Laowai

We just got back from a great vacation to the Engadine area.

We stayed in a small town called Silvaplana – it’s especially beautiful because there are beautiful lakes and mountains everywhere you look. This is the area of Switzerland where a small group of people speak Romansch. The houses have very thick walls and they are decorate with pretty patterns.

We started out with a lovely Fall hike. Bea was in a great mood and she practically ran up the path.

The larch trees were beautiful.

Brian went on some nice long runs while we played at the town’s very nice playground. There was a zip line from one side of the playground to the other – Bea went back and forth on that thing about a thousand times.

We took a gondola way up into the mountains. Torture for poor Brian as usual.

It wasn’t the best day to go up in a gondola – we had a good view for a while and then it was complete whiteness when we went into the clouds. Strange feeling. 

You feel like you are perched on the tip of a rock way up there – like you could fall right off the mountain if you make a wrong step. And then you look at the map and are reminded that people ski off this mountain. Yikes. This is not Apple Mountain. The other thing that is remarkable about this area is it is very fancy – I mean there is a porche dealership on the edge of town. There are ads for expensive watches and spas in the gondola and I spotted a $500 sweater in a store window. The town of St. Moritz is just down the road and it’s historically full of famous and expensive people. Not really my scene, but fun to see all the same.

This is more our speed – Claire apreciating traditional alpine furniture – she kept telling me – Mom, I love this heart.

So we got to have our snowball fight on top of the mountain and the girls loved it. The next day it was supposed to be rainy all day so we were prepared to hunker down. And then the snowflakes started falling during our breakfast and they didn’t stop ’till after bedtime. It turned out to be a really nice day despite our cold toes. I had been thinking that I really would love to see this place in the winter and then it happened.

Then it was time to head home – our train ride went along a famous section of track that is a UNESCO world heritage site. The rail line was finished in 1910 and is the highest altitude transalpine railway and one of the steepest railways in the world. It was a beautiful ride – I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene and it made me feel amazed and fortunate.