In this post I thought I would share with you a little taste of what I have been up to during my time off between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
The kindergarten was open until the morning of the 23rd of December. In the afternoon I took some time to get a head start at putting away the christmas decorations and took the "angel" chair apart to put it in a safe place for the next year. In the evening I went to my usual workout.
On the 24th of December we (my boyfriend and I) took the train to go down to Ticino, where we would spend Christmas with my family. The plan was to spend a few days skiing, but as there was no snow we did a lot of walking in the mountains instead.
On the night of the 24th we had our traditional fondue chinoise, which consists of cooking raw meat on a fondue skewer in a pot of broth or oil. This usually comes as a surprise to a lot of people who picture the stereotype of Swiss people eating their cheesy Swiss fondue, but for many families in Switzerland it has rather more become the tradition to have fondue chinoise on Christmas's Eve. After dinner we opened each others gifts and enjoyed the time together.
My boyfriend gave me a Jawbone Up3 fitness tracker, so my Christmas holiday was all about reaching my daily goal of 10,000 steps. I think he regrets that now, as I have dragged him out for numerous walks every day since. My mum however enjoyed it, as I was suddenly more keen to help out around the house, in order to get more steps towards my goal!
On the 25th we decided to go out and see if we could find some snow, so we took the dog for a walk along what usually is a ski-slope, but in this moment was merely a road. The town where we have the house is split into three tiny villages, Croce, Cassinelle, and Di Dentro. We walked all the way to Di Dentro, the top-most of the three villages. If you continue a little bit up the road you reach a pond, which in the summer is always filled with tadpoles and then later with tiny little frogs. There we found a little bit of snow, quite possibly the only snow on the entire mountain. For our dog, Cognac, this was a moment of happiness. The pond was frozen, so Cognac was able to walk, or more accurately dog-skate, on it.
Saturday, the 26th was the day of the big hike. We went up to the crest over the last village. That hike took us at least two and a half hours. But when you reach the top and see that view, you know that it was worth it. Some day if my boyfriend ever reaches the top, I am sure he will agree.
Even if there wasn't any snow, the lower chairlift was working, and because of the lack of snow they even offered special prices! They only offered daily passes but for a cheap price, so on the 27th we went up to 2000m above sea level with my mum, my brother and his girlfriend, and walked downhill to the house. At the top they had prepared a small slope for the kids with artificial snow, so we took a few misleading photos to make it look as though there was actual snow on the mountains!
In the afternoon I managed to convince my boyfriend to come with me to do the same walk. Halfway down we met with my brother and his girlfriend and took the dog home while they walked to the top and went down by chairlift. By doing this walk twice I reached my 10,000 steps goal again.
The 28th of December was the last day up in the Swiss mountain. Therefore it was packing day.
After lunch I went for a last walk with my boyfriend and Cognac. After that it was time to say goodbye to my family and take the train back to Basel, where, on the 29th of December, we would fly to London.
As this blog post is already quite long, I decided to split the two trips of this holiday season into two separate blogposts. So stay tuned for part 2 :)
Have a good one
S
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