Verbier in December

We packed up for Verbier, Valais, on Monday to hook up with Brenna's friend Noor, who was visiting from Jordan on a school ski trip. We found a relatively nice 2 star hotel, close to the lifts and spent 3 days enjoying the wonderful weather. The down side was that the snow Verbier usually gets, has all landed in Colorado, so conditions were pretty bad for the down-hill crowd.

Monday night we saw Noor and it was great seeing her with our girls.They just took off as if they had parted just yesterday. That's Noor, at the end of the table, opposite Brenna and next to Aubrey.

Tuesday morning Brenna and Aubrey took snowboarding lessons, Dedi hiked with the dogs, and I decided to try out my new x-country ski boots. I put on my 'skins' and skied up from Verbier to Les Ruinettes. This was a long climb that took me about 4 hours. Gained about 2,500 vertical feet. After going hypothermic several years ago on a trip to Eiseman hut, I worked hard to regulate my body temperature, drink often, and eat along the way. This worked great and I was feeling great at the top. Got some great photos including a few shots of para gliders. (If you click on picture you will get a bigger version..or if you want the original resolution, let me know and I'll send you the original photos....)






The village you see below the glider is where I started my climb.
Here's a shot of the start of the x-country trail after 'skinning' up the slope...
This is the end of the trail...I was curious to hike around, my fear of heights and a bit of common sense kept me safe!
The run down was pretty fun. Non-stop downhill run for 1 hour 2o minutes. However, the last 1km or so was a nightmare. I definitely need some telemarking lessons as I was unable to handle the icy slopes near the base. With legs a bit tired and no snow to help my snow plow, I tumbled numerous times. It didn't help either to be in the mix of hundreds of infants on ski's who seemed too young to walk but much more adept at skiing than me!

That evening Dedi and I treated ourselves to deep tissue massages. This was absolutely wonderful. While we enjoyed the massage, Brenna met up with her boyfriend who happened to also be in Verbier at the same time...

That night we experienced the downside of restaurants that don't turn tables. We tried 5 or 6 places and all informed us they were totally booked...Feeling deep pangs of hunger we finally found a place that was relatively empty. After the meal, we understood why it was empty! ...But at least the beer was cold, the room was warm and the food was hot.

Today, we took the ski lift up to Les Ruinettes and the 6 of us enjoyed a wonderful hike that paralleled the last part of my x-country ski run. Dedi enjoyed this immensely and Tigger and Telly were in Dog heaven, running freely through the snow.

On our way out, we ran into a friends from Lausanne whose children go to school with ours. They were there with their Aussie puppy. We met them several months ago and they were debating on what breed of dog to purchase. After meeting Tigger and Telly they decided on an Aussie and are absolutely thrilled with their new family addition. She is adorable!

The train ride home was also nice though we had a 2 minute train to bus connection in Renens ...somehow, despite ski's, dogs, and luggage we made it...2 hours 20 minutes door to door..not bad!

Father Christmas and his what?

Well it's Christmas Eve and we'll be heading in to Lausanne to enjoy the lights, the spirit of Christmas, and all the festivities, including Father Christmas! Dedi got a chuckle upon visiting the web page advertising the events so I thought I'd share with you all.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

The Fisch'es!

Christmas in Florida

As Dedi slaved away at her last week of work, the girls and I flew to Fort Myers to visit 'Nana' and 'Kiki'. Special treat was Susu and her 3 boys! It was great to get together again. We also managed to get in a few days on the beach and a bit of good old US shopping.

Our flight back was nice though 3 passengers dropped cold and needed to be ressussitated. One fell in the aisle right next to my seat. The other two were in the row behind us.

Maybe it was Susu's broccolli and bean dip that I dug into... I hope not.

Anyway, all made it back safe and sound...my only goal right now is to stay awake another 30 minutes to have a prayer of sleeping thru the night!

Cheers, Dave

Fête de l'Escalade

Despite forecasts of snow, sleet, and generally cold weather, we awoke to a a cold but sunny day. With the Escalade Celebration in force in Geneva, we decided to join our friends Doug and Cheryl and we headed into the big city. The Escalade is quite the festival...here's the historical summary (thank you Wikipidea!)

"L'Escalade, or Fête de l'Escalade (from escalade, the act of scaling defensive walls) is an annual festival held in December in Geneva, Switzerland, celebrating the defeat of the surprise attack by troops sent by Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy during the night of 11–12 December 1602.

According to Genevois legend, Catherine Cheynel, a mother of 14 children, seized a large cauldron of hot soup and poured it on the attackers. The heavy cauldron of boiling soup landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, killing him. The commotion that this caused also helped to rouse the townsfolk to defend the city."

Towards 5:00, with the sun setting and a cold humid wind winding up from the lake, we wisely packed it up and headed home. All in all, it was loud and fun and a good time was had by all, including Tigger and Telly!

My First Real Christmas Tree

48 years, and as best I can remember, we've always done the artificial Christmas tree...I remember many growing up, multiple shades of green & blue, a few silver ones, and I vaguely remember a foldable aluminum work of art that gave shocks when you got too close.

But here in our small apartment with no garage and no storage space for the off-season, the real green took hold...Environmentally it's probably a sound, natural recylable choice compared to its vinyl counter parts. I am though a bit concerned over the many kilowatts of power I see our vacuum cleaner putting out as it tries to keep the pine needle urban sprawl under control...

The process began this morning when friend and co-worker Doug and I picked up our Mobility Cargo Van and headed out to hunt for nice fresh Sapins (pine trees) for each of our homes. We found a nice selection at the local Supermarket about 1 mile away and went about picking our trees.

I've never price haggled in Switzerland, land of rules and regulations that I'm sure prohibits this type of behaviour, but the trees did not have prices on them. So I asked, "how much are they?" "Oh, that depends on the tree...."

I replied that I could have guessed the same with trees ranging in size from 3 inches to 30 feet....

So to start the process I pointed to a 5 foot tree. It was pretty in its own way though not too much better than the old Charlie Brown classic...She answered oh...that's 100 francs (about $85)...I got the impression that that was her answer to the first question, regardless of the tree, so I responded "Oh no that's way too much for me! What do you have for 60 francs?" She pointed out a group of smaller 4 foot trees. So Doug and I went over there but slowly found ourselves wandering towards bigger and bigger trees until we were surrounded by 6 footers...We each found one and said "We'll take these..." We then got the "iiiiiiiiihhhhhghhhghhhh" sound. In french this sound is made by making a grimace and then sucking in air through the sides of your mouth...

After some reflection and another drawn out iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhh sound she finally opened her mouth responded with real vowels and consonants.... "How about 70 francs?" ....and the deal was set!

So with the hunting done, Doug and I triumphantly returned to our homes. I will treasure my welcome, for years to come.. "Ohhhhhhhh, that's nice Dave! You did well. I love it!!!!

Cheers, Dave

Top Video

This video was put out as a rap parody but quickly rose to number one on the carts! Girls like it too. Pretty funny.

Not sure it will play on this site but here's a try.

fatal bazooka bazouka fout ta cagoule

Nice Routine

Not a whole lot to write....So today its mostly a collection of random pictures .

It's gotten to a point where if we want to 'explore' we need to take some vacation! Dedi is continuing to work full time with the double commute to Geneva each day and the girls and I are putting in our full days here. But the Christmas season is upon us. Lausanne looks spectacular, lights are everwhere and some of the stores are open on Saturday past 5:00pm! This year we will pick out our first real Christmas tree. The plastic ones have served us well in the past but lack of storage space rules them out for now.

Today's highlight was Aubrey finding her iPOD within 15 minutes of having lost it! Now that's luck! In most neighborhoods, an iPOD on the sidewalk would disappear in seconds.

Another nice surprise was a care package from Ava with velcro straps! I promptly improved my bike map holder! Works great! Thanks AVA!