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Published: January 6th 2011
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This last week has been full of events and trips to the mountain. Tuesday Denise, Dani and I started the day by heading into Bern to do a bit of shopping. It wasn’t long before we got everything we needed and Denise headed home, while Dani and I hopped on the bus to head to the other side of the river that runs through Bern. We stopped at an old ice skating rink and spent about an hour skating around in the snow 😊. At first I was so shaky and bad (I think the last time I ice skated I was in middle school) but after a while I was starting to get the hang of it. About that time though, they had to clear the ice so Dani and I watched some hockey that was going on and then headed back onto the ice. I felt a lot more confident this time, which made me less cautious…so of course (on the last lap) I biffed it flat on my face. Even though I fell it was really fun. After skating we got back on the bus and headed to Dani’s Starbucks to meet one of her friends (Sara). When
Sara was off work we headed to one of the theaters and bought tickets to see Harry Potter 7. We walked around a bit to kill some time, ate Doner Kebab and had some Swiss spiced cider. Finally it was show time so we headed back to the theater. I really enjoyed it! This movie really follows the book, which I thought was great. After the movie we went and met a few friends at an Irish pub and then headed back to Dani’s house to get ready for the next day.
Wednesday we woke up bright and early and took the 2 hour train ride to Wengen to go meet another of Dani’s friends (Miriam) and do some more sledding. When we arrived in Wengen we went to Miriam cabin to grab another sled and then headed up to Wengenalp to start the sledding. The path was long and curvy again, plus it was pretty bumpy so I crashed a bunch. I was definitely more coordinated with the corners compared to last week though 😊. After we finished our first run we headed farther up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg. It was absolutely gorgeous there! We met Miriam
Ice Skating
Dani and Me and her family at one of the restaurants and grabbed a bite to eat before sledding again. I had a traditional Swiss meal of pasta, meat, onions and fruit sauce. It was delicious. After our meal Miriam and her family grabbed their skis/boards to head down to Wengen and Dani and I took off down the sledding path. Unfortunately the beginning of this path was shared with skiers so it was a bit crazy and dangerous at first. Once we made it back down to Wengenalp the path was just for sledders again so it was much better, but…so many other people had used the path during the day which caused the bumps to pretty much double in size. I was literally catching air and landing on my wooden sled. It hurt so bad. Another bad thing, kind of scary actually, was that we witnessed 2 different small avalanches on the way back down. After those two we took off fast to get back to town. When we finally made it back down to Wengen we met up with Miriam again and went to her Cabin. We visited and played card games for a bit while we waited to catch
Ice Skating
me....a little shaky a train back to Dani’s house.
By the time we made it back to Dani’s house from sledding we were both exhausted, so Thursday was pretty much a day of relaxation. Dani had to do some preparations before she left for her semester in Hong Kong so I watched movies, updated some photos and relaxed. Both our bodies hurt from the day before, so we weren’t up for much. I swear I collect more and more bruises every day 😊. Christine, Dani and I had nice dinner together and then Dani headed into Bern to watch a Swiss musical that she had tickets for. Thursday was a much needed day of rest.
Friday, Happy New Year’s Eve, Dani and I packed our stuff to head up to the Wengen for the night. Friday was also Christine’s birthday so before we left Christine opened her gifts, blew out her candles and then we all had some cake. Afterwards we headed to the train station to take the trip to Wengen. We finally made it and headed back to Miriam’s cabin. Once we were settled in we spent the first part of the evening playing card games. We stopped for
a bit had some appetizers and visited until dinner. Dinner was amazing! We had turkey, stuffing, tons of vegetables, salad, potatoes and UNBELIEVABLE Swiss bread. It was so good. After eating dinner the family played a game sort of like Pictionary. It involved writing and reading though so I decided to just relax and read a Spanish book rather than have everyone speak English just for me. It was hilarious to watch though. They were laughing so hard at some of the stuff; Dani said it was a great game. Around 11 the family brought out the desserts. There was a raspberry cobbler, ice cream, fruit salad and a traditional Swiss dessert as well. They all were great. By the time we were done with dessert it was a quarter to 12. The church bells started to ring, and continued until right before midnight chimed. Everyone got all bundled up and we headed outside to listen. The bells were ringing and ringing and then stopped. We sat in silence and then the chimes began and we counted each one out. Afterwards everyone walked around toasting each other and visiting. Then the fireworks started. It was really cool but honestly I
Ice Skating
Starting to get the hang of it was surprised they were allowed to light them off. They were pretty loud and could have very easily caused an avalanche. We had seen 2 just the other day. After staying outside for a while we grabbed our Id’s and tickets and headed into the one club on the mountain. Because it was New Year’s there were a ton of younger kids in the club and it was packed, so we didn’t stay very long. When we made it back to Miriam’s cabin we played some more card games and then called it a night.
Saturday we all slept in and then had more of the amazing bread for breakfast. After breakfast Dani and I got all our stuff gathered to head back to Bern. Everyone else was going skiing again so we all went into town together and said our goodbyes at the lift. We had a really great time in the mountain with them. After taking the train back to Dani’s we warmed up, relaxed and I started packing up my suitcase. By the time I was done, the family was starting to get everything ready for my last dinner. We had Raclette 😊, my favorite. Our
Train
heading up the mountain dinner ended up lasting about 3 hours. We visited a lot and just spent the evening together. Afterwards Denise, Dani and I headed upstairs and watched a movie. Afterwards Dani and I watched “Dinner for 1”; apparently it is a typical new year’s movie in Switzerland. I had never seen it before but it was quite hilarious. Then we headed to bed, we had to get up early for my flight.
Sunday morning Dani, Peter and I woke up early, said goodbye to Christine and then headed to the Zurich Airport. Once I was all checked in we went and had a starbucks coffee to visit before I went through security. We said our goodbyes and then I was off. My flight was a little delayed; we had to defreeze our plane before takeoff. The flight seemed to take forever…I had a screaming baby sitting behind me that cried the whole way back to Madrid. Finally, and only with a slight headache, I made it to Madrid. I headed straight home, unpacked my suitcase and then climbed into bed. I had an amazing time in Switzerland, seeing my swister and her family. I couldn’t have asked for a better
holiday away from home, but boy is my body tired 😉. At least I have a week to recover before work starts again.
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mom
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It's sooooooo beautiful there! Wish I was there with you.