GstaadLife

Have you seen the new ticket offices of the Gstaad train station yet? Simple, fresh, white walls, exposed wood, a few shiny golden (pass) touches, yet still elegant. Finally a railway welcome worthy of our village. Yes we know many of you still bemoan all the concrete and glass of the new platforms. But even those have blended into the environment over the last year. Let us know what you think about the ticket office next time you pass through.

 

More than 100 years ago the viaduct of Gstaad was built - then with wooden scaffolding. Right now it is once again bedecked in scaffolding, this time for a renovation of its 114 meter-long, 30 meter-high steel span. It was a hot topic for quite a while - whether to renovate or build completely anew - but a petition by local residents and the federal office for building and permissions finally ended the discussion in favor of renovation.

In 1898, when the railway from Montreux to Zweisimmen was initiated it was actually not planned to run the line through Gstaad - it was supposed to go from Saanen straight up to Schönried. Can you imagine Gstaad without its railway? Seems impossible now but at that time the 5km detour was considered surplus to requirements. Well, after lots of back and forth and SFr 100'000 of intervention, the detour to Gstaad was made possible and in 1903-4 the viaduct was built. It is going to be a while though until it can shine again without scaffolding. After Easter they'll even be a two-week period where no service at all will be possible and passengers will have to avail themselves of a bus service. Well, good things take a while, hopefully it will look fantastic, and with its new "silent bridge" technology, Gstaad Viaduct will no doubt have the good folks of Neueret sleeping blissfully through the first run down to Montreux. Now if they could just be a little creative with the Christmas decoration: below, the town viaduct in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

 

 
Interview with Joanna and Peter Burri by Tess Larosse

From GstaadLife print edition July 16 2010

After landing in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital, I took a short hop on a little plane over to Arusha where I found myself jumping straight into a totally unplanned safari by gatecrashing a charming chap from Latvia’s Jeep. Luckily he was very pleasant, willing to share, and only slightly bewildered by the intrusion. Nine dusty days later I flew from the mainland and on to the neighbouring island of Zanzibar, where I caught up, quite unexpectedly, with Gstaad boy Peter Burri and his wife Joanna, who now live on the NE coast of the island in Matemwe, a magical place steeped in history and teeming with local culture. You may remember that Gstaad-born-and-bred Peter ran the Rialto restaurant for several years prior to moving to the Seychelles, and then last year relocated to the mysterious, exotic island famed for its white sandy beaches, wonderful spice gardens, pristine waters and its capital, Stonetown’s, notorious involvement in the slave trade. So what on earth are they doing here? 

TL - Peter, what brought you to this part of the world?

From 2015 you won't have to change trains in Zweisimmen anymore. The completion of the Transgoldenpass project will see the introduction of all new rolling stock that will be able a change of wheel-base width from the narrow gauge rails of Montreux to Zweisimmen to the wider track setup of the Simmental. This will enable no-change journeys from Lake Geneva to Luzern, and for us Gstaaders make the rail ride to Bern or Zurich just a little easier.The trainspotters among you can already see a few of the new shiny white carriages that have already been put into service.

Gstaad to Geneva has always evoked the question: the twists, turns and unpredictable weather of the Col du Pillon or Col des Mosses; or the easier alpine cruise but interminable rush hour traffic of Bulle.  Well the decision just got a bit easier with the opening of the new Bulle bypass. Connected by two shiny new tunnels, passing underground to the south and west of the town from the Migros "barcode" shopping center on the Gruyère side to the Coop gas station by the highway, the bypass takes just 4 minutes to travel, and in rush hour or Sunday evenings could see you shave as much as 15 minutes off your journey time. Seems like it took an age to build, but it was worth the wait.

Wanna go to Montreux? Well, make sure you use the new platfom 2 at the Gstaad railway station - best through the newly-opened tunnel. Don't stress people: that's platforms 1... and 2.

By Taki Theodoracopulos

REGENSBURG--The mighty Danube begins in the park of the Furstenberg Palace and flows eastward for a distance of 2,000 miles across ten countries on to the Black Sea. Last weekend, Prince and Princess Heinrich von Furstenberg, the titular heads of the family who live in that palace, gave us a little tour of Walhalla, the German Hall of Fame situated further down the river from their park, in Regensburg, the perfectly preserved medieval town where a wonderful party celebrating Maya Schoenburg’s 50th birthday has left me feeling all of my 72 years. Make that 102. But first Walhalla. As everyone knows, it was the dwelling place of the Gods, into which warriors chosen by the Valkyries were admitted. Ludwig I of Bavaria decreed in 1842 that men and women of great achievement, not necessarily German, both in times of war and peace, should be commemorated in the temple he had built and bequeathed to the Fatherland. Needless to say, Walhalla is a Greek temple, a cross of the Theseum and the Parthenon, 125 metres long and 55 metres high. It is Doric, carved from marble, and, unlike the Greek temples which look out onto a sea of cement, surrounded by beautiful verdant hills overlooking the Danube.

By Taki Theodoracopulos

CORFU--The Ionian islands are softer, greener and more feminine than those of the Aegean, and Corfu in particular was used by Homer as the setting of one of the most beautiful episodes of the Odyssey, the meeting of Odysseus with Nausica. For any of you with short memories of the classics, Odysseus was washed ashore, having escaped Calypso’s enchantments, and is welcomed with warmth and generosity by Nausica’s parents, King Alcinous and his wife Arete. Once the Ithacan king reveals his identity the Phaeacians take him back to his island which he hasn’t seen in twenty long years. In an earlier tradition, before the Trojan War, the Argonauts, having stolen the Golden Fleece from Colchis, and with King Aeetes on their heels, find refuge and a welcome in Alcinous’ and Arete’s palace. Nice people those two, but the not-so-nice modernists have installed a Big Mac near their palace. Once upon a time the tired and persued found refuge in Corfu, now the fat and greedy come for triple burgers and fries. Zeus must be awfully pissed off up at Olympus but there’s little he can do.

For all dog owners who are registered residents in Saanenland: the deadline for paying your dog tax is August 1 2008; the fee is SFr 80, payable at the Gemeinde in Saanen (Gemeinde Gsteig is August 31). Also, since January 1 2007, all dogs older than three months of age have been required to have an implanted microchip (or legible tattoo) and must be registered with the Animal Identity Service (ANIS) database in Bern. ANIS is an independent database for pet animals operating throughout Switzerland. If you imported your dog from abroad, you must present your dog to a veterinarian in Switzerland within 10 days after entry into the country. The vet will register your dog’s foreign microchip or tattoo number with ANIS. In Canton Bern, owners of “dangerous or potentially dangerous” breeds such as bull terriers, Dobermans and Rottweilers are asked to declare their dogs with the cantonal veterinary office; owners will then learn about dog-training requirements and authorization for possession.

Recently, Saanen has been stealing all the limelight concerning intensive construction. In Gstaad too, there's also quite a bit of that going on. Here at GstaadLife.com, we thought we'd bring you a few glimpses of work going on in Gstaad. Don't forget to have your say: we'd be delighted to receive your comments!

Above: Gstaad station.