Little escapes

Sometimes you just have to drop everything and escape the daily grind. I did that to myself twice this week.

It’s not as if my everyday life is dramatic. But the days quickly fill up with unspectacular little things and obligations that end up turning into a monotonous, seemingly uniform mishmash that leaves no lasting memories. And sometimes it’s just a blanket of gray clouds that you want to escape from, knowing that a bright blue sky and sunshine are waiting above.

The advantage of Switzerland

In Switzerland, it is relatively easy to do this thanks to the Alps. You sit on a train and two hours later you are standing at the start of a hiking trail, looking up at a peak that you want to hike to. Far away from the gray, everyday life and crowds. If you go during the week. At the weekends, many Swiss people take advantage of this kind of escape and, depending on the route, there are lots of people there too. With my flexible time management, however, I was able to enjoy the whole thing on a Tuesday and almost free of people. 

Gantrisch Nature Park

A wonderful day hike, for which I met up with my hiking buddy in Bern, took me to the peaks of Bürgle, Gemsflueh, Schibespitz and Gantrisch. This is not my first hike over these mountains. I love this area at the transition from low mountain range to alpine peaks. It has a very special charm, especially at this time of year. The meadows are yellow-brown, the mountains on the horizon are white, the sky is deep blue and there is mist in the valleys. Or, as at the moment, the sea of fog under which life takes place in gray. I was glad that I managed to get out for a hike after my return from New York. This hiking season with the long and cool first part of the summer was so short.

Managing exhibitions

What else happened worth mentioning: Last Sunday my exhibition “Sichtweisen / Point of views” in Laufen came to an end. So on Monday I was busy taking down the remaining pictures from the exhibition and bringing them back to Basel. They are now in my showroom waiting to be sorted. Some of the pictures will be exhibited here in Basel, others are intended for an exhibition in New York. But I haven’t decided on the details yet. This is an item on my to-do list that will keep me busy in the coming week. As soon as I know more, I will of course report back here.

Dazzling variety in the city

Basel is still completely absorbed by Herbstmäss, the annual fall fair. Every time I look out of one of my windows at home, I can see the rides, which, especially on the long, dark evenings, provide some cheer with their bright colors and their movements. The streets are filled with people and the smell of food. It almost feels a bit like New York when you can’t move as fast as you’d like on the sidewalk because there are simply too many pedestrians. All in all, the fair offers also great opportunities to little escapes from everyday life. Be it to get your adrenaline pumping on a ride, to indulge in an insulin rush caused by all the sweets or simply to enjoy the slightly different atmosphere in the city. I did the latter on a walk on an otherwise rather quiet weekend and it felt just perfect.

See all Photos of this week