Something to Declare

Final Post.

September 16-17, 2023.

First: Farewell to Lisa. Our travel buddy from Road Scholar left Saturday morning to continue on to Nice. Lovely to have been able to connect with her in La Suisse.

Second: Saturday, the Day of Rest (to all members of the Tribe: Shana Tovah!). After having driven in serious traffic back from Bern back to Zürich on Friday, we decided to take a Mental Health Day. This meant bagging a day trip to Winterthur, and staying closer to home.

After a leisurely morning, we left for an afternoon of art, a short jaunt by Tram No. 3 to the Kunsthaus, Zürich’s main art museum. Founded in 1787 by a small, sociable group of artists and art lovers, it grew to become Zürich’s main artistic attraction. Attractive modern buildings,

housing a large collection going back to the Middle Ages, and including some of our favorites (Giacometti, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Pissaro, Seurat, Monet).

There were also Swiss painters like Ferdinand Hodler:

and Giovanni Segantini:

Interesting juxtaposition of a Segantini and a Modigliani:

Third: Off To The Peaks. Today (Sunday) was the day we’d reserved for the mountains. In this case, a particular mountain, the Stanserhorn, which sits above the town of Stans (no relation, as far as I know, but an incentive to choose it) and stands 6,277 feet tall.

You can hike all the way to the top in between 4 to 5 hours, or take the easy way. We opted for the latter, which includes two stages. The first is a funicular built in 1893 (and looks it), made of wood, from which you get nice views of the Stans metro area below:

The funicular leaves you at a place farther up the mountain where you transfer to the CabriO, a double-decker cable car (the first in the world that has a roofless upper deck), which lets you head up to the summit of Stanserhorn in the open air. Below is a screenshot from CabriO website:

Ah, Swiss engineering!

At the top, you’re deposited at a final landing, where there’s a restaurant, shops, and viewing platforms. The restaurant, Shilthorn-Piz Gloria,

has a revolving dining room (for the views). Or you can do a buffet/cafeteria-style lunch, and take your food to the outdoor tables, all of which have spectacular vistas.

One of the signature dishes is called Älplermagronen, or “Alpine Macaroni,” laced with fried onions and mushrooms, as well as cheese, cured meat and other stuff that’s bad for you. Another name for it might be “Death By Mac ‘n’ Cheese.” (Kraft Dinner it ain’t!)

We strolled around for photo-ops, and actually hiked (!) from the restaurant to the summit of Stanserhorn. Short, but steep.

and managed one selfie:

Thanks to you all who follow this blog; we had a lot of fun putting it together. NYC, here we come!