At the end of June and in early July, we had two more opportunities to explore the incredible beauty of the Swiss Alps. First, at the end of June, Heather and I were able to get away to the mountain resort of Saas-Fe in the Valais region, and to stay at the Waldhotel Fletschorn (google it!). This was our opportunity to celebrate our 25th anniversary, and came thanks to friends Jennifer Milliken and Keith Krause. Keith is the Director of the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuidling where I was based during my sabbatical, and K & J are parents of two great kids – Nathalie and Nick – who are similar ages to our own. After a couple of fun evenings at their place in Nyon, they offered to take our brood for a weekend to enable us to get away for an anniversary celebration, and suggested the Waldhotel as one of their own favourite destinations in Switzerland. In the end, we were only able to manage a 30 hour getaway, but it was one of the nicest 30 hour stretches we’ve ever had!
Saas-Fe is situated at the end of a long mountain valley in a bowl surrounded by beautiful peaks. It really comes to life in the winter as a popular ski resort, but it is a lovely little pedestrian-only town in the summer as well. The Waldhotel was situated 20 minutes away via a glorified electric golf cart, mostly uphill. It has an amazing setting with mountain views from every room. There is lovely original art scattered around and the best of all, courtesy terry-cloth robes and slippers! But even better than the rooms are the meals. Their restaurant has been written up in a coffee table book, and with good reason! We had one of the best meals we’ve ever had, five courses in all, paired with wines from the region (Swiss wines are not well known internationally because the Swiss drink 98% of their production. Too bad for the rest of us!). Before dinner, and the next day before we left, we were able to hike a couple of beautiful mountain trails and enjoy the views from every direction. West Coasters and Albertans may eventually become less awestruck by the mountains; us easterners never really got over it! All in all a fantastic way to celebrate 25 years together. The kids had had a great weekend swimming in Lake Geneva, Tree-Top Trekking, and movie watching. Thanks Keith and Jennifer!
After a last week of school and a frantic weekend of Canada Day barbeques* and packing up to leave our much loved temporary home in Bretigny, we embarked on the first leg of our European travels, through Switzerland and Austria. Our Austrian stops (mainly Salzburg and Vienna) are reported on elsewhere, but we started by spending three nights at the end of another mountain valley – this time in Stechelberg in the Bernese Oberland. We had been tipped off about the Alpenhof by another Canadian expat living and working in Geneva, Ted Paterson. And while the place was very different from the Waldhotel, it was in many ways equally wonderful. It is, and always has been, a hostel and so we had a five person dormitory room for the family and access to an industrial sized kitchen for meal preparation. It is something like 80 years old – a classic Swiss wooden structure and throughout its life a place enabling people to enjoy the beauty of the Swiss Alps affordably. It is now run by an Australian couple and their delightful three-year old daughter, who views every guest as a potential playmate. As with every other similar place we stayed, we also met some great people who were traveling, holidaying, etc from the UK, Holland, and various other parts of Europe and beyond. But most of all, we were able to revel in the amazing beauty of the mountains. We did some pretty ambitious hiking, including one day where we walked for roughly seven hours! We took the cable car up to the top of the Schilthorn to enjoy its 360 degree views of the highest mountains in Europe (for a cinematic view of this location, watch the James Bond movie, “In Her Majesty’s Service”). We (or rather Elizabeth) actually recovered a platinum watch on one of the mountain trails, and were able to return it to a hiker from Calgary heading the opposite direction, and who was in a state of some distress about her loss when we had met her! And we were able to enjoy watching the sun set and listening to the sound of the water falls nestled in the valley where the Alpenhof rests. It was a fabulous way to de-stress after the kids’ sometimes-challenging experience of integrating mid-year into the French school system, and a wonderful way to begin our travels.
* We had a bbq with several neighbours on La Ruelle in Bretgny on July 1st, and happened to mention in advance that it would be Canada Day. Our next door neighbours and landords, the Brazilian-Austrian Cysne-Quesner clan, appeared for supper decked out in red and white and carrying a massive Canadian flag. We never found out where they found it!
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