small trips around a big world
Every year on the last Sunday in July, the cantons of Berne and Valais meet on the famed Gemmi Pass to celebrate their brotherhood by bringing their sheep together for a friendly shepherd's festival. The Gemmi Pass, linking the Bernese Oberland with canton Valais, is steeped in history. One of the most frequented north-south mountain routes during the... Continue Reading →
Few things bring me more joy than leaving the office on a Friday night and hopping on a train headed to the mountains. So on Friday evening, I traded my heels for boots and caught a train to Lucerne, another to Sarnen, and then a bus climbing up and away from civilization to Stockalp, at... Continue Reading →
The fall colors in Switzerland's Loetschental valley are spectacular. We first discovered this secret paradise during Chris's birthday trip exactly a year ago, waking up to mountains aflame with brilliant orange larchwoods. This was the scene we were anticipating when we returned on the same weekend a year later, but instead, we watched from our little... Continue Reading →
People have been wandering through the Lötschental Valley since before the Bronze Age. Up until the Middle Ages, the Lötsch Pass was an important connection between Switzerland's Bernese Oberland and Valais. Nestled between the Bernese and Valais Alps in the Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage Site, the remoteness of the Lötschental has preserved a simple way... Continue Reading →
I had my weekend sights set on the newly opened World's Longest Suspension Bridge, connecting Grächen to Zermatt on the breathetaking Europaweg. So on Friday evening I put my computer away, hoisted my pack over my shoulder, and jumped on a three-hour train to Visp. From there I climbed on a yellow post bus that... Continue Reading →
Once upon a time, herders used to walk their sheep across the massive 23km Aletsch glacier from the Belalp to the Riederalp. Sadly, today this is no longer possible due to the effects of global warming, which have caused the largest ribbon of ice in the Alps to retreat 3km since 1870, with 90 percent of... Continue Reading →
Walking through Brig on New Year's day, we passed one of the most exciting advertisements I've ever seen - an oversized alphorn carved with the words "2017 Swiss Jodelfestival - Brig, June 23-35". Yodeling is an integral part of Swiss culture, having developed many centuries ago as a form of communication in mountainous and inaccessible... Continue Reading →
"It's amazing that we were in Berlin this morning, and now it's like we're in another world", I said. "Who would have thought that after just a taxi ride, a plane, a train, another train, a third train, and a bus, we'd somehow manage to get somewhere far away!" my dad replied. "And yet, we're still... Continue Reading →
Well, Switzerland, you’ve outdone yourself again. My previous list of most adorable towns has been shown up by Ticino, where Switzerland and Italy collide, and it’s as wonderful as you might imagine when two of the most incredible places on the planet are combined. Once on the other side of the Gotthard Base tunnel, the world’s... Continue Reading →
One thing about living in Switzerland stands out above all else, and that is the access to the outdoors. I decided to enter the winter sports scene by starting with low-adrenaline activities: cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. And after scouring the glocals website, I found all the necessary equipment for next to nothing. Now, fully prepared, it was time to hit the... Continue Reading →