The Hemingways In Schruns

When the cold, damp, grey air of Winter hit Paris, the Hemingways would head to Switzerland or Austria for the dry cold air, the skiing, and a roaring fire in the lodge.
These photos are from Schruns, Austria, taken in 1925. Ernest, Hadley, and Bumby.

Ernest In Switzerland

Ernest and Hadley liked to get out of the damp cold of Paris in the winter for the clean air of alpine Switzerland and Austria.
They'd rent a cabin or find a hotel to use as a base camp to ski and hike from.
Ernest always ended up with skin browned by the high altitude sun.
These photos were taken in Gstaad, Switzerland in 1927.

They Wintered In The Alps

Gstaad, Berner Oberland

Almost as soon as they found their first Paris apartment
the Hemingways traveled to the Alps for a few weeks of skiing.
This became a ritual, wintering in the Swiss and Austrian
Alps to escape the dreariness and dampness of Paris in the winter.

A Map of Hemingway's Area of Paris

(Click to enlarge.)







Hemingway did not write much at the first apartment. He took a room in a hotel around the corner at 39 rue Descartes. It was the same building where the poet Verlaine had died.
In the first chapter of "A Moveable Feast" Hemingway is already making plans to leave Paris to escape the dreariness of the winter rain. He makes plans with Hadley to go to Le Avants, Switzerland where the air was crisp and clear in the winter. He decided to give up his studio at 39 rue Descartes to save money so they could leave Paris.