-hazel nut breakfast spread). Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 17 CHF (on our credit card). The exchange rate for swiss francs (CHF) to USD is currently very close to 1:1.
Our first dinner at the apartment; Spatzli and tomato sauce with bread and Nutella and our hosts complimentary wine.
