Joyful Journey

Well, now we can say we've skied the Sierra Nevadas, the Rockies (Thanks, Daniel and Angela! Sure glad you lived in Denver for a couple years!!), the Appalachians (hmm...not sure we should include this skiing??), and the Alps! Although this has been an usual year according to the locals, the ski slopes located within a few hours of Zurich opened in mid-November! We hiked in the Flumserberg ski area on the first day that the slopes opened. That day was bright and sunny and we had wonderful views of both the mountains and the lake (Walensee) which is at the base of these mountains. I guess that is unusual as well. This area often has clouds stretching to mountains on both sides, covering the lake. One of Bob's colleagues says he has never skied at this resort when it has been anything but overcast. When we arrived , it was somewhat overcast at the lake level, but you could see the mountain peaks. However, as the day advanced, the clouds filled in the area between the two m...

Across a small valley from our home is a ridge line, known as Lägern , which is part of the Swiss Jura mountains, with its highest elevation being Burghorn at 859 m. Near the top of this ridge is the town of Regensberg, considered one of the best preserved medievel towns in Switzerland. It was founded around 1245 by the Barons of Regensberg and portions of the old fortress still remain. Bob runs up to this town and a bit above it on one of his running loops. Recently we parked in town, wandered around a bit and then hiked along the ridge above it. We have read that the round tower is open for climbing, but it did not appear to be on the day we hiked. However, it was a typical overcast day and so the views would not have been spectacular. There are a number of carefully restored half-timbered homes in the town as well as a Rose Museum (It also did not appear to be open! Probably their busy time is summer tourist season.) One of the reasons why we were hiking this ridge is that th...

And who isn't familiar with Bing Crosby (or maybe Nat King Cole, dependent on your age!) crooning The Christmas Song? ( which incidentally was written on a very hot summer's day in Southern California as a way for Bobby Wells and Mel Tormé to cool down! Ah what you learn as you blog!!) But have you ever eaten any chestnuts that were roasted over an open fire? I certainly hadn't. Past tense. When you walk through Z ü rich these days (since approximately late October), you will see stalls with men inside, roasting chestnuts over a charcoal fire. On my way back to the train after Bible study, I can either head over to the permanent Bretzel King stand and get most any imaginable variety of pretzel including a sandwich made on pretzel bread, or I can head to the stall right next to it and get a small cone shaped paper bag with these hot chestnuts ( marroni , they are called here) or I can join some friends for coffee at the Globus. I haven't had any in Zürich because ...

Manuela really made my day. She was helping me with some German phrases and at one point told me my accent sounded Swiss. One sentence. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere!! The day before when driving through towns near our apartment, I asked Bob if this "felt like home." He couldn't say and asked me how I felt about it. It is something that I have been pondering frequently. Friends have asked about Christmas decorations. Don't really have very much as I haven't wanted to invest in things that I won't then bring "home." I think of our church in North Carolina as "our church," not the one we attend in Zurich. I have a list of things for the boys to bring "from home" when they come in January. Zurich is where we are living and in some ways and at some times feels like home, but if you asked me where home is, I'd say North Carolina. (So now all our family and friends can rest more easily, although the idea of a s...

The first town between us and the airport is the village of Höri, and on the hill above town (Höriberg) is a plaque sitting on a rock that pictures and labels the Alp peaks that you can see from that point on a clear day. On our way to church on Sunday we saw more of the Alps (viewable from "our area") than we had seen since we've been here. We decided to walk to Höriberg and check out the view. (You will want to click on the photo to get a better view!!) I wish you could capture with a photo the magnificence of the view. In person the mountains are easier to see and appear closer! It seems that our clear view was due to the high winds that were present, which we battled especially as we attempted to walk home. At times it felt like you were walking forward, but moving backward! Oh, but the view was worth the walk. Is that not true with so many things? Even with difficulties, the journey is often worth the effort. Or maybe it is that it makes the journey that mu...

Someone in our home turned 50 in November, and it wasn't Pam. ;-) It was strange to celebrate a birthday without family and friends around, so to celebrate we enjoyed a wonderful fondue dinner at a Le Dezaley in Zürich and then "Someone" had fun opening funny cards and filling up his sock drawer with black running socks. I think he has enough to last him for many, many more years of running!

Aunt Cleone isn't really my aunt. She's the wife of my mom's cousin, Merritt. But when I was growing up, she and "Uncle Merritt" lived in the same town we did, and so that became the way I always addressed her. When Aunt Cleone joined the family and began attending Thanksgiving dinner at "the farm," one of her contributions was this wonderful fruit salad made with a cooked custard base to which whipped cream was added along with fruit and marshmallows. The primary purpose of the marshmallows was to soak up any excess fruit juice to keep the salad from becoming "soupy." I don't ever remember a Thanksgiving (or Christmas) dinner without someone making this salad, even after Aunt Cleone and Uncle Merritt moved to Texas.  When Bob and I got married, this became one of my regular contributions to the holiday meal. Fast forward 27 years. We're living in Switzerland and we're invited to join some other Americans for Thanksgiving a...

I did decide to visit one more museum, the Albertina , although I had read that it was primarily modern art, which I do not enjoy. But according to the information I found, it houses the largest graphic art collection in the world and includes prints from Leonard, Michelangelo, Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens. The Albertina palace was built on what was part of the original city wall of the 1500's. In the 1700's it became the palace for Duke Albert, the founder of the collection as well as the person for whom the museum is named. The site actually unites four different buildings, including connecting the palace with the Hofburg and the Augustinian monastery. The Albertina was severely damaged during World War 2, but the building has been restored As I was wandering through the modern and post-modern sections of the museum, it reminded me of a recent conversation with a friend, who in the course of conversation mentioned that she views her life in separate compartments, each...

Another rainy, windy day. Great day to vist the last of the museums that were on my "want to for sure visit." This was the Sammlung Alter MusikInstrumente or the Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments. Housed in part of the Neue Berg (New Palace), it is just another of the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. What I did not realize until after I bought my ticket was the the admission price included the other collections housed in the Neue Berg, which was the Ephesus Museum and the Hofjagd und Rustkammer (Arms and Armor) Museum. The palace itself was beautiful, although the side rooms that housed the collections were not as ornate as the portions in the front part of the palace. I found the musical instrument collection to be quite interesting. As part of your ticket price you receive a free audio guide, from which you can both gain information on various instruments, but also can hear a recording of them being played. There were some very unusual...