February 12, 2005 -- My Grandparents' house (Zollikofen, Switzerland)
Yodel-ee-hoo, the Alps!
Sorry I've been so uncommunicative. I've been stuck in a rustic cabin in the Swiss Alps -- no phone, TV, internet connection....
Dealing with jet lag and sauerrueben
I arrived in Zurich on the morning of February 3 where my aunt Silvia and cousin Marcel picked my Mom and me up and drove us to my grandparents' in Zollikofen. It had snowed a little so I gotmy first good look at winter in Switzerland.I forced myself to stay awake all day, although I was super tired from the 10 hours of flying. I met a really nice flight attendant on the Frankfurt-Zurich leg who recognized the Mountain Equipment Coop logo on my backpack and asked if I was from Vancouver. And then he saw my helmet and asked where my bike was. Turns out he's a mountain bike enthusiast and gave me an extra chocolate bar in return for some bike chat. He was so busy asking about my bike, he almost forgot to do the safety demonstration before take-off.
The next day, my Mom, Grandma and I walked to the grocery store. Because I didn't grow up near my grandparents, I always get a kick out of the three of us (three generations) walking around, arm in arm. We had a free espresso while shopping for the amazing Swiss yogurt (I chose coffee flavour with chocolate flakes and also a hazelnut one, which Jeanine would love) and chocolate (imagine 100g of Swiss chocolate for only around 1.- F [Swiss Francs are about 1:1 with the $CAN]). Get outta here Hershey and Cadbury!
After a lunch of Sauerrueben (turnips prepared like saurkraut) and sausages, my Mom and I walked down to the Aare River. The path was still covered in snow. I started running while my Mom walked behind. During my run, I suddenly started getting stomach cramps and bouts of feeling like I really had to go. I turned around and met up with my Mom, who decided I probably couldn't handle the Sauerrueben. I got back to my grandparents' where everyone laughed because the stupid turnips didn't agree with me. However, it wasn't the turnips. I couldn't handle eating anything more that day and in the middle of the night, I had bouts of nausea. The next day, I still couldn't get anything more than tea (my grandma's special blend that she collects -- over 30 different herbs!) and bread down. It was worse than any stomach badness I had in my three months in South America!
Mountains-ho!
That day, my uncle Guido (who now lives near Munich, Germany) drove us up to Grindelwald in the Berner Oberland. We met my aunt Silvia and her two sons, Marcel and Julian. Silvia had rented an old Maieralphaus (May Alp house) from a friend, which is up on the hillside. The house was previously used by the farmer in spring, once the cows had grazed all of the valley bottom and the snow had melted on the hillside. The farmer then moved up to the Maieralphaus, and when the snow had melted higher, they moved up and up until the cows were able to graze in the Alps proper.The house is stereotypically Swiss: weathered wood with green-painted shutters. The house came complete with a stable and woodshed and was heated with wood stoves. There was a narrow kitchen that one entered through the front door, a tiny bathroom (with a shower attached to only a 30-litre hot water tank and a toilet that, when sitting on it, allowed only 4 inches of room in front of my knees -- Alistair's probably would have hit). The main room had a bench, table, wood stove, dresser and a small desk. In the corner was a pull-out bed where my Mom and Silvia slept. I slept on the floor. My cousins and uncles slept in the attic, accessible only via a homemade, rickety ladder and a 50 cm X 50 cm hole.
On the first day, I felt so sick, all I could do was sit in an old chair, bundled in blankets and clothing, in front of the stove. I was so cold -- the pipes in the house were frozen, so my Mom had to melt snow to make tea.
The next day, still not feeling 100%, I ventured out onto the snow anyway. Grindelwald sits in a valley and accesses three different ski resorts. We tried out First, from which you could ski right to our place. This was my first introduction to Euro lift lines: no nice roped-off lanes, no friendly employees helping us get on the chairs, no polite Canadians skiers taking turns with merging. Our ski passes were cards that we kept in our left pockets and when we walked past sensors, turnstiles would let us through. Other than that, it was a free-for-all. People budging, skiing over our skis, elbowing, cutting us off, weaseling forward... unbelievable.
When we finally got to the top, we got an unblemished view of the Alps. The sky was clear and we could see forever. We even got a glimpse of the little brown chamois (hopefully not what our bike short chamois are made of!) on the cliffs. They're little bearded mountain goats -- very cute.
Skiing was pretty great. The runs were generally very well groomed. Unfortunately the off-piste stuff wasn't super hot. It had gotten warm and then frozen again, so the snow was hard and chunky. We still discovered some sweet runs and definitely couldn't complain about our six days of sunshine. The 'skier bars' that we came across beside practically every run were pretty cool too.
Ascent of the Faulhorn
Steve had given me strict orders -- I wasn't just allowed to ski. I had to train too. So on Tuesday I dragged my Mom, Marcel and Guido up the mountain. I took the Gondola to Bort (1570 m) and the rest of the crew took it to First (2168 m). I ran (uphill the entire way) from Bort to the top of the Faulhorn (2681 m) in 1:47, 9 km. I passed the others at 1:13. They were pulling sleds and my Mom was carrying a daypack, I have to give them that. It was pretty cool, I got lots of cheers on my way up (I was following a hiking/sledding trail), but I had to jump out of the way of several out-of-control sleds.World's longest sled run
At the top, we jumped on the wooden Davos tobaggons (which we had found in our stall) and slid down the world's longest sledding run (15 km). It was truly awesome. My favourite part was drifting around the corners at high speed. At the bottom, my tailbone, butt and back were really sore, but it was worth it. We jumped on a bus back to our house and had a yummy dinner of Gschwelte (steamed potatoes with all different sorts of cheeses). Throughout the week we had fondue, Raclette, spaetzli and roesti as well. You can't get much more Swiss than that!A diggerydoo is NOT an alphorn, a gaemsi is NOT a goat
The day after my Faulhorn ascent, I started getting a sore throat, which turned into a cold. Another exciting thing was teaching Shawn all about Switzerland. He'd had a PhD interview at ETH -- 'eh-teh-ha' -- (in Zurich) and I invited him to come skiing in Grindelwald. He showed up after two days of interviews and presentations. Poor guy! And then he had to deal with my crazy family. My uncle tried to tell him that his diggerydoo was actually an alphorn, but Shawn is much too smart for that. My family practiced their English on him during a heated 10-round game of Uno ("You are the loser." "You are a big loser." "Someone died shuffling, you know." "A 'gaemsi' is not a goat!")We also had fun laughing at the translations in Shawn's German pocket phrasebook (which you forgot, by the way)! Ich glaube, ich bin betrunken. I'm feeling drunk. Ich liebe dich echt total. I really, really love you. Zwischen Leber und Milz ist noch Platz fuer ein Pils. Between liver and spleen is still room for a beer.
Avalanches and rain, time to go home
Anywho, we had a great time up there. It started raining on Friday, so we packed it in early that day. It rained all night and we were awakened by thundering that sounded like a train, but there weren't any tracks near us. We looked outside and saw snow pouring into the valley from the opposite side. The snow had gotten so heavy, there were avalanches every few minutes.Saturday morning, we packed up, cleaned up and, closed up the hut and drove back to Zollikofen. We stopped for lunch in Wilderswil at an old hotel (one of the chalets in the town was dated 1795)! For dessert I had a huge coupe (ice cream sundae) -- it was coffee ice cream with loads of whipped cream (I hope Steve isn't reading this!), coffee liqueur, ladyfingers... all in a pint glass! Ah the Swiss milk products.
Now I'm back at my grandparents' and it's snowy and windy. Hopefully it clears up so I can have a good week of exploring Switzerland by bike before I head to Spain.
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