GstaadLife

Gorgeous labrador puppy for sale. Family-loving breed. Fully documented, immunized, with EU pet passport & chip.  Viewing in Saanen or Gstaad possible. Please call +49 6381 3220 or +49 160 9390 9943.

By Ninetta Fix

Referring to the reader's letter regarding emergency vet treatment that appeared in GstaadLife on August 16, it was a very sad story and unlike the Swiss mentality to hear that the dog was suffering in the middle of the street in Feutersoey after being hit by a car.  I was badly surprised about the behavior of many involved in this story, but also relieved and happily surprised that there are still people among us who really care, such as this couple who made the impossible possible to help the poor dog.

As the seasons change, so does the decoration on the various roundabouts of Gstaad and Saanen. Four years ago, the Saanen Gemeinde asked the Frauenverein (Women’s Association) of Saanen if they would take charge of decorating the roundabouts in Gstaad. Since then a small group has been working on different ideas to decorate the intersections. The four distinct seasons and the diversity of events in Saanenland, such as the Allianz Suisse Open tennis, the Menuhin classical music festival, the Cartier Gold Cup Polo, and Country Night Gstaad, all offer plenty of inspiration.

By Alexandra de Scheel

I have recently found myself spending far too much of my time defending Gstaad. The peculiar thing is that I only find myself forced to make the case for this region while I am here. Which automatically raises the question, why do people come here if it is such a dreadful place? This blatant hypocrisy is not, however, the crux of my argument, nor is it the problem I have with the perception these nay-sayers have. Like the majority of part-time residents here, I spend my time between many countries, have grown up everywhere and do not have a single nationality. I do consider Gstaad home, or at the very least, a base. It may not be perfect - utopias do not exist - but I would not continue to return if I didn’t find it a pleasurable place to live. There are, however, some who seem to come back again and again, despite their obvious and vocal disdain for the region. Putting aside the transparent duplicity in this, I will do what I can to address the issues they claim to have.

For 18 years, Marcel Bach has brought prominent American country music artists to Gstaad, while year after year Christa Hauswirth has taken care of local residents and visitors from the world of the Wild West. GstaadLife takes a look behind the curtain of one of Gstaad’s most valued music festivals.

Every year, Gstaad property developer Marcel Bach boards an airplane and flies to America—more specifically to Nashville, Tennessee. There he meets with managers of popular, but less well-known country music stars. Through coordinated work with an agency there, Bach—who successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest this past May—has been able to draw prominent artists to Gstaad.

Difficulties with the construction of a new elevator have forced Landi Saanenland to reschedule the opening of their new 850 square meter store in Gstaad until the beginning of November.  In the meantime customers can still purchase products from the provisional store across the parking lot. Landi’s other project, a new distribution warehouse in Grund, has not received any objections from local residents and its construction is on schedule. 

Hermès International today announced the opening of its new store in Gstaad, which has been recently renovated and expanded. Although there has been a Hermès store in Gstaad since 1974, the space is now 171 square meters spread over two floors. The store was designed by the interior firm of RDAI led by Rena Dumas. Dumas has been entrusted with Hermès store design around the world, and her look is dominated by the modernity and simplicity of stone and glass, combined with the intimacy of burled wood paneling. The official opening event for the store will be held in the winter season on December 27.

Above: 'Les Plaisirs du Froid' by Hermès.

Taki Theodoracopulos, better known as Taki, is a journalist and writer, living in Gstaad, London, and New York. His column ‘High Life’ has appeared in The Spectator for the past 25 years, and he has also written for National Review, the London Sunday Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, the New York Press, and Quest Magazine, among others. In 2002 Taki founded The American Conservative magazine with Pat Buchanan and Scott McConnell. He is also publisher of the British magazine Right Now! and has been writing for GstaadLife since its first season in 2003/4.

As in the case of JFK, everyone remembers where they were the night Princess Diana died while being chased by paparazzi into a Parisian underpass.  (It is an annually retentive grief which will reach its apotheosis on August 31 2007, the tenth anniversary of her death.) In my case, I was in a deep, drunken discussion with Jeremy Menuhin, son of Yehudi, and Oliver Gilmour, a close friend of mine who is a conductor.  We were at chalet Agnela, in the Oberbort. When things got too hot - Oliver is aggressive and very opinionated - I went down to my writing den and turned on the telly. And there it was. I woke up Nigel Dempster of the Daily Mail, the numero uno gossip columnist of his time, and we watched in horrified silence. There was an added twist of fate. I had spoken to Diana about six hours earlier and had asked her if she was serious about Dodi Fayed. She had laughed, and let me to understand what I had always suspected; the whole romance bit was a publicity stunt, and her way of getting back to the royal family that had shunned her. But let's take things from the top.

If a dog, cat, or any other common pet has an accident in Saanenland there are several courses of action that might be appropriate. For smaller injuries, such as cuts, one can visit the local vet. For more serious injuries, such as fractures, taking the pet to clinics in Thun or Interlaken may be necessary. 

For all pet injuries, irrespective of their severity, it is best to get in touch with a local vet first. The two main vets in Saanenland, Dr Neff and Dr Hauswirth, spend much of their time touring farms, so agreeing an appointment in advance is necessary to ensure the vet’s presence in the practice at the agreed time. For emergencies, they work together to ensure that one or the other is always on call. Whilst the pattern of who works on which day and who covers which weekend is irregular, either Dr Neff or Dr Hauswirth is always available on their office number. Emergencies will even be tended to in the middle of the night. 

Driving from Gstaad to Feutersoey, we came upon a dog that had been hit by a car. It was badly wounded, but completely conscious and in great pain. The man who had driven over the dog had called the police who had just arrived at the scene, and there were four or five officers there when we arrived. There was a friend of mine with the dog in the middle of the road. It was not possible to move the dog without a muzzle, a blanket and a stretcher, and having only been called out for a dog, the police had only brought a dog cage. They went to get a stretcher, and we had the blanket and the muzzle in our car. The police were mainly interested in finding the owner of the dog, which only had a collar without a name tag or a chip.