To the windows, to the VALS!

Saturday, February 4, 2012 -- 1:22PM

On Thursday we took our first over-night trip to Vals, Switzerland. Vals is the home of Peter Zumthor's Thermal Baths/Spa. It was an adventurous, snowy drive through the Alps with plenty of stunning views and plenty of narrow and slick roads carving up and down the mountains. A couple of us went skiing/snowboarding, a couple went hiking up and sledding down, and a couple went straight to the baths. Snowboarding was incredible. We made it all the way to the peak which was over 3000m The first 1/4 of the mountain was a gondola ride. The rest were J-bars which are real difficult to operate on a snowboard. But, I only fell once on those and just hung on tight until it dragged me to the top. It was really cold, but I was well prepared. It was around -10*F at the peak.

That evening we were able to get to the baths before dinner. Peter Zumthor is a genius. This building is so beautiful and the atmosphere can only be experienced. Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed in the baths and there was too much snow to get pictures from the outside of the building. But I think I'm okay with that because it makes it such a rare thing to experience. Dinner was a 4 course meal, and was absolutely fantastic. Then we had a night soak in the baths which is required to be silent. It was really nice to just wonder around alone and just be silent to your thoughts. It's amazing how so many people struggle to stay silent for an hour.

Friday we were able to get a couple more hours in the baths. We had a nice brunch and then hit the road to Sumvitg. We hiked in the freezing cold about a mile up to Zumthor's St. Benedict's chapel. Though the hike was pretty rough, the chapel is also an architectural gem. The structure is absolutely beautifully done. The ride home was a little less eventful which was nice. The thermostat on Patty Partner (our nickname for our Peugeot Partner) read single digit degrees the whole way home.

Enough with the words, onto the pictures!