sajawata

Highlights of the weeks leading up to Christmas break: light festival in Lyon France (Huge chaotic crowd. Cool light installations all over the city) and skiing Le Crozet in the Jura and Villars-Gryon in the Alps.

Yay! Marmy, Pops, David and Ellen came to visit for Christmas! They arrived late Christmas Eve and were understandably exhausted/ jet lagged but I wouldn’t let them sleep due to my jabbermouthing.

Christmas Day we went to Geneva and walked around a bit, then went to Lausanne. Looked for a place open to have a bite to eat and the only thing open was a spanish steak house which made for a unique but tasty christmas dinner. Caught a christmas concert at the cathedral.

The next day we drove to Lucerne where we had an apartment for the week. Lucerne is the perfect little Swiss Christmas town, all snow dusted and charming old architecture. It looks like a snow globe come to life. We walked around a while, crossed the famous wooden bridge. Went to the contemporary art museum, got a bite to eat. David, Ellen and I found an English pub. David found his most favorite beer ever, Feldsclossen.

The next day we trained it down to Lugano in Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland. Beautiful ritzy town on a sunny lake. Window shopped, saw several cathedrals and one particularly amazing frescoe, laughed because there was a hotel called Walter (our surname) with a cafe called Mary’s next to it (Marmy’s name). Stopped in Bellinzona on a whim on the way back to Lucerne and so glad we did! Bellinzona has 3 impressive castles: We boldly walked right into one of them and took the lift to the top which provided the most amazing views. Couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have free and total access to such an amazing space.
Then we looked for a bite to eat and found only 1 place open at 6:00 (super-early to the Italians. Or Swiss. Or whatever they are.) So this place took us in and stuck us in the basement only the basement turned out to be this amazing little grotto-style place that we had all to ourselves. The waitress didn’t speak a word of English and we speak no Italian but that made the whole thing even more fun. Amazing food and wine which after consuming led Marms to hug the waitress and nearly cry. We felt like we were in this Italian woman’s home kitchen. Terrific.

Took a scenic train to Interlaken the next day and then up to Lauterbrunnen > Wengen> Kleine Scheidegg for rosti and Bratwurst al fresco. Then the train up through the middle of the Eiger mountain to the Jungfraujoch, one of the tallest peaks in Europe at 3454 meters. Spectacular views of glaciers in 360°. There was an ice castle built inside the mountain that we had fun sliding around. Took the train back down to Kleine Scheidegg and then down the other side to Grindlewald. The skiing there looks phenomenal, it appears to never end. Am seriously looking forward to going back and skiing from village to village.

Saturday we skied at Meiringen-Hasliberg. Terrific sunny day. The ski jumpers were out and we had so much fun watching their aerodynamic acrobatics. Ellen skied for nearly the first time and rocked it. Major points for the stylish bright blue one-piece thats twice as old as she is. Also the ability to ski over one devilishly hidden patch of grass and not break any bones or skis.

Sunday we drove back to Begnins with a stop at Chateau Chillon on the way.

I cant talk about them leaving

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