Hooray! It's stopped snowing. We must head for a ski resort.
Actually, I hate skiing. It's not the activity itself, but the struggle to get dressed in all that puffed-up gear, then the queue for the lift, then the wait until the slope is clear, and then the ridiculously quick descent, so quick I've always ended up wondering why I've bothered to struggle so long with my salopettes.
But although I hate skiing, I love mountains. So we head for St Moritz, in Switzerland's Alps, for late spring sun and high altitude.
This ritzy resort is best known as a backdrop for James Bond films and for welcoming rather wealthier guests, from Christina Onassis to Tina Turner and the Aga Khan. The Italian prime minister and business tycoon Silvio Berlusconi has a house there.
But outside the skiing season, when even the salupettes are Chanel, it becomes surprisingly affordable and five-star accommodation strays within a family's reach. We stayed at the gorgeous Kempinski Grand Hotel de les Bains, stuffed with soft furnishings and run with Swiss efficiency.
Our waiter at breakfast greeted us each morning with a bouncy, "What is your programme for today?" Our teenager groaned. Her programme, of course, was to do nothing at all except stare at the mountains.
In spring, prices plummet and so does the age of the average visitor, as families like ours flock to town on the Glacier Express train. The circus also arrives, pitching a tent on the small park.
Instead of zooming down the slopes at impossible speed, everyone is engaged in more gentle adventures, from mountain biking to rowing on the cool, calm waters of the lake. At the cluster of old cafes in town, small children sip syrupy hot chocolate and lick honey cakes.
We could still take a cable car to the mountaintops, but without the crowds. And we could still enjoy lunch with a view from a summit restaurant. The seven-year-old twins had endless fun with a fondue fork. With all that dipping and dripping, fondue must be the most child-friendly meal.
All three kids were thrilled to discover there was little history and no culture to bore them and obligate me. There is a small museum, but it's not a highlight of the town. The history of St Moritz is the history of its grand hotels, the Grand Hotel de les Bain being the first, setting a trend for St Moritz as a meeting point for the well-off.
But there is, of course, a little bit of literary heritage in the fictitious Heidi; we climbed up to her wooden hut and followed the Heidi Flower Trail along the mountainside. We didn't spot the elusive edelweiss, but we did collect a lot of pine cones.
And the surrounding hills weren't alive with music, but the sound of kids shouting. It was like playing hide and seek at the top of the world - and for free. This, on top of all the money I saved on salopettes.
Do you have family travel tips that you'd like to share? E-mail Dea at dbirkett@thenational.ae
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
CRICKET%20WORLD%20CUP%20LEAGUE%202
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)