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.