At times I feel extremely limited in my ability to get out and see CH. When you have a 3 year old, their only real desire is to head to the Spielplatz and swing or jump or slide. To them, that's fun. Not spending four hours on a trans-alp train, or visiting a museum, or hiking even. So we've had a lot of good family time - definitely not a bad thing.
But I learned from a co-worker about an "easy" hiking trail called the
Muggestutz. Basically it's a hiking trail for children and you can follow along with a story about some Dwarfs as you walk the trail. And along the trail are places the kids can investigate, climb on or through or whatever. It looked pretty cute. And it looked like a good opportunity to join in the typical Swiss pastime of hiking.
Long story short, the "theme" of the trail does not quite match up with the skill required to navigate the paths. We made it, but barely. I ended up carrying a sleeping and bruised boy for a third of it. Kids were biffing it all over the place. I watched one boy do a complete face plant at one point. It was some rough walking at times.
But along the way were picnic spots where families were cooking meats and such. One family had two strollers. No idea how they got them up there. We saw cows up close, horses, drank from the fresh mountain water fountains, snuck into little huts, climbed up ladders. It was a hoot. We had a blast and were VERY tired by the time we mad it back home.
So enough of the verbiage. Here is our story in pictures.
We rode to the top in 3 gondolas: 1 large one that leaves every 30 minutes and 2 smaller ones that run continuously. Basically the mountain is a ski resort and the trails go up and down the ski mountain.
After reaching the top we decided that Noah was due some well-earned play time - we had survived 2 trains and 3 gondolas. Luckily, right at the top of the hiking path is a fairly nice Spielplatz. All the parents were doing essentially the same thing - letting their kids blow off some steam for making it up the mountain in one piece.
After 15 minutes or so we decided to head off down the trail.
After not very long, we had survived a few stumbles and pinches and trips and came across a picnic area. The expert Swiss families had brought all sorts of delicious meats for grilling. But really we didn't stand out much at all - every family had their share of crankiness. The cows just sat by and were pretty happy everyone was grilling pork. There was firewood stacked for people to use, and maybe 6 or so fire pits. You could get seriously up close to the cows. Them are some BIG cows. We ate our sandwiches, drank our Ovo drink and went on our way.
Right after our food break we came across this little Zwergenhaus. Noah loved it. Except for banging his leg on a rock at one point. It didn't last long though. He was up and climbing around inside the house soon enough.
The view was spectacular. Did I say how awesome the view was? Wow. It was good.
And after making it out of the
Zwergenweg we stopped by the restaurant by the gondola and had a drink and a well-deserved popsicle. I was very surprised how good of a mood he was in after being carried asleep down 1/3 of the hike. Truth be told, we actually ditched the hiking path when we could see the chalet and a normal utility road that crossed the Wanderweg. Cheating? I think not. It's hard to carry a 40-pound sleeping lump down a mountain.
After riding the gondola back down the mountain, of course, we spent a little time in the playground. There was a zip-slide and Noah rode it probably 1000 times before we headed back to the train station to head home. He fell asleep hard this evening.
N and I went up the Gurten AGAIN on Monday to go schlitteln. The weather was supposed to turn warmer this week so it was a good thing to head up again before it all melted away. And it was a good thing too! Because yesterday it rained - pretty much all afternoon and through the evening.
Today started out cold but quickly turned fabulous. N and I purchased a sled while downtown yesterday. Just a cheapie cheapie sled. And oddly enough, there was another sled stuck to it so we got two for the price of one! Here we are before we set out on our first schlitteln adventure. I was a little worried he'd be cold but he was a real trooper. It was quite a lot of fun. The #9 tram that runs right in front of our apartment drops us off right at the base of the Gurten. From there it's a "funicular" to the top and from then on it's schlitteln schlitteln schlitteln!
So. Back to schlitteln. Loads of people out. Nice huge hill for the kids to practice skiing, or snow boarding even. But the majority of the kids were on sleds. N had never done it before and had an absolute blast. It's nice to know it's only 20 minutes from our front door and we're sleddin'.
First day of real coldness here in CH. It snowed all day yesterday. And what does it do after it snows? Why, the temperature usually dips. And, it did. So we're creating huge breakfasts of bacon (Speck), eggs and Zopf. A little Hero "Le Fruit" jelly, Tobasco and delicious, delicious coffee.
We're also baking our first batch of Christmas cookies! Yum! And a little later we're meeting up with Mia to go sledding (Schlitteln) on the Gurten.
And our (my) newest find in the local bakeries is called the "Schenkeli" ... basically a twisted doughnut strip. Here presented for artistic purposes along with 2 Schoggi-Gipfeli.
But then again, there is also the Quarkini ... basically a doughnut ball. But softer. And rolled in sugar. Tough call. They are both very delicious.
This picture is kind of hacked together, but you get the idea. This ... is the view from Alison's (and Daniel's) room in the Spital - to the ringing bells of the Berner Münster and Aare river was he born. Have to say, the staff at the hospital ... über-friendly. No problems at all with the language. Some could speak English better than others, but everyone made the effort to speak it with Alison and got a kick out of our surname and the fact that I spoke German. The only person who wouldn't switch was the public official who checked out our papers. (Her assistant did though once her boss wasn't around. Tee hee!)
When they were bringing Alison into the operating room, the attendant that prepped her would announce "English, people!" as they entered each staging room. They made every effort to make her feel comfortable.
Lots going on of late...
We also went up the Gurton to listen to Samichlous tell a story. Noah was not that impressed and was very shy the whole time as you can see from the picture.
Day one of month-long vacation, and all three of us are sick with a cold. Wunderbar!
It's Advent season here in CH-town! And what does that mean? Samichlous to see (and Schmutzli too), Lebkuchen and oranges to eat.
Meat
Cheese
This one says "If you smoke, you will die sooner". No playing around. I think the Swiss tobacco lobby lost that one. Still doesn't stop anyone from smoking though.
So the Dr's office we go to for our ultrasounds has a ... bar?!? And a grand piano? I keep trying to imagine the simple reason for a piano bar in an O.B.'s office ... haven't figured it out yet.
The Christmas season is upon us. Huge displays of Playmobile and Legos. I love all of it. If the weather is OK, we'll be attending the "Bärner Samichlous chunnt" thing in a few weeks. I'm very excited.
On Friday evening we went to the US Embassy for a pumpkin decorating party. It was fun to hang out inside the fortress so to speak. Everyone decorated and ran around like crazies. I drank a MGD. N. had animal crackers and nilla wafers. It's nice to be on American soil from time to time. Even though the beer was awful. But then again, it's about the same as Feldschlösschen.
It is getting harder and harder to type on my computer at home. I now work more on my WEIRD German/Swiss keyboard than I do on my Macbook Pro. I want to take it in and have the keyboard swapped out for the Swiss one.
Saturdays have turned into farmer's market days. We started going a month or so ago - zip down there, run through and grab local fruits and vegetables for the week. Slightly cheaper than the grocery stores, way more delicious. Also somewhat entertaining for Noah for the morning. Our neighbors though told us about the "fancy" farmer's market. It's really part of the same thing, but just behind the Zytglogge are the fancy vendors on Munstergasse - meats, cheeses, olives, more meats, more cheeses. We grabbed all the usual stuff - garlic, potatoes, blueberries, spinach. We also purchased some goat cheese from "1000 et Un Fromage". Best. Goat. Cheese. Ever. I think I want to start in on the meats soon as well - try out a few different snausages. Now that we've found the fancy place, we're going back.
... is the Zopf. I could eat one every day. They come in multiple sizes from single serving to loaf and are available in grocery stores and bakeries. Butter + goodness. There's a deli down the street from work that bakes them fresh every friday - stefs. I usually buy a loaf every week to use for sandwich bread. Sometimes, I just eat it. It's true.
