Through the Mountain

If we can't go over the mountain, let us pass under it. Let us go through the exhibition at San Gottardo!

I often think of my life in terms of Lord of the Rings.
Don't laugh!
Okay, it's a bit silly, but true. At at times, very helpful.
I started in the Shire (aka West Dean, West Sussex, England).
I picked up a companion who rather reminds me of an elf, certianly a mountain, woodland creature.*
Now I am in the Misty Mountains (aka the Alps).
Last week, I went through the Mines of Moria.

Last week the weather wasn't so great for hiking, so Lerice and I visited the newly opened Sasso exhibit, which is located in the caverns and tunnels of the mountain, which served as military bases during WWII.  It has is a really cool blend of new technology, art, history, and science. It was also very, very cold! And very dank and dark. For better or worse, no trolls, balrogs nor dwarves were to be found. 

Here is what Sasso says about itself:

The Gotthard is a place of myths and legends, of fables and national identity, where

bridges are built by devils and nature displays its primordial power. It is a place that

links north and south and crosses frontiers; a symbol of modernity, technical progress

and engineering brilliance. Yet here too we see the limits of progress: huge traffic jams

and the changes wrought by human beings on the Alpine environment. The mountain

range that is the Gotthard massif is a place of ambivalence, where nature and

technology, ecology and economics, openness and the fortress mentality, past and

future meet.

Facts

Total area: 7550m2

Exhibition area: 3440m2

Historic fortifications area: 3140m2

Total length of tunnels: 1789m

Altitude at entrance: 2096m above sea level

Highest point: 2217m above sea level

And some pictures!

Pictures were difficult to take in such dark places.  But I did get a few.

500 Meters (547 Yards) of this. Lerice asked me what I would do if the lights went out. "Scream," I said. You?

My favourite room- healing crystals found in the nearby mountain.

I was very happy to see light at the end of the tunnel!

Wanderer over a Sea of Mist.