Category: Switzerland
The OMNIA: Swiss Alpine Hotel with Spy Appeal
The Matterhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.
Check into The OMNIA in Zermatt, Switzerland for a 007-worthy view to a thrill. Cinematically situated in a cleft valley beneath the nipple-peaked Matterhorn and accessed through a secret(ish) subterranean tunnel, this Alpine aerie has the sleek, sexy appeal of a Bond baddie’s lair. Read more about my five-star stay in Go World Travel Magazine.
The OMNIA hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.
Chilling in the Swiss Alps
Amy takes a dip in Arosa, Switzerland’s ice-cold Untersee lake. Courtesy Carmen Prantl of EisbadiArosa.
My mother has offered lots of advice over the years. Some of it I’ve heeded: “Look both ways before you cross the street.” “Always buckle your seatbelt.” Some of it I haven’t: “Don’t talk to strangers.” (As a journalist, that’s part of my job…and generally speaking, the stranger the better).
But one topic evaded her maternal warning system. “Never set foot in a frozen lake in a bikini.” Or rather, “Never set foot in a frozen lake, full stop.”
So if you’re reading this, Mum, look away now. The rest of you can read the full story in Wine Dine + Travel Magazine.
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Carmen Prantl, a volunteer with the EisbadiArosa ice-bathing organization, coaches Amy through her frozen dip in Switzerland’s Untersee lake. Courtesy Tschuggen Hotel Group.
A 007-style Adventure in the Swiss Alps
“Okay, get ready. Run!” Heart pounding, I heed the command, leaning forward as I break into a jog, feeling the hot breath of a stranger on my neck. Seconds later, as my orange-and-white paraglider catches the breeze, I’m like a cartoon character treading thin air.
The rolling foothills of the Alps quickly recede beneath me, and the palm-sweating terror I felt just moments ago is replaced with goggle-eyed awe. As the silent pilot strapped in behind me maneuvers us towards an updraft, following a pair of circling hawks, the only sound I hear is the wind rushing in my ears.
At 7,500 feet above the chilly blue-green waters of Lake Thun, the quaint Alpine chalets below resemble Monopoly houses on a field of velvet, and my feet dangle above–ABOVE!–snowcapped peaks. Glancing down, I feel as if I’m orbiting the earth in a swing.
Just as I’m beginning to feel at home in my airborne perch, strapped atop the lap of a blue-eyed enigma who holds my life in his hands, he motions to the right. There, fifty yards away, another paraglider has swooped alongside–and he is SHOOTING at us. (more…)