More Visitors

My dear friend, Anne, and her sister, Molly, were our next visitors. They started their trip with a long weekend in Germany for a family wedding. They had some crazy stories (and video) from that experience, most times involving beer. Then they took a train to see us in Switzerland. We had a great week with lots of sightseeing. We squeezed in a girls’ overnight to Aosta, Italy, too. I drove to Italy, which was a little scary because of the windy roads and border patrols, but it went okay with the exception of one screw up at the France border (I panicked and drove down a one way going the wrong direction – oops). It was a 2 ½ hour drive with beautiful views of the Alps. This was a good thing as the girls were unable to see the mountains from Morges because of a haze that hung over the lake all week. Mont Blanc provided a stunning background. Then I drove us through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Thirty-three Franc and 15 minutes later, we were in Italy!

We’d heard mixed things about Aosta as one of my guidebooks said that it was very touristy; however, some of our neighbors had been there and really enjoyed their stay. We decided to give it a try ourselves and we were not disappointed. Aosta is a beautiful, sleepy, little town with amazing Roman ruins dating back to the Middle Ages. The shopping was great. Cheap, too, but everything seems inexpensive after living in Switzerland. That can be a dangerous thing.

The highlight of Aosta was the food. We ate our way through town with stops for gelato and pizza. Then we ate a late dinner (we didn’t get back to the hotel until midnight from dinner). The food and wine lived up to our expectations of what Italian food would be. We found the following phrase in our guidebook to describe our meal: “It was so good I licked my mustache.” That had us laughing pretty hard – I think the bottle of wine and shot of limoncello may have made that more entertaining at the time.

Laura’s Visit

We accomplished a lot in Laura’s four day visit. The thing I enjoyed most was her desire to shop. Matt has no interest in shopping unless it’s at Hornbach (the Swiss version of Home Depot – same colors and everything – I’m very consistent, I don’t like Home Depot or Hornbach), so I took full advantage of Laura’s interest in shopping! The highlight for me was the market in Divonne, France. I’ve been to the market before but going with a girlfriend rather than my husband was a completely new experience. Laura and I made it through the entire market – usually I make it through half with Matt before he’s maxed out with the crowds. We stopped to look at jewelry, clothes, shoes and all that girl stuff that Matt doesn’t even notice. The only problem was that I couldn’t remember how much the Euro is worth compared to the US dollar, but it wasn’t a problem. We convinced ourselves we were getting some great bargains regardless of the conversion rate. I don’t have a picture of us shopping, so here’s a picture from a hike we took in Grindelwald.

Visitors

We have our next visitor coming tomorrow! My friend, Laura, from book club decided she needed a mini-vacation away, so she’ll be hanging out with us for a few days. We’re so glad she picked Switzerland to get her rest and relaxation (She deserves it – she has three boys under the age of 6!).

La Fete du Raisin

Matt and I ventured out to the little town of Fechy on Saturday for a festival. The purpose of the fete was to celebrate the wines of this region. It was a beautiful fall day, a little windy but the sun was shining as we meandered through the town. After seeing people with a little pouch around their neck to hold their wine glass, we decided to purchase one, too. For 12 CHF (Swiss Franc) we sampled wine after wine after wine. When we made it through the festival, we turned around and did it again! We also sampled the different kinds of grapes they use to make the wine.

The only disappointment of the day was the lack of food at the festival. We were on the prowl for a Malakoff, which is a popular food item in this region. I was craving one ever since I read a description of it: a deep fried cheese ball, crispy on the outside and drooly Gruyere cheese on the inside. It sounds like something straight out of the Minnesota State Fair (minus the stick)!
   
Well, we were unable to find the Malakoff. We also didn’t get a plate of French fries – they stopped making them from 12 – 3:30?! And the hamburger line was way too slow, so no food to soak up all that wine.

Birthday Boy

Matt’s big 4-0 is this week, so last Saturday we had a good ol’ BBQ at the park to celebrate. Our neighbor (and Matt’s drinking partner), Didi, turns 40 the day before Matt, so we made it a joint party. We had nearly 40 people join us for the big event. It turned out to be a beautiful day with Lac Leman dotted with sailboats and the Alps looming in the background.
With the boys manning the grills, there was no shortage of sausages, ribs or kabobs. We also had nice, cold beverages thanks to our neighbor, Mark, who found probably the only ice vendor in Switzerland. We had 100 kg of ice delivered to the apartment building on the morning of the party. (It was supposed to be delivered to the park in the afternoon, but I guess if you’re the only guy selling ice in the country, you can deliver it wherever and whenever you want!). )Our friend, Jen, made a special cake for the guys. It was in the shape of a beer mug (She knows them so well!). My American desserts – rice krispie treats and brownies – were a hit, too.
Guests were very generous and brought the birthday boys gifts. A highlight for Matt were the Cuban cigars from the Elko family. After he opened them up, Sam Elko (age 5) yelled ‘smokers.’ A fun day was had by all! Maybe a little too much fun for some as Matt had a hard time getting out of bed the next morning because of a headache. (Point/counterpoint - I was around smoke that evening which gave me a headache....all the next day. - Matt

French Lessons

With our formal lessons done as of July, I’ve been getting creative with how to study French. Recently I’ve been watching DVDs with French subtitles. My friend, Suzie, gave me the first season of the TV show, Entourage, so that’s what I’ve been using as my daily “French lesson.” If you’re familiar with the show, you know that there’s some foul language in it. I think the only thing that has improved with my new method of studying is my knowledge of French swear words. Oh, well. At least I’ll now know if someone says something rude to me in French.

Weekend in Zermatt

Matt and I spent the weekend in Zermatt. It’s about a 2 ½ hour drive from our town. The main attraction there is the Matterhorn, which is absolutely stunning to see in person. We’ve seen a lot of mountains while in Switzerland, so I wasn’t sure this one would be any different, but it was. The town of Zermatt is a little on the touristy-side, but we really liked it. It was so quiet there. The only sound we could hear at night was the nearby river. Cars are not allowed in town, so you need to park in a nearby town and take the train or a taxi. Everyone gets around by foot, bike or over-sized golf cart in town. They use the golf carts like a taxi or bus. They kind of sneak up on you as they are very quiet, so we considered the weekend a success as neither of us got pegged by one. As we were walking through Zermatt on one of the nights, we had a special treat – a trio of alphorn players. I’ve been waiting to see these guys and there they were playing on the street. They looked just like the ones in the Ricola cough drop commercials.

Matt found a beautiful hotel in town that opened last month. We really enjoyed our stay at Hotel Phoenix. The owner was very friendly and helpful and our room had a nice view of the Matterhorn. Here’s the website if you want to check it out: http://www.hotelphoenix.ch

We spent Saturday and Sunday hiking around the area. There are several different ways to get up to see the Matterhorn and other surrounding mountains and glaciers. On Saturday we took an underground funicular up to a viewing area. We took pictures of the Matterhorn’s reflection in a glacial lake right along with the Japanese tourists. How do they always know where the best photo opportunites are? Then we hiked over to a town and caught a train up to another viewing area. We hiked back down to a different town for lunch – sausage filled with cheese and rosti (a Swiss speciality that is a lot like hashbrowns). We went for a three hour hike on Sunday as well. We had beautiful views of the Matterhorn the entire time as our trail meandered through the Swiss countryside.

Millie made the trip to Zermatt, too. I love this take your dog anywhere thing in Europe. She thoroughly enjoyed the hiking, especially chasing marmots. She was on the hunt for the little critters (they look a lot like overgrown prairie dogs to me).