Visit to Zurich

Baby L and I made the trip to Zurich on a rainy Monday. Man was the weather total crap! I hadn't brought the cover for the bassinet so we had to buy a super cheap rain poncho and I needed to buy an umbrella for myself, I was totally unprepared. I met up with Kerstin and since the weather was such crap we spent a lot of time sitting in restaurants for lunch and tea time and not so much time walking around. Baby L was on good behaviour, not as sleepy as her past day trip to Zurich but she was happy to sit on our laps in the restaurants and watch what was going on.

One place we visited was a super cool tea house by the opera house in Zurich. It had a tiny entrance and looked like it was just a counter but as you wen through a side door you realized it was an entire house inside with all kinds of decorated rooms for sitting and having a warm afternoon tea. For a Monday afternoon the place was totally packed, but the waitress was helpful finding us a good place to sit, it is good to come bearing a super cute little baby that everybody loves! I had a chocolate cake to die for and the tea was wonderful as well. It is the kind of place that you only really find in big cities and made me miss Vancouver and all the quirky places I had discovered there over the years.

After dinner baby L went to sleep in her bassinet and Mic and I did our first 'leave the baby behind with some else' (I think) as we went out to watch The Force Awakens. Yes, the movie was still playing in english,, lucky us!

Kat and Dan visit

French relatives came for a weekend to see us and baby L. We split the Saturday skiing so baby L was at home with someone, boys in the morning, girls in the afternoon. It was my first real day on the piste and I had the most fun on the small off piste section of Madrisa.

In addition to skiing we played board games including a new dice game I bought called Mille Sabords - fun and easy but the rules are only in French. What can I say, I like rolling dice which is also why I like Zombicide so much!

Snow adventures with the baby

On Thursday night there was an organized tour of Saas (a nearby village) that I had seen advertised on a poster. It was led by a woman who is apparently very keen and we all met at the bus stop in the center of town around 7:30pm. We went there with baby L and our houseguest Lorenza for the evening tour.

Once we were all collected we walked around the village in the dark while we were told about some features of the old houses and village  - how big fires had started and that the clock tower had burnt down. Some of the old houses had very tiny windows that were just shuttered, apparently a body of a member of the house would be placed there after death and the window opened so that the spirit could escape. Also, some of the houses had these really tiny balconies, you couldn't really stand up on them, they were right under the eaves of the house. Apparently that would be where they would hang laundry to dry in the old days, or do other small work that needed to be outdoors that could be protected.

After the village tour we all put on snowshoes, Mic was carrying baby L in our new (used) baby bjorn carrier. We walked above the village in the moonlight (full moon) through the fields. There wasn't a whole lot of snow, it has been a rather warm winter, but we made it to the top of the fields and had a lovely view down the valley. Baby L slept the entire time which was the point as it was past her bedtime!

At the top while we rested, someone pulled out their alphorn and we listened to the music echo over the valley in the darkness - very cool. Our host for the evening also served everyone herbal tea made from stuff available in the region and homemade cookies. Afterwards we hiked down and made our way back home where we put baby L to bed.

The next evening we tried again with the snow walking and baby L, trying to make it up to Berghaus Erika with sleds. It was snowing heavily at that point and after an hour when baby L woke up she decided she didn't like the wet snow and we sledded down the mountain instead, Mic and I sharing a sled with Baby L between us. That was an adventure, the road was lit only by headlamp and the snow was falling heavily. However, with two people providing braking we had good control and a fun descent.

Brunch

On the weekend we had guests over and hosted a big brunch with the crepe party set. It was a sad day as we said goodbye to the crepe party set, hopefully we can buy one in Canada!