GstaadLife

Well that's it from us for this part of the summer. It's been an odd one, with miserable weather to start, following by sunny hot conditons for most of July. Business about town has been odd too, with some of the higher-end hotel properties suffering sharp falls in occupancy rates while the 3-starers are breaking all records. Rialto terrace half-empty on a warm Friday night before National Day? Indeed the noticeable increase in guests escaping the heat in the Middle East has been among the few saving graces for the tonier boutiques on the Promenade. But fact is Gstaad is still a great place to be in the summer, to see old friends and familiar faces, and to simply relax with family. We'll be back towards the end of August, and we'll leave with you the usual compendium of summer reading...

Most read articles since the end of the winter season 2010:

1.    Bernie Ecclestone: "Here comes the hobbit with the Beatle haircut."   
2.    New world disorder                           
3.    More photos from the Gstaad Symposium   
4.    Montblanc to unveil new diamond jewellery collection in Gstaad 
5.    Guest community concerned about over-development in Gstaad
6.    Flash flood leaves scenes of destruction in Saanen           
7.    Taki: Madoff's make away
8.    New pavilion of Gstaad Catholic church inaugurated           
9.    Taki: on the World Cup and the Greek bailout       
10.    Gstaad: Boom town                       
11.    Taki: on Tatler’s Gstaad who’s who                    
12.    Alpina construction to begin this spring                   
13.    New sign for Saanenland                       
14.    Kirsty Bertarelli speaks with London's Daily Mail           
15.    Glacier 3000: rider flies out of Alpine Coaster               
16.    Flat-rate tax of canton Bern in danger                   
17.    Menuhin Festival Gstaad 2010 Program                   
18.    Lorenz Bach to open another Promenade boutique           
19.    Hotel Alpina Gstaad construction update       
20.    Transafricaine rally apéro draws a crowd               
21.    Gstaad Yacht Club Car Rally                   
22.    Aiglon College reaches out to Gstaad                   
23.    Bertarelli family relocates to Gstaad-Saanen               
24.    Taki: Merry Old England No More           
25.    Vandalism blights Gstaad's Promenade           
26.    Kirsty Bertarelli presents her new CD           
27.    Remember Peter Burri from the Rialto Gstaad?       
28.    Living in Gstaad                               
29.    The truth about Federer’s Gstaad cow                   
30.    Is Gstaad recession proof?   

For the past couple of years we have had to forgo our trips up the Eggli during the summer season But for 2010 the authorities have agreed to open the gondola on three weekends this August 7/8, 14/15 and 21/22. The little pizza place is also open during these weekends (but not the Berghaus). The unfortunate reason for the opening is that the road up to Chalberhöni is still not accessible due to the floods of July 10  (vehicular access will be re-established via a slightly modified route from August 26). So maybe if loads of us use this service over the next 3 weeks the powers-that-be might be persuaded to open it up all summer like it used to be! See you on an Eggli hike...

Nicolas Almagro, ATP no 18 beat Richard Gasquet in the final of this years Allianz Suisse Open in Gstaad 7-5 6-1. The 24 year-old Spaniard who played in Gstaad for the first time won his seventh ATP title - congrats! If you want to mark down next years dates already - July 24 to 31 2011.

Look carefully: there's a tree dangling from the helicopter. This is how they get the trees down the mountain to clear the way for the new cable car line due to reopen this winter from Rougemont to La Videmanette. Quite a sight...

 
Well, there was something new at this year's Swiss national holiday celebrations in Gstaad - the Swiss PC-7 team flew over the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad tennis village on August 1 2010 and amazed everybody with its splendid perfomance (see video below). Unfortunately the weather turned in the late afternoon and most of the fireworks were rained off.

Can't be bothered to cook but want something homemade and really delicious? Take a little drive out to the butcher in Rougemont, to André Reichenbach. His wife Birgitta quietly stocks the freezer in the far left corner with the most mouth-watering prepared dishes. One of our favorites is the poulet à l'orange, which, we shamelessly admit, was even used for a dinner party once - transferred from the aluminum container into a beautiful glass dish, prepared in the oven for 90 minutes, and accompanied by a generous helping of compliments (sorry Birgitta). Other fantastic dishes include a delightful salmon-spinach lasagne, a supreme potato gratin, real Swedish-style meatballs that your kids will absolutely love, and an exquisite, delicately-spiced lamb curry that even the most Indian of Indian specialists approved of. So empty your freezer of all those boxes with E-numbers and pass by André's.

Just in case you saw some people running on the glacier recently - no they were not training for the Glacier 3000 run which takes place on August 6 to 7. The people in the picture above are actually members of the German mountain running team training for the WMRA World Mountain Running Championships. Pardon our ignorance but we did not even know such a thing existed...