New camera

Given the volume of pictures that I’ve been taking, I decided to buy a new camera and ultimately selected a Nikon D90. This is a significant upgrade versus my previous digital camera (a six-year-old Olympus), so I’m looking forward to using it a lot during my future travels.

After finally getting through the instruction manual (it’s 300 pages) and prepping the camera accordingly, I decided to take it out for some test shots today. The biggest difference that I noticed was that the zoom is pretty incredible. The camera actually came with two lenses (an 18-135mm and a 70-300mm) and I didn’t even try to larger lens with the stronger zoom yet.

Here are some of the pictures that I took.

















Later in the afternoon, the weather took a bit of a turn...

Almost forgot...

At the hotel in Adelboden, we had an interesting experience in the sauna. Since it had a “no swimsuit” policy, we simply went in with our towels like the majority of the other guests. For a while it was just the four of us, until a middle-aged dad and his son decided to come in stark naked, with no hesitation at all. Since the sauna door was transparent, we could see it coming from a mile away. Their swimsuits (more like Speedos, actually) came off almost in mid-stride, and before we knew it they were sitting right across from us – directly in our line of sight, unfortunately.

Once they started talking it became clear that they were Dutch. Assuming they couldn’t speak French, Yvain said something to the effect of “I could never do that with my dad” and we laughed. We weren’t laughing five minutes later, though, when the guy started speaking French and asking about how the skiing was. He wasn’t fluent, but was definitely conversational. We were embarrassed, to say the least.

The whole nude thing wouldn’t have been that bad if it weren’t for the stretching, scratching, itching, etc. that was going on. We did our best to avoid seeing all this, but it’s kind of hard when it’s happening only a few feet away.

Adelboden – Day II

On Sunday we had another great day of skiing. The weather was beautiful and the snow conditions were perfect. Here are some of the pictures from the day.



















Here is a picture of where we stopped for lunch and the views from the restaurant.

Adelboden – Day I

This weekend Emilie and I went to Adelboden, a Swiss mountain village in the Bernese alps near Interlaken. We went with Emilie’s sister Cecile and her boyfriend, Yvain, who is also French, so the weekend also served as an intensive French lesson for me. While they all speak English, conversations naturally revert to French and I prefer this as it helps me learn. That said, it definitely gets exhausting trying to understand everything.

The weather was beautiful, so it made for a great day of skiing. Plus, I got to try out my new skis and they worked out very well. Though the boots had felt comfortable when I bought them, you never know how they’re actually going to feel once you’re on the mountain. Fortunately, the only soreness that I felt was that which would normally be expected. My feet ended up feeling pretty good.











Emilie, Cecile and her boyfriend are all very good skiers, so I spent most of the day just trying to keep up with them. Even when I was at my best over a decade ago, I still think that I would have had trouble matching their pace. But I followed them all over the mountain (with no falls) and didn’t hold them up too much, so I’ll consider that a success.











One of the best parts of skiing in Switzerland is stopping for lunch. The combination of the food and the views makes for a very enjoyable experience. Here’s a picture of the restaurant where we ate. We got one of the tables right in front, so we were able to enjoy the nice weather. Here’s a picture of Cecile and Yvain as well.










The hotel where we stayed was very nice and had a full spa facility, which we made thorough use of after the long day of skiing. There was an indoor pool, an outdoor heated pool, a sauna, a steam room and a bunch of other showers / jets, etc., that I wasn’t quite sure how to work. The only thing missing was a Jacuzzi, but given all the other amenities I definitely wasn’t complaining.

For dinner we went out for fondue at a place that Emilie and her sister had tried last year. They said it was the best fondue that they’ve ever had, so I had very high expectations. And it definitely lived up to them. I’ve only had fondue perhaps five times and I’m far from being an expert on the cuisine. However, I can definitely say that this was extremely good. Getting the cheese the right consistency when it’s served is truly an art and this place had mastered it.











Here are some of the pictures of the food. And as you can see, no one left hungry.

Getting Personal

So my sister tells me that certain posts are starting to get somewhat “awkward” do to the fact that I often refer to a vague “we” in them without providing more detail. In my defense, I’ve always been someone who likes to keep his personal life “personal” and, to be honest, the thought of posting personal stuff on a blog that is accessible to the world (at least in theory) is a bit unsettling.

Though traffic to my website is almost exclusively friends and family, you’d be surprised at the random visitors I get. Believe it or not, I’ve had “strangers” from countries such as Germany, Singapore, Russia, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, the U.K. and Vietnam. And within the U.S., they’ve come from Minnesota, Texas, Missouri, South Carolina and Oregon.

But I digress. Oh yes…the original purpose of the post…well for those of you who aren’t already aware, the “we” is a reference to my girlfriend Emilie. She is from France, but lives in Lausanne and I met her not long after I arrived in Switzerland. She’s fluent in English – hence why I’m not fluent in French…yet (I hope). Here’s a picture from a recent day of x-country skiing in France.

Apologies for the Cliff notes version, but one can only open up so much in one sitting. Babysteps…

Busted!

Today I decided to buy a couple of things after work and took the metro on the way back to my apartment. At the Lausanne Gare stop I was minding my own business when the metro "officers" boarded the train to check for tickets. Since I have a monthly pass, I had no concern and confidently provided it to them before they had even questioned me.

When they swiped my card, however, I noticed that the little red light on the officer's hand-held machine illuminated rather than the little green one that I was expecting. "That's not a good sign", I thought to myself. And it wasn't. It turns out that my pass had expired...yesterday. And since I was unaware of this, I hadn't refilled my card today or simply bought a single-ride ticket.

The damage...CHF60 (about $60). And had I not paid on the spot, it would have been CHF80.

Oh well, there's nothing that I can do about it now. I just wish the guy had shown a little compassion and even pretended to consider cutting me some slack. I mean, it's not as if I had snuck on the train with no ticket and tried to pull a fast one. The guy could clearly see on the back of my card that I've refilled my pass every month since June. Is one day of ignorant freeloading such a big deal? I guess so...

Broken Record

This week I headed back to France for some more x-country skiing. I admit that I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record these days, but, in my defense, one needs to take advantage of the snow while it lasts, right?

The area where we skied is called Chapelle-des-Bois, which is right along the French border with Switzerland. It's very nice as there are a lot of x-country trails of different lengths and difficulties. Similar to previous x-country excursions, we took the 8km trail. The following are a couple of pictures from the day.










I feel like I'm steadily improving and today was by far my quickest time. That said, the long uphill portions of the trails remain my nemeses and serve as humbling reminders that I've still got a lot to improve upon. At least this time I passed a lot of people, rather than simply being the one who was getting passed. That's considered progress, right?

On the way home I decided to do my part to stimulate the global economy by purchasing a set of (downhill) skis, boots and poles. I figure they'll pay for themselves over time as it costs nearly CHF 70 to rent a full setup for the weekend. Plus, the convenience of not having to go rent rent everything each time I go skiing is a huge benefit. The following is a picture of what I got -- Head skis, Dolomite boots and Scott poles.

Next weekend I'm heading to Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland for two days of downhill skiing and look forward to trying the new equipment out.

Under attack?

Today was the annual testing of Switzerland’s civil defense sirens, which takes place on the first Wednesday of February each year. It basically sounded like an air raid warning from World War II (at least based on my perception of such warning systems from WWII documentaries and movies). It also made me think of something you might have heard in the U.S. during the Cold War – when American school children would duck and cover under their desks as practice for a potential nuclear attack during the 50s.

Sannenmöser – Day II

The view from our room was a great one. This morning the sun was out and allowed for some nice pictures. Given the hotel’s location, we were able to put on our skis right our front and ski about 30 yards over to one of the runs. From there it was a short trek down the mountain to one of the gondolas or chair lifts.











Today was another great day of skiing. There was even some sun for the first part of the day, though the afternoon brought some light snow that provided a fresh dusting of powder. Overall, I felt more comfortable today than yesterday and definitely saw signs of improvement. That said, I still have a long way to go before returning to the level that I was at in my skiing “prime”.










After two days of skiing, two observations stand out above the rest. First, the Swiss are unbelievable skiers. You can tell that skiing is definitely a way of life for them. While I’m sure the elite U.S. skiers can hold their own against the elite Swiss, the average person you see on the slopes here is far better than the average one that I remember seeing at ski resorts in the U.S.

Second, nearly everyone on the mountain wore helmets. This is definitely different from what I remember in the U.S. Perhaps things have changed a little over the past 10 years, but I’m pretty sure that they haven’t changed that much. In a way, I felt like an outcast on the mountain because I wasn’t wearing one. There was even a program so that anyone who wasn’t wearing a helmet could try one out for two hours. Don’t get me wrong…I thing it’s a positive thing. Given all the injuries that can take place on the slopes, there’s really no downside to wearing a helmet.

Once the lifts closed we stopped for a drink at one of the warming huts in the middle of the slope adjacent to our hotel. It was a great way to relax after a long day of skiing.

We then headed back to the hotel to gather our stuff and then head down to the car (once again via snowmobile) for the drive home. Here are some pictures while heading from the slopes to the hotel.










Here are some pictures that I took of a church in Rougement, which is about 15 minutes from Saanenmöser. We thought it was beautiful, so we decided to pull over to take a couple of shots. It turned out that the Gstaad music summit also involved this church and there was a concert later in the evening. Definitely a cool venue for a show…

Sannenmöser – Day I (Part II)

The lifts close at 4:30pm, so we headed down the mountain with about a half hour to spare before it started to get dark. While searching for our hotel, which we new was nearby, we soon came to realize that it wasn’t accessible by car. Instead, we had to park at the train station and get a ride up to the hotel – which was literally on the mountain between ski slopes – on a snowmobile.

After the five minute snowmobile ride (which I’m pretty sure it was my first), we arrived at the hotel and were greeted by a local K9 resident. He was in heaven – playing in the snow, fetching snowballs, chasing after non-existent creatures scurrying about under the foot-deep powder. He clearly seemed to love life. The following are some pictures.



















Tonight we went to a concert at the Église de Saanen. It was part of the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, which is a week-long concert series held in churches in the Gstaad area. Rather than ferrying guests on the snowmobile at night, they provide transportation in an SUV in order to get down your car. The ride itself takes about 10 minutes due to the fact that you’re off-roading through the snow.

Unfortunately for us, we had left the car keys with the ski gear and only realized once we got down to the car. Thus, we had to go back up to the hotel and then come back down again once we had the keys in had. As a result, we ended up being 30 seconds late to the concert, which started at precisely the time indicated (gotta love Swiss punctuality), and weren’t able to enter the venue until after the first performance (a concerto by Mozart). While we could still hear the music from outside the church, standing outside in the cold for 30 minutes was indeed suboptimal.

After the first performance they let us inside and the venue was very nice. The next performance was Romance et Scherzo by Rachmaninov, followed by a concerto by Chostakovitch. I particularly enjoyed the Rachmaninov piece, but the other was a bit forceful for me (though it did incorporate a trumpet soloist, which I found interesting).

Here are some pictures from the concert.










After the concert we ate a local restaurant in Saanen. In true Swiss fashion, we decided on a first course of air-dried meats followed by a main course of traditional fondue. On a normal day I would have not been able to eat a full dinner following my lunchtime gluttony, but after a full day of skiing fondue turned out to be a perfect choice.