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 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. Although 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. We 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!

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, travel, Château d'Oex, Switzerland