when I casually met yours and Sanchez’s books, some four years ago, I was a little into perfumes, very much into great writing. now I’m much more into perfumes, just the same into great writing. so, as far as I’m concerned, go on writing about whatever you feel like (as long as you don’t put perfumes aside… again 😊)
Dear Luca Turin, I knew your name because I love perfumes. Reading these words of yours, now I love you. That is all. Plus, now adjusting travel plans to include Swiss venues I knew nothing about, but now long for…
Reading you writing about something other than perfume, reminded me the feeling I once had when I met my favorite actor at a party and discover that besides throwing punches in the villains faces, he’s also well mannered and polite dude. Strange but pleasant, Dzing! is apparently your “spirit perfume”!
Very good description. In the last ten years the Engadin has become the playground for rich people from Zurich. They are everywhere. I know it because I was one of them - but than I did not make the cut from rich to very rich. Example: family holidays in a good hotel, not luxury, will cost you easily 7000 CHF for a week (with two kids). The Engadin is what Palm Springs or Malibu are for the
wealthy of LA, or Capri for the Naples or Milan crowd.
Anyway: Proust wrote beautifully about it. So did Thomas Mann and Robert Musil.
I had the good fortune of viewing Engadine on a daytime train trip from St. Moritz. Even from behind the train’s windows I was enchanted. I recall wide flatlands surrounded by majestic mountains. The area seemed pristine, underpopulated, a dreamy landscape in which one could while away the hours just gazing upon a seemingly undiscovered loveliness. That was in the late 1990s, and I’m sure the area was far more populous and modern than I imagined. I’m almost afraid to return. I don’t want to shatter the memory of that beautiful trip. Of course merely viewing it from a train hardly counts as a true visit, but I care not. Travel by rail is one of the best ways to look, don’t touch, don’t despoil the natural beauty. Who am I lying to, of course. I’d return in a heartbeat. Thank you for stirring up a treasured travel memory.
Romansh is the same as the Ladinic language my mother spoke ( from the Italian Dolomites region). Engadine has a very difficult geological history to unravel and indeed some of the best alpine landscapes. Well worth a visit beyond skiing in St Moritz. Greetings from a rock sniffer!
These strange language anomalies are probably due to foreign armies getting lost or “imboscati” centuries ago in isolated places. Bergamo is another example, incomprehensible dialect and a name that clearly comes from “mountain refuge” in German. Some stranded lanzichenecchi probably.
Seems thrice reputable does not necessarily equate to clever. How could this masterpiece be neglected otherwise. My favourite writing, alongside Meades.
Votre billet m'enchante et me fait rire à l'heure du café dans un bistrot Parisien. Vive aussi le Val Fex, ses traîneaux et la traversée du lac Maloja vers le village des Giacometti.
when I casually met yours and Sanchez’s books, some four years ago, I was a little into perfumes, very much into great writing. now I’m much more into perfumes, just the same into great writing. so, as far as I’m concerned, go on writing about whatever you feel like (as long as you don’t put perfumes aside… again 😊)
Dear Luca Turin, I knew your name because I love perfumes. Reading these words of yours, now I love you. That is all. Plus, now adjusting travel plans to include Swiss venues I knew nothing about, but now long for…
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Reading you writing about something other than perfume, reminded me the feeling I once had when I met my favorite actor at a party and discover that besides throwing punches in the villains faces, he’s also well mannered and polite dude. Strange but pleasant, Dzing! is apparently your “spirit perfume”!
Ha! Thank you.
Very good description. In the last ten years the Engadin has become the playground for rich people from Zurich. They are everywhere. I know it because I was one of them - but than I did not make the cut from rich to very rich. Example: family holidays in a good hotel, not luxury, will cost you easily 7000 CHF for a week (with two kids). The Engadin is what Palm Springs or Malibu are for the
wealthy of LA, or Capri for the Naples or Milan crowd.
Anyway: Proust wrote beautifully about it. So did Thomas Mann and Robert Musil.
I had a feeling you would comment! No idea it was that expensive. Where did Proust mention it?
https://www.amazon.de/Proust-im-Engadin-Luzius-Keller/dp/3455403506
Thank you for the article on Engadine! I was in the travel business for 20+ years and somehow never knew of it.
100% here for the Folio-style work; that's an absolute favorite book
Thank you!
I had the good fortune of viewing Engadine on a daytime train trip from St. Moritz. Even from behind the train’s windows I was enchanted. I recall wide flatlands surrounded by majestic mountains. The area seemed pristine, underpopulated, a dreamy landscape in which one could while away the hours just gazing upon a seemingly undiscovered loveliness. That was in the late 1990s, and I’m sure the area was far more populous and modern than I imagined. I’m almost afraid to return. I don’t want to shatter the memory of that beautiful trip. Of course merely viewing it from a train hardly counts as a true visit, but I care not. Travel by rail is one of the best ways to look, don’t touch, don’t despoil the natural beauty. Who am I lying to, of course. I’d return in a heartbeat. Thank you for stirring up a treasured travel memory.
Romansh is the same as the Ladinic language my mother spoke ( from the Italian Dolomites region). Engadine has a very difficult geological history to unravel and indeed some of the best alpine landscapes. Well worth a visit beyond skiing in St Moritz. Greetings from a rock sniffer!
Thanks. I get confused because Ladino is also the language of the Jews of Thessaloniki, and my knowledge of linguistics runs out.
These strange language anomalies are probably due to foreign armies getting lost or “imboscati” centuries ago in isolated places. Bergamo is another example, incomprehensible dialect and a name that clearly comes from “mountain refuge” in German. Some stranded lanzichenecchi probably.
Birgem!
Seems thrice reputable does not necessarily equate to clever. How could this masterpiece be neglected otherwise. My favourite writing, alongside Meades.
From this I’m ready to visit at a moments notice. Sounds intriguing and entrancing.
Votre billet m'enchante et me fait rire à l'heure du café dans un bistrot Parisien. Vive aussi le Val Fex, ses traîneaux et la traversée du lac Maloja vers le village des Giacometti.
Aha! Thank you.
This is beautiful, thank you! We are blessed here in this private club.