Tales of a Davos Barfly: Billionaires, Royals and Scotch

There’s an alternative universe at the World Economic Forum, where panel discussions are swapped for private meetings with bankers, and the scent of Johnnie Walker Blue Label wafts through the air beginning in the early afternoon.

The venue for the parallel world is the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere, reached after an eight-minute hike from the Congress Centre in Davos, Switzerland -- up a hill through a white inflatable tunnel, across several blocks of icy sidewalks, up 33 stone stairs and down a ramp bathed in blue KPMG signs.