Iris is 10!
8 months ago
Friday, December 25, 2009
Orphan Christmas!!
Marry Christmas everyone! Last night was the ‘orphan’ Christmas party for us displaced peoples.... England, New Zealand, Croatia, USA, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland were all represented. tomorrow we head to the Sedrun for a week of mountain fun! Blog updates coming soon!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tree
Here’s Shelly’s awesome economical, ecological Christmas tree!!! Pretty cool, but Roo keeps trying to eat the popcorn. The little things on the tree are chocolates for me!
Kressa
So perhaps you’ve heard.. I’m in a men’s choir! Its kind of like a misfit choir, where the lyrics are dreamed up after long drinking sessions. Excellent!
So for chistmas we went caroling on St. Nicks day. This requires glühwein, so we made 20 liters of the stuff. Cheap wine, oranges, lemons, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and various dried fruits. Here’s a pic of the process:
To give it that extra kick, throw in a bottle of amaretto.
And so we went, a team of 7 Santas, a Schmützli (don’t have these in US. He is Santa’s assisstant...helps with the donkey) and a wheelbarrow full of cheer.
This is still unusal here, Just like home!:
This poor guy was sleeping. We sang to him and we were presented with Jagermeister shots. Actually everywhere we went we were given shots of something. bad. news.
Roo made a cameo appearance at one house. Maybe next year she can be the donkey.
At one house they were waiting for us, and they had a small party, beers, and a grill out!
So for chistmas we went caroling on St. Nicks day. This requires glühwein, so we made 20 liters of the stuff. Cheap wine, oranges, lemons, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and various dried fruits. Here’s a pic of the process:
To give it that extra kick, throw in a bottle of amaretto.
And so we went, a team of 7 Santas, a Schmützli (don’t have these in US. He is Santa’s assisstant...helps with the donkey) and a wheelbarrow full of cheer.
This is still unusal here, Just like home!:
This poor guy was sleeping. We sang to him and we were presented with Jagermeister shots. Actually everywhere we went we were given shots of something. bad. news.
Roo made a cameo appearance at one house. Maybe next year she can be the donkey.
At one house they were waiting for us, and they had a small party, beers, and a grill out!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Puzzle
Switzerland jigsaw puzzle!!! This is how cool we are. Earlier this month we got this 1000 piecer together and now shes glued, framed, and ready for the wall. Maybe we will put pushpins in all the places we’ve been.
I hid the piece for Lyss from Shelly, and then we ended missing another piece, and even had a double of a certain piece so it wasn’t looking good. We contacted the manufacturer etc etc and eventually found it under the couch. duh.
I hid the piece for Lyss from Shelly, and then we ended missing another piece, and even had a double of a certain piece so it wasn’t looking good. We contacted the manufacturer etc etc and eventually found it under the couch. duh.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Scion
Scion is the capital city of the canton of Valais, Switzerland, and when you arrive there the first thing you'll see is the large fortified church overlooking the town, perched on a hill. I needed to go check it out!
As I walked up the steady incline, I found there was another hill with a big castle-ruin on the top, aslo see the little church:
The church is undergoing an extensive rennovation, which is scheduled to be completed next year. You see all the scaffolding on the side.:
Looking down on the town:
Inside part of the church is a new museum showing articles from different periods of Valais history,
even into the prehistoric:
As I walked up the steady incline, I found there was another hill with a big castle-ruin on the top, aslo see the little church:
The church is undergoing an extensive rennovation, which is scheduled to be completed next year. You see all the scaffolding on the side.:
Looking down on the town:
Inside part of the church is a new museum showing articles from different periods of Valais history,
even into the prehistoric:
Friday, November 27, 2009
Spiez
Cool views from a town called Spiez, about 40 mins south of us. I once again was doing a little traveling by train on a day off, and I stopped here to check out the charming little castle on the lake front.
Little boat houses on the lake front:
Road food: Horse sausages, Alp cheese, mustard, Rivella, and bread. MMMMmmm!
Little boat houses on the lake front:
Road food: Horse sausages, Alp cheese, mustard, Rivella, and bread. MMMMmmm!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Samedan
I had been off work (part time layoff type of thing) so I had made a couple of short trips just around. This town is called Samedan; it is a mountian resort town in Graubunden, the big mountainous part of Switzerland to the southeast. It was pretty much off season for them, so most of the stuff was closed, but it didn't matter to me, I was just looking around and riding the train and watching the mountains through the window!
Do to the obviously cold climate here the walls of houses are traditionally very thick, as can be seen by how far the windows are recessed back. I read that while modern technology makes faring the winter much easier, traditionally the windows are kept small and recessed like this so that they could be insulated when necessary. See the notably small windows in the upper levels of the house in the pic below. Also sometimes animals were let into the basements for warmth.
Cool decorative themes are drawn onto the houses:
Do to the obviously cold climate here the walls of houses are traditionally very thick, as can be seen by how far the windows are recessed back. I read that while modern technology makes faring the winter much easier, traditionally the windows are kept small and recessed like this so that they could be insulated when necessary. See the notably small windows in the upper levels of the house in the pic below. Also sometimes animals were let into the basements for warmth.
Cool decorative themes are drawn onto the houses:
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Konstanz
Konstanz, Germany is right on the Swiss border. We were just tooling around with day passes on the train, and when we walked across the border we realized we did not have any Euros, and we had to find a bank!
Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, pioneer of the rigid airship, was from here:
During WWII the town left their lights on, fooling Allied bombers into thinking it was part of Switzerland, and so they were not bombed, leaving the old town intact.
The Rhine river flows into, and then exits Lake Konztanz (Constance).
Pumpkin Pizza!
Wine for the trip home:
Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, pioneer of the rigid airship, was from here:
During WWII the town left their lights on, fooling Allied bombers into thinking it was part of Switzerland, and so they were not bombed, leaving the old town intact.
The Rhine river flows into, and then exits Lake Konztanz (Constance).
Pumpkin Pizza!
Wine for the trip home:
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