Swiss Adventures

So, the cast of characters on my trip to Switzerland:

Me: no further explanation needed
Monique: my best friend from high school
Ben: Monique's husband
Kurt: Monique and Ben's son (who will be referred to as Kurtley to differentiate from Monique's dad, whose name is also Kurt)
Kurt: Monique's dad, born and raised in Switzerland
Eileen: Monique's mom
Beat and Adi: Kurt's childhood friend and his wife
Trulla and Hans: Kurt's sister and her husband

When I got off the plane I took the train to Kurt's hometown, a gorgeous little village called Hedingen, 20 minutes outside Zurich. I think Hedingen was my favourite place on the whole trip, in part due to our hosts, Beat (pronounced Bey-at) and his wife Adi. They live in a beautiful old house that was once, in typical Swiss style, a small house front attached to a large barn. The barn has now been renovated into more living space and it was a lovely, rambling farm style house with several dogs and cats running about the place. I felt immediately comfortable there and it was like a constant slumber party, as I slept a few feet from Kurtley, who slept at the head of Monique and Ben's futon, and Kurt and Eileen slept in the loft above us.

I loved their multi-leveled backyard, complete with fishpond and ping pong table, and set out to explore it one afternoon, but was sidetracked when I found a sun lounger on the top level and spent the next hour lounging on it, with a half a bottle of white wine and a bowl of pretzels. By the end of the hour I had been joined by Monique, Kurtley, and one of Beat and Adi's daughters and her husband. But they brought more wine and snacks with them, so it was all good.

Every morning we were up early and on the trains, traveling to cities, villages, and of course to the stunning Swiss Alps. We went to Mount Rigi, the Jungfrau range, and to Santis – none of these names will likely mean anything to anyone, so I'll let the photos tell the story. We also visited Bern, the country's capital; Appenzel, which is what everyone imagines Switzerland to look like; and Einsiedeln, which is a place of pilgrimage and is also impossible to spell/pronounce. I was so exhausted by the end of every day I was often asleep by 10pm, but then was awake before 6 almost every morning, which was a new experience for me – being among the early risers is not something I'm known for…

The food in Switzerland was wonderful. We had countless yummy meals at Beat and Adi's – roast pork and lamb, plates of sliced meats and cheeses, fresh bread, and one night, tandoori chicken, courtesy of Eileen. At Hans and Trulla's place we had roast beef, and more Indian food, and on my last night we had a very Swiss meal called Raclette. Monique always used to talk about raclette back in Kimberley, mostly to tell me how much I would love it, because basically it's a special cheese that you broil and then pour over potatoes and eat with various pickled salads – I wonder why she thought I would love it…? But because they had to special order the cheese, I never had it at their place in Kimberley, despite being there almost every other day:) So I complained about this (just kidding – it was more like campaigning for us to eat it) and they very kindly and generously arranged for us to have it on my last night. It was so fun and totally delicious. I took pictures:)

And of course, we ate tons of chocolate, because when in Rome….right? We even visited the Lindt factory, which was really just about buying lots of chocolate and smelling the sugar-filled air.

Switzerland is one of those places that you can't help having pre-conceived ideas of how it's going to look… There's just a stereotypical image of just how beautiful it is, and I have to say, it's just as picture perfect as it appears in those postcards; it just may be the most scenic place I have ever been to. There are hundreds of shiny blue lakes, low-lying green valleys dotted with orange-roofed houses at the foot of snow-capped mountain peaks. The contrast of the colours is stunning – the blue of the water, the green of the grass, the white of the snow. I kept exclaiming over the sheer beauty of the setting of the hundreds of little villages that we passed during our many hours on the trains. And of course the sheep and cows dotting the green pastures only added to the pastoral picture.

Oh, and I was completely unprepared for the unseasonably warm weather we encountered – I think we all were actually. I had to go and buy a couple of tank tops because I was dying even in short sleeves, and I rolled my long pants up into capris – black capris with white runners – I was looking good:) I got pretty sunburned, but now it has now faded to a nice base of colour – I'd almost go so far as to say I look tanned!

But really, the best part about being in Switzerland was being there with the Gross family. Monique and I fell right back into the rhythm of our friendship like we were teenagers again and talked about everything and nothing for hours on end, and I hugged Eileen every 5 minutes because I don't know when I'll get the chance to do it again. It was really special for me to be there with them and I feel grateful and lucky to be so welcomed into their family.

Pictures are here as usual.