After Austria we thought it would be fun to go to a place where the German is even more difficult to understand...die Schweiz! But even though I could only comprehend maybe 20% of Swiss-German, I was quite giddy to return to my Opa's homeland. Fun fact: I have Swiss citizenship, but I don't really use it very much. I'm very proud to come from the country of delicious chocolate, beautiful alpine views, and some very efficient trains, though.
Our first stop (after a day-long train ride) was Interlaken. Neither Chrissy nor I had ever been skiing before, so naturally we decided a good place to learn was the Swiss Alps. We bid adieu to our other two more-experienced-with-snow-matters friends, donned some fierce-looking ski gear, and left for an all-day total beginners ski lesson.
Not a bad view, eh? Our instructor drove us high up into the Alps, to a place that translates roughly to "kiddy playground," where there were, in fact, many kiddos who could show me many things or two. There we learned the basics and then did a bunch of runs down the hill. I wasn't completely unsaveable, but I did wipe out about five times. OK so I won't be the next Picabo Street, but I bet I could become a really great ski lodge hot chocolate drinker.
We stayed in Interlaken two very pleasant nights at a great hostel with a full kitchen and a ping pong table - you know I showed off mah skills! (Although they are admittedly a bit rusty.) Then I headed to Zurich for some wonderful Christmas festing with my grandfather's sister and family. I stayed with my lovely Aunt Berthe and had the benefit this time of being able to communicate in German - she was nice and spoke high German with me, because, again, Swiss-German really may as well be Greek. Most days we would go to my cousin Doris' house and spend time with her brother Stefan and his family. My cute 8-year-old cousin turned out to be the perfect snowman-building partner...although we ended up with a one-eyed snow monster. I was told by my family that Zurich had more snow on Christmas this year than it has in over 20 years - lucky me! My first Sinatra-style white Christmas :)
On Christmas Eve I helped to decorate the tree and make the traditional meal, of which this is the centerpiece:
Lustig, ja? It's a ham baked in dough formed to look like a pig. I was the "ear expert."
So pig and all we had a wonderful Christmas celebration (the Swiss, like the Germans, have their traditional dinner on the night before Christmas). I'm so happy that even though I was not able to celebrate with my immediate family, I did celebrate with family. And we skyped in with the Baton Rougeans on Christmas Day, great fun. The hilarious chaos comes across even from 5000 miles away.
On the 25th we had another dinner for some more family members, and on the 26th Doris and I hiked up to the top of Zurich's mountain, the Uetliberg. Some great views. That evening Aunt Berthe and I walked around Zurich's old town at twilight and had a nommable rösti dinner. Rösti is one of my favorite Swiss dishes (think of more delicious hash browns).
On Monday we visited the Cloister at Einsiedeln and then drove up into the mountains to a pretty spot with a view of some legit skiiers in action. And that night we embarked on maybe my favorite activity of the visit, checking out Zurich's new thermal baths, housed in a renovated beer factory. So nice and relaxing. Oh, to wear a swim suit again!
Reasons I love Switzerland (maybe a bit more than Germany right now):
- every train I took was on time and a pleasant journey (take that Deutsche Bahn!)
- less fatty meat in the diet
- more delicious cheese and chocolate to compensate
- Rivella
- spending lots of a time in a car (hey, I've been deprived!)
- very nice people, even though I cannot understand them
- seeing my last name lots of places
- getting to hear lots of stories about my lovely grandfather Fritz
I hope I will be able to return later in the year with my grandparents...and I hope I have enough Swiss chocolate to last me until then.
Interlaken and Alps!!!!!
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