Has been a while… time flies… during the week, work, in weekends, travel, thats pretty much all about me.

This weekend has been a memorable one. But to illustrate that – a bit of lingvistic history: Raeto-Roman, a.k.a. Raeto-Romanisch, Rumantsch, or simply Romanisch, is a language spoken by roughly 48,000 people, only in Switzerland. It is, next to Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Sarde and Romanian the 8th “established” romance language. Amazingly, it survived till today in a remote area of Switzerland, today called “Engadin”, 2000 years ago a Roman province called “Raetia” (hence the name RAETO-Roman), hidden in the valleys of the Alps. For a languages fan, AND with a Romance language as mother tongue, Raeto-Roman is a hidden gem. Although officially the 4th national language of Switzerland, it is barely spoken today, literally in a few villages. Kids learn it in school there till 7th grade, then switch to German. In a few decades, it might be lost.. I have always wished to go once to those locations and hear it spoken. And see if I understand :). So I went this weekend.
The area is astonishing, with breathtaking mountain scenery. First I went to St.Moritz, one of the most up-scale mountain resorts in Europe. Nice, didn’t knock me off, maybe due to the dead season – they shine mostly in winter… then I took the red train to relatively unexplored Scuol, a small resort close to the Italian border. Was great. Spent the night in an old medieval house, and the landlord spoke… raeto-romanisch!

Pictures, for the atmosphere, here

Goodnight!