UBC October 2026 - Make your month about living

It's the final day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge (UBC), and what better way to wrap up October than combining it with another episode of A'lil Hoohaa's monthly photo blogging challenge? Here's more info about it.

October's theme was "Make your month about living", and I think I've got five photos that fit the bill!

And since we're talking about challenges, if you've been following along with my videos, you might also have spotted my little invitation to fellow bloggers to join the A Lil Hoohaa video challenge. Because why should the fun stop when the blogging challenge ends? 

So here goes:

Hubby and I were fortunate enough to finally have some time off work, and we got to explore a handful of destinations in and beyond Switzerland.

It's fair to say we were living the good life.

Let's start with Graubünden. Last month I told you about this gorgeous mountain lake called Lai da Palpuogna and hoped to return to see how the larches were progressing. I did!  Here's an instagram post about it so I don't have to use it as one of my five photos this month!

One of the highlights of Graubünden is the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), whose spectacular routes wind through the Alpine landscape. The railway operates the famous Glacier Express jointly with the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn, but it's the engineering of the RhB's own Albula and Bernina lines that really fascinates me.

The trains negotiate steep gradients without cogwheels, thanks to ingenious routes that wind through the mountains. Two particularly spectacular examples are the Landwasser Viaduct, (above) which curves straight into a cliffside tunnel, and the Brusio Spiral Viaduct (below), where the track loops around in a full circle to manage the change in elevation. Railway engineering at its finest!

When we passed through the charming mountain village of Bergün in September, we decided to return for a closer look. Its traditional houses are so beautifully maintained that they almost look like a film set for a Swiss mountain-village story.

There's an interesting twist to Bergün's history. When the RhB arrived in 1903, hopes were high that the railway would bring a tourism boom. An impressive Kurhaus opened in 1905–06, but the First World War interrupted those ambitions, and Bergün never became the grand resort some had envisaged. It retained much of its historic character, which is part of its charm today.

Of course, beautiful old buildings and well-maintained hotels are two very different things. We were about to discover that the latter was not necessarily Bergün's strongest selling point!

When we arrived, the lobby was unattended. Once we finally checked in, we discovered that our room was freezing cold. We switched on the rather outdated radiator, but even when we returned from dinner, the room hadn't exactly become cozy.

When booking, I'd noticed that guests could choose between rooms with private bathroom facilities and rooms with shared showers and toilets on the floor. What I hadn't anticipated was that our room's private bathroom would look as though someone had retrofitted a portable toilet into it.

Breakfast was equally underwhelming. There were a few slices of bread, cut in half. I couldn't help wondering whether they were leftovers from the bread baskets restaurants typically serve with salads. If so, that would mean they were at least a day old.

When we checked out, the front desk was unattended yet again. We left the key, pointed out that the hotel already had our credit card details, and headed off. We never got the chance to answer the question, “How did you like your stay with us?” Perhaps that was just as well.

Our next stop was Livigno, in Italy. We crossed two Alpine passes, the Albula and the Bernina, both reaching elevations of around 2,300 meters = 7,545 feet . We'd wanted to visit this remote mountain town for a long time.

Livigno has a special customs status rooted in its history of isolation. Winters were once particularly harsh, with heavy snowfall cutting the community off from the outside world and forcing residents to rely on their own supplies. Its special tax arrangements developed over several centuries, with the Napoleonic era playing an important role. Today, the duty-free status attracts plenty of Swiss visitors.

Livigno was also one of the host locations for the 2026 Winter Olympics, alongside Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. We suspected that the preparations for the Games had brought investment to the town, because everything looked remarkably spruced up.

The hotel was the complete opposite of the one we'd stayed in the night before. We received a warm welcome, were upgraded to a beautiful room with a proper bathroom, and enjoyed plentiful meals at both dinner and breakfast. The service was attentive and friendly throughout.

And all of this for €uro 120, compared with CHF 155 for the previous night's experience. That's approximately USD 133 versus USD 188!

After taking in so many sights along the way, we treated ourselves to a break at a rather special café. It was right next to a beautiful park, with tall, mature trees providing a wonderfully peaceful setting. Sometimes, a good coffee and a little time to relax are all you need.

This experience inspired me to start a little café challenge of my own. I wrote a separate post about it, so check it out if you're in the mood for some coffee and cinnamon rolls!

I hope you enjoyed my five!

As always, don’t forget to check out the posts from my fellow bloggers participating in this month’s challenge!

Before you leave, let me get back to your questions!

On my post about Colmar, Martha asked, “How did the people create such beautiful buildings back before there were heavy construction machines, and how have they remained so well preserved?”

I think it was a combination of skilled craftsmanship, traditional building techniques, and generations of care. People built by hand, using local materials and knowledge passed down through generations. Alsace also changed hands between France and Germany several times, yet Colmar's historic centre escaped much of the widespread destruction seen elsewhere in Europe during World War II, although the region itself experienced fierce fighting. Today, careful preservation and restoration help keep this beautiful heritage alive. We're so lucky to still be able to wander these streets and admire it all!

And Lily wondered how Alsace's cuisine came about.

That's actually a fascinating part of the region's history! Alsace has changed hands between France and Germany several times over the centuries, and both cultures have left their mark on its food. You can see it in dishes like choucroute (sauerkraut served with various meats), tarte flambée, and, of course, Kougelhopf. Geography played a role, too: Alsace sits right on the Rhine, so cultural influences and culinary traditions have crossed the border for centuries. I find it fascinating how food tells the story of a region!

Finally, on my post about the abandoned hockey game due to ice damage, Jeanine said, “I hope Colin's team doesn't have to forfeit the game.”

Well, we've just received the news: the game has to be replayed! So there's no win on paper for either team. Instead, the players get another chance to settle things on the ice.

There is one small complication, though. We had already made other plans for the day, assuming our hockey schedule was clear. Those plans involve a family lunch in the Lucerne area, while the rescheduled game is in Bern Bethlehem (yes, that's a real town in Switzerland!). Let's just say we're doing some hockey maths over here!