February 19, 2005 Will the snow ever stop?! Last few days in Switzerland: more snow, an operetta, more cheese, more chocolate I'm having a blast getting lost in blizzards on my bike. I tell my Mom I'll be gone for three or four hours, but she knows it will turn into five or six. I've found some great little hole-in-the-wall places. The other day I rode past a castle and over an ancient, covered wooden bridge. I also got lost and ended up in the Emmental (where Emmental cheese -- Switzerland's trademark "Swiss" holey variety -- is made). It was snowing like crazy, the road wasn't plowed, and it just kept going up and up and up. I rode past quaint farm houses and got into a forest at the top. The biggest problem was going down the steep, curvy other side! I didn't crash, but there was definitely some fish-tailing happening. The day before, I ended up in a French-speaking canton (Swiss version of a province) and rode through narrow, cobblestone alleys and past snow-covered vinyards. On my castle ride, my bike picked up so much snow, my rear tire started rubbing on the chain stays. My granny ring also got completely encased in ice, as well as the pulley wheels on my rear derailleur. Actually, when I got home, everything had a coating of ice on it, including each spoke (see photos). So that's why my shifting was less-than-stellar! On Sunday, I went for a relatively short ride before packing up my bike. It had snowed quite a bit overnight, so everything had a fresh coat of snow (including the roads, many of which were icy underneath, which led to more near-crashes). The sun came out as I was riding through the rolling farmland and it looked really pretty. A slight breeze blew around sparkling snow crystals. My Mom took me out on the town the other night, back to her apprenticeship days in Bern when she used to go to the city theatre with her friends and sit up in the nosebleed section. We didn't get nosebleed seats for the operetta we saw (called 'Wiener Blut' or 'Viennese Blood'), which was fine with me. The theatre was beautiful, with a domed ceiling painted with various frolicking, naked sylphs and nymphs and things. The acoustics were awesome. The operetta was set to Strauss' Wiener Walzers, which I loved to listen and dance to as a kid in the living room. The theatre is relatively new (1903) in European terms (considering I saw a chalet dated 1795 somewhere on my rambles). My uncle took me to a big electronic, FutureShop-type store because I wanted to buy a new MP3 player (the one my brother gave me for Christmas stopped working). I really really wanted to buy the iPod Mini, but it was above my price range. I was impressed it was only 369 SFr. and at home it costs $329 plus tax. But it was still too much for my budget, so I got another cheapie with only 256 MB for 89 SFr.