Giddy-Up! Taking a Carriage Ride to Lake Staz in Switzerland

Extolling the virtues of Switzerland is pretty easy, since it is a place that's so clean and beautiful that you can actually drink the water out of most of their lakes. That environmental awareness is only a part of the overall high quality of life that the Swiss seem to live so effortlessly. They control their own government, have excellent health care, retirement pension plans for everyone, that sparkling clean air and water – so many things that are lacking in my own country of the United States of America. 

But one thing they have that I do NOT like are big wanking mosquitoes, which I discovered on a lovely summer evening carriage ride up into the woods outside of St. Moritz Bad, in the Engadin. Huge bastards, I swear they are the size of horseflies! And naturally, as is my cross to bear in life, they found me, strafed me and took a chomp out of my arm. This on a carriage carrying ten people, with massive horses pulling the huge carriage up and up into the Alps. And most of those people at the end of the otherwise beautiful ride said to me, "Mosquitoes? What mosquitoes?"

Of course, the ride itself to Lake Staz was stunningly gorgeous. I swear, there is no place in Switzerland that isn't picture perfect.

That shot was on the way, here's where we ended up:

Just crazy beautiful scenery, reminds me of Montana and Wyoming in the USA.

There's a terrific restaurant in a chalet there, perched on the side of the lake, that serves traditional Swiss fare. It's called Restorant al Lej da Staz, and has a big terrace outside and cozy banquettes inside. It is a hotel as well, and you don't have to take a horse and buggy to get there; however, cars are restricted in this valley, so you have to park in one of the nearby cities (Waldhaus or St. Moritz) and take a shuttle bus up to the lake. Of course, you can hike or mountain bike in, too.

They served us one of the best dishes I had during all of my stay in Europe: a veal ragout atop a mountain cheese polenta, presented in a mason jar. It was swooningly delicious, creamy, dense and filled with rustic flavor.

Dessert was yummy as well, a Tarte Tatin that just melted in my mouth.

Warning! If they offer you Braulio Amaro Alpino, be afraid. That Italian liqueur made of dried herbs, spring water and alcohol is so strong it may make your hair stand on end. I know it did mine!

Exercising in the Engadin

It's hard to fathom how gorgeous all of Switzerland is, until you actually visit. Literally everywhere you go, there are landscapes of impeccable beauty, with none more stunning than the Alpine state of Engadin.

There you'll find St. Moritz, Pontresina, Morteratsch, Diavolezza Mountain (with its wildly gorgeous glacier), Staz, Corvatsch, Silvaplana, Muottas Muragi and many more mountains and lakes where the locals seem to be constantly moving, even when the snow is the deepest.

Here is Diavolezza,a glacier at the top of the world, for example. People actually ski down this glacier in the winter; this photo was taken on a summer day:

Visiting in summer, I had to imagine what Lake St. Moritz looks like when it is completely frozen and the crazy Swiss skiers strap themselves to horses (they are on skis, and act as their own sled) and race across the lake, hanging on to the reins for dear life. That's easy to do if you walk out to the observation jetty near the center of town and take a peek into the two periscopes situated at either side.

Unexpectedly, you will not see a close up of the majestic panorama before you. Instead, each periscope has a different photo, one of those nutty horse races on skis, the other of the annual polo match played on the frozen lake. That's right, polo on a snow pack, atop the ice. You've gotta love it!

This is Lake St. Moritz when it is not frozen:

 

This being summer, we opted for a different kind of exercise: riding electric bikes from Flying Cycles in Pontresina (a town nearby St. Moritz) through the dense forest to Morteratsch. All the way we marveled at the well-maintained hiking/biking path, apparently one of countless paths that criss-cross the Alps in this region, make the Engadin a hikers' and mountain bikers' paradise all summer long. 

Electric bicycles are very cool; you have to pedal them and change gears just like a regular bike, but when you come to a hill, you can give yourself a boost by upping the power. The bike gives you a bit of a push, making it a lot easier to climb big mountains, despite the fact that the electric bike is substantially heavier than a normal one. Be careful when you stop not to drop the bike on your leg!

And try to avoid having helmet hair that looks like mine if at all possible, too.

(With Maja Gartmann)

 

 

We passed plenty of hikers of all ages, other bikers and even a cow or two on the ride; this being a Saturday, the Swiss were out in force, all happy to be breathing the fresh mountain air and taking in the vast expanses of breathtaking scenery.

Then it was on to the famous Schwingfest (cue the "Wayne's World" jokes here!), a special Swiss wrestling tournament happening on the banks of Lake Silvaplana, which happens to be the best kite boarding and windsurfing lake in all of Switzerland. The constant winds draw brave souls even when the water is still icy with glacial runoff; most were in thick wetsuits on the June day we were there.

What a setting for a day of serious exercise! The wind was blowing so hard it made my reconstructed shoulder recoil in fear; this is one sport that takes massive upper body strength, needed to control the kite. I don't think my shoulder would like it, but boy, it is very cool to watch others do it.

Nearby, the Schwingfest was taking place in a pop-up arena, where five wrestling rings are set up in the center. A traditional sport practiced by Swiss farmers, the men face off wearing pants, short-sleeved dress shirts, sneakers and baggy shorts. The object seems to be to first give the other guy a wedgie by pulling on his shorts, which makes it easier to flip him and pin him, as in traditional wrestling. Stands filled with people were watching on this Saturday afternoon, all the while eating big bratwurst sausages (that looked and tasted suspiciously like fat hot dogs to me), drinking large plastic steins of beer and even letting out a yodel now and then. It was a slightly surreal scene, to be sure, but my Swiss hosts insist this is a typical tradition all over Switzerland. In fact, these were the regional championships. See the kite surfers in the background below?

This kind of sport makes me glad I am female. I have no problem accepting that this one is for men only!

Finally, back on Lake St. Moritz, we hopped into a sleek little sail boat and off we went, whooshing across the lake at a great rate as the favorable afternoon winds (which apparently come up every day there at about the same time) sped us across the crystal blue waters.

 And that is how you spend a day exercising in the Engadin.

St. Moritz and the Engadin Valley: There Is Heaven in Them There Hills

Trying to catch up on these blog posts before I actually leave Switzerland yet again, beginning with my St. Moritz and Engadin Valley experience. First, what a gorgeous place this is:

That is the view from my room at the Hotel Giardino Mountain in Champfer-St. Moritz. It's a lovely hotel just outside of the center of St. Moritz, which I got to by first flying non-stop from Los Angeles to Zurich on SWISS air, then continuing on via train to St. Moritz, using my Swiss Pass, which allows non-Swiss travelers to unlimited travel on trains, buses and trams all over the country, as well as admission to over 400 museums. 

I was with Maja Gartmann, who is one of Swiss Tourism's best, and also happens to be a friend (she is based in L.A.) as well. I was lucky enough to meet her mama, a 78-year-old beauty from Chur, Switzerland, who joined us when our St. Moritz-bound train stopped there. Lucky, too, that she had booked us all seats in the old-world dining car on the train for lunch; note that if you are ever traveling for a number of hours on the crack Swiss train system, you should definitely make a reservation in the dining car. You'll feel as if you just stepped back in time – and into an Alfred Hitchcock or a James Bond movie.

Maja and her mama talk to each other every day via Skype, but hadn't see each other in months. It was easy to see how much they love each other!

And, like most of the older inhabitants of Switzerland that I encountered along the way, Mama was totally self-sufficient, as she visited with Maja in St. Moritz for a few hours, then hopped back on the train and went back home to Chur. As my trip continued, I saw plenty of 70- or 80-something people hiking in the Alps, riding bicycles through the picturesque towns or simply walking their dogs down a city street. Everyone keeps moving here (unlike in the United States); they know they have to for their health, and because this is the main diet up here in the Alps (and all over the country, too):


Cheese!

With meat and bread!

And some other yummy things, too.

Exercise is built into the culture here, be it summer or winter. Right now, in the summer, everyone is out hiking in the Alps, kite surfing or paddle boarding across one of the beautiful lakes that dot the Engadin (and all of Switzerland), riding on electric bikes or even partaking in the Schwingfest, a wrestling event that has to be seen to be believed. More on that in my next post from Europe.

A Discovery . . . and St. Moritz Photos

I've now discovered that it is really hard to keep up a blog as you careen across Europe. Since I posted last, I have been in St. Moritz, Crans-Montana, Bern, Munich and now Vienna. But finding the time to write interesting things (it has ALL been fascinating) on this blog is pretty complicated.

How about a photo or two, instead?

The view from my window at the Hotel Giardino in St. Moritz.

Cheese is the national obsession of Switzerland. This guy was amazing, making all this cheese by hand in a big pot. See?

I felt like I had gone back in time to the 14th century; I doubt if much has changed in this process.

This was up in the Alps, near St. Moritz.

Up and Up and UP in Zurich

Our first 24 hours in Switzerland have had their ups and downs, literally. 

In Zurich, we cleared customs quickly, as the Swiss don't even give you a form to fill out for immigration into their fair country. Just hand over your passport, get another country stamp (yippee!) and away you go.

Then it was onto the train into town, using a Swiss Rail Pass that will allow us to travel on every sort of public transport (trains, trams, buses) throughout the trip. At the main train station, Swiss native Maja Gartmann (my Swiss Tourism host) and I transferred to a tram, which took us right through the very heart of Zurich. Completely easy to navigate, that was the simple part of the trip, despite both of us have two pieces of rolling luggage (we are both going to be traveling in Europe for about three weeks).

We were headed to the B2 Boutique Hotel  http://www.b2boutiquehotels.com/, a just-opened inn created in a historically protected old brewery building, which sits high on a hill overlooking the city. Following the hotel's instructions to take the tram from the train station made sense, we thought, until we had walked about a quarter mile from the tram stop, only to discover that the only way to get to the hotel was straight up. Literally.

Looks lovely, doesn't it? Well, not when you are standing below it, at the bottom of a quarter-mile of cobblestone street stretching out above you, looking up at it. No sidewalks. Just cobblestone, on about a 60-degree angle, straight up. In sunny, 80-degree weather. No other way to get up there.

So up, up, up we went, dragging (in my case) about 75 pounds of stuff (50 pounds in my suitcase, 25 in my rolling office) behind me in a teeth-and-bone rattling hike, thumpty thumping across that seemingly endless cobblestone. The arthritis in my hands was not happy, nor was I.

When we finally staggered into the hotel lobby, covered in sweat (and pissed as shit), the first thing the people at the front desk said to us was, "Why, you could have just taken the train from the main station to the Glesshübel stop and taken the lift directly up to the hotel." I swear, I almost lunged for the guy's throat when he said that with a slight smirk. Epic fail!

Of course, when we looked at their website, as Maja had done beforehand, it suggested the tram as the main way to get there. Needless to say, they have changed that now, after we served as the guinea pigs who proved that it is sheer idiocy to tell guests to climb a small mountain across cobblestones with their luggage to get to their hotel.

On the up side? We definitely got our exercise for the day.

And the hotel is pretty cool, incorporating many of the elements of the brewery in the chic modern design. Like these chandeliers made of beer bottles salvaged from the brewery, on their original drying racks:

The restaurant/bar area below those gorgeous light fixtures is pretty interesting, too, with books as coffee tables.

And also needless to say, when we left this morning for St. Moritz, we did NOT walk to the tram. Even though this time it would have been all downhill.

Da Plane, Da Plane!!

Here at LAX, about to board a big SWISS plane. It is even more beautiful because of Swiss Tourism pro Maja Gartmann and her great connections with the airline, which has led me into business class.

I will repay her with one of my two miracle drugs, a hit of the sleeping pill Halcion, and she will actually sleep on an airplane.

Packing Tips from a Pro

I'm not known for being particularly anal about many things, but over the years I've learned that packing is one thing I should take seriously. After too many moments of not having the belt I needed or the slip for under a sheer dress (and thus finding myself the proud owner of at least six black leather belts and countless skin-tone silk slips, which I rushed out to purchase while traveling), I have learned to make THE LIST. 

Every possible thing I need is written down, even if I have packed the same things a thousand times. Every day I will be gone is counted, with what I think I will be doing that day. So for my coming trip to Switzerland and beyond, for example, there are days where I will be climbing in the Alps, then coming back to a posh hotel for a dressy dinner. And every item I will need is written down, even if that thing has already been counted on an earlier day. This is usually a one-page list, but since I will be gone for 20 days, it spread to two:

Of course, as I made THE LIST, I realized that I cannot possibly carry enough clothes for 20 days, so I'll have to find a way to do laundry along the way. So I didn't actually need two pages. I'll carry enough for 10 days, finding ways to do wash along the way. Note that Laundry Soap is on the list!

Now, I'm ready to pack. And every item is crossed off THE LIST, until I am completely packed. 

So this may seem a bit obsessive, but take my advice and give it a try. I rarely end up on the other side of the world and realize I have left my iPhone charger or my passport (or that pesky belt) at home. They're all on THE LIST.

Switzerland, here I come!

Ironic Coffee

The serendipity of making my morning coffee in this pot today is odd. My big coffee pot decided this morning that it needs to be cleaned, and won't make me my java until I do that.

But I need it now, of course, to follow my morning ritual of taking a go cup with me as I walk Jack. So what do I have to pull out of my cupboard? Why this, my first coffee maker, given to me by my Swiss friend P-A way back in 1983.

It still makes great coffee, despite being on the shelf for decades. I don't remember when I used it last; but ironically, I needed it the morning I leave for Switzerland.

Co-ink-i-dink? I don't think so!

And Away We Go!

Welcome to my new blog, where you can follow my exploits across the globe, as I jet set to fascinating destinations, find the hottest new trends in everything from travel and entertainment to wine, fashion, food, cool costumes and whatever else strikes my fancy. Naturally, if you know me already, you can be sure that there will be plenty of celebrity sightings along the way, especially when I'm home in sunny Southern California and on the Hollywood party and movie beat, often with my partner in crime, Plus One Peters (aka my brother Jeff, the artist, actor, writer extraordinaire) along for the ride. And Jet Set Jack, the Wonder Bichon, will probably make a few guest appearances as well.

I'll launch with a grand travel adventure, as I take off tomorrow for Switzerland and beyond.

Let the games begin!

Jet Set Jen