Visits - and the first taste of winter weather!!

On the weekend guests came up for a visit in Davos! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. It was mildly cold on Saturday, and even cooler on Sunday.

We went for nice walks in the area, did the desperate Saturday morning shopping with everyone else in town. The limited hours and closed stores on Sunday certainly makes Saturday morning shopping a crowded affair.

The weather on Saturday was a overcast, but there were periods of sun and rain. We were expected Sunday to be better. 

On Sunday we rented a car and drove out to hike Schwarzhorn again. In the parking garage I saw a poster for the Olympics and if you zoom in, it's from 1996!!

This peak is the highest in the region and in the Fluela pass. The clouds were low but there was no rain when we started.

When we stopped for lunch, then it started to rain, which very quickly turned to wet snow. The clouds rolled in and the peak was hidden. It is a fairly steep approach on rock and we were cold so we decided to turn back. I realized it has been a long time since I've hiked in the rain, I realize I did it a lot more in Vancouver.

My new waterproof pants worked pretty well though. As we dropped in elevation it turned to rain and when we drove back to Davos it was reasonably sunny skies! We had nice warm showers and a nice tasty snack and watched some of my planet earth DVD.

National Park!

Wow, weather in Davos has been absolutely fantastic this weekend! I had some guests for the weekend and on Saturday morning we headed to the Swiss National Park. Singular. It's a small country.

Anyway, the weather was really hot and while we got started fairly early, we didn't see any animals besides marmots. The air was nice and cool higher up. On the way we stopped at a rest station and sat enjoying the sunshine and the view.

There were lots of butterflies in front of the water station. They were landing on us as we sat around chatting and if they were in the sunshine they had their wings folded. However, if we put our hand up to shade in, they would open their wings. It was like an on and off switch.

When we got to the top we had a great view in all directions. There was a great rock glacier, or at least, I think it was.

And we tried to take a photo of us all jumping. However, it didn't work out very well (but was very funny to try).

In the National Park, you were not allowed to leave the trail at all, and no dogs were allowed, even on leash. They had a few designated rest stops and they were marked with yellow paint showing how far you were allowed to go.

We headed down the trail and ended the lovely warm evening sitting on the terrace playing Settlers of Catan. The following day was sitting on the beach and enjoying the hot weather in Davos. It's been a rather cool summer here (and in the rest of Europe apparently).

St Moritz

On Saturday I did a day trip to St Moritz, this is a very famous mountain town about 1.5 hours away from Davos known for it's expensive clientele and fancy skiing. They also have a winter horse race on the ice of the lake which was canceled this winter because the ice was too thin.

Anyway, I wandered around town, looking at the very expensive shops and enjoying the sunshine. I also managed to buy a turkey baster, which was interesting since I don't know the German word for it. This is not the first time I have made sounds in addition to my charades in shops. I have made noises like a horse, a cat and now the slurping of a turkey baster.

I also sat with a little girl who told me all the languages she spoke (learning them in school). She had a doll named Lucy and she said Lucy only spoke German.

Mating Worms

Digging around in my worm composter we pulled out this mating pair. I've never caught them in the act before. They were quite well connected and eventually struggled to pull free. It was almost like the band around their bodies was more like a ring and one worm was right through it.

My highly inbred worm composter is working great. It doesn't smell at all, no flies, and now there are lots of worms. Less worms when I coitus interruptus like this.

Prattigauer Hohenweg

August 1st is the Swiss national Day and we had the day off work. I planned a three day hike and we were very very lucky about the weather. It was raining before, and raining after, and fantastic sun during!

We walked along the Prattigauer Hohenweg and we were never very far from the farms and the cows.

On our way up, we stopped for a long break by the small lake in the sun, watching the cows and the sun and clouds chase each other across the landscape.

The first hut (Carschinahutte) was reasonably high up and surrounded by rocks.

The dinner at the hut was really nice, fresh salad, tasty pasta. We sat on the patio and watched the valley below. There was only one person snoring in the night but they were right beside me....

Since it was the Swiss national day, they light bonfires and set off fireworks in the mountains. At the hut they had a large pile set up to burn after the sun set.

And at 9:30 they lit it. You could see other bonfires burning further down the valley and fireworks going off below. It was cold, but we took wool blankets from the hut.

The next day we walked about 15km, traversing along below the mountain peaks. They were imposing and rocky with occasional passes cutting through.

We stopped in the middle, at the pass between Switzerland and Austria. It was windy but we had a nice view of the lake below in Austria. Here I am sitting on the border.

There were lots of cows on this trail but we eventually made it to the second hut, Schesaplanahutte.

The second hut wasn't as remote as the first one, you could almost drive up to it (on rough gravel roads). The hut wasn't full and there were showers for 5 CHF. Or you could wash in the (cold) waterfall for free. The weather was great when we arrived, but slowly the clouds rolled in and during the night there was thunder and lightening.

On the last day we walked through fields, and then on the small roads and got quite wet from all the long wet grass we walked through. We somehow picked the less traveled route and even got lost on the shortcut trail.

Partway down we saw loggers. They had strung a giant zipline and there was a machine running up and down the line carrying the trees.

We also saw tiny wild strawberries.

We  made our early connection, caught the post bus into town and then rode back to Davos with all the orthodox Jews that come to Davos every summer.