In case you’re keeping score, you can add 2 more cantons to your Jill’s-Swiss-geography bingo card, 3 if you count my 2006 visit to St. Moritz (canton of Grisons) and sure let’s do!
After leaving Zürich on Wednesday, I headed to Saas-Fee (canton of Valais) – a two-hour train ride to Visp and a 40-minute bus ride to what’s now one of my favorite villages in the world. The views are spectacular from all angles.
The hotel was amazing – it’s called The Capra. My accommodations included a sitting room and balcony (that expanded across that room and the bedroom) – with great scenery – I’m actually not sure one could find a bad perspective in this town.
Nearby, there were lots of cable cars operating across three mountain areas. As mentioned in my last blog, I have a fear of heights (which led to my inability to become an Olympic skier), but was determined to go to the highest peak allowed because…how could I not?
By the time I arrived, it was too late to hop onboard (unless I wanted to make camp up there – but the thought of a geographically-confused polar bear finding me was too scary). On Thursday, my phone was hinting at impending rain around 1-ish or maybe 3-ish (quite indecisive) so after a refreshing a.m. walk (it was in the 50s but without wind, didn’t feel chilly), I headed to new heights.
To get to the top, it requires not one, but two cable cars. You can stop at the second ‘landing’ called Felskinn and still see great views, but I was all in, so after the first leg (super easy) and the second rather-slope-y ride (a little scarier), the next step was an underground train.
Up, up, up to Mittelallalin which has an elevation of 3,500 metres. For perspective, Sydney is 3 metres above sea level, Chicago is 182, Denver is 1,608 and Mount Washington in New Hampshire (the highest peak in the NE U.S.) weighs in at 1,917.
There is a revolving restaurant and you are able to go outside for 360 degree views. There were white, puffy clouds above and below but lots of visibility. Plus snow! As much as I hate winter weather (a major reason I moved from Chicago), this was fun to see in the northern hemisphere in June – plus it was actually about 45 F and with the bright sun, no gloves necessary.
I probably stood and stared at the view for at least an hour, maybe closer to two. With incredible beauty, in such a special and remote location, it was hard to convince myself to leave. This truly felt like the pinnacle of my trip thus far (yes, pun intended). But, the clouds started to shift and seemingly my phone was going to be right about impending precipitation. Thus, after many pictures, videos and imprintation (yes, this is a made-up word) of the images into my mind, I went back down to the regular world.
My hotel offers free daily yoga classes – although not overtly promoted – I was interested because my lower back had been hurting on and off, and I hypothesized it was partly due to my lack of stretching given all the walking. Turns out I was the only student that day, and the first of the season (they really need to make guests aware of this class). What a great continuation of my day. We started with some meditation, sitting cross-legged and yikes that used to be so easy but felt somewhat straining.
As the singular participant, I was the beneficiary of solo attention. I haven’t done a lot of yoga and was never sure if my poses were correct so the instructor helped with adjustments and provided great tips. By the end of the hour, I already felt a difference – we sat again with our legs crossed and this time it was a breeze. As a side note, my phone was slightly off with the timing but its warning was well-heeded. The room got extremely dark and thunder provided background ambiance.
That night, dinner was at the hotel’s restaurant – craving something green, ‘crispy broccoli’ caught my eye, figuring it meant al dente. Glad I enquired, because crispy = fried. While I was thrilled with the truffle fries the night prior, my arteries weren’t that excited for this delicacy. The chef was kind enough to steam the veg, and between that, homemade bread and Tagliatelle al Pomodoro – my belly was almost happy… a small piece (or 3) of Swiss chocolate and my entire day was sehr toll.
Friday morning was drizzly with clouds dipping down into the valley.
Leaving a little of my heart in Saas-Fee, I headed to Lausanne (canton of Vaud) which is the Olympic Capital of the world. As my skiing career never took off, I’m not featured in their museum.
All my hours of practicing German were not going to help me as I was surrounded by French speakers. I’d studied Spanish in high school, German in college (and via Duolingo), taken both Swedish and Italian as an adult but… no Français. It’s funny what you realize sunk in from TV or books, so I somehow pulled out good day, good night, please, thank you and some numbers. I also knew ‘croissant’ but that didn’t come up in any conversations.
A couple immediate observations… 1) Holy hills Batman – my hotel was all the way at the bottom of a long incline (is that a decline?) and right across from Lake Geneva (at least walking down is easier than walking up especially with luggage) and 2) there were an inordinate amount of small bugs in compact swarms… maybe gnats? I never took entomology so that’s only a guess.
On Saturday, I mustered unrealized energy and (slowly) headed up the steep terrain to get to the old town area, stopping at a local confectionery to get an energy boost. The Lausanne Cathedral was a very pretty site to visit – and with it being consecrated in 1275, I made sure to touch the wall to see what something that old felt like (note: it felt like a wall).
That evening, while wandering near the lake, there was a mini festival that included food stalls, music and… lots of people in cowboy hats? Yep, there were many attendees in western gear, and a stage with both very good and new-to-it line dancers. What a delight! I was curious about Swiss people taking part in such a seemingly American hobby, so had to research and according to this site, line dancing has its roots in European folk dancing. Although those hats definitely conveyed ‘howdy partner’.
Sunday, with another country-wide-day-of-rest to contend with, it was fun to come across a crafts’ market near the hotel, plus my all-the-trains-you-can-take ticket covered most boats, so… lake cruise.
Today (Monday), with bright sun bathing the city, there was time for a quick lounge by the pool before saying a fond “au revoir” and journey back to Zürich.
On the train, I sat across from a Greek female archeologist (her opening line to ‘what do you do for a living’ was ‘I work with dead people’), who mainly resides in Switzerland. During the ride we covered a number of topics which again reminded me how amazingly special it is to talk with people from different backgrounds, cultures or upbringings and find the commonalities that bond. As she said, (paraphrasing a bit) at the core we all want the same things: health, happiness, love, security. I’ll add, food, water and for some of us…chocolate :).
Have you paid attention to how many dessert-references were mentioned during this trip? The winner might receive their own mini-treat in the mail – guess in the comments below!