Switzerland 2016

Just before Christmas, we enjoyed a wonderful winter break at the Hotel Waldhaus in Sils-Maria, Switzerland.

We flew into Zurich, caught a train right from the airport, and ended up high in the Alps. After a few easy transfers, the last leg of the train ride was on the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula, which is a Unesco World Heritage site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1276). The mountainous landscape along the way is beautiful. The train goes through and over numerous tunnels and bridges. At one point the tracks spiral up and over a valley four times to get to a higher level.

The train line ends in the ski resort town of St. Moritz, where we were picked up by the hotel shuttle service. The Waldhaus in Sils-Maria is just a few minutes away from St. Moritz, in the same valley.

  

The hotel is striking, perched upon a hill, overlooking Sils-Maria.
(This photo is from https://waldhaus-sils.ch/en/. All others are our personal photos.)

John and I had a great corner room with views of the mountains on both sides.

 

The girls had an adjacent room with a nice balcony.

The view from our rooms. This is Piz Corvatch. The building in the middle is one of the chair lift stations and restaurants. The far left peak is the top of the highest lift at the ski-resort. Along with the nearby Corviglia ski resort, several Olympic events and numerous other ski races have taken place here. The World Ski Championships will be held on these mountains in February, 2017.

The view from the other side of the hotel.

It really doesn't matter which way you look out of the hotel, the views are all stunning.

On the left is Herr Urs Kienberger. He is the reason that we decided to stay at the Waldhaus.

Here is the back story: When I was in high school (a very long time ago) in Champaign, Illinois, Urs was a student at the University of Illinois. He was good friends with Heidi Epp, a wonderful woman that worked for us as an au pair from Switzerland and ended up becoming a part of our family. She continued to live with us while getting a degree at the U of I, which is where she met Urs. He frequently came to our house for Sunday dinners and became a lifelong friend of the family.

The Waldhaus was established by Urs' Great-Grandparents in 1908 and has remained in his family ever since. Years ago, I had two wonderful visits to Waldhaus once with a friend as a college student in winter and once with my parents in summer. And now, over 30 years later, it was time to visit again, this time with John and our own teenage children.

Urs gave us a tour of both the public and back of house areas of the hotel. Here is their well stocked wine cellar. The original hotel still feels very traditional, but is completely updated with modern amenities. A beautiful ultra-modern spa extension just opened a week before we arrived, which proved to be a great place to relax after the ski slopes.

Heading up Corviglia on our first day of skiing.

Mid-way up the slopes.

Further up the slopes, a snowy ride to lunch at the top of the mountain.

Dramatic scenery up high.

Me taking a photo of our daughter who was taking photos of the dramatic scenery outside.

The rest of us stayed warm in the mountain top restaurant.

Corvatch

Lunchtime on the slopes. Only after this photo was taken did we notice that I had sprung antlers.

This was taken at the top of Corvatch, 3303 meters high. We were originally concerned that we might not have enough snow so early in the season, but the skiing was great on all three days that we skied, and there were hardly any lines at the chair lifts, which was fabulous.

   It's over 5 hours away by car, but yes, that is the Matterhorn in the distance, slightly right of center.

A panoramic from the top of Corvatch.

 We saw a helicopter rescue. The woman that was injured was sitting up and hopefully everything worked out for her, but it served as a reminder to ski in control.

 

Looking south down the valley, towards Maloja.

You can see Hotel Waldhaus on the right side of the photo. 

Looking north up the valley, towards Silvaplana and St. Moritz.

A panoramic from the same spot. The region is so beautiful that a recent movie, called "The Clouds of Sils-Maria" and starring Kristen Stewart, was filmed right around here, with scenes in the Waldhaus, Sils-Maria, and Maloja.

 The valley just had a dusting of snow, but there was plenty of snow on the slopes.

We skied all the way down to the village below.

  

John and our older daughter opted for a hike on our last day.

The view of Sils-Maria on the short walk up to the hotel.

 We visited St. Moritz for a few hours before boarding our train back to Zurich and home.

Parting shot: by the Christmas Tree at the Waldhaus. We would definitely love to return!