Switzerland – Globitrotter

New sport

At New Years we bought, with much ambition, snow shoes. The weather was going to be good and we wanted to get out in the mountains. Since I am not very fond of skiing (Yes, it might be annoying for some that I live very close to good ski resorts and do not take advantage of that…) I thought snow shoeing must be the perfect alternative. This way the hiking season does not really have to end and I get to enjoy the mountains in the winter as well. What a bliss! Anyway, last Sunday, two and a half months later, we finally got out to try those snow shoes. So much for that ambition..

We caught the train, bus and cable car and within an hour or so we arrived in Melchsee-Frutt. This is a small ski resort at an elevation of 1920 meters. Not very well known it seems except among the locals. I like it though, easy to reach from Lucerne, it has good hiking, climbing, mountain biking and more in the summer and skiing in the winter.

This day was very warm. The weather started out cloudy but cleared after lunch. When the sun was shining and we were hiking uphill it was hot enough to walk in t-shirt. Andy actually sun burned his arms! The loop we did was around 8-9 km and 500 meters elevation. A nice tour that took us about 2.5 hours.

It was such a nice day and I was walking with a big smile on my face. A bonus was that it was still sunny and warm for a barbecue on the terrace when we got back. 🙂

My suspicion that this would be the winter sport for me was correct. I loved it and this was not the last tour.

Chocolate!

I do live in one of the biggest chocolate countries in the world. So last week when I was fortunate enough to be invited to join Andy’s company for an event at Lindt & Sprüngli my introduction to Switzerland was complete. I bet most of you know the Lindt chocolate, you can buy it all over the world. We bought it occasionally during our stay in America and on the trip and our favorite is the chili flavored one.

At the factory in Kilchberg, outside of Zürich, they have a show room which is equipped with marble benches and large pots to keep the chocolate at the right temperature for further refinement. Our group of almost 30 got dressed in baking shirts, apron and hats. The show room was Christmas decorated with Disney perfect trees and golden Lindt chocolate bears.

The chocolatier started to tell us a bit about the company and chocolate but pretty soon we got into the important part of the evening, making chocolates. 🙂

We were shown how to fill champagne ganache in chocolate shells which were later sealed and decorated with powder sugar. We made 28 each and they have to be eaten within a week or so. What a pity! We then got 10 basic chocolates that we could decorate in what ever way we wanted. The chocolatier showed us some tricks and for our creations we could use gold flakes, caramelized nuts and more.

In addition to working with chocolate there were Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate available for us to eat as much as we wanted from. It did not take long until I did not feel like having any more. Such a shame!

A few hours later we went home with our handmade chocolates, slightly sick after having had way too much chocolate but with a big smile on our faces. 🙂

Fürenwand – Via Ferrata

On Friday we finally made it to Engelberg and the Via Ferrata on Fürenwand leading up to Fürenalp. It was about 4 years ago we did this Via Ferrata the first time. Honestly I did not remember it being that steep, it is about 750 meters elevation change and parts of it goes pretty much up straight walls with short overhanging moves and a free hanging ladder. Before Friday I was actually thinking of bringing inexperienced climbers on it but changed my mind once I was on the wall. I think I would like to be positive that people does not have issues with heights before taking on this wall.

Andy is coming up the free hanging ladder.

I am closing in on the ladder which you can see in the top of the image.

I am about to step out on the bars and around the corner on a vertical part of the Via Ferrata.

Our first plan was to go shopping in Zürich. The weather forecast however said it was going to be the only dry day during the weekend so we changed our plans and went climbing instead. Although it was not raining it was partly wet and at some points even a bit slippery.

It was nice to come up on Fürenalp and see the sign for the restaurant. It was definitely time for lunch and a panache (beer mixed with lemon soda). 🙂 There was no wind at all so it was actually ok to even sit outside and enjoy the views.

Ah, seasons!

Well, here it comes. The autumn. When I looked out the window this morning snow had fallen on the mountain tops. Above about 2000 meters the peaks were nice and white. Much of it disappeared during the day but it was clear that a new season is here.

I had some difficulties believing what I saw this morning considering the beach was full of people just last week when it was still almost 30 degrees Celsius. Summer was still going strong.

This is what it looked like at Ufschötti at the Lucerne Lake (Vierwaldstetter see) just a few days ago.

Actually I am pretty excited about the autumn since we have escaped colder weather for a few years now. Even though it has been great not having to wear lots of clothes for years I have missed the seasons. Last time I experienced a full autumn in Europe was 2010 and then we moved to Arizona in December and missed winter. So now it is time to dig out those boots and jackets. Looking forward to it!

First outing

We have lived in Lucerne since 1 June and from our balcony we see the mountains, particularly the Pilatus. It is regarded as the “house mountain” being the highest peak close to the city. With its 2128 meters it is higher than the highest point in Sweden. Considering our interest in hiking it is astonishing that we have not hiked one single time since we came back to Switzerland. The weather has been fantastic so there was really no reason. But I have to admit that after doing so much hiking during our trip and moving around every day made us lazy and we have enjoyed just staying put for the summer.

The Pilatus is very green this time of year. If you zoom in you can see the red gondolas on the right side of the mountain.

Lately though I have started to feel the urge to get up there again and on Saturday we did our first “real” hike since Tasmania in March. (I am not including smaller walks to see certain sights.) We decided to hike the Pilatus from the Alpnach side which is the most direct route and therefore also quite steep. You start at the Pilatus Bahn station (yes, there is a train going up on this side of the mountain) on roughly 450 m altitude. It starts off on the meadows but rather quickly you enter the forest and do not get out in the open until almost half ways to the top.

Before getting into the forest.

Once above the tree line you soon see your goal for the first time and it becomes very obvious that it is a fair way to go. You can see the switchbacks you have in front of you but you also have a nicer view and it is more alpine with beautiful meadows and steep rock faces. The top of the mountain was mostly covered in clouds so it did not make much sense to take pictures at this point.

What is a hike in the Alps without cows? In the background in the left image you can see the train track.

Being not in the best of shapes it took me about half an hour longer than last time I did this hike 3 years ago. We did not keep that good track of our time, we stopped and talked to fellow hikers on the way, but I think we did the 1700 m altitude in about 3 h and 40 min. My goal is to cut that time with at least one hour. I would be happy with 2.5 h. Andy’s goal is a bit more aggressive but he would have to run part of the time to reach his 1.5 h goal…

At last we reached the peak which is crawling with people. The amount of people that actually hike up is not very large, most come up with the train or the gondola on the north side of the mountain. Recently they renovated the facilities on the top to fit even more people indoors. I guess a lot of the tourists does not realize that it gets quite cold up over 2000 m, especially when the wind is blowing. This way they can get a nice lunch or snack without having to freeze half to death.

And being out of shape we took the train down. 🙂 It is quite a cool train being the steepest rack railway in the world. They say the steepest part is 48% which is quite impressive considering it opened in 1889.

This is the half way station. You can get off and on here if you don’t want to do the complete hike or just get off, stroll around, say hi to the cows and then continue with the train.

Movies in Switzerland

Yesterday we went to the movies. We attempted to go see something a few weeks ago but could not find the film in original language. It is actually still a problem to find the movies you want to see not dubbed in German. I very much believe that dubbing the movies destroys the original. It is obvious that everything is recorded in a studio, the speech does not match the lip movements and just hearing someone like Sean Connery or Morgan Freeman speaking German is simply wrong. Here they are used to it though and many prefer the German versions, obviously. Many think it is a nuisance to read subtitles.

However, Despicable Me 2, runs close by in original language. Luckily! I was almost expecting having to wait until I get back to Sweden to watch movies in the cinema. We have been waiting for this film for a long time and it did not let us down. Very funny. Go see it! 🙂

Another thing about going to the movies here is the break… Yes, they do make a break in the middle of the movie. When you are really into it and it is exciting and you just want to see how it continues the screen goes black and the lights are turned on. Come on! I guess the reason is that they sell beer at the theater so people need a toilet break and time to get another one. Annoying if you are not used to it. Next time I have to buy a beer to make it worth while.