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Published: December 27th 2010
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Shoveling snow
Dani's Driveway Merry Christmas! Wow what an eventful weekend, full of tons of new adventures, which definitely helped ease being away from home on the holidays. Friday I woke up to Switzerland covered in SNOW! It was so beautiful. It was really coming down so Dani and I bundled up to go shovel the driveway. This was a first for me, and wow is it a good workout. It was so frustrating though, about the time you have one area done and start another you turn around and everything is covered up again. We got most of it cleared away so that the family could park in her driveway. After relaxing for a bit we started to get everything ready for Christmas Eve dinner. We set the table for a wonderful, authentic, Swiss cheese fondue. Dani’s grandma and uncle joined us for the night and we had a great time. After dinner we headed to the Christmas tree. We lit the candles, which included sparklers, and tried to guess which would be the last one to burn out. I guessed right 😊. When we were done with that we passed out presents and took turns opening them. I got some really nice gifts.
Dani got me a mini fondue set so I can always have fondue, along with a cover for my I phone. Denise got me a really cute pair of earrings. Grandma gave me a box of Swiss chocolate, and Peter and Christine gifted me a ski trip with Dani. I was so excited for all of my gift and spending the time with the family. After opening presents we had a really nice dessert and said our goodbyes for the night.
Christmas day was packed full of fun. First I woke up at 4 in the morning to skype with the family at home. It was great to see everyone and watch them all open presents. I definitely missed being there but I was just so happy that technology allowed me to be as present as I could be, considering I am half way across the world. After talking with the family and Ayo, I went back to bed for a few hours. When I woke up again I once again got bundled up to head outside. This time Peter, Denise and I headed to a small mountain to do some sledding. When they said sledding I expected a
Christmas Eve
Making swiss food little hill you go down with a tube or flat disk…not even close. We literally had little wooden sleds, took a ski lift to the top of this mountain and then the 5 mile curvy path back down. To say I crashed a lot is an understatement. 😊 It was so fun though, and luckily the snow was super powdery so it didn’t hurt at all. I got a lot better by the second trip down but still made sure to crash a few times. I had to be the form of entertainment for them. After a few hours of sledding we headed back to the house to join the rest of the family for dinner. Rather than just a few of us, there were about 15 people for dinner, including Dani’s aunts and Uncles. This definitely made me feel a lot more at home. We all crowded around the table and had an amazing meat fondue. Meat fondue involves a fondue pot with extremely hot soup broth (preferably meat) in which you take raw meat and put it on a stick to cook in the broth for a few minutes. After it is done you take it out of
the pot, put it on rice, top it with one of five sauces and then put another piece of meat in too cook while you eat. It was so good! After a long dinner we all gathered in the living room to light the Christmas tree and sing Christmas Carols. During the songs I also played the piano for the family. After singing we headed back to the table for a ton of Swiss desserts. Afterwards the family began to head out one by one. It was a great way to celebrate the holiday.
Sunday brought another full day for me. In my past trips to Switzerland I have spent most of my time with Dani’s Dad, Peter, and Dani. Well Dani had to go to work so Dani’s mom, Christine, offered to show me another city in Switzerland. I took her up on her offer immediately. We took the train to Lausanne and headed to the lake. It was an amazing city. This part of Switzerland has tons of vineyards that are all along the hills that lead up to the lake and are overlooked by the snow-covered Alps. It was so beautiful. We walked around the city
for a bit and headed into the Olympic museum, which was fantastic. There were tons of ancient relics, the history of the Olympics, past medals, and even sports test to find out your own skills. It was really fun but unfortunately we had to head out early to get back to Bern so we didn’t get to see it all. We hopped back on the train and this time took the train all the way around the lake and in between the valley of the mountains. It was so beautiful, with numerous castles, but unfortunately it got dark before we made it all the way through so we couldn’t see everything. When we made it back to Bern, we headed into Starbucks to visit Dani on her last day of work. Peter met us there and then the three of us grabbed some Mexican food until Dani was done with work. When she finally finished her shift she and I went out with a few of her friends from work for a goodbye drink. We only stayed out for a little while because we knew that Monday was going to be even more action packed.
Monday morning Peter, Dani
Christmas Eve
Lighting the christmas tree and I woke up bright and early, grabbed our skis, drove and hour and then headed up the mountain. We took the lift up and then the fun began. I haven’t gone skiing in a while so; once again, I was the form of entertainment. Surprisingly I only crashed a few times but I was super slow. Thankfully Peter was a good teacher and both he and Dani were really patient. By the end I seemed to be doing much better, still not great though 😊. It was absolutely beautiful on the mountain. The air was clean and clear, the sky was a beautiful blue and everything was covered in white. I had such an amazing time! We took a break near the end of our journey and grabbed a bite to eat at the lodge and then I let Dani and Peter journey off on their own to do the high, steep, and more advanced slope. I passed the time with walking around, talking pictures and watching people run around the frozen lake. When we were done skiing we headed back to Bern but made a few stops on the way. The first place we stopped was at Dani’s
Switzerland
On our way to go sledding cabin. It is such a cute little cabin and in a great location; close to slope to go skiing in the winter or close to the lake to go swimming in the summer. It was fun to see where Dani spent her time growing up. After the Cabin we headed farther down the hill to the ice palace. We walked around this amazing sculptured park, went down slides, swung on swings and even played on a titer totter. I definitely felt like a little kid, but it was a blast. Overall, no matter how many times I crashed 😊, I had an amazing day but boy was I exhausted. By the time we made it home I was so ready for a nap but instead of sleep we headed to the neighbors house for goodbye dinner for Dani.
We have done so many amazing things in these last few days that I have been here and I can’t imagine what else is going to come. I am so glad I have gotten the opportunity to come here in the winter and see how different Switzerland can be among the seasons. In my opinion it is amazing year round 😊,
although, the company makes it even better.
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