Nordic Walking Around Davos Platz
Perhaps because ex-Marine and I are getting older, this was the first time that we noticed the inordinate amount of people walking...not hiking...walking. And the average age was at least 70 years old. We saw seniors, slowly walking on the level promenades, up gradual inclines (not climbing), mothers pushing baby carriages and walking hand-in-hand with little tots UP the mountain. Almost everyone using hiking sticks, doing some version of Nordic Walking and ocasionally resting on the many benches along the trails, taking in the views.
If you are curious about all this emphasis on burning calories, I have been waiting all my life for the "good fairy sisters" - "eat all you want" and "you'll never have to exercise again" - to visit but they still haven't made an appearance. This (and my high genetic cholesterol) forces me to plan two out of every three trips with some sort of exercise. Lots of walking, hiking, trekking or snowshoeing...trying desparately to get my heart rate up and burn off some of the many calories I manage to eat. It's easier and more fun than dieting and I'm also interested in some new and interesting way to burn those calories.
Nordic walking seems to be the big craze in Europe. (Walking sticks look like ski poles but have smaller baskets on the bottom and usually telescope up and down for your height.) Lexi and Komperdell are the main manufacturers and a set runs about $55 and will outlast your life expectancy. We use Lexi for our snowshoeing and hking. They collapse perfectly and fit nicely in our suitcases.
Nordic walking started as a summer training exercise for serious "cross country" skiers in Scandinavia and Davos even had Nordic Walking clinics and instructions for those who were interested. Just using those stupid looking sticks burns off 40% more calories than walking without them and builds upper body strength. The sticks are also useful in warding off aggressive dogs, impaling attackers, and whomping ex-Marine across the shins when he annoys me. When all those senior citizens weren't whizzing by us on the trails, they were sitting in the sun, wind blocked off by plexiglass...
enjoying coffee, a drink, patisseries. Sitting outside of restaurants on the corner...
...with the ubiquitous Swiss yellow hiking signs pointing in all directions... but today, we were heading up the Rhinerhorn, one of Davos' other ski mountains...
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