JustJess
It was Saturday evening, the 23rd of January 2021. Jo and I were sitting on the internet for over an hour, trying to figure out where to go. As it was usual for the past few weeks. The weather forecast for Sunday looked great and we really wanted to finally get out somewhere. Anywhere. Then Jo mentioned, there was some place she saw on IG and she wanted to visit it. So I googled it as well. I didn’t know, back then, that this moment would be the start of a wonderful adventure.
The place Jo mentioned was a mirror house somewhere near the town Gstaad. We figured out that it’s not that far away from Vevey and it is very easy for us to get there by train. Moreover, we needed to go there soon because the mirror house (Mirage Gstaad), was part of a festival exposition that was happening through 2019-2021 and would be demontaged after 1st of March 2021.
It sounded like an amazing idea and a good place to go. But… There was a problem. As train tickets in Switzerland are extremely expensive, it is better to buy them in advance. Because if you buy them the day you are going, you are going to spend two times more. So to save our Au-pair budgets we needed to purchase train tickets online. Unfortunately, my credit card has never worked with the web page of Swiss railways in the past. I tried many times, but my payment never went through. I was a bit discouraged by that and I was sure our trip was doomed before it even started. But I tried, mainly, because I wanted to show Jo that I did all I could.
Imagine my surprise when the payment actually went through. All of a sudden, I had bought two tickets to Gstaad and back for the following day. I gaped at my screen for a few seconds before turning to Jo with words: “Hey so… we are going tomorrow.” She glanced at me with wide eyes and laughed: “Okay!”.
The following morning we had to get up early. The train to Montreux was departing at 7:15 and from there we took our main connection to Gstaad, precisely said Gruben. Which is a train stop right after Gstaad. I must say I was out of myself with excitement, because this was not just a normal train. This was the Panoramic train. One of those legendary trains Switzerland is famous for! A dream come true!
We departed from Montreux before 8 AM and we had 1:40 of a journey ahead of us. And because it was just the time of dawn, we had an opportunity to watch the landscape slowly ascending from the darkness to daylight. First we enjoyed the view over our home lake (Lac Léman) and then the train disappeared in the tunnel under Dent de Jaman. Appearing on the other side, we were suddenly facing landscapes we’ve never seen before.
I must say that we were breathless all the time. Our vocabulary changed into: “Look!” and “Oh my God!” and “This is so beautiful!” so quickly that all the other people around were laughing at us. But we couldn’t help ourselves. All those mountains covered with snow, all the lonely cabins and the train stations that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, were simply taking our breaths away.
I can honestly say that we spent 100 minutes of our journey with noses on the window, making strange sounds of fascination. One of the fellow passengers must have noticed we are tourists and came to us to share a secret. He said that there is a special panoramic window in the first class and it shouldn’t be a problem to take a look at it. As long as we won’t stay sitting there. So I quickly got up and ran through the whole train to the first class, which was the very last car of the train.
On the way I figured out that most of our train was empty. We were sitting in the only modern car and the older ones were abandoned. In the first class there were only two people and they didn’t seem to mind me being there. But I was there for the back window, which allowed passengers to look at the tracks behind. It was like being in the control room of a pendolino train, but without control panels. All that was behind us was snow and two barely visible tracks. I wished I could have stayed there and watched the whole journey. However I headed back soon because the extra fee for 1st class in such trains is 40 Francs. But once… once in my life I will sit there and see the journey through this window. I swear.
After over an hour and a half, we arrived at Gruben train stop. We were overwhelmed with all the beauty we saw from the train window and we were totally unprepared for what was waiting for us outside.
-3 degrees celsius.
That was a bit of a shock after sitting for such a long time in a cosy, warm train. But more shocking were our surroundings. Everything was covered in more than one metre of snow. The mountains, the meadows, the houses, the trees. Everything was white. A legend about the paradise of Switzerland coming true in front of our eyes. It was exactly what we were missing during the whole damn January and all we had to do was to go a few kilometres further to the mountains.
We needed to start moving quickly, because it was too cold to stay in one place and gape around. But while walking we warmed up and we could enjoy the view. Our reactions were mostly like: “Is this even possible? Can a place like this exist?”
We arrived at the Mirror house after an approximately 30 minutes walk. Luckily, we were there early enough for it to be almost empty and we took our time to explore it thoroughly.
Mirage Gstaad was built as a site-specific installation by artist Doug Aitken. Every single wall and all the ceilings inside and outside of the building were cloaked in mirror panels, allowing the house to get into direct interaction with the landscape around. Directing our attention towards the eternal scene, rather than to what we have in our possessions. At the same time the mirror construction somehow allowed the house to merge into the countryside to the point, when you were not sure where the landscape starts and the house ends. This was an interesting moment, because it forced me to focus on what I was seeing. It forced me to distinguish between what was real and what was artificial.
The interior of the house almost didn’t let you escape from yourself. You had to face yourself from every wall and every ceiling. Such a meeting with the reality of self is not always pleasant. So many mirrors strip you of every additional layer of stories you’ve made about yourself and what stays is a raw presence of a person you are. If it weren’t for the windows that allowed the landscape to mirror on many walls, you’d be facing yourself without an opportunity to escape. Luckily, those windows mirroring ages around helped to redirect attention elsewhere.
The moment of stripping down everything to the base and leaving only what was real was the linking moment of the whole installation. Interesting contrast however comes, when you realise how ephemeral the self you see inside of the house is next the eternity of the mountains around.
We stayed at the site for over an hour, taking it all in and admittedly, having some fun with those mirrors. It was a great way for us to get some pictures together, without bothering other people to take it for us. But eventually moved forward and decided to take a walk to Gstaad. It was still cold, but the midday sun made it possible for us to be out comfortably, without feeling like walking icicles.
We had lunch outside on a bench, eating tortillas we prepared the day before and also some Czech biscuits as a dessert. My grandma sent them to me by post lately. Somehow, I still find Czech sweet snacks better for trips than Swiss ones. I am not sure why. It might be an anachronism of me growing up in Czechia of the 90’s, when for each jaunt you needed a backpack full of biscuits. I am simply used to eating Fidorka and Horalky while out for a trip. I still wasn’t able to find biscuits like that in Switzerland. They have millions of variants of chocolate, but not one good biscuit for tourists.
On our way through the snowy landscape we came across a farm where young calves were outside in a small enclosure by the barn. They were obviously used to people, because when seeing us, they immediately came to the enclosure and wanted to be petted. It was really cute. They were instantly trying to lick our hands, like they were expecting something good to eat. But unfortunately we didn’t have any cow snacks in our pockets.
By this farm, we came across the fridge with cheese you could have bought and taken out yourself. You just paid by twint or other app, following the instructions, but the fridge was opened anyway, whether you paid or not. I find it amazing how much trust people in Switzerland have in others. Something like this would never work in Czechia. The fridge would be empty or completely missing after the first night. But it is a nice idea, to sell homemade cheese from the area, without the need to be always around in a shop or a stall.
When we finally arrived in Gstaad, we were impressed by how picturesque the town is. Really the kind of place that falls directly out of a guide. Wooden mountain chalets, old cableway cabins sitting on the streets and shop windows inviting you to peek inside.
It is generally known that Gstaad is an expensive city. The boutiques on the main street snow names of famous brands with prices that will probably forever be out of our reach. But it is true that it looks really pretty to look at. Streets full of snow, luxury shops and horse carriages definitely give this city kind of a romantic atmosphere. If only we had enough money to go and try one of those fancy looking restaurants. Maybe in another life. Instead we settled for a patisserie and bought a hot coffee. We both needed that after so many hours outside in the cold. But I must say that it was undoubtedly the worst coffee I have ever drank in my whole life. Over roasted and disgusting. We needed to restore our taste buds after this, so we bought a package of caramels in one of the automats in the train station before boarding the train home.
So what more’s there to say? It was an amazing day and I am happy Jo is by my side to push me into a spontaneous trip like this. Because this is one of the destinations I wouldn’t visit by myself. And it turned out to be exactly what I needed.
