Hiking in Switzerland

In this post:  a trip to Switzerland in search of fresh air, which landed us in a chain-smoking health hazard hotel!!

A few days off of school means an opportunity to get away.

We took advantage of a long weekend in early October to visit our dear MN friends in Switzerland, and hike in the Bernese Oberland.

They've been in our blog before, because by the grace of God we have been sent abroad at the same time - they landed in Switzerland just a couple months after we came to London.  Sharing in the ex-pat experience and being able to visit one another, and enjoy phone conversations with only a one-hour time difference - it's been a real blessing.

We landed (2 hours late, ugh!) in Geneva on Friday October 4th.  Grabbed a rental car and in less than an hour, though pouring rain, we arrived at La Belle Charmine.

Saturday morning we ventured to hike right in Montreux, a beautiful trail leading into les Gorges de Chauderon - Les Avants.  After the pouring rain the night before, the trail was very muddy and wet, but we felt like we had been transported into a rain forest - lush green vegetation, a gushing river and a gorge and rock cliffs.

Saturday afternoon our friends gathered everyone for a tour of the UNESCO world heritage site vineyards in the Lausanne area (Lavaux area).  What perks we have in knowing the locals - they knew this most beautiful spot to walk through the vineyards, all the while enjoying magnificent views of Lake Geneva.  Admittedly we could not help ourselves from sampling a few delicious plump grapes!

May I take a moment to brag a bit about our friends' beautiful Swiss home?

La Charmine is nestled along the hillside above Montreux among the vineyards, with walking paths, those famous Swiss cows nearby, and stunning views of Le Lac Lehman at the mountains across - views all the way into France.

We often joke that they should be the Londoners and we should be in their shoes.  Sharing this experience together truly makes you appreciate it; whichever side you are on!

Sunday morning found us bidding our dear friends "au revoir" and turning towards the Bernese Oberland.

First stop: Interlaken, where we parked across the river from Harder Kulm, walked over and then, instead of taking the lift/tram up the mountain, we made a hike of it!  It took us from about 11:30ish to about 5ish to do the entire thing - up and back down.  But we say, ALL WORTH IT!!  If you have the time, it's a great hike.  We stopped for lunch and stopped for lots of views along the way.

Look at the color of the beautiful waters - glacial lake waters running between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun

The path up takes you right through some cow pastures, where you can greet these friendly creatures up close!

a stop along the way 

Reward for all that hiking - the viewing platform is awesome!!

you really feel suspended in air

When the clouds cleared we could see the Eiger

If you want to do this hike, start HERE!

Now as the beginning of this posts warns, we indeed came to Switzerland in search of fresh mountain air and hikes and all things nature and outdoorsy!

Being budget conscious I naturally booked us a place at one of the cheaper spots in Interlaken.  We were only going to be sleeping there, right?

Well, DO NOT STAY AT KATY'S INN unless you are a smoker!!  Even though the rooms are smoke-free, the owners smoke without ceasing, and because it's an old house, the smoke just travels right up the stairwell and into your room!!  COUGH COUGH!!  SO GROSS!!  We were appalled.

And while we're on the subject, don't stay in Interlaken at all - if you have a car.  We had a car, and we could have stayed in a quaint little village....like this one below:

Well after a smoky night's sleep and a crappy breakfast at Katy's, we went out to enjoy the most beautiful part of the Bernese Oberland.  We had considered taking the tram all the way up to the Jungfraujoch - "The journey to the Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe, at 3454 metres Europe’s highest altitude railway station, is the highlight of every visit to Switzerland. It offers visitors a high-Alpine wonderworld of ice, snow and rock, which can be marvelled at from vantage terraces, the Aletsch Glacier or in the Ice Palace. On clear days, views extend as far as the Vosges mountains in France and Germany’s Black Forest. "

Top of Europe - where you can pay 1,000 dollars to have your family transported up to the highest railway point in all of Europe - just to look at clouds....We decided the views we darn good from the hikes, and we can look up to see the clouds!! =)

So, after realizing we could drive quite a ways into the mountains, and then head out on another fantastic hike, we followed the road all the way to Stechelberg, where there was ample parking (although not probably on summer days or weekends - this was a Monday), and we had a ton of different hiking path options.

We hiked 11ish to 2:30ish and then had to make the drive to Zurich, where we had a flight that evening at 9pm.

Wanting to eat some traditional Swiss Cheesy Food, we found a place in Zurich called "Swiss Chuchi" which served food all day and had reasonable prices compared to some Swiss restaurants!

Bellies full of cheese, we were able to enjoy a quick walk through Zurich and then it was time to get to the airport!

GOODBYE BEAUTIFUL SWITZERLAND!!!

London survival

In this post - some of the funniest stuff about life in London

from - http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/how-be-london-local-10-tips-faking-it-970492

How to experience culture

London is home to some of the planet’s best art galleries, theaters and historical sites. To be a true Londoner, you must ignore these entirely.

Traipsing around the Tate Modern or the Natural History Museum is strictly for tourists. Locals know these places exist, intend to visit them one day, but somehow never get around to it.

Instead, true Londoners find the best way of experiencing the rich culture their city has to offer is to leaf through the pages of a listings magazine, idly circling events that they know, deep down, they will never bother buying tickets for.

How to eat a balanced diet

A common misconception among newcomers is that an evening out in London will involve a meal. Failure to prepare for this can lead to lightheadedness, nausea and kebabs.

If someone suggests going for a drink after work, they mean drink and nothing else. Booze will be bought in quantity and at no time will the issue of dinner raise its ugly head.

To avoid a woozy stagger home via a frightening fast-food outlet, the sensible socialite takes dietary precautions.

It is acceptable to order prepackaged bar snacks such as crisps (potato chips) or peanuts to soak up some of the alcohol. Alternatively, try ordering drinks that offer a sliver of nutritional value, like a pint of London Pride beer or a cocktail with an olive.

In some bars you may see something called “Pork Scratchings” for sale. These are not for you.

How to speak

Forget cockney rhyming slang. Few people outside Disney films talk about climbing the “apples and pears” or talking on the “dog and bone.” Try this and you will be laughed out of the "rub-a-dub” -- or as Londoners call it, the pub.

The secret to blending in with locals lies solely in the use of one word: “innit” -- a colloquial abbreviation of “isn’t it?”

Confusingly, although “innit” implies a query, this uniquely London method of punctuating sentences is a purely rhetorical device.

Thus, “time for drink, innit?” is wrong, but “I’ve had four pints and no dinner, innit” is grammatically perfect.

How to shop

Sure, you can follow the crowds down Oxford Street in search of designer labels at Selfridges department store or low cost fashions at Topshop.

You can even trawl the eastern hipster districts for some retro cool.

But, when they’re not buying online, most Londoners know there’s really only one place to do their shopping: Paris.

How to cross the river

Easy -- just use one of the numerous bridges that span the Thames, right? Wrong!

A true Londoner does not cross the river unless forced by violence, employment, or the lure of alcohol. Only bad things lie on the other side.

South (pronounced "Sarf") Londoners stay south, north Londoners stay north. The river that separates them might as well be a gulf as deep and yawning as the Grand Canyon.

A long-distance relationship linking lovers in Stuttgart and Seoul has more chance of lasting than one between a couple divided by the mighty Thames.

How to dodge the chuggers

It’s a commonly asserted fact that you’re never more than a meter away from a rat in London. The same can be said of “chuggers,” or charity muggers.

Chuggers lurk on most street corners of the city. Here they attempt to get unsuspecting citizens to sign away their cash by overwhelming them with relentless enthusiasm and bonhomie.

It’s all perfectly legal, and most of your money will go to a good cause, but if you succumb to every single chugger you’ll be penniless by the time you reach the pub.

Most Londoners have developed evasion techniques to avoid falling into cheery chugger traps.

The best is to pretend not to be Londoner. If you don’t have a British bank account, you’re chugger-proof.

How to get intimate with strangers

When you’re not being chugged, London can be a lonely city. Locals tend to hang around in impenetrable cliques, making it hard to get acquainted.

Anyone feeling starved of human contact should head into the bowels of the Tube -- the London Underground rail system -- during rush hour.

This is when commuters stack into train carriages like a human version of Tetris. Every conceivable space is filled. Bodies press against bodies. Limbs intertwine with limbs.

Despite the intimacy of these encounters (some marriages never achieve the levels of physical contact found on the Underground), it is an important rule of Tube etiquette not to acknowledge them.

So, even when you find a stranger inadvertently wedged into crevices of your body that you never knew existed, under no circumstances must you look them in the eye.

How to tell the time

New York prides itself on being the city that never sleeps. The same cannot be said for London.

Anyone staying out late in the center of London will witness a peculiar ritual as panicked locals swig down drinks then run through the streets like Cinderella racing the chimes of midnight.

This nightly curfew is set by the closure of the Underground. Trains are halted shortly after 12 a.m. to give maintenance crews a chance to clear the grunge that builds up along its Victorian tunnels.

Anyone missing this crucial cut-off point will find themselves stranded far from home and facing a fate far worse than being turned into a pumpkin: the night bus.

How to survive the night bus

For all its crowds, grunge and frequent signaling failures at obscure stations like High Barnet or Cockfosters, when compared to the night bus, the London Underground represents the height of luxury travel.

Night buses are the last resort; the creaking life rafts that bear disaster survivors across the treacherous ocean that is suburban London in the wee hours.

Journeys that take 20 minutes by Tube, can take up to 48 hours on the night bus. During this time, the sun will not rise and many on board will either perish or get off and walk.

To survive this ordeal it is crucial to remain awake at all costs. Listen to loud i-Pod music, engage in rambling conversations with other passengers or play dodge the empty vodka bottle as it trundles towards you across the floor.

If you do succumb to sleep, expect to be woken up as the driver gleefully turfs you out at the end of the line -- usually a dark lane deep in the countryside.

You’re a long way from London now, innit.

End of the school year!! June 2012

FLASHBACK to end of school 2012.
a post I began and never posted, so here goes, 16 months late:

In this post - why the end of the school year is always so busy!

The final weeks of school are filled with concerts, exams, projects, parties and field trips.

Here's some of the adventures....

Grade 1 concert

Grade 5 concert

http://www.asl.org/cf_media/index.cfm?cat=303

Grade 7 concert

http://www.asl.org/cf_media/index.cfm?t=1&g=1433

Middle school talent show!  Ally and a few friends preformed a dance.

Josh - soccer tournament

Jonah - confirmation

The last day of school...
The last walk!
Jonah and Ally had to dress up to attend the 8th grade "promotion", a ceremony marking the completion of middle school for 8th graders and entrance into high school.

Josh - new friends in the neighborhood!