Beautiful Music

I'm now in another mountain resort village called Bettmeralp. Seems like most of the places in the mountains that have hotels or hostels (or at least the ones that can be booked online) are all ski resort towns. Very cute but also very touristy and filled with families and older couples. Surprisingly few single travelers so far.

My last couple of days in Leukerbad were very quiet trying to recuperate. I did happen upon an evening concert in the local church. A shy gentleman approached me on the street in the afternoon and handed me a little flyer with name of various composers (Bach, Stravinsky, Brahms, Carter (?)) and said they were playing that night in the church (there was only one church). I thought why not? I figured it would be locals playing a couple of instruments, interesting to see the local culture. Turns out it was a full string ensemble and they played beautifully! The church was small and relatively modern but gorgeous inside and packed to the gills, I think the entire town turned out. They started as a full ensemble (about 12) then went down to a quartet then a violin solo then a duet and so on. They played a wide range of music and I think one piece was by a local composer (I think that was Carter, they had her stand up for applause after the piece, but the intro was all in German so who knows what was going on) It was lovely!

I haven't explored Bettmeralp much yet. It is much higher in elevation than Leukerbad (you have to take a tram/gondola to get here!) and the view is spectacular! There are some hikes up to a glacier and a lake above the village which hopefully I'll be able to tackle if my energy holds up. My cold is mosly gone but my energy hasn't come back yet. I think more chocolate is needed.

My german is getting a little better. I know how to say "good day" "platform" (train) and "tap water". woohoo!