![\"Dornach](\"https:\/\/www.jmcw.blog\/swissblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2013\/01\/DSCF5456.jpg\" "\\"Dornach")
<\/a>Unusually designed homes are common in Dornach.<\/p><\/div>\n
The train ride from Gumligen to Dornach is 1 hour 40 minutes with 2 changes.\u00a0 For us, now familiar with both of the train stations where we needed to change (Basel and Bern) this was easy.\u00a0 We know to take something to read; we know we\u2019ll be warm and comfortable.\u00a0\u00a0 Arriving in Dornach and getting our bearings (all our destination points were programmed into our GPS), we headed up to see the Goetheanum.\u00a0 Up being the key word.\u00a0 A few slips on icy walkways, but no tumbles, and it was easily found.\u00a0 Outside it is<\/em> imposing, but it seemed institutional with its massive concrete walls and mostly small windows.\u00a0 Inside, unusual angles and curves proved interesting and vari-colored walls warmed the look.\u00a0 We saw photos and models of the 1st<\/sup> Goetheanum and wondered why, as beautiful as it had been, Steiner\u2019s second design was so much less graceful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Curves and angles in the Goetheanum Interior<\/p><\/div>\n We then hiked further uphill to the ruins of Dorneck Castle.\u00a0\u00a0 As is common practice, it was built on a high and rocky promontory.\u00a0 Much of the exterior wall remains, though the inside is closed to visitors in winter.\u00a0 Footprints in the snow led us around the building, but we missed the same turning of the path as someone before us, and had to climb the hillside a bit.\u00a0 For me it felt like the 1st<\/sup> time in weeks I needed to use my whole body, hauling myself up with tree branches.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sir Jon at Dornach Castle<\/p><\/div>\n Continuing our walk, we skirted a horse farm, watched lots of sledders enjoying the hillsides, and made our way to the Hermitage, a landscaped park from 1785.\u00a0 We were a bit cold and tired by now, so we didn\u2019t try circumnavigating its 3 lakes in the snow or climbing to Schloss Birseck, a partially-restored palace.<\/p>\n Sledders shared our trail in Dornach<\/p><\/div>\n Our last stop was the Arlesheim Cathedral.\u00a0 Erected in a mere 2.5 years, it has a simple enough exterior, but the inside is pure Baroque candy:\u00a0 dozens of plaster cupids and flower garlands, more pink than one expects in a church, carved choir stalls, and marble altars and pillars.<\/p>\n Cupids were plentiful in Arlesheim Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Carved choir stalls in Arlesheim Cathedral<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Proceeding again to the Goetheanum, we paused in their caf\u00e9 for sustenance, and then heard the delightfully well-executed concert by the Dornach Symphony.<\/p>\n With more than half an hour until the next train, we extended our day out with dinner in the only available restaurant, The Pergola.\u00a0 \u00a0We\u2019ve been in Switzerland a while now and we think we\u2019re used to the high prices, but a cup of cooked pasta with a little sauce for 22 Francs?\u00a0 Worse than Bern!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Winter is a mixed blessing.\u00a0 We rather enjoy the loveliness:\u00a0 snow here seems always to be soft and fluffy, clinging to trees, and the streets never seem to accumulate the dirty slush that I remember from St. Louis, I suppose … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>