Arosa

I am almost embarrassed to admit it: I am not doing anything, yet I hardly find time to sit down at the computer and write a new entry for this blog. Of course I am also way behind in my email correspondence and I apologize to all of you who are waiting for a long overdue response from me. I am now squeezing in a little writing time between cleaning and cooking - hoping that my friends won't show up too early. Indeed, I am expecting two friends from Neuchatel, Eliane, whom I met in 6th grade, and her husband Alain. They actually got married in Portland, with Martin and I as witnesses, and our children and their (step)-children as guests. I remember a delicious dinner at Timberline Lodge after a walk in the lupine-covered meadows.

Quick recap of the last few days - it actually feels like I haven't written in weeks, because so much has happened. The activity, in some way was good for me, because all of a sudden, I feel in a different place, more at peace with my situation. I have a draft plan for the next few months of my life, but can't write about it here - first need to vet it with my sisters and my children. For one, I am reconciling myself with the fact that I need this time-out and that it's not something I can rush. I wanted to put the apartment up for sale in the late spring - and just couldn't get myself to do it. Perhaps there's a reason to it all.

My trip back from New York went well - a mere 6.5 hours flight - barely time to sleep! I got home early enough on Wednesday afternoon to unpack and do laundry, which freed the next day to repack! Indeed, on Friday I was back on the train, this time first to Chur, the capital of Graubuenden (the "state"). The train ride from here to there is a UNESCO World Heritage site - it is such a masterpiece of engineering. Eric and I actually were sledding along a section of that line in January. 360 degree tunnels alternate with vertiginous viaducts, with tracks clinging to steep hillsides - it's a lot of fun. In Chur I met Brigitte, my sister, and together we hopped on an equally fun train, to head up the valley to Arosa. This one goes so slowly that it's ok to have the windows wide open and to take it all in, standing with the head out the window.

Arosa is at the very back of a valley - both the train line and the road end there. This makes for a very quiet town, all the more so, since unlike here in Zuoz, the river is too far away to be heard from our hotel room. The only thing that kept us up all night was the herd of sheep grazing right under our window, wearing the proverbial bells. I didn't know that sheep are nocturnal! Arosa is at 1,750 meters (5,900 feet) - even higher than Zuoz, basically at the tree line. This means that hikers get above the tree line with little effort. It's a stark, dramatic, very alpine landscape and I am sure it is in part responsible for my preference for wide open landscapes like deserts and areas above the tree line. Indeed, Arosa is the place where I developed my love for mountains. At the age of 10 I spend my first night in a hut with my father, and with him I climbed my first 3,000 meter peak, the Arosa Rothorn. We vacationed here as a family from 1959 to 1963. I had never been back and I had been nagging my sisters to come with me for a trip back into our past for many years.

The trip was total success. First the weather was perfect (yes, it finally is summer here too!). Time with either of my sisters is always so easy, uncomplicated. There's not much to discuss - we mostly agree on everything, and we still can have good laughs, until our abs hurt. I managed to book a very cozy room in the very hotel in which we stayed in 1959. The following years we rented an apartment in a chalet. While then the chalet was at the edge of town, now it is hidden amid many other chalets. That was one of the few disappointments, as the chalet looked somewhat unkempt and forlorn.

Brigitte, of course, is a strong hiker and we did two great hikes. It was interesting to discover the area with adult eyes and see the many hikes we never did as kids because they were too challenging. Everything is very steep in Arosa, and while the area is stunning, the town is nothing special, with houses of various eclectic styles strung out along the road on the slope. There is no town square and unlike Zuoz with its charming core, Arosa lacks a soul. The flowers were at their peak - whole slopes had a pink hue from the blooming rhododendrons (here they are small bushes, the size of sage brush). In addition to the fun, the beauty and the hiking, there also, of course, was a painful trip down memory lane. We felt ghosts all around us - our parents, of course, but also friends of my parents who would come and spend 2-3 days with us over the course of the month we spent there each year. We found the very rock on which we had so many family picnics, strolled along the forest trail where the squirrels come and eat out of our hands, visited the spot near the river where we had roasted many sausages, even whole chicken. To my delight, while of course the town has increased in size, the areas still looks about the same with the places that mean the most to us still left untouched.

On the way back from Arosa I made a 2-day detour through St. Gallen to visit my aunt, give her a hand with this and that and cook a good meal for her and her friend. She is doing much better than in the winter and has a new sparkle in her eyes.

Last night was the end of the year social evening with the ladies of the exercising class. We were some 20 of us, playing boccie and sharing a superb meal. My strategy of joining this upbeat, outgoing and friendly group worked. We didn't do much as far as working out, but I got to know a terrific group of fun local women. Priceless.

Pictures:
1: One of the many impressive spans of the Rhaetian Railway
2: Hotel Sonnenhalde, Arosa
3: The iconic chapel of Innerarosa
4: Welschtobel Valley
5. Aelplisee - my favorite mountain lake.