snow, snow

The first nablopomo post will be about the weather.

It just snowed here in Zurich last wednesday. In october. Snow. Here. It was odd, and a record snow in some parts of switzerland. Needless to say, we hadn't seen snow this early in the last two years we've been here, so we were a bit surprised. 

And we were also surprised that it "stuck". The snow did not just melt, but lasted a few days. Even today, I still saw some on the streets. I was a bit apprehensive about going out with the cold weather and the snow, I was afraid to slip and fall, and also the "grayness" of the landscape was a bit depressing, so i did not go out for a few days. But i got cabin fever (and also ran out of milk) so i had to venture out, but luckily by then most of the snow as gone, and the streets and sidewalks were cleared.

Fussen Germany

Fussen Germany
Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein castles.

find photos HERE

Last weekend we took an impromptu trip to Germany (gotta love living in Europe!). We went to a town called Fussen (4.5 hrs by train), to visit the (very famous) nearby castles of Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein. Prince Ludwig II (prince of Bavaria) had a “thing” for castles, and he built a few. Then he was later declared crazy, and a day or two later was found dead (along with his psychiatrist, go figure). Neuschwanstein caslte was never finished, but it was opened to the public only a few months after he died (can you say “ka-ching!”?). It is grand and majestic, and was the inspiration for the Cinderella castle at Disney World! The other (less grand) castle of Hohenschwangau was a sort of summer residence, and that is where the prince grew up and lived.
The day we arrived was snowy and rainy, and we almost regretted going. But the second day was great and sunny, and everything looked so much prettier with all the fresh snow, we were happy we made the trip.
We took a trail up to a bridge where (according to the guidebooks) you could get a very nice view of the castle. Everythingwas white and beautiful, it looked like Narnia. We had to ignore a few warning signs and closed paths to get to the bridge. Because of all the snow the day before, some paths were closed, but people were just going through (under the fence), and so did we!. It was totally worth it!

a blast from the past

heres a video from a year ago in April. We went to Mt. Titlis to see the Swiss Alps up close, and we had fun with a bit of snow tubbing.

Lenzerheide

photos HERE

Less than a week after I got back from Juarez, Gera’s lab organized its annual ski trip (Jan 21). We didn’t go last year because we were in Sicily at the time so this year we had to go, before all the snow melts!
We went to an area called Lenzerheide, near the city of Chur. We knew we didn’t want to ski, since Gera has a bad knee and I am too afraid to do it alone, plus you need to take classes and it would be more time consuming and expensive. So we decided to try sledding instead! The weather was great, sunny and not too cold. We took a 90 minute train plus a 30 minute bus to get there. We payed for the ski lift and rented a couple of sleds. They were heavy, wooden, with no breaks, and no steering.
We got to the start of the run, and we, well, just started sliding down… I had no idea what I was doing, and I kinda just started gaining speed. We got to a point with a very sharp turn, and I couldn’t make it! But before I fell off into the woods, I jumped off and the sled kept going, until it was stopped by a tree. That was the only accident we had. After that, I was more careful and we got the hang of it: you have to steer and brake with your feet. The run was long, 3.8 km long! And when we reached the bottom, we got back on the lift and did it all over again. I think in total we did it like 8 times, but we also took a walk, and had lunch at the cafeteria. We thought about having some fondue to make it more swiss, but they didn’t have any…
It was a great day! We were so tired by the end of it, we could hardly walk. And the next day I felt like I was hit by a bus!

random stuff

(photo: my backyard this morning)
sorry i did not post yesterday... so much for nablopomo. At least i was not "officially" registered and failed the challenge like this other person i know (hehe).
Oh well, i guess i am runing out of things to post ( i dont have a project to show, or kids to give me material).
For today, i have a collection of random stuff...
-It snowed! yes, there was snow on the ground this morning (it had snowed last week like the forecast said, but nothing stuck).
-The suitcase is OUT, and I am filling it with stuff. Seems like we're going to have a "suitcase situation" for this trip. You see, Gera brought 1 garment bag, 1 big suitcase, 1 small carry on... the big suitcase arrived all thorn, brocken and unusable. I brought 2 big suitcases, 1 small carry on (plus cumputer bag)... When the sibllings came to visit, they arrived with a brocken suitcase (the wheels broke), and when they left, they switched bags and left the brocken one here . So if you're keeping track, that means we have 2 brocken suitcases (unusable), 2 small carry-ons, 1 big suitcase, 1 garment bag. Will that be enough? i hope so... i just know that my carry-on will be heavy with chocolates... that makes me wonder about customs... i should check on that.
-yesterday i made menudo (the soup, not the boy band). It was ok, I was actually quite disapointed with the flavor... something was not right. I guess if I try to look at it from the bright side, when i go home it will taste so much better!