Andrea said that you can tell a good barman by what happens when he leaves the room. They are irreplaceable for the atmosphere of a bar. Mario at the Palace Bar had been such a man. For fourty-seven years, he learned the craft and then took over the bar for ten years. Naturally, this was something of a suicide mission – like becoming president after someone very legendary. Yet he succeeded. After his decade at the Palace, he moved to Greece, came back, set up his own business in Silvaplana and eventually joined the Kulm. A few phone calls were exchanged, and when he heard that Mauro Colagreco – a manager from Menton, an intangible UNESCO World Heritage Site – was also starting here, he agreed without hesitation.

Later, I sat outside on the terrace in the sun, wearing short sleeves. Every now and then, a waiter would come by and ask if I needed anything else. From my seat, I could see the frozen lake and watch people on the ice: families skating or playing ice hockey and one who was skating with real elegance. I imagined that this must be a Russian aristocrat from the way she was doing her pirouettes. The sky was a brilliant blue, and  to my right, the Kulm logo stood out against the snow. In front of me sat a new drink glistening in the sun. It was hard to picture this place full of people at night. But Andrea had assured me that the club wouldn’t remain as it was now.