Thursday, February 15, 2007

Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen

#22 - 13 Things About our Trip to Switzerland

My husband and I were in Château d'Oex, Switzerland, last week. Here are 13 things about our trip
  1. We had no internet connectivity, so I was out of touch with all of my internet friends for a week. It's also the reason my blog hadn't been updated for a while, and why I wasn't able to visit all of my blogging friends. I'll get around to visiting all of you sometime today or tomorrow!

  2. We had absolutely gorgeous weather. It was sunny and warm for most of our trip. The only day where the weather wasn't nice was Thursday, when it rained. It was still warm though.

  3. It's a good thing neither my husband nor I are skiers. All of the ski slopes in Château D'Oex (the town where we were staying) were closed due to a lack of snow. There were some slopes open in other nearby towns, but it was mostly manufactured snow on those slopes.

  4. Our ChaletOur Chalet was way up on the side of one of the mountains, with the town of Château D'Oex far below in the valley. Fortunately the weather was nice, so we didn't need chains on our car tires to get to and from the chalet. We did hike down and up the mountain a couple of times and it was a good workout!

  5. Our Chalet was beautiful, although the bedroom had two small single beds in it! Fortunately there was a very comfortable sofa bed in the living room, so we pulled that out and used that as our bed. Not only did my husband and I want to sleep next to each other, but our Sphynx kitten, Dragonheart, is accustomed to sleeping with us and we thought he would be very confused if he had to choose one of us to sleep with!

  6. We only went running twice while we were in Switzerland. So we took a bit of a break from our marathon training. It was impossible to run anywhere without running up and down lots of hills! So we got in some hill training, which is great for leg strength.

  7. We went horseback riding once. We had a beautiful day for a trail ride. Since I am an experienced rider, I was given the opportunity to tack up (and untack) my horse by myself. I rode a very nice horse named Cherokee. My husband, who has only ridden a handful of times, was given a very calm, easy-going horse named Nicki, who just followed the other two horses. And they tacked up and untacked the horse for him. I was very happy that we rode English (hunter seat) for the trail ride, since that is what I am used to. I ride hunter seat and also take dressage lessons.

  8. FireplaceAlthough the weather was warm during our trip, we still enjoyed lighting a fire in the fireplace every night. Dragonheart really enjoyed the fire, especially the warmth it gave off! He also enjoyed starting at the flames.

  9. We spent a lot of time just relaxing in the Chalet, reading books (I'm re-reading the books in George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series), playing computer games (Civ IV and Neverwinter Nights 2), playing with Dragonheart, enjoying each others company, and I managed to do some crochet, making two sweaters for Dragonheart.

  10. We had a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains from our balcony. It was just beautiful. Since the weather was so warm, Dragonheart was able to explore the balcony in his harness one day, when the temperature climbed to +15°C.

  11. View From BalconyWe were in the French part of Switzerland, so I had a chance to practice my rusty French. I was considered perfectly bilingual (by the Government of Canada) before my husband and I started German language training in preparation for our posting to Munich. I quickly discovered that once we started learning German, I lost a great deal of my ability to speak French! I still understand French perfectly, and can read and write French very well, but often when I try to speak, German words come out instead of French! It's as if my brain can only handle one foreign language at a time! *grin*

  12. Dragonheart was very well behaved throughout the trip. We had water, food, and a litter box for him in the car, but he ignored all of them, and spent most of the car ride curled up in my lap, or curled up on the seat behind me. He had his harness on, so he was restrained, and we didn't allow him into the front of the car where my husband was driving. He also seemed to really enjoy being in the Chalet. The only thing he didn't like was his smaller litter box! He used it, but would dig around in it a lot, and jump in and out of it many times before finally doing his business!

  13. The highlight of our trip was going paragliding on Friday. Both my husband and I went paragliding. We each did a tandem flight, which meant we were strapped to an experienced instructor. It was an amazing experience! Just incredible to be flying like a bird. I've skydived once before (tandem again, strapped to an experienced jump instructor) but I didn't like the freefall - once we were under canopy I loved it, but I didn't enjoy freefall. So paragliding was perfect for me. No freefall, under canopy the entire way. Just a wonderful, amazing, incredible experience. We haven't received our photos yet (they are coming in the mail) but you can check out some photos from the company we paraglided with here.
To see more photos of our trip, check our Dragonheart's Thursday Thirteen, or read his report of our trip!



37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings from a Canuck living on the West Coast. Have never been to Switzerland. I enjoyed reading your posting. Thanks!

Uisce said...

I've been to La Suisse, but not for over 20 years. Glad to hear it's still there! I don't think I could handle being without an Internet connection for a whole week. I know that sounds so pathetic, but that's just me! Happy TT, mine's up!

Gattina said...

It seems that you had wonderful holidays and even good weather ! You know I have the same thing with Italian when I have to speak. I understand everything and also can write, but I became quite rusty for a conversation and there are always English words which want to come out! But after half an hour it's getting better and then I am in again. Sometimes it even happens to me in English !

Raggedy said...

Fabulous! I enjoyed your post as well as Dragonheart's slides.
Terrific Thursday Thirteen!
My TT is posted.
Have a wonderful day!
Happy TT'ing!
*^_^
(=':'=)
(")_ (")Š
Raggedy

Robin said...

Sounds like a great trip! You've made me want to return to Switzerland...

I agree on the language thing too - I moved to Israel years ago and promptly lost all of my (formerly native speaker level) French. I've been saying for years that the brain just shifts into "foreign language mode" and pulls out whatever language is closer to the surface.

Anonymous said...

sounds like a wonderful trip!!!

MaR said...

Sounds like you had a fun week even though you didn't have access to internet :)
Wow, paragliding is something I couldn't do, so I am happy just reading about people's experiences. Your pics are beautiful, going over to see some more. Happy TT!

Girlie said...

I am sorry, but I can't get past the "sunny" part of the post. I am so cold every time I have to open my door!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

I love the horse banner you have at the top of your blog. I use to have a horse before marriage and children.

Loved hearing about your trip. Thanks for visiting my TT.

Nathalie said...

I'm happy to see you got home safe, and that dragonheart didn't get roadsick or anything!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Darla said...

It sounds like a lovely vacation! Now off to go check out Dragonheart's pix.

Fence said...

Sounds like a great holiday. I've heard great things about George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series, I really must open them up at some stage.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a great trip! I hope to go there someday...thanks for sharing! Happy TT!

Carmen said...

paragliding! wow. I don't know if even I'm brave enough to do that. :) it sounds like a lovely trip.

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

Sounds Heavely!! Glad you had such a wonderful time. I'm not sure I could go paragliding, but you made it sound very interesting.

Anonymous said...

Great list. I've never been, but loved your descriptions and photos. Thank you so much for sharing!

Angela said...

I'm a couple of hours from Frankfurt. The area where we live has some pretty good "homey" restaurants. They serve lots of vegies, and even baked items although salad, like in greens, isn't real big...

The paragliding sounds wonderful! Flying through the air...

Thanks for stopping by! I'm heading over to Dragonheart's...

JAM said...

Absolutely incredible. It think that you two are so wise to take advantage of the opportunities to travel and see things while you are there.

I've never been to a ski area except for Park City, Utah in the summer. I wouldn't have skiid anyway, but they had toboggans and such and I loved the area without the hassle of the snow. But I'm weird like that.

Gene Bach said...

Sounds like a good trip.

Laurence said...

Oooh, rusty french !!! I want to listen to it !!! ;-)

Great list... I love Suisse too !

Happy T13

Unknown said...

What a gorgeous view!I've never tacked a horse by myself either, but I love to go horseback riding.

Happy Thursday!

1morechapter said...

Wow, what fun! I hope to visit both Switzerland and Germany in the next 2-3 years.

Thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

Travel is a wonderful gift to life's opportunities. Thank you for sharing your Switzerland experience with us.

Julia said...

Sound like you had great trip to Switzerland! I just saw your pics from the Dragonhearts too! WOW love all the pictures! Now this make me wanna go there...

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Happy Thursday Thirteen and have a nice day!

TopChamp said...

Glad to hear you had a good time! And Dragonheart too.

Happy TT!

p.s. Hope you get to Scotland if you're in the UK - it's worth a visit!

Mercy's Maid said...

A trip to Switzerland sounds like lots of fun! The pictures were beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I totally agree with the comments you left.

L^2 said...

I've never been to Switzerland, but it sounds like you had a very nice trip.
Thanks for visiting my list.
Happy TT! :-)

Anonymous said...

Lack of Internet connectivity is a good thing when you're having a relaxing vacation. Of course, I can say that now that I'm happily working with a reliable Inet connection of my own tonight ;)

Unknown said...

I´m glad to hear you had great holidays.

Frank has spent many holidays in Switzerland during childhood. There are only a few photos left of his holidays so I´m sure he loves to have a look at your posting (and Dragonheart´s), too.

Schön, dass Ihr wieder zurück seid!

Loretta @ Stitching the Night Away said...

That was an amazing thirteen, looking forward to seeing those other pictures when they arrive.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for visiting. We have a lot in common: running, horseback riding. Of course, I haven't stayed in a Chalet in Switzerland or been paragliding.
The two single beds reminds me of I Love Lucy. haha.

Brought to you by Her Majesty Magenta said...

Wow your trip sounds like so much fun! Great idea for a TT. I always wonder what it is like in other countries. Thanks for stopping by my TT

Anonymous said...

I am so envious! Your trip sounded absolutely fabulous! So wonderful to have you back, though! :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great trip, looks like a beautiful place to visit, you're so lucky, and Drogonheart is even more lucky! Nermal asks me how come he doesn't get to go on such cool trips like Dragonheart :D

Anonymous said...

Great 13. Love the pics.

KarenW said...

I think I would love paragliding. Sounds like fun. I'm glad you had a great trip.

Teena in Toronto said...

I've always wanted to go to Switzerland!

Mine's up :)