Hello all!

I am so happy to finally take a moment and put together another weekend wander. I have had two of ’em sitting in the rafters waiting and have been really wanting to share them. However, I have been preparing for and now have two very special guests from my old town in California and have not had a moment. Plus (hooray) have been working on a new painting that should be ready within a week.

I went for this wander a few weeks back at Flumserberg. I had been meaning to go here for some time and chose it now because I felt sure that the fall colours would be lovely plus the gondola would be closing for autumn maintenance soon. It was not a disapointment!

Flumserberg is located about an hour southeast from Zurich, with the gondola base at the town of Unterterzen and on the shores of Walensee. It is an interesting fact that this is “Heidiland” – with much of Johanna Spyri’s classic book being set in these mountains. Another interesting fact is that we nearly rented a flat in Unterterzen which would have meant my children would have had to take a gondola to their kindergarten in Oberterzen! How cool would that have been!?! Anyhow, more practical accommodations were decided upon and the isolation would have gotten to me anyhow.

My hiking buddy and I took the extraordinarily steep set of gondolas to the top station of Maschgenkamm and wandered down to the main Flumserberg gondola station (hiking time about 3 hours). The landscape was fantastic mix of high alpine moon-scape, rolling hills and golden-turning forests. Sure, I got us lost a few times – but really that was part of the fun (right Pats?). It was all breathtaking but what was really special is that in the background of the beautiful scenery was the rise of the sheer rock cliffs on the far side of Walensee. Very unique scenery, even here in Switzerland.

Anyhow, I have certainly gotten inspiration out of this wander. It makes me sad that the gondola will soon be shut down only to open in winter, and I won’t be back until then or perhaps next year. So I will cherish the experience, think of it in the upcoming gloom of winter and happily share the photos (and paintings) with you. Enjoy!