Cotti Agricultura at Alp Flix

Back to Switzerland …  On our way home back from St Moritz, we spent a night at a sheep farm at Alp Flix. 

Click on the link to see our earlier posts on St Moritz, and the nearby Julierpass.

Alp Flix is a protected moorland situated on a plateau of between 1900 and 2000 m altitude, lies within the boundary of Parc Ela – the largest nature park in Switzerland.

The farm Cotti Agricultura is in the hamlet of Tgalucas (top right corner on the map; 1970 m, 6463 feet).  Their web site in German (possibly Swiss German) is here.

To get to the farm, we turned into the village of Sur just after descending from Julierpass on A3. There is a restaurant/hotel, and a church. We saw hunters dressed in camouflage standing next to their truck having a smoke. Wondered what they were hunting.

We continued on the road and started ascending into the low-lying clouds. The paved road became a gravel path lined with two rows of bricks. Conifers lined the road.

After a short climb, we reached the flat plateau which gave us the impression of entering a separate otherworldly realm. The village below was no longer visible, nor were the mountains ahead/above us.

Alp Flix is apparently a popular place for hiking. Cotti Agricultura is not only a farm, it is also a cafe/bar/restaurant, sells home-made milk and cheese, and provides simple accommodation.

The front of the farmhouse has been converted into a reception, a bar and an open kitchen area. When we drove up to the farm and checked in, we were told to park the car at a public parking area about 10 minutes downhill.

Reluctantly, we drove back down to leave the car and walked back. We saw the largest (poisonous) mushroom ever.

It was a nice fresh walk as the drizzle had paused.

Tgalucas

We met the resident shepherd on the kitchen floor – a very smart and alert animal.

The day was grey and misty but it added a lot of mood to the moorland. Cotti Agricultura kept only sheep and we noticed the smallish milking machines. The owner noted that cattle farming requires more land and a much larger scale of operation.

But we did not see any sheep. Perhaps they were all herded up into the mountain to take advantage of the summer pastures, as we were there in early September. We believe they all went up the road that runs alongside a stream behind the farm.

Our dinner (lamb chop, unsurprisingly) was served in a small dining room behind the kitchen. It was spacious for 15 diners. The back of the dining room was a wine “cellar” and behind it, with its own entrance from the outside, the toilets and shower area.

The main reason we chose to stay at Cotti Agricultura was the yurts. They had installed five for guest accommodation. For us, the concept was “camping” in the Alps.

A traditional yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or pelt and used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes of Central Asia.

The yurts are a gimmick and it was popular with visitors. All were booked that evening. No animal pelts were used to make these tents. The white plastic-lined, wood-framed tents were a bit sterile, minimally decorated by a door painted with ethnic motifs.

Next to our yurt, there was a tiny sauna. Nobody used it. For us, we would not enjoy it as, it was rather wet and chilly when you come out. Maybe Scandinavians would like it.

There was no running water or toilet in the yurt. The farmhouse was very close-by so it was not a problem (not for us anyway, since our yurt was the closest to the house).

The yurt felt very roomy inside, except the lack of headroom. We had a circular bed, a couple of stools, and a sideboard. There was a wood-burning fireplace with a chimney sitting on a slab of concrete in the middle of the tent.

There was not a need to use the heater but the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning did cross my mind. No electricity, so we used the provided candles for light. We liked the idea of getting away from modern amenities, like wifi, for just one night. It rained a bit overnight. We slept fine as we must be tired.

Woke up to fresh air, similar foggy grey skies, wet grass. Felt alive and well.

We left after a big breakfast, and rejoined A3 heading towards Albula and then Chur. Our next stop before reaching home was Mount Pilatus near Lucerne.

Page One Bookstore 叶一堂, Beijing

This is the second post on two very different bookstores in Beijing which I(Chris) visited before the pandemic.

Page One is a bookstore chain and publisher founded in Singapore in 1983 by Mark Tan (陈家强), with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand, and in China (early 2010’s).

This Page One bookstore in Beijing was located in the historically commercial area of Qianmen 前門 (Zhengyangmen (正阳门) and Dashilan 大栅栏, just south of Tiananmen Square.  It is now a very touristy area filled with people, souvenir stores and chain restaurants – all housed in faked old Chinese buildings.

The bookstore is situated on a side street, away from the horde. The interior cannot be more different from the chaos on the street. It is a quieter, dimly-lit, cavernous space filled with books wall to wall.

Unlike typical bookstores, it did not feel claustrophobic despite the number of volumes on display.  The minimalist approach to decoration helped to maintain a calm, almost contemplative ambiance.

The overall brightness in-store was dark but the merchandises were all adequately lit and highlighted, inviting one to browse.

Like all modern bookstores, they sell toys and dolls. I guess that is one way to lure kids into a bookstore.

On each floor, several architecturally-attractive substructures were erected to create a small area separate from the main floor.

.Some of the spaces are isolating and intimate, allowing the shopper some private time with their books.

Some are display platforms while another is for enjoying a coffee.

The cafe was operated by Kyoto Ogawa Coffee, names of the origins of the beans were in English.

The upper floors resemble a more traditional bookstore with a wood-color tone on one floor, except there were books displayed in the ceiling. Interesting but not practical for consumers.

The surprise for any first-time visitor is the dramatically-framed view of the south-facing facade of Archery Tower 箭楼, one of several buildings that constitute Qiamen 前門 or Zhengyangmen 正阳门 which once guarded the southern entry into the Imperial inner City

The Archery Tower is positioned on the central north-south axis of Beijing aligned with the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, the Tiananmen Gate itself, and the imperial throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, the city’s Drum and Bell Towers and the entrance to the Olympic Green in the far north.

Another floor of the bookstore concentrating on the arts and literature has a plain white theme.

Photography section

Page One began as a small shop stocking handpicked art and design books in Singapore, accumulated a loyal following over the years and evolved into a brand.  We believe there are other Page One bookstores in Beijing, in Guomao – the China World Trade Center 中国国际贸易中心 and in Sanlitun 三里屯. 

However, the shops outside China have been closed in Singapore in 2011, Taiwan in 2015 and Hong Kong in November 2016. We can imagine the competition Page One was facing with Taiwan’s Eslite Bookstore in the same markets. See our post on Eslite Spectrum in Hong Kong. 

We cannot see the Taiwanese Eslite opening a bookstore in China, let alone in Beijing. Page One is safe for now but it had to subject itself to self-censorship – books that criticize the Chinese communist party were not stocked.

This post is written in 2021, we are not sure if this bookstore in Beijing is still operating after the pandemic. I am quite sure the Wangfujing Bookstore (featured in an earlier post) is still around.

If you have not read our earlier post on the other Beijing bookstore, click here.  What a contrast !

Wangfujing Bookstore 王府井书店, Beijing

The following two posts are about two very different bookstores in Beijing, both visited before the pandemic.

The first is Wanfujing Bookstore, situated at the beginning of Wangfujing Dajie (王府井大街), in Dongcheng district 東城區 of central Beijing.

I (Chris) was on a business trip and I dragged a very patient colleague along to this bookstore.  I hope you also enjoy this indulgence of mine.

Let’s start with some music made by guzheng 古箏, an instrument sold in this store.

The bookstore is one of the city’s biggest and most comprehensive bookstores, occupying an entire building.

Five above-ground floors are dedicated to books and cultural products. The entrance featured a counter for stamp collectors and a table of books on Xi Jinping thoughts and communist party teachings.

Floor 1 sells books on social science and philosophy; politics, law, and history; business and management; finance and securities; travel and geography –  “一层经营：社科哲学、政法历史、经济管理、财政金融、旅游地理”.

A more literal translation of the sign below says “test preparation books for lawyers”.

A selection of biographies of famous world leaders -e.g.,  Obama, Hilary, Macron, Angela, Thatcher, Justin, Lee Kuan Yew 李光耀, Moon Jae-In 文在寅 and Gandhi.

Floor 2: foreign languages, primary and secondary education text books – “二层经营：外语、初等教育、中等教育、汉语、教理科普”  Floor 3:  children’s books – “三层经营：少儿读物”

Chinese classics (e.g., 吶喊) and translated classics (e.g., Little Prince, Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (20,000 leagues under the seas).

My favorite is Floor 4: chinese and foreign literature, arts and pictorials, music and theatre; imported originals –  “四层经营：中国文学、外国文学、美术画册、音乐戏剧、进口原版”

I cannot resist snapping a picture of this section on floor 4 with books on aesthetics – “assthetic”.

According to the bookstore’s web page, the bookstore played a big role in educating Beijing’s citizens about the spirit of Olympics movement, in preparation for the 2008 Summer Games.  Many hilarious or embarrassing translation gaffes and mistakes were corrected or removed during this time.  This is a new one but a lot less obvious.

Calligraphy brushes, and volumes of famous calligraphic works and stone inscription rubbings.

The floors of the bookstore that stocked cultural products other than books reminded me of a Chinese government-owned department store (Yue Wah 裕華國貨) near where I lived in Hong Kong.

Western art supplies

There is a separate gallery for scrolls and paintings.  This floor also sells small electronics and music.

First time I saw so many guzheng on sale. Hope you tried the Spotify link above.

Floor 5:  medical and biology; living and health- “五层经营：医学生物、生活保健”

Drinking tea is good for your health.

There are several shelves full of books on Kungfu (or more literally Wuxia) – this section focusing on Wing Chun style. The selection here must be the richest and unique in the world.

The top floor provides a multi-functional space cultural exchange activities, such as lectures. The bookstore was founded on the same year that Peoples’ Republic of China was established – February 10, 1949. I think it is owned or at least supported by the government.

I do not remember what this model was for.

Superior fine books are displayed behind glass (English translation says “recommended books” which is not accurate).

It moved to the current address in 1950, expanded and renovated in 1970 and 2000. In 1994, Wangfujin Dajie was designated as a commercial street and the whole area was rebuilt with modern shops while many streets are pedestrianized.

The basement floor has a food court that was closed.

I bought several books on art and travel within China. Really wished I had more time.

 

Bauhaus-Museum Weimar

After Dessau, our next stop was Weimar, 100 or so kilometers southwest, two plus hours by DB.  The central German city is well known because of its rich cultural heritage and its importance in German history.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the literary figure, lived most of his creative life here since 1775.  Together with Friedrich Schiller, the city was a hotbed of the German Enlightenment.  In the 19th century, Franz Liszt made Weimar a music centre.  The political history of 20th-century Weimar was volatile: it was the place where Germany’s first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War, giving its name to the Weimar Republic period in German politics (1918–33).  Weimar was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996 (Bauhaus) and 1998 (Classical Weimar).

We came here because the Bauhaus School (Staatliches Bauhaus) was founded here in 1919.  Walter Gropius, a renowned architect, took over the Grand Duccal Academy of Art and the School of Applied Arts and rechristened the combined institution the Bauhaus.

The School lasted from 1919 to 1925, when it moved to Dessau, after the newly elected right-wing Thuringian council put pressure on the school by withdrawing funding and forcing its teachers to quit.

Our focus was the new Bauhaus-Museum Weimar opened in April 2019 which presents the Gropius Collection, the world’s oldest collection of original Bauhaus works.  Another new museum dedicated to Bauhaus was also opened in Dessau in 2019 to commemorate the centenary occasion (see our earlier post here).

The site for the museum in downtown Weimar was carefully chosen – Weimarhallenpark – which forms a historical area with the Neue Museum (which we visited) and the Gauforum buildings (see photo below) built in 1937 as a symbol of Nazi power and later used by the National Socialist movement.

When the Bauhaus School was forced to leave Weimar in 1925, museum director Wilhelm Koehler chose 168 pieces and started an archive authorized by Walter Gropius.  Hidden inside unopened crates in the City Castle, the collection survived the Nazi years and was inventoried in 1950’s.

The museum exhibition on three floors focuses on the design icons who taught and worked at the School, and their works.

With a multidisciplinary focus, the museum features works of fine art, design and architecture.

Gropius argued that a new period of history had begun with the end of the First World War.  In 1923, Gropius had proclaimed the guiding principle for those working at the Bauhaus: “Art and Technology –  a new unity !”

Bauhaus cradle following the “color of shapes” idea of Kandinsky.

Instead of the traditional painting or drawing classes, the students were all expected to learn a craft and were designated as apprentices and journeyman. The instructors were “Masters”. The artists or “masters of form” taught color theory and design, and led workshops together with “masters of crafts”.

Swiss painter Johannes Itten, German-American painter Lyonel Feininger, and German sculptor Gerhard Marcks, along with Gropius, comprised the faculty of the Bauhaus in 1919.

The famed 1923 door handles by Gropius

He wanted to create a new architectural style to reflect this new era. His style in architecture and consumer goods was to be functional, cheap and consistent with mass production.

To these ends, Gropius wanted to reunite art and craft to arrive at high-end functional products with artistic merit.

Feininger’s wood cut

By the following year the School’s ranks had grown to include German painter, sculptor, and designer Oskar Schlemmer who headed the theatre workshop, and Swiss painter Paul Klee, joined in 1922 by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky.

In 1922, the School also saw the move of Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg to Weimar to promote De Stijl (“The Style”), and a visit to the Bauhaus by Russian Constructivist artist and architect El Lissitzky.

The school existed in three German cities—Weimar, from 1919 to 1925; Dessau, from 1925 to 1932; and Berlin, from 1932 to 1933—under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928; Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930; and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933.

Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe in 1929

A New Bauhaus school was founded in Chicago, later becoming the Institute of Design, part of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mies van der Rohe was the dean of architecture and designed its campus.

Walter Gropius went on to accept a teaching position at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; several Bauhaus artists designed and built over 4,000 Bauhaus buildings (called the White City) in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

The influences of Bauhaus on the idea of modernism, art and architecture, design and crafts, culture and education are deep, transformative and global.

This is the last post on our 2019 Bauhaus pilgrimage.  There were just so much to see, read and digest.  We can do this again and will learn something completely new.