Holy Swiss Cheese, Budman!

When you mix 2 Aussies, 3 Texans, 1 Brit, 2 Native Swiss with some great food and some fun activities, what do you get? A great weekend, that's what!

This past weekend, the London contingent of immigrants (and Paulster--an honorary immigrant) made a pilgrimage to Switzerland--first stop--Zurich.

Stef and Martini have built and now live in the most stylish new home in an idyllic setting overlooking the Rhine--and we got the full experience. They cooked us a meal that Gordon Ramsay would have been proud of. We laughed at each other and ourselves--starting at the airport when I had to drive a manual transmission mini-van and continuing with a couple of hours of Singstar.

Here is a snap of our gracious hosts, Martini and Stef.


And a shot of the table thanks to Paulster.


Since there are only so many times you can hear an Abba song murdered or watch the Stef flout his SingStar prowess (which means that instead of struggling to keep up with the lyrics/song, he dances around to face the audience while not missing a note)...we moved on to the mountains after a wonderful breakfast on Saturday afternoon.

First, a few shots of Friday evening.
Let's start with Buffy and Martini.


Budman and Hachie Gal flash us nice smiles.


Martini makes a most fab chocolate dessert.


Paulster and Stef do their SingStar magic.


Stef and The Falcon battle it out on the mics.


We arrived in Engelberg, Switzerland in the early afternoon. Engelberg literally translates "Angel Mountain"--and it was breathtaking.


While Hachie Gal shopped for sledding (sledging, if you're British) shoes with the help of Budman, the rest of us explored. Here's the Falcon, Martini, Buffy, Paulster and Stef (suitably posed with his eyes toward the heavens) in front of the Monastery.


In keeping with the city's name, the monastery had a marble angel on the grounds.


Honestly, we got a little bogged down here...taking in the cultural experience of cheese-making and cheese-eating. We wandered through the grounds--straight to the gift/snack shop for a little rest and refueling from our strenuous day so far. But it allowed Hachie Gal and Budman to catch up with us!

Here's a shot of the Holy Swiss Cheese.


We did manage to do some more wandering around the city and encountered a few sights unique to Angel Mountain. Every street had several angels on it--of all descriptions and presumably linked to the nearby businesses. Here are a few of my favourites.




Curiously, this is a picture of an angel on a fondue fork...but super-relevant to the next part of the tale...


It doesn't get more touristy than taking the cable car/gondola up the mountain, sledding down the mountain in the dark, then attempting to dry your jeans by standing near an open blaze before sitting down to eat fondue...And that really does tell the rest of the Saturday night story!

Here are some of the boys after the first sled run. The Falcon, Paulster and Martini.


And here, The Falcon lands after the second sled run.


And here we are with our FONDUE--obviously excited!!!


Some of us more excited by the Fondue than others...


In a rampant display of table games, both The Falcon and Budman demonstrated their uncanny ability to bob for fondue toward the end of the evening. If I can figure out how to get the video posted (and secure a release from Budman), I may put it up for your viewing pleasure.

Another great night in the series...
I have more to tell about our Sunday adventure in the city of Zurich, but that will have to wait for another day.

Winter Wonderland

After dropping Paulster's mom off at the train station for her return to Sheffield, we took the girls to Hyde Park in the centre of London. There, a holiday market and ice rink were set up. It was as close to an authentic German Christmas Market as you can get, without actually going to Germany.

Even all the rides were labelled in German and people manning the stalls were speaking German. Lots of mulled wine and sausages. Excellent.
Here's a pic of Paulster and the girls at the Winter Wonderland.


The girls and I rode the giant slide.


And we all rode the carousel!


Here's hoping that the Winter Wonderland is an annual fixture in London!

No...THIS is Christmas!

We are fortunate to have two Christmases. One, is slow, low-key, and calm and occurs on Christmas Day, the other is...not. Drama and Blondie come to our house on the 26th (Boxing Day) and Santa comes back that night.

So we take it easy on Christmas Day--having a nice dinner and relaxing--holding off on unwrapping presents until the 27th. This was the first year that we spent with Paulster's mom. She was down from Sheffield. Here's Paulster and his mom and Kenny hanging out.



We watched Oklahoma! and South Pacific and enjoyed a peaceful day.

And here's Sulley, giving the quiet spot under the tree a test drive.


And me and the "boys" taking a break from all the cooking.


When Santa came back on the 27th, he left all 4 of us bikes. Silly Santa had to rearrange the dining room in order to leave them all for us. That must have been tricky, so as not to wake us all up!
Here's the scene:


Of course, we couldn't wait too long before getting the bikes out for a test ride.
Here's Paulster and Blondie at the Lido.


And the aftermath...I think it's been a long time since those two had that much exercise in one afternoon.


We were all a bit saddle sore, but what fun. I felt like a kid again myself riding!