WINTER GAIETIES IN SWITZERLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

WINTER GAIETIES IN SWITZERLAND.

An* enthusiastic description, tempered with a little worldly wisdom, is given of the journey to St. Mori and of the life there, by a writer in a London society paper. She says: . ■'■;'. ■

At Coire you join the mountain railroad —a marvel of engineering—and ascend at a gentle gradient through silent snowfields, past quiet little villages with scarcely a sign .of life, asleep apparently under the winter white, till the scenery grows wilder, the mountains loftier, and Thusis, the gate of •the Schyn Pass, is reached.

'. /-. And this is -the " clou." of the journey, for now ■' and onward across the mighty • Albula comes the real wonder of the way. For here are you, a practical Britisher, with no more imagination than is compatible with conventional responsibility, calmly making your entrance into Fairyland! For what else can it be? Look out of the carriage window, and explain, if yon can. the precipice, with its smooth white 'sides, leading, deeply down to where the waters of destruction lay hidden under the cold, blue ice far below. • ~ You reach St. Moritz. A great.building aglow with' lights . breaks the mystic dusk with its pompous presence— modern caravansary! 'You make your entry into the wide, bright hall to the strains of music. There are big wood fires burning on the open hearths. There are red carpets, red curtains, red-shaded lights. The sweet woody perfume that is a charm of Switzerland pervades the atmosphere. You hear the beat of dancing feet on a. parquet floor, probably the languid strains of Valse' Bleiie. Gay little groups sit about over their bridge, their gossip, their coffee. There is a glitter, of jewels, a swish of silken skirts. You have journeyed through Fairyland into modern society on the mountains. ' But this, to be just, is only an evening phase. At the day.spring Nature takes the reins into her own hands, and she is a most convincing whip ! The little Alpine ddrf, nearly 7000 ft above the sea, is dedicated to her. The mondaines of the. night before undergo a transformation. ,' Serge for satin, thick boots! for Louis Quinzo slippers; you would hard-! ly know them in their workmanlike morn-; ing garb, with faces all aglow for the | day's fun, as the daintily dressed-'dames so, skilful at bridge, so happy in flirtation last! evening. " - "' ■ j The winter spoits are apparently as keenly indulged in by the frail and delicate as by the sound and sturdy. The clear, in-1 vigorating air is a tonic to all. It sends, the blood spinning through your veins, it brings, the light to your eye, the colour to your; cheek, so that the invalid forgets his ail- ; ment- and the sufferer laughs with the best. It is good indeed to be 'alive in the Ega- j dine atmosphere ; good to move under the God-like sun; to drink in, like a breath of heaven, the intoxicating glacier ozone. You feel a lightness of limb that makes you hop, skip, and jump, skate, and ski. You —though you are well known at home to despise the terpsichorean artyou play round games with the "elan" of a schoolboy, you eat unconscionable quantities of cherry jam at the Scotch tea-room over the way, you join in wild and wonderful moonlight parties, you even endanger your valuable life on a bobsleigh with a girl guiding! Truth compels me to warn you, by the way, that the worst feature of the holiday is its costliness. High prices are asked in the hotels (though less high than their summer terms), and what raises the ire of many, almost every one of the pleasure pursuits requires a golden key to open its sacred portal. The rinks require much keeping up, the toboggan runs need enormous care. If you want to play bandy or hockey on the ice,- you must join a club; if your delight is to lie face downwards on your little lugo, and with the wings of Mercury on your feet fly down a fearsome, ice-slopewell, you must join the* tobogganing club. Whilst, of course, subscriptions towards the unending evening amusements are countless; as the waves of the sea (I do not enumerate the expenses of bridge, for indulgence in this popular recreation is, or ought to be, at your own discretion). There are various habitues of the chief hotel who seem to spend a happy winter forming clubs, gracing committees, and picking out every innocent newcomer with a stem eye and a paper and pencil. Flee themif you can! '