While hiking today we passed through Blaunca. This village is a collection of four or five houses and a wonderful stream feeding through it. These steps caught my eye. Stone embedded into the building, and then using additional stones between the steps to provide additional support. Incredible.
Grevasalvas Switzerland
On our hike today we passed through the incredibly picturesque little village of of Grevasalvas. This little collection of houses was used for the production of “Heidi”. It was like stepping backwards in time. Such a cool place to visit.
Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 7
Weather: Very cool in the morning warming up through the day. Very pleasant all around.
- Breakfast at hotel
- Walk from hotel for hike
- Hike begins with a gentle ascent above the treeline
- Walk through amazing village of Grevasalvas
- Break at rocky overlook before descending
- Descend and take path around lake
- Lunch on the trail
- Return to Sils Maria
- Tammy and Mazie do some shopping, buy cool local bowls
- Coffee and snacks at Grond Cafe
- Mazie and Tyler explore
- Tammy and Jamie relax
- Dinner at hotel with delicious Apple Strudel for dessert!
Jump to day 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 or Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection.
Hike Pontresina to Sils Maria
I didn’t join the hike today and instead ran my wallet recovery mission. However, I asked that the family take a lot of pictures and here is there journey to the amazing Lake Hahnensee from Pontresina and ending in Silvaplana.
Part of Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection. Also see Pontresina to Sils Maria from Europe 2004 Collection collection.
Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 6
Weather: Very cloudy with rain and thunder in morning. Clear through mid-day with additional heavy rain in late afternoon. Then cloudy and cool in the evening.
Split path for first half of today:
Family
- Hike out of Pontresina through town up the trail
- Sought cover from heavy rain
- Rolling walk with a final ascent to Hahnensee Hut
- Picnic lunch on a rock at Lake Hahnensee
- Descended down to Silvaplana
Jamie
- Bus from hotel to train station
- Train back to Guarda
- Bus to Guarda Village
- Recover wallet! 🤩
- Bus back to train station.
- Train to Samedan to change lines
- Train to St Moritz to transfer to bus
- Bus to Sils Maria
- Walk out to Nietzsche’s Rock
- Started raining hard so walked to Silvaplana instead of walking back
All Together Again
- All meet together in Silvaplana to catch the bus back to Sils Maria
- Visit the Gallaria Chesina and look at some amazing art
- Shopping at various stores and explore the town
- Dinner at Hotel Edelweiss
Jump to day 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 or Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection.
I think there is a huge potential for Generative AI in tools, but this is a heavy expense that is going to make it a tough decision.
Microsoft announced that it would charge $30 a month for AI features in its productivity software. That could mean a cost increase of up to 83% for the millions of subscribers to products such as Word and Excel. Shares in the firm jumped to a record high at the prospect. — Economist Espresso, July 19, 2023
🤔
Family selfie at the Hotel Edelweiss in Sils Maria. 🇨🇭
Walked out to Nietzsche’s Rock near Silvaplana-Surlej.
Wallet Recovered
Yesterday I shared that I had lost my wallet. We were still juggling some logistics last night. The mountain huts we are visiting are cash only but our guides have been kind enough to loan us some Swiss Francs. We tried to get cash last night and that proved to be very difficult with the other credit cards we have.
This morning I woke up a little early and was thinking how someone would contact me if they found my wallet. My website is the first thing that a search engine would suggest for my name and I have this Hello page. My profiles at other sites are listed there and that made me think I should check various social platforms. I went to LinkedIn not expecting much and scanned my notifications.
To my astonishment there was a comment from Martin Lienhard saying he had found my wallet! 😲
Incredible! I found the Volg store he mentioned and they didn’t open for another 45 mins. Right at 7:30a I asked the hotel to please call the store and confirm they had it. They did! 🥳
I let our guides know and took a rest day from hiking (which I was considering anyway) and made the trip to collect my recovered wallet!
After a train ride back to Guarda, then the bus into the village, I ducked the rain and ran into the Volg Guarda where the nice cashier reached under the counter and produced my wallet! Joy!
So where was it? The whole thought about the train station in Ardez was a dead end. Martin’s wife found it by one of the city water fountains — the one that we dipped our feet in. That means when I realized I didn’t have it, as we were walking to dinner, it had only just fallen out of my pocket no more than a 100 feet away.
A huge thank you to Martin Lienhard and his wife and the Volg shopkeeper for recovering my lost wallet! 🙏🤩
Makes me wonder — we’re the Goats of Guarda watching over me while we were there? 😊