Frozen Fun

As some of you may know, we have had ridiculously cold weather recently. We had begun to think that we were catching a break with the winter weather here in Geneva, but just as we were getting used to the 30-40°F temperatures, we were hit with temps in the teens. My last post was about a wonderful day of snow. Unfortunately, Travers' dad, Richard, was flying in the next day and that is exactly when the temperatures dropped.  We had thankfully warned him to bring warm clothes, a hat, gloves etc...but even with as many layers as we could get on our bodies, we were still freezing every time we walked out the door.  Richard made the best of it though and we ended up having a great visit with him.

Yummm!

After his flight arrived in Geneva an hour early (unbelievable!) Wednesday morning, we brought Richard back home to get settled in and rest a bit after the long flight. Travers went on to work, and a few hours later, I took him on a walk through Old Town and around the neighborhood, and out towards the lake.  The temperature was in the low-20's at this point but the wind was blowing and our faces and fingers were quickly freezing.  Since we had walked around for a couple hours, we decided to head back to the apartment to warm up and rest. Once Travers got home, we made homemade spaghetti and meatballs

Richard in Parc Des Bastions

The next day was just as cold as the last, but we were determined to get outside and see Geneva.  After a leisurely morning, we put on all our layers of clothes again, and headed away from the lake towards Carouge.  We walked through the Parc des Bastions, saw the Reformation Wall, and then down Rue de Carouge, through the Plainpalais area, and finally getting to the quaint little town. After walking around a bit and checking out the area, we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite little cafes on the corner of Place de Marché. We then decided we were feeling energetic, so started our walk back along the Arve River. We finally hit a wall and decided to head back towards home, barely having enough energy to go to the grocery store and climb the small hill back to the apartment. 

Conference Room in the UN

Richard's third day was the coldest we had had yet. Winds were really bad, and the temperature had dropped into the teens. We decided it was a good day for museums. So we could still get out of the house, but weren't going to freeze too much.  We hopped on the bus and headed to the UN for a tour.  After a jumbled conversation with one of the guards, we were finally pointed in the right direction to the visitor entrance. We made it in just as an English speaking tour was beginning, and got to spend the next hour learning all about the UN and seeing some of the large meeting rooms that you often see on television.  It was pretty informative, but I wish there had been time for more. 

Outside the UN

The one negative part of this visit was this english woman with her two small children who were really cute, but would not be quiet. I had a hard time paying attention to the tour guide as the two girls were running around, squealing, and distracting me most of the time. I occassionally glared at the mother, and another woman shushed them once, but she refused to discipline her children, or respect the fact that we had all paid to get in there and they were clearly distracting everyone.  Richard and I dealt with it though and really enjoyed the tour. I might go back some day to listen again to the tour guide and hopefully avoid any noisy children.


After the UN, we had lunch back at home, then headed to the Patek Philippe Museum in Plainpalais.  We looked at all the beautiful antique watches that were on display as well as a floor full of watches made by Patek Philippe.  There are tons and tons of watches in this museum, most of antique ones look like pieces of jewelry more than watches. And we could clearly see when watch designs changed from more jewelry-like pieces to the standard shapes they have now. 

Love my fur!

Once Travers returned from work, we decided to go out to dinner at one of our favorite steak restaurants, Relais de l'Entrecote. The weather had gotten worse but, thankfully, I had my fur jacket, given to me by Rosemary, Travers' mother.  We braved the wind and cold for the few blocks and luckily got there just before a rush of people arrived and were able to sit right away. This restaurant is fun because it only serves one thing, steak and fries. When the waitress arrives at the table, she doesn't ask what we want, just asks how we like our meat cooked. They bring lots of fries, and lots of steak, and a salad to start. We tried asking the waitress for the recipe for the sauce they put on the steak, but she just smiled and said its a secret.

On the funicular in Fribourg

The next day, Saturday, we had a road trip planned to the Fribourg and Neuchatel regions.  We had an easy drive up north to Fribourg, and after parking the car, took a short funicular up the hill to the main part of town. We walked in the Old Town area, and immediately popped into a tea room to get some coffee to warm us up. I checked the weather on my phone and it said it was 7°F!! We checked out the main cathedral and strolled (quickly) through more of the town, then decided to call it, and headed back to the car so we could drive to our next destination. 

Freezing in Fribourg

Looking down at Fribourg

Freezing in Murten

After a half an hour, we arrived in Murten. We had gotten far enough north by now that the German influence in Switzerland was prominent in Murten. It was a nice lakeside town up on a hill. We parked and walked the main drag, looking at shops and debating on buying more clothes to wear to keep us warm. We finally found a restaurant for lunch. Apparently a lot of the restaurants in Murten are underground in caves. We descended a flight of stairs, and entered a room, lined in stone and big wooden beams. The food was delicious and it warmed us up. 

Delicious Lunch in Murten

Cool restaurant in Murten

Lakeside at Neuchatel

We then drove to the town of Neuchatel which is right on Lake Neuchatel. This was a bigger town, with lots of people walking around. We walked down to the lake, which is almost half the size of Lake Geneva, but just as beautiful. Then we headed up the hill to the Old Town area and we got to see views of the entire city below.  We headed back down the hill, and got a coffee at a local cafe, then headed back towards the car. Our energy levels were dwindling, but we still had two more towns to see. 

At the top of Neuchatel

Looking down at Neuchatel

We then drove to a small town called Grandson where a big castle sits on the side of the lake.  It was getting late by this time, so we just drove through the town, and passed by the castle.  I got a great shot of it while the sun was setting in the background. 

Our last stop was to Yverdon. Another small town on the southern tip of Lake Neuchatel.  We were all exhausted by now, so we took a few quick photos of the main plaza, empty because of the cold weather, and made our way back to Geneva.


It was a wonderful daytrip, and we got to see places that Travers and I had never seen before as well. But we were happy to be home that night, warm in our apartment, with our feet up.


We spent Sunday lazy around the apartment, leaving for a few hours in the afternoon to see the Art & History Museum and planning the last two days of Richard's visit.

Chateau Chillon

Monday, Richard and I hopped on the train headed to Montreux and the Chateau Chillon.  It was about 10°F outside and the castle wasn't any warmer.  But we braved it, and saw the entire castle, maybe walking through it a bit quicker than we would have normally, but it was fun to show Richard one of the most famous castles in Switzerland.  For lunch, we headed to Vevey and found a cute cafe with delicious Chocolat Chaud.  Then hopped on the train again to Lausanne.  I figured we hadn't walked enough in the past few days, that I made Richard climb the hill from the train station in Lausanne all the way up to the Cathedral on the top of the hill. About half way, I regretted the decision as I was huffing and puffing and freezing my buns off!  But we made it eventually, and he got to see some of the great views of the town below and the lake beyond.

Can you find Richard?

Top of the hill in Lausanne

His final day in Geneva, Richard spent the morning walking and shopping around town before we headed out to have lunch with Travers near his office.  The weather had warmed up a few degrees so we headed out to the lake to give him a final look at the water and the snowy mountains beyond.  He left early Wednesday morning and the temperature rose back to the mid-20's.

Day Trip & Day of Snow!

Since we have been so busy the past month, we decided to keep last weekend relaxing and mellow. After staying in Friday night and catching up on some much needed sleep, Shelley, Mike, Travers and I took the noon train on Saturday up to Lausanne for the day.  The main point was to go to the Olympic Museum, that closed just a few days later for a year and a half of renovations. So this was our last chance to see it. I actually had been with my friend Katy over the summer, but enjoyed it and figured it would be fun to go back. And to our luck, the museum was free (a favor they were doing for visitors the last 8 weeks before the renovations begin).

Travers at museum entrance

Top floor of the museum overlooking the lake

We made it to Lausanne, took the metro down the hill to the museum and walked around for an hour or two, learning about the history of the Olympics, seeing some of the torches and medals that have been used over the years. I also saw a water polo cap that was signed by the US Women's Water Polo Team from the 2000 Summer Olympics when they lost to Australia for the Gold. I tried to see if I recognized any of the names, but the signatures were too difficult to read. It was still fun to see though.

We then headed back up the hill to the Old Town and walked up to the Cathedral at the top of the hill. From there, we were able to see the entire town below us and the lake beyond. We then strolled through the town, stopping at a cute bohemian cafe for some coffee, taking in the people walking by. We learned that Lausanne, in contrast to Geneva, is very hippie-ish, whereas Geneva is more conservative. According to our friend, Nathalie, there is a rival between Geneva and Lausanne, where neither city likes the other and thinks they are better than the other.

Cathedral Doors

Small Street in Old Town

On top of the city

After getting our fill of the town, we decided to head back to Geneva and grab an early dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants, Little India. We got back into town a bit early (the restaurant wasn't even open yet), so we grabbed a drink at Les Brasseurs, right across from the train station, then finally had dinner, and met up with some friends at our favorite lounge, Le Brasserie des Halles de L'Ile.

The next few days were quiet, as we prepped for Travers' dad to visit. Thankfully he arrived today and not yesterday as we woke up Tuesday morning to the biggest snowfall we've had here yet.  It snowed, and snowed, and snowed. All day long. And didn't stop until that afternoon. Here are a few photos I took while walking with Travers to work that morning.

The Jardin Anglais covered in snow!

Doesn't stop the birds from sitting on their favorite railing

Another shot of the Jardin Anglais

Our favorite tree outside our apartment

I love watching the snow fall down, but thankfully it has stopped today so that Travers' dad won't have to deal with it being too snowy and cold for his visit.  We plan to take a drive this weekend and check out some neighboring cities so hopefully we'll get to see some more snow from the comfort of a heated car.

Faire Du Ski

I love to ski. I absolutely love it. It makes me so happy to be on the slopes, in the snow, flying down the mountain. Every time we go, as much as a pain it can be to get all our gear together and get up on the mountain, once I'm up there, a smile forms on my face, and I just know its going to be a great day.

I had forgotten how much I loved to ski. When I was little, my family used to go to the mountains all the time. I remember hating taking lessons cause they never let you use poles. And I remember my mom teaching me as I got older, how to transfer from the snow plow to a more parallel stance.  Those were always fun trips, but somehow as I got older, I stopped going skiing as much. If I was lucky, I made it to the mountains once a year.

But this winter, I have already been skiing 6 times! And each time, I feel myself getting better, more comfortable, and loving it more and more.  Since the new year, that's pretty much all I've been doing on the weekends.

Before Travers left for his 2 week trip to Kiev, we went with a group of friends to a nearby town called St. Cergue.  It was an hour train ride away. We lugged our gear to the train station, got on board, and enjoyed the short trip. Unfortunately, the directions on the website weren't quite clear, and we ended up getting off the train a stop too early. And even more unfortunately, there wasn't another train for an hour. But we made the most of it. Shelley and Mike went sledding. And the rest of us went inside the one small cafe for some coffee and apple strudel. Delish!

We finally made it to the mountain, and to Travers' dismay, had to take a tow rope up the mountain. For skiers, its not a big deal, but for snowboarders, its very difficult to maintain balance. And this tow rope was one of the longest I've been on. But after falling off once, he made it up the hill, and were immediately surrounded by clouds, and snow, and wind and cold (this is why I have no photos of this day as it was too cold to take my camera out, and no visibility to take any good photos). It was going to be a rough day. Our group worked our way to the one chair lift on the mountain, and we braved the weather for a few hours until breaking for lunch at a tiny hut on the mountain.  Thankfully, the food was delicious and the building was warm. We all needed to thaw out a bit. And after lunch, I only lasted one more run as my gloves, which I've had for too many years to remember, decided they didn't want to keep my hands warm anymore, and my fingers were on the verge of turning blue.  So Shelley and I headed back to the lodge, and got some vin chaud to warm up as we waited for everyone else to join us.

As convenient as it was to go an hour outside of Geneva to ski, I don't know if we'll go back to St. Cergue. It was a small mountain, and with only one real ski lift, the rest being tow ropes, it is too difficult to get some good runs in. Maybe it would have been better if the weather was good, but I don't think we'll go back anytime soon to find out.

But all that bad weather was erased from my mind the next weekend, as Travers was in Kiev, I went with another group of friends to Megève, France. Here in Geneva, you can sign up for the season to take the ski bus. It goes somewhere different every weekend.  So some friends of ours were taking it to go to Megève, and I tagged along, paying just a small fee to get a seat on the ski bus.  The downside, is that the bus leaves at 7:30am. So early. So I was up at quarter to 6am, and out the door by quarter to 7am. I got a minute away from the apartment and realized that I forgot to put my contacts in that morning! So I ran, carrying my skis on my shoulder, back up the hill and into the apartment. Threw my contacts in, and speed walked back down the hill to the bus stop. I had to catch a specific bus in order to get to the ski bus pick up location. Timing was everything. Luckily, I made it and Shelley and Mike saved me a seat with them on the bus.

About an hour and a half later, we were in Megève ready to ski. It was a beautiful day, sunny skies and not overly crowded. We had a great day of skiing, finding some great runs on one side of the mountain. Megève is actually pretty big and we never made it to the other half of the mountain, so we will definitely be going back there someday.  We enjoyed a nice lunch outside on a sun-filled patio, then hit the slopes again for a few more hours before heading back to the bus for the ride back home. It was a long day, but such a fun trip and a great day of skiing.

Travers got back the following week from Kiev, and we immediately left the next day for Zermatt!  We had been to Zermatt in the summer when my friend Katy was visiting, and we were really excited to go back to see it in winter.  It was our friend Mich's birthday and she had invited us to go along with a bunch of other friends of hers. So we took the train that Friday afternoon, bringing wine, a baguette, salami and cheese for our dinner, and enjoyed the 3.5 hour ride.

Once there, we got settled into our hotel, Haus Darioli, and met Shelley and Mike at one of our favorite spots, Grampi's. Every night, there is a guy that plays the piano and sings, mostly american classic songs. He is so entertaining, and we had a great time listening to him for a couple hours before meeting up with Mich and the others at the Hotel Post Broken Bar Disco club downstairs.  We danced for a couple hours and got caught up with everyone. We knew we wanted to get up early the next day to go skiing, so we forced ourselves to go back to the hotel and get some rest before it got too late.

The next morning, after mis-setting my alarm and miraculously waking up, we made it to the bottom of the gondola, and realized that the majority of the slopes and lifts were closed due to bad weather.  But we didn't let this stop us. We got our tickets and took a train up the mountain, that went through a tunnel at what felt like a 60 degree angle. It was a little scary. But it got us to the top of the mountain in no time.


The weather wasn't that great, but definitely not as bad as St. Cergue. The best part though, was that it had dumped snow the night before, so everything was covered in fresh powder! It was amazing! For the skiers in the group, some slopes were really tough as we really had to work on each slope. But for Travers, his snowboard floated over the top of the fresh powder, and he had an amazing time, finding jumps, going through the powder, and just having so much fun.

We went down one slope that from the chair lift, looked tough, but we were up for it. We would take breaks after a few turns to catch our breath, it was that hard. Thankfully, there were people that really looked like they knew what they were doing stopping too and also out of breath. It made me feel better about my ability.  Unfortunately though, all of us took a spill on this slope at one point or another. I don't know how bad the others' were, but my fall was pretty rough. I somehow got turned around edges caught, and went flying backwards down the mountain. Never a good thing.  I landed flat on my back, looking up the hill. It all happened so fast, so I layed there for a minute, making sure everything was where it should be, until Shelley came over and asked if I was ok. I slowly got up, and after the initial shock of the fall wore off, I actually loved it. The snow was so soft and I was getting such a rush out of skiing that I didn't really care about the fall.

After a few hours, we stopped for lunch, then immediately headed back out to get in as many more runs as we could. We met up with the entire group of people by the afternoon, and the group of 12 of us did our final run of the day all the way down to Zermatt, ending at the bottom of the train that we had taken up that morning.


We had a glass of vin chaud to warm us up, before heading back to the hotel to rest, shower and get ready for dinner.  Mich had made a reservation at an italian restaurant called Chalet de Giuseppe. It was a cozy restaurant, with a friendly owner who greeted us at the door and made sure our entire night was wonderful. They automatically served us prosecco upon arrival, with a piece of bruschetta. Then after dinner, we got complimentary grappa to help digest all the food we ate.  It was the perfect meal to have after a long day of skiing.  We topped the night off with a quick stop at Grampi's, then back to Hotel Post for a little dancing. We were all pretty exhausted from the day and called it a night somewhat early.

The next day, we slept in, took our time getting packed up and checked out of the hotel. Then wandered the streets for a bit before grabbing a lunch at the Brown Cow Pub and heading back to Geneva on the train.

We love Zermatt. It was such a fun trip and we were so happy to help celebrate our friend's birthday.  I just hope we can go back again soon. I absolutely loved the skiing there. And I hope next time, the rest of the mountain will be open. Its been four days since we were skiing Zermatt, and I already can't wait to go again. Unfortunately, we have a couple weekends where we won't be skiing, but I'm already starting to plan the next trip.

Ringing in the New Year

Angie & Travers

We spent an amazing night ringing in the new year of 2012. We started planning a few weeks ago, and Travers came up with a brilliant idea to have a progressive dinner. This is where the party starts at one house for appetizers, then moves to another for the entrees, then to another for dessert. So along with our friends the Rosinskys, the Vissers, and Peter, we planned our last night for 2011.

The Rosinskys - Mike & Shelley

Because of my husband's fame of having the best party music playlist in Geneva, we were elected to go first for appetizers, so we could listen to his music mix and get into the party mood right away.  Mike and Shelley were on for entrees, the Vissers, Dave and Angie, were on for dessert, and Peter brought champagne, a necessity on new year's eve!

Dave & Me

I shopped for all the food the Friday before, and on Saturday, picked up a few last minute things and started prepping by about 2pm. Everyone was due to come over by 5pm. And I figured it was plenty of time. Well, it was just the right amount of time as it turned out. We were literally plating as the clock struck 5pm. (we don't actually have a clock that strikes, but you know what i mean). Thankfully, everyone was a fashionably 15 min late so we had a slight buffer for us to get our outfits on and make sure everything was ready to go!  Here are a few pics of our dishes. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos before everyone started eating!

We made 3 types of 'toppers' which are baguette slices baked with olive oil, then topped with the following: 1. Brie Cheese, Apple Slice, and Carmelized Onion. 2. Fig Jam, Goat Cheese, and Sliced Walnut, and 3. Fig Jam, Honey, and Sea Salt.  Yumm!  We also made Megan's Meatball Delight (we thought of the name that night), which is a mini homemade meatball (yeah thats right, HOME MADE), some marinara sauce, and some mozzarella, wrapped inside a small pastry dough (not home made), then baked into delicious goodness.

We then also made some prosiutto wrapped melon bites.  Now this was a risk as I am not an expert on melons and the store only had 2 kinds, neither of which were honeydew. I kept trying to look them up online before I bought, but in the end, just picked one and hoped when I sliced it open, it would look ok. And by the looks of our half-eaten tray here, I was successful. I used a Melon D'Hiver (winter melon), sliced it up, seeded it, and took off the rind. I then sliced up some prosciutto and wrapped each piece, held together with a toothpick. And for all those recipes out there that say you don't need a toothpick to hold the prosciutto on the melon, I think they are wrong. There was no way this was staying put together without it. And besides, don't you need something to pick the melon up with to eat instead of your hands?

After a couple hours, we moved onto the Rosinskys for the entrees.  They served a traditional Swiss meal, including fondue (yumm), Wiener Schnitzel, Rosti/Scalloped Potatoes, Sauerkraut, and Salad. They had a beautiful table set up, and Mike even dressed in his lederhosen outfit to get us into the spirit.

Mike in Lederhose with the schnitzel!

Dave checking out the fondue

After striking a pose for the camera, we filled some to go cups with coffee, hot chocolate, and mint liqueur to keep us warm for the walk over. Even though we were full, we were all really excited to see what the Vissers came up with for dessert!

Fierce!

The Dessert!

And we were not disappointed. They went all out! They had chocolate fondue with pretzels, cookies, waffles, and fruit to dip in. They had home made rice crispy treats, home made peanut butter balls, homemade truffles! It was amazing! And even though we were full, it was too good to resist.

The Boys!

The Girls!

Good thing our last stop was one of our favorite dance clubs, La Sip, so we could dance off all the food we just ate!  We made it there just before midnight, did the countdown, and then danced for the next few hours to some of our favorite songs! Bonne Année!