“Into the unknown” – A travelogue or...

Off to “who knows where”.

This year has been dedicated (by me, myself and I) as one of spontaneity so when a friend decided that the weather was good – "let’s go" – I thought: why not?

Through France, turn right into Switzerland, through a valley very similar to that of my childhood (Salinas Valley, CA), up the mountain pass and here we are on the Simplon Pass:

Although only the beginning of April, at 2’000 meters the snow is already very much in the distance, the sun shining its last rays on the top peaks.

sun on the vineyards in the valley

Bridge spanning the valley after Brig: the old Napoleon one is just beyond it.

Last rays of sun near the Simplon Pass

On the way I learned that we were headed for Itlay - first stop the Simplon Pass at 2'005 meters and overnight in Simplon Dorf (the village of Simplon for those who don't want to have to used a translator: the next few blogs are going to be full of pitfalls for those who only speak English as I will be using German, French and Italian names and expressions).

 

Dinner of a typical Swiss croûte au fromage (cheese crusts just doesn’t quite cut it as far as delicious sounding), but the discovery of the evening was the old leather-bound book containing the records of clients begun back in 1910!  I was astonished as to how many Americans had gotten that far, groups, individuals, then there were the quick drawings from some who had used the Fletschhorn Hotel as a base for training. All in all amazing.

Le livre des étrangers (book of foreigners)

Started in 1910 some of the first visitors were from the USA

Many groups stopped here either for a meal or to sleep.

 The saga will continue over several blogs.